RedHawk

A bit of Austen's tone is there in the dictatorial behavior of Lady Denham. At times she's similar to Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice.

I liked it better on recent re-watch also. Though I will miss the hotness that is Theo James, the character was annoying and the love story didn't gel. It's enough for me that Charlotte got her heart broken yet will still be connected with the Parker family. Sadly she'll have to hear about his marriage, etc. but I heartily wish him unhappy in his choice! I guess the money he gets from his marriage will help save Sandition though. Will be interesting to see how that's handled. I will very much miss Lord Babbington and the newlywed couple interacting, I think they were my favorite part of S1, but don't think it will be weird to see Lady B visiting her aunt on her own. Perhaps she will have come to Sanditon "for her health" while her husband must stay in town.

Replying two years later while rewatching S1. Kestra's quick adoption of Soji seemed quite realistic to me. It made me recall three times when I was dating in my 20-30s and my boyfriends introduced me to their younger sisters or nieces (ages 10 to 13) and the young girls were friendly to me right off and wanted to spend a lot of time with me. I was flattered that they looked up to me in that way yet I think it's a natural thing. Plus, Kestra doesn't seem to have a lot of gal or guy pals around, and I guess her brother died not long ago, so she's probably lonely.

I did laugh at Che imitating Miranda sneaking away. Che nailed it, and how ridiculous it was, too.

People didn't have a lot of entertainments then so guests were a usual and welcome part of their lives. Bringing a young woman to visit the family was a way of gaining companionship for the wife and indeed they were repaying Charlotte for her help when they were in distress. The "strangers" were a respectable married couple wealthier and more socially prominent than the Heywood family and they were taking her to a known destination. It was an opportunity for their daughter of marriage age to get out into the world and also meet eligible men. Charlotte wrote to her family regularly (probably letters sent one day arrived the next) so they knew who she was spending time with (she dined at the home of LADY Denham!) and what was happening to her. We don't know her family's exact social standing (and I don't recall how it's described int the book), but Charlotte would not have been treated as a child-minder. She was a guest because her father was a land-owner (a yeoman farmer or perhaps lower gentry) and had some means. She has a place on the social ladder just a rung or two below the Parkers. ETA: In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland goes to visit the home of her "friend" Eleanor Tilney even though they have only known each other for a couple of weeks, and her parents don't have any objection. Neither they nor the older couple whom Catherine is traveling with in Bath know Eleanor's father.

I just finished re-watching what we can now call Season 1, and I'd entirely forgotten how it ended, other than that Eliza and Babbington married. Yes, I forgot that Sidney nearly proposed (thisclose!) to Charlotte then chose to marry Eliza. This time round I still found Sidney mostly rude to Charlotte and lacking in *something* so in the end I was ok with him making a decision that would have been quite accepted at the time. Now he can pine for Charlotte while married to the girl he originally pined for. Charlotte is I think too far above Young Stringer to marry him so I never considered that a possibility but their interactions were enjoyable. Had he been a striving young architect, the younger son of the lowest gentry or a yeoman farmer, then perhaps. He and his father were skilled workers (artisans) and he had risen to being a foreman, but that is all. (I'm still sad and upset that he burned his design for the pagoda!) He was poor and she is the daughter of a land-owning farmer, as some have pointed out, somewhat similar to the Bennets in social standing and not as cash-poor. She barely glanced at him in anything other than friendship and a desire to encourage his talent and ambition, and she was oblivious to his feelings for her. I didn't mind that he fell for her and knew he had no chance against Sidney as it added to the overall story. So I'm looking forward to S2 and S3 for new love interests for Charlotte and Miss Lambe, more on returning characters, and a furthering of the story of Sanditon seaside resort itself. I don't really see this as a "Jane Austen" adaptation so I'm open to whatever happens and can ignore most of the anachronisms. Even the title "Sanditon" points it to being more about the town and the cast of characters than to specific characters as in Austen's novels.

Some of these "new money" men did not begin life as upper class. They may have come from nowhere and nothing before making their money, and they may have acquired a wife in the pre-wealth days whose past is very questionable.

If Marian is 18 to 20 then I'd say her father left his sisters 25-30 years ago. Closer to 30 I guess if Agnes's son is 26-28. Many people married in their late teens to mid 20s back then. Marian believed that she would inherit the house at least, believing that her father owned it until the lawyer told her it was merely rented/leased. He must have had some means of earning money enough to keep his family respectable but not enough to leave anything behind.

I thought so but the show seems to be making him an older millennial (late 30s to early 40s). At least, I can't guess what they mean his age to be or Che's so that's what I assume because they act as if Carrie is so much older, for example, the call to Jackie asking for a "cool" way to tell her noisey neighbors to shut the hell up.

I think "Belgravia" was supposed to be a one-season series, and that originally it was supposed to be a couple more episodes in length (maybe 10 vs 8) but was then limited, so they had to stuff too much Into the final two episodes. Although everything got wrapped up, the ending felt rushed. There was a sense of urgency that worked well in some ways, but I still wished some story lines could have played out more slowly.

Fellowes included dialogue and a few situations where it was shown that Lord G fell in love with Cora after marrying her for her money, that they loved each other and were happily married despite occasional struggles, and that they weren't very interested in having affairs. Some couples do stay in love and remain faithful, and that's how Fellowes wrote them. I don't think it's overly romantic. And again here he is writing a couple who are a strong match and appreciate each other.

There are still plenty of people who judge others according to lineage, money, and social standing.

I’m not good with ages but some of the women appear to be in their 40s and 50s. Not all women go gray so early, or fully gray. Ada is, I believe, 60 so probably would be gray or faded blond. I’m 59 and have very little gray in my mousey blond hair, which I’ve never colored.

In these circles a woman of no birth or fortune who was known to be pregnant before marriage was not someone wealthy, well-born socialites wanted to be around or expose their daughters to. These women were “pure” when they married. As well as being unthinkable, there would be very little opportunity to have sex prior to marriage. Or the worst, Mrs. Chamberlain may have been a prostitute, or rumored to be one. Possibly Mrs. C was first her husband’s known mistress (huge double standard about adultery in these circles at that time) and then when widowed he took her as his second wife, as happened in “The Age of Innocence”. Whatever her scandalous story, I’m guessing that it won’t be as horrible as the rumors suggest and in fact most of it might turn out not to be true. Maybe she ran a boarding house but gossip turned it into a "house of ill repute.”

And Lisette from time to time. I liked her and we need someone of the younger generation besides Jackie and Smoke.

I felt like the conversation Miranda had with Brady in the finale was an oblique reference to the conversation they should have had. She asks Brady, "Are you ever going to say something about [slight pause] my hair?" And he asks what happened to "gray power" then tells her it's all good, makes a joke, and takes off on his trip. So apparently he's cool with everything, including her "gray power" turning to "gay power". I don't know, yet otherwise why even have that scene? But yeah, again the writers chose not to address directly how her son actually feels about his mother abruptly leaving his dad for her non-binary lover. Such a missed opportunity for storytelling with depth. Instead we get a few trite remarks and a handwave of behavior that most of us would have been shocked, angry, or at least puzzled to witness in a parent. Ok, so Brady was in the "ally section" [are there "ally sections" at Pride rallies, and if so, why?] at a Pride rally. That doesn't mean that he just shrugs off his mom upending her whole life as well as his dad's.

If Carrie could participate in the podcast from her bedroom (with a more professional microphone supplied by Che), then why can't Che participate from L.A.? Che's not going to be filming the pilot 24/7. And they're calling it a podcast, so it's not a radio call-in show with set times for being "on air", thus the time difference can be overcome. Sheesh.

And I still don't understand why Brady was made to be 17 when if we follow the basic SATC timeline, he'd be around 20. He could still be living at home doing college classes remotely and then the (nearly) live-in girlfriend would be more realistic. Even Che offering him weed at the funeral would have been more understandable (to Che he's a young adult, not an older teen) while still upsetting Miranda (Che's a stranger, Brady is her kid and he's at a funeral). These writing choices just baffle me.

Or have the story be that a previously filmed pilot had been picked up and Che has to move to L.A. to film x number of episodes? Again it's like the writers think we're all stupid. Most of us know what a pilot is, and that often they are not picked up, or even if they are, sometimes the show gets cancelled after only a few episodes have aired. Success is not guaranteed, certainly not enough at this stage that Miranda has to give up a prestigious internship and her career plans to sit in Che's audience and watch a pilot being filmed. How long does it take to film a pilot anyway? Definitely not months, and there's no reason for Che to just hang out in Hollywood waiting for word of whether it's been picked up or not. Clearly Che's life is much more flexible than Miranda's, and maybe Che wants to be based in L.A. and will continue to do standup and shows ("comedy concerts"). Did "non-traditional" Che ask Miranda to live together "permanently" or just hang out for a few weeks? I'm like Miranda, I don't know what's going on! I wish Rabbi Jen had not interrupted Carrie before she could tell Miranda "you're living in a fantasy!"

And Che is "going to be the next Roseanne" ? I . . . did not and do not like Roseanne. Not sure why they threw out that comparison as if she is someone to aspire to.

Yes, I think that is where we viewers are rightfully offended. We are presented well-known and (for some) beloved characters now in their mid 50s and we had imagined we'd see growth and maturity along with some drama and a few well-timed laughs. We expected we'd see the strong friendships continuing, which indeed means sometimes calling out unethical or self-destructive or just plain asshole behavior. Instead we see this character's regression as she is made to act out and it seems justify Cynthia Nixon's real-life journey toward "happiness" and "freedom" from an unfulfilling life of her own making. And there are no consequences; it all seems to be "happily ever after", no regard for anyone left behind much less wounded. Will MPK and the writers' room take these "notes" and give Miranda a different arc next season? Will we see Miranda return and have to pick up the pieces of her life she so casually and willfully discarded? That would mean MPK giving in and admitting the audience was "right", but at least maybe we'd get a believable story out of it. I for one don't care to see Miranda again as she was my least favorite of the foursome, but I know sending her packing is unlikely. Samantha went to L.A. and returned to NYC (with a paunch and a pooch!). Che may get relegated to "oh, she's on tour but we DM all the time" status though (I hope).

The Atlantic changed the article title to “We Need to Talk About Miranda”. (They seem to do that often.) Yes, good article, sums up and explains a lot of our complaints. ETA: Another good article about Che, Miranda, and the show’s failures from The Independent.

According to this article he was never supposed to be on the show. There are other articles, including one I posted in the Media thread, with his quote that he would be returning and thought he’d be in “several episodes”. I think maybe he was playing along with the “will he or won’t he?” interviewer questions in the media frenzy about the show. But the other actors who teased that “maybe” they’d be back were later confirmed as definite by the producers. I figured John Corbett was exaggerating and we’d get one short scene or maybe an e-mail (SATC callback), so was surprised that he wasn’t on at all, and it’s clear that he didn’t film a cameo that later got cut.

I recommend Sarita Choudhury’s 2016 film “A Hologram for the King” with co-star Tom Hanks, or go all the way back to 1992’s “Mississippi Masala” with co-star Denzel Washington, directed by Mira Nair.

And it's what we ALL thought of and were WAITING for! Why couldn't you give us that one thing, Show? The lame "jokes" and comments that followed her "he died so I win" declaration weren't even funny either.