If I were to rewrite the screenplay for S&S2 I would make it longer to include more of the story keeping faith with the novel all the while. I could wish Alan Rickman younger but I like him as Brandon as is and I adore Kate Winslet as Marianne, to my heart the best of her kind outside of the novel. It would have been great to see some of the additions you suggest to flesh out their romance. It is all very amiable but I do question if Marianne would flirt. Does she ever flirt in the novel? In the poetry reading scene she is very earnest which is in character but no doubt in a calmer way than she was with Willoughby. I have always thought part of the reason is that she is still convalescing. Another is that Marianne is more willing to listen for I have the idea that Colonel Brandon is reading something she has never heard before. A third reason is that she is experiencing the beginnings of an attachment that has more depth than the shallow attraction she experienced with Willoughby. It induces a new found modesty on her part. When Mrs. Dashwood erroneously calls out that Colonel Brandon has come, perhaps Marianne does not leap to her feet in excitement because she is concentrating on memorizing the music before he arrives. Maybe instead of the coldness you impute to her demeanor is instead no more unfeeling than an ardent desire to please him by playing the music he sent. Marianne no doubt would wish to play it well. Having said all that, knowing it might be made better I am still determined to be pleased with Marianne and Brandon’s romance in S&S2 just as it is. It certainly mirrors the novel in being sparse and annoying to many. (:D)