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shallowness) wrote2023-09-21 08:18 am
shallowness) wrote2023-09-21 08:18 am
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Sanditon 3.5
Event of the episode: dinner party for Georgiana (or rescuing Augusta.) Ghosts of Jane: memories of Lydia and Wickham’s elopement and what happened next. Thing to remember: it’s the penultimate episode.
One thing that bugged me for most of the episode was where was Leo after she told the Colbourne men that she’d conveniently heard Falmouth mentioned. A Leo who felt guilty for sharing a secret, but a secret she’d felt awkward about would have added something to Samuel/Lady Susan’s scenes – plus it’d be hard to discuss your rotten marriage and worries about your niece over a kid’s head, a challenge the writers ducked. (Also, I am disgruntled that Samuel got to be a Leo-whispering handler while Xander just stood there.) Ah well, although Samuel diving in for a kiss right when he did seemed a bit off timing wise for me, Lady Susan didn’t mind, so they’ve got out of their own ways. (So much easier being a minor couple.) And Lady Susan, matchmaker, was delighted to hear that Charlotte had pleaded ‘one day more’ from Ralph, to go with Xander to rescue Augusta. As it turned out, her advice to Guardian Uncle Xander and presence were probably a good thing.
(I also wondered where Ralph was later in the episode, but the writers bothered to have him explain that he was ‘walking about the streets (not like that)’, whereas when Samuel had dismissed the cook (and housekeeper), the question of where Leo was, what she’d been eating, was more pressing. It may have been that the decision was to do with how many hours they had the kid for but just a line mentioning Leo’s whereabouts would have been good.)
So, in the carriage, although Charlotte had some things that needed to be said to Xander, and he was clearly listening (as he should, as someone who’s own father pushed him into a disastrous marriage, to someone who had more insight into Augusta’s perspective), I thought they could have cut half that dialogue. Perhaps more. It was writing for the dimmest viewers as we knew most of this already.
Although it took longer than I’d have liked for me to go ‘Falmouth? Falmouth is hardly on the way to Gretna Green? Where IS Sanditon, anyway?’ I didn’t love Edward and Augusta walking around the town once they’d arrived, wouldn’t his carriage have taken them straight to the inn where they were staying? I suppose that was a budgetary choice. In fairness to Edward, he was clearly unwilling to have her as soon as possible, even before Xander pulled the ‘I may look like I’m talking to Augusta, but I’m talking to Charlotte, kinda’ move, changed approach and said he would support the marriage if AUGUSTA was really sure Edward was worthy of her. (As she didn’t know the worst of it until Edward revealed he was Forehead all along, she thought he was.) Poor Augusta, she seemed really young (and I wasn’t sure about the style of her underdress being of the time) as she went ‘Older guy, shouldn’t we be doing my very sketchy idea of sex now? Don’t you love me? Don’t you find me attractive? I liked it when you were handsy before’ without a clue as to why he was showing he did care by not taking advantage of her.
MEANWHILE Georgiana was trying to sort things out with Arthur, but got interrupted by her future mother in law and taken out to dinner. Mary was off to do her Lady Bountiful, wife of Lord Takes The Roof From Above Your Head, act when we saw a black woman of the right age appear. Cut to the chase: I really liked Agnes (other than her probably being a conduit for eventual Georgiana/Otis). As soon as Georgiana acknowledged she was her mother (not even asking for a description of the shell necklace), she became a mama bear, not putting up with future mother in law’s white privilege and bullying. Given what was sketched out about Mr Lambe (ugh), she was all for love matches and treating her daughter right. She was also the most sensible when Mary would fall ill.
But back to Falmouth, where Xander gazed adoringly at Charlotte upon discovering she’d make a good private investigator (i.e. she asked the baker’s boy if he’d seen anyone matching Forehead’s description. She hasn’t told him she’s had past experience of haring after an eloping couple.)
Lady D discovered that even if you’re no spring chicken, you shouldn’t rush so fast into marriage that you don’t discuss things like where you’re going to live. (Running theme of the episode with talk of the ducal estate and the poor people living in the Old Town.) She didn’t like what she saw of Mr Price’s chauvinism, having ruled the roost for decades.
Meanwhile Mary discovered that Tom had served eviction notices. Cue a blazing row where she was, again, in the right.
With Agnes joining them and Tom not, it looked set to be quite the awkward dinner party, with Arthur as replacement host and all the tensions with the future-in-laws. We learned that Lady Lydia’s dear mama had scuppered her chance of a happy marriage to someone insufficiently posh/wealthy. Convenient, that. Georgiana, thinking that as her future mother in law was going to be in the dower house, and her future home would be big, Arthur could come and live with her and her fake husband and they would all be as happy as could be (!?) suggested as much to Arthur.
And then Mary, predictably, fainted, because she’d caught The Fever. I didn’t think much of the pointless slo mo when Tom came home to learn this, but I did buy Tom being absolutely wrecked, in part because of guilt, getting through to Charlotte about wanting to be married to someone you love.
Before that, she and Xander had had a relatively dialogue-free goodbye (quite a relief, and all the more effective because of it), witnessed by Ralph. No more than a couple of lines between the engaged couple, because Charlotte had to be caught up with all the Sanditon news – nice meeting between her and Agnes, just as Mary had been sincerely glad and so for the reunion of mother and daughter that she’d done it in public, while the extras pretended they didn’t notice. And then, of course, Charlotte learned that Mary was Gravely Ill.
Poor Mary, I will say that it looked as though nobody was even treating her with the treatments of the time. Just waiting to see if she would live or die.
Forehead slunk home (oh yeah, where else would he go?) and Lady D sussed that he maybe did care a smidgin for Augusta.
Arthur nixed the moving in with the Duke plan, because he Didn’t Want To Live A Lie. (So written from a twenty-first perspective.) Also, he had some regard for Georgiana’s happiness. Duke Harry’s reaction made me very much think, ‘Arthur, you deserve better.’
Future mother in law tried to bribe Agnes into abandoning the daughter she’s just reunited with, because she didn’t like her angry black woman/freed slave/different agenda vibes. Hmph.
Charlotte was reminded of Ralph’s existence and finally, finally broke up with him. He’d come to realise that their parents had pushed her into the engagement and finally noticed that she’d been really reluctant to get married, which helped her with the breaking up.
One thing that bugged me for most of the episode was where was Leo after she told the Colbourne men that she’d conveniently heard Falmouth mentioned. A Leo who felt guilty for sharing a secret, but a secret she’d felt awkward about would have added something to Samuel/Lady Susan’s scenes – plus it’d be hard to discuss your rotten marriage and worries about your niece over a kid’s head, a challenge the writers ducked. (Also, I am disgruntled that Samuel got to be a Leo-whispering handler while Xander just stood there.) Ah well, although Samuel diving in for a kiss right when he did seemed a bit off timing wise for me, Lady Susan didn’t mind, so they’ve got out of their own ways. (So much easier being a minor couple.) And Lady Susan, matchmaker, was delighted to hear that Charlotte had pleaded ‘one day more’ from Ralph, to go with Xander to rescue Augusta. As it turned out, her advice to Guardian Uncle Xander and presence were probably a good thing.
(I also wondered where Ralph was later in the episode, but the writers bothered to have him explain that he was ‘walking about the streets (not like that)’, whereas when Samuel had dismissed the cook (and housekeeper), the question of where Leo was, what she’d been eating, was more pressing. It may have been that the decision was to do with how many hours they had the kid for but just a line mentioning Leo’s whereabouts would have been good.)
So, in the carriage, although Charlotte had some things that needed to be said to Xander, and he was clearly listening (as he should, as someone who’s own father pushed him into a disastrous marriage, to someone who had more insight into Augusta’s perspective), I thought they could have cut half that dialogue. Perhaps more. It was writing for the dimmest viewers as we knew most of this already.
Although it took longer than I’d have liked for me to go ‘Falmouth? Falmouth is hardly on the way to Gretna Green? Where IS Sanditon, anyway?’ I didn’t love Edward and Augusta walking around the town once they’d arrived, wouldn’t his carriage have taken them straight to the inn where they were staying? I suppose that was a budgetary choice. In fairness to Edward, he was clearly unwilling to have her as soon as possible, even before Xander pulled the ‘I may look like I’m talking to Augusta, but I’m talking to Charlotte, kinda’ move, changed approach and said he would support the marriage if AUGUSTA was really sure Edward was worthy of her. (As she didn’t know the worst of it until Edward revealed he was Forehead all along, she thought he was.) Poor Augusta, she seemed really young (and I wasn’t sure about the style of her underdress being of the time) as she went ‘Older guy, shouldn’t we be doing my very sketchy idea of sex now? Don’t you love me? Don’t you find me attractive? I liked it when you were handsy before’ without a clue as to why he was showing he did care by not taking advantage of her.
MEANWHILE Georgiana was trying to sort things out with Arthur, but got interrupted by her future mother in law and taken out to dinner. Mary was off to do her Lady Bountiful, wife of Lord Takes The Roof From Above Your Head, act when we saw a black woman of the right age appear. Cut to the chase: I really liked Agnes (other than her probably being a conduit for eventual Georgiana/Otis). As soon as Georgiana acknowledged she was her mother (not even asking for a description of the shell necklace), she became a mama bear, not putting up with future mother in law’s white privilege and bullying. Given what was sketched out about Mr Lambe (ugh), she was all for love matches and treating her daughter right. She was also the most sensible when Mary would fall ill.
But back to Falmouth, where Xander gazed adoringly at Charlotte upon discovering she’d make a good private investigator (i.e. she asked the baker’s boy if he’d seen anyone matching Forehead’s description. She hasn’t told him she’s had past experience of haring after an eloping couple.)
Lady D discovered that even if you’re no spring chicken, you shouldn’t rush so fast into marriage that you don’t discuss things like where you’re going to live. (Running theme of the episode with talk of the ducal estate and the poor people living in the Old Town.) She didn’t like what she saw of Mr Price’s chauvinism, having ruled the roost for decades.
Meanwhile Mary discovered that Tom had served eviction notices. Cue a blazing row where she was, again, in the right.
With Agnes joining them and Tom not, it looked set to be quite the awkward dinner party, with Arthur as replacement host and all the tensions with the future-in-laws. We learned that Lady Lydia’s dear mama had scuppered her chance of a happy marriage to someone insufficiently posh/wealthy. Convenient, that. Georgiana, thinking that as her future mother in law was going to be in the dower house, and her future home would be big, Arthur could come and live with her and her fake husband and they would all be as happy as could be (!?) suggested as much to Arthur.
And then Mary, predictably, fainted, because she’d caught The Fever. I didn’t think much of the pointless slo mo when Tom came home to learn this, but I did buy Tom being absolutely wrecked, in part because of guilt, getting through to Charlotte about wanting to be married to someone you love.
Before that, she and Xander had had a relatively dialogue-free goodbye (quite a relief, and all the more effective because of it), witnessed by Ralph. No more than a couple of lines between the engaged couple, because Charlotte had to be caught up with all the Sanditon news – nice meeting between her and Agnes, just as Mary had been sincerely glad and so for the reunion of mother and daughter that she’d done it in public, while the extras pretended they didn’t notice. And then, of course, Charlotte learned that Mary was Gravely Ill.
Poor Mary, I will say that it looked as though nobody was even treating her with the treatments of the time. Just waiting to see if she would live or die.
Forehead slunk home (oh yeah, where else would he go?) and Lady D sussed that he maybe did care a smidgin for Augusta.
Arthur nixed the moving in with the Duke plan, because he Didn’t Want To Live A Lie. (So written from a twenty-first perspective.) Also, he had some regard for Georgiana’s happiness. Duke Harry’s reaction made me very much think, ‘Arthur, you deserve better.’
Future mother in law tried to bribe Agnes into abandoning the daughter she’s just reunited with, because she didn’t like her angry black woman/freed slave/different agenda vibes. Hmph.
Charlotte was reminded of Ralph’s existence and finally, finally broke up with him. He’d come to realise that their parents had pushed her into the engagement and finally noticed that she’d been really reluctant to get married, which helped her with the breaking up.