Sanditon 3.3
Sep. 4th, 2023 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessDue warning, I had a LOT of thoughts and feelings about this ep.
Event(s) of the episode: Georgiana’s case/the Colbournes’ shooting party. Jane Austen character I found myself thinking the most of: Mrs Bennet and her nerves (although because I’m hearing Brenda Blythyn’s voice, I think I need to reread ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to check they’re from the book before going full, ‘Are the nerves of Mrs Bennet to be thus plagiarised?’ Because at least when the Duke was trying to come out to Arthur, he was riffing of Spartacus (swords and sandals again, show?) And I thought at least that was riffing, until I remembered that they both must have gone to an English public school and wouldn’t they have better codes, even if the Parkers probably went to a minor one? Wouldn’t the Duke have better gaydar? I think we’ve established Arthur is asexual. I think he’s lovely, but is he really the Duke’s type either? Or was he looking for a change from users, although what struck me when the Duke was trying to be sympathetic with Arthur about Lockhart duping him by talking about all the men who’d used him (even if he was less specific) was that Arthur seemed more grieved that Georgiana, by which I mean Someone Else rather than Georgiana per se, had got duped and used than that he had. The Duke seemed to miss the unselfishness there. But maybe that whole conversation is what made his gaydar go off, not having had over two seasons of pondering Arthur in this far from unsubtle show.
Having said that, I thought there were some moments to be proud of: they remembered that Mary would be indignant at her dead brother in law’s name being trashed in court. Leo comforting Augusta!!! Leo eyeing Lady Lydia, wannabe future stepmother, and saying ‘at least she likes dogs’ in the most grudging manner. Augusta asking Charlotte when she knew she was in love with Ralph and Charlotte being utterly unable to answer. Lady D pooh-poohing Charlotte being a threat to Colbourne/Lydia because she’d been a governess and was going to marry a farmer. Lady D and Mr Price’s courtship continues to be fun (except when we’re reminded that he left her standing at the altar. Which is what Eliza had done to Sidney.)
I liked everyone discussing The Case over breakfast. I thought Georgiana’s look for day 2 was much more demure than day 1, and wasn't she trying to burnish her reputation via dress? The stuff in the court failed rather badly at Historical Legal Credibility until the judge’s summation, of all things. It wasn’t so much that Samuel went drinking and gambling to rubbish the doctor as a witness as the actual proceedings in court. Also, while Charlotte was glowering like a furious kitten at Lockhart for traducing her friend, I was thinking things about hot pokers at him.
Oh, and Otis turned up, and I’ve checked, and I remembered correctly that Sidney turned out to be right about him being no good for Georgiana. What I was mainly getting from Otis this time was that he had no conception of what it was like for Georgiana as a black WOMAN. So, why should I join Charlotte in shipping them? Why should I want Georgiana to be patronised for the rest of her life?
The person who did get what Georgiana was going through best was Mrs Whately, and botheration, my theory about her being Georgiana’s mother was sunk good and proper by this episode.
The most interesting thing about London, though, was learning that Samuel is the big brother. On the one hand, way to make Xander even more of a romantic hero, having to step in to take over the estate (and make a success of it, it seems) and sacrificing his first marriage. On the other, it makes NO SENSE. I’m not going to claim to follow the timeline very well, but how did Samuel get the money for his legal training? If his father was still alive, why would he (in debt for gambling?) pay for it, when the older son ought to be taking over the estate? Why wasn’t he forcing Samuel to get married? Eh? Or did Samuel take the money for training after his father’s death and run? It still makes no sense, although it makes Samuel/Lady Susan more likely, whether they end up being married or not. (I should be past this, but Jane Austen would not be fine ith them not being married.)
Anyway, it was repeated at infinitum to Charlotte that Xander had gone to great lengths to get his estranged brother to represent the unrepresentable Georgiana, and clearly done it for her. Both Charlotte and Xander were being total ostriches over the whole finger tangling thing. I gaped at Charlotte for offering Lydia advice about Xander. I don’t remember if that was before or after this episode’s epic eye contact. Samuel and Lady Susan joined The Matchmakers, and Samuel finally got Xander to act (poor Lady Lydia). We’ll put it down to the power of true love that he found the very spot where Charlotte was pacing through her feelings.
Sidebar: I very much liked the book of Keats poems. Good job, propmasters.
Better declaration of feelings from him (very Darcyesque) although feel duty bound to point out that Edward was more straightforward about marriage. Passionate response from Charlotte; in fact, I’d say she initiated the kiss, but then pulled away to say he shouldn’t have done that and that she chouldn’t break her promise to Ralph and her parents. That’s a fairly unusual position. Doesn’t the big promise come at the wedding, and common sense states that promising to love someone in a church for the rest of your life when you don’t and you know this because you love someone else is a Bad Idea.
Apparently Mary’s doubts about getting married were more to do with the idea of losing her identity than ‘because Tom’. Tom was trying to get his investors to budge on the location of the grand hotel or think of where to move the fisherfolk for most of the episode. He couldn’t. Mary found out on one of her lady bountiful visits. I appreciated the continuity of Xander being against the ruin of old Sanditon, and Mary took the opportunity to second that emotion, giving Price the vapours and making Tom rather vicious (because he knows he’s wrong and she’s right. And Arthur thinks so too.)
But to the other shippy strand, and I am trying very hard to be vehemently against redemption for Edward through Edward/Augusta. (It doesn’t help that the actor playing sincere is not that much different from the actor playing insincere.) I took a bit of issue with lumping romantic love and spirituality together, although loving someone can make you less selfish (and Arthur’s love for Georgiana is still a strong reason for why I ship them. Charlotte was on point when she asked Georgiana what she was going to do next and what she was hoping to gain with this fake courtship? Being the Duke’s married beard??)
Miss Hankin, spiritual adviser, was definitely mixing romance and spirituality and her own love affair gave her insight, but then she went and dropped a Bible verse, and…I think the show’s going to try to show me quite the fruit platter to prove Edward’s love for Augusta has changed him. Augusta doesn’t have a clue about why he has this bad reputation, and though she continued to demand he court her honourably, and he seemed willing to, I need more from this redemption arc. Being ‘the best gun’ (is that a thing?) isn’t the same as being a suitable suitor, and though I have Thoughts about how Xander is handling being Augusta’s guardian (in short, about as well as Sidney handled being Georgiana’s for most of s1), he had every right to, er, shoot Edward down. I was mainly railing about etiquette: THAT should have been a private conversation, Forehead.
While I snorted at Edward faffing about with flower petals, if he was writing to say he’s leaving to try to make something of himself and prove his worth, that’s a start.
Event(s) of the episode: Georgiana’s case/the Colbournes’ shooting party. Jane Austen character I found myself thinking the most of: Mrs Bennet and her nerves (although because I’m hearing Brenda Blythyn’s voice, I think I need to reread ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to check they’re from the book before going full, ‘Are the nerves of Mrs Bennet to be thus plagiarised?’ Because at least when the Duke was trying to come out to Arthur, he was riffing of Spartacus (swords and sandals again, show?) And I thought at least that was riffing, until I remembered that they both must have gone to an English public school and wouldn’t they have better codes, even if the Parkers probably went to a minor one? Wouldn’t the Duke have better gaydar? I think we’ve established Arthur is asexual. I think he’s lovely, but is he really the Duke’s type either? Or was he looking for a change from users, although what struck me when the Duke was trying to be sympathetic with Arthur about Lockhart duping him by talking about all the men who’d used him (even if he was less specific) was that Arthur seemed more grieved that Georgiana, by which I mean Someone Else rather than Georgiana per se, had got duped and used than that he had. The Duke seemed to miss the unselfishness there. But maybe that whole conversation is what made his gaydar go off, not having had over two seasons of pondering Arthur in this far from unsubtle show.
Having said that, I thought there were some moments to be proud of: they remembered that Mary would be indignant at her dead brother in law’s name being trashed in court. Leo comforting Augusta!!! Leo eyeing Lady Lydia, wannabe future stepmother, and saying ‘at least she likes dogs’ in the most grudging manner. Augusta asking Charlotte when she knew she was in love with Ralph and Charlotte being utterly unable to answer. Lady D pooh-poohing Charlotte being a threat to Colbourne/Lydia because she’d been a governess and was going to marry a farmer. Lady D and Mr Price’s courtship continues to be fun (except when we’re reminded that he left her standing at the altar. Which is what Eliza had done to Sidney.)
I liked everyone discussing The Case over breakfast. I thought Georgiana’s look for day 2 was much more demure than day 1, and wasn't she trying to burnish her reputation via dress? The stuff in the court failed rather badly at Historical Legal Credibility until the judge’s summation, of all things. It wasn’t so much that Samuel went drinking and gambling to rubbish the doctor as a witness as the actual proceedings in court. Also, while Charlotte was glowering like a furious kitten at Lockhart for traducing her friend, I was thinking things about hot pokers at him.
Oh, and Otis turned up, and I’ve checked, and I remembered correctly that Sidney turned out to be right about him being no good for Georgiana. What I was mainly getting from Otis this time was that he had no conception of what it was like for Georgiana as a black WOMAN. So, why should I join Charlotte in shipping them? Why should I want Georgiana to be patronised for the rest of her life?
The person who did get what Georgiana was going through best was Mrs Whately, and botheration, my theory about her being Georgiana’s mother was sunk good and proper by this episode.
The most interesting thing about London, though, was learning that Samuel is the big brother. On the one hand, way to make Xander even more of a romantic hero, having to step in to take over the estate (and make a success of it, it seems) and sacrificing his first marriage. On the other, it makes NO SENSE. I’m not going to claim to follow the timeline very well, but how did Samuel get the money for his legal training? If his father was still alive, why would he (in debt for gambling?) pay for it, when the older son ought to be taking over the estate? Why wasn’t he forcing Samuel to get married? Eh? Or did Samuel take the money for training after his father’s death and run? It still makes no sense, although it makes Samuel/Lady Susan more likely, whether they end up being married or not. (I should be past this, but Jane Austen would not be fine ith them not being married.)
Anyway, it was repeated at infinitum to Charlotte that Xander had gone to great lengths to get his estranged brother to represent the unrepresentable Georgiana, and clearly done it for her. Both Charlotte and Xander were being total ostriches over the whole finger tangling thing. I gaped at Charlotte for offering Lydia advice about Xander. I don’t remember if that was before or after this episode’s epic eye contact. Samuel and Lady Susan joined The Matchmakers, and Samuel finally got Xander to act (poor Lady Lydia). We’ll put it down to the power of true love that he found the very spot where Charlotte was pacing through her feelings.
Sidebar: I very much liked the book of Keats poems. Good job, propmasters.
Better declaration of feelings from him (very Darcyesque) although feel duty bound to point out that Edward was more straightforward about marriage. Passionate response from Charlotte; in fact, I’d say she initiated the kiss, but then pulled away to say he shouldn’t have done that and that she chouldn’t break her promise to Ralph and her parents. That’s a fairly unusual position. Doesn’t the big promise come at the wedding, and common sense states that promising to love someone in a church for the rest of your life when you don’t and you know this because you love someone else is a Bad Idea.
Apparently Mary’s doubts about getting married were more to do with the idea of losing her identity than ‘because Tom’. Tom was trying to get his investors to budge on the location of the grand hotel or think of where to move the fisherfolk for most of the episode. He couldn’t. Mary found out on one of her lady bountiful visits. I appreciated the continuity of Xander being against the ruin of old Sanditon, and Mary took the opportunity to second that emotion, giving Price the vapours and making Tom rather vicious (because he knows he’s wrong and she’s right. And Arthur thinks so too.)
But to the other shippy strand, and I am trying very hard to be vehemently against redemption for Edward through Edward/Augusta. (It doesn’t help that the actor playing sincere is not that much different from the actor playing insincere.) I took a bit of issue with lumping romantic love and spirituality together, although loving someone can make you less selfish (and Arthur’s love for Georgiana is still a strong reason for why I ship them. Charlotte was on point when she asked Georgiana what she was going to do next and what she was hoping to gain with this fake courtship? Being the Duke’s married beard??)
Miss Hankin, spiritual adviser, was definitely mixing romance and spirituality and her own love affair gave her insight, but then she went and dropped a Bible verse, and…I think the show’s going to try to show me quite the fruit platter to prove Edward’s love for Augusta has changed him. Augusta doesn’t have a clue about why he has this bad reputation, and though she continued to demand he court her honourably, and he seemed willing to, I need more from this redemption arc. Being ‘the best gun’ (is that a thing?) isn’t the same as being a suitable suitor, and though I have Thoughts about how Xander is handling being Augusta’s guardian (in short, about as well as Sidney handled being Georgiana’s for most of s1), he had every right to, er, shoot Edward down. I was mainly railing about etiquette: THAT should have been a private conversation, Forehead.
While I snorted at Edward faffing about with flower petals, if he was writing to say he’s leaving to try to make something of himself and prove his worth, that’s a start.
