Sanditon - General Discussion

[pezgirl7]

I didn't even understand why Charlotte had to go on the trip to find Augusta. I don't think she had any extra knowledge or skill to help track her down. It would have made more sense for Colbourne to take his brother along. But that doesn't assist the romantic storylines.

Edited April 19, 2023 by pezgirl7

[smartymarty]

52 minutes ago, pezgirl7 said:

I didn't even understand why Charlotte had to go on the trip to find Augusta. I don't think she had any extra knowledge or skill to help track her down. It would have made more sense for Colbourne to take his brother along. But that doesn't assist the romantic storylines.

I think they said because she could talk with Augusta better. Of course, Colbourne didn't know then that it was her talking with Augusta that resulted in this mess.

And yeah, I figured it was to assist the romantic storyline, but then nothing romantic happened! So WT-heck?

(Also, just being petty, but why did the writers have Charlotte suggest *in the morning* that Colbourne try to sleep after travelling all night? Wouldn't that have been a suggestion at, say, 2 a.m.? "Get some sleep. We won't be there until after dawn.")

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, smartymarty said:

I thought the same thing, then figured "okay, maybe the carriage only fits two people?" But then it fit Augusta just fine for the ride home. Made no sense that Ralph did not go too. Besides the decorum issue, he was upset with Charlotte's "just one more thing" (TM Columbo) so could have said "I'll come and help find them too."

Being generous towards the writers: Perhaps they originally planned to have Ralph go too, and have him observing the Charlotte and Colbourne electricity up close and personal during an interminably long carriage ride there and back, but it got cut for the shorter season.

Or (still playing Devil's Angel's Advocate) maybe the carriage only fits 3 and they needed to leave room for Augusta on the return trip.

[Daff]

5 hours ago, pezgirl7 said:

I don't think she had any extra knowledge or skill t

Charlotte’s hard-earned relationship with Augusta is what turned the rebellious, insolent teen into a thinking, caring, human being only an eye blink ago. It’s the whole reason why Colbourn even gave her a second glance when she was governess. She essentially tamed both his OOC wards, and he was in awe.

Colbourn had no doubt he’d find her, but he had absolutely no clue how to dissuade her-he knew his attempts to do that were doomed to failure.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Daff

[nara]

Since it’s unclear if most people have seen the season 3/series finale I will put my thoughts in spoiler mode. 

Spoiler

I found the Charlotte-Colbourne romance to be insufferable. I get that they had to scramble when Theo James decided to leave but another surly guy was not the only path they could have followed. I actually like young Stringer better for Charlotte—though I think we can all agree that Theo James is swoon worthy. Young Stringer could have returned to Sanditon after his studies.

Given the relationship of Charlotte-Colbourne in season 2, I think I would have preferred having Charlotte have a friendship to love relationship with Ralph in season 3 and have Colbourne marry Lady Lydia instead.

I liked the Augusta-Edward storyline and I liked the way it ended—with him having changed a little, as evidenced by his sacrifice for Augusta’s own good, but not having had a ridiculous personality transplant. I loved his reaction to the idea of being a clergyman. 

I would have liked to see more of Susan’s dilemma with a summons from the king. It never occurred to me to wonder how much choice she really had in the matter and I would have liked some insight into history here.

How is Leo still wearing short hair and pants in public in the last scene? I am all for her tomboyish, but there are still conventions that it’s unlikely Colbourne and Charlotte would ignore. They should have at least changed her hair to show some aging of the girl. Augusta was looking quite grown up at the wedding.

I liked the ending related to the development of Sanditon. I really believe business growth and worker welfare are not mutually exclusive.

I found Georgiana’s overall storyline a little uninteresting, but I am glad she ended up in a place to use her fortune for good.

I wish Arthur could have ended in a better place. The duke has to marry someone, though, but the next person might not be as understanding as Georgiana.

 

[HoodlumSheep]

Well that was wrapped up as neat and tidy as you could get.

Everybody gets a happy ending or as near to one as they could.

Good for Lady Denham for jilting Mr. Pryce at the alter. Glad she didn't sacrifice her independence. I'm cool with him visiting every few months though. He could always decide to move closer if he wanted to. Just saying.

Picturing Edward as a clergyman...lololol.

Georgiana x Otis ending up together...I only wish we could have gotten more Otis in this instance. We got to see him twice compared to him being mentioned what felt like a dozen times over this season.

Congrats to Lydia on her secret engagement! She deserves it. Good for her. If only we had gotten more time with her! I wish we could have seen her with her beau as well.

Edited April 24, 2023 by HoodlumSheep

[alias1]

I had a suspicion that Lydia had a secret boyfriend that wasn't Colbourne.  I wish we could have seen them together at the end.  Pretty much everything turned out the way we all thought. 

[Doublemint]

It seemed odd that Edward would be at Colbourne's wedding reception.   Maybe he becomes a clergyman and eventually marries Augusta.

Mrs. Colbourne with a new baby and teaching school?  "Women can be doctors and lawyers" from Leo and Augusta?  The ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

[pezgirl7]

14 minutes ago, Doublemint said:

Maybe he becomes a clergyman and eventually marries Augusta.

He was dressed like the other clergyman so I thought he already had become one. Or at least was in training. I have no idea what becoming one entails. Almost seems like all you need is a rich person to offer you the position.  I doubt he marries Augusta. She was chatting up a young man, and he already had his eye on another woman. I’d watch a show with him as a debauched clergyman! He was one of the most interesting characters in my opinion. 
 

I felt a bit bad for Charlotte at the end. Judging by her baby’s age, she must have gotten pregnant right away. And doubtful that she would have returned to work so soon while her baby still needed so much care. I know many rich people hired wet nurses, but I can’t see her doing that. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by pezgirl7

[JustDucky]

Well, that was all tied up in a lovely satin bow.  If there'd been a little more drama, a bit less tidiness, somebody not blissfully happy (Edward's 'calling' to the clergy notwithstanding), I might be a bit more satisfied.  After all, even Lady de Bourgh in P&P got her just desserts in the end.

Could've left off the "One Year Later" coda and been just fine.  The Babies Ever After trope isn't one of my favorites.

Xander Colburne's actor looks so much more pleasant when he smiles.  He's no slouch in the looks area (Your Mileage May Vary), but he's better looking when he's happy.  (Aren't' we all?)

On to Tom Jones!

[voiceover]

Just as I was snarling at the gods (and the clock) over the end of my favorite romance…Susan came back to him!!  I actually squeaked!  

I was glad for Xander.  I’m not a Theo James fan (ugh, prob Downton Abbey’s fault), so I didn’t have any trouble with Charlotte’s change of heart.

But I could’ve done without the grrrlll powr coda.  I love a good fanfic, and this series had its moments, but that last bit?  Barf-making.

[quarks]

YOU get a happy ending and YOU get a happy ending and YOU get a happy ending but YOU DON'T - just kidding, this king seriously sucks and has had two wives already and doesn't need to rob an attorney of his chance to go straight so YOU get a happy ending but YOU - just kidding; staying in your own home and only having the greedy guy visit you every couple of months and getting him to pay the entire costs for the hotel, absolutely the most happy and almost the most unrealistic happy ending I have ever seen, bar none.

I say almost, because this show also gave us Charlotte, carrying a child who looks suspiciously large for just one year after the wedding (I'm guessing she and Colborne did not actually wait until the wedding day but let us move past this scandalous point), assuring us that girls can do anything and Charlotte, uh, no. Just. No. Granted, you have been able to do virtually anything, including travelling alone in a carriage at night with an unmarried man, and now, running a village school, but that is absolutely not true for other women in this period. Kindly pause for a moment and read both Pride and Prejudice and Emma and learn something from your predecessors, because your current sentence makes this one of the most unrealistic happy endings I've ever seen.

While I'm questioning Charlotte's story, how did she get the carriage to stop, did she expect the two carriage drivers to just wait there while she got her romantic subplots together, couldn't Colborne have caught up to her either before she got into the carriage or after she got out of it near the ship, and while I'm asking questions, who paid for this private carriage anyway, and if it isn't taking Charlotte on a ship to Ireland anymore what it is doing? I just have a lot of questions here.

I am also questioning the plan to make Edward a clergyman. His shocked response was probably the only time I have agreed with him for this entire show. Very glad to catch that glimpse of Augusta chatting up someone else.

Also glad to see Lady Susan and the attorney, the sister and the doctor, and - kinda - Arthur and the Duke. I think Arthur can just quietly support the Duke financially while the Duke rents out a few of those houses or something and this should all work out. Or at least I shall tell myself that it worked out. Kinda sad that Lady Lydia didn't get her happy ending on screen - and kinda sad that she turned out to be marrying a guy, not a girl. Oh well. I guess with that many happy endings it was too much to expect that I would get mine.

[Andyourlittledog2]

2 hours ago, Doublemint said:

he ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

Yeah, this whole series was if the Regency happened in 2023.  I am so tired of modern sensibilities being cast onto the lives of people from hundreds of years ago.  After a while people will wonder why anyone felt the need to 'progress' at all, since the old days were so free and easy and equal. Just us with different clothes.  It's hard to immerse yourself in a past when the authors insist on pretending nothing is really much different.

I found the ending too easy, too much of 'and they all lived happily ever after'. 

[Andyourlittledog2]

1 hour ago, quarks said:

While I'm questioning Charlotte's story, how did she get the carriage to stop, did she expect the two carriage drivers to just wait there while she got her romantic subplots together, couldn't Colborne have caught up to her either before she got into the carriage or after she got out of it near the ship, and while I'm asking questions, who paid for this private carriage anyway, and if it isn't taking Charlotte on a ship to Ireland anymore what it is doing? I just have a lot of questions here.

Seriously, that was an expensive carriage for a farmer's daughter's exclusive use to go to the docks.  Who paid for that? 

[MJ Frog]

19 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

After a while people will wonder why anyone felt the need to 'progress' at all, since the old days were so free and easy and equal. Just us with different clothes.

I have had that thought a number of times during this series. But it seems to be the way of things now -- see all new period dramas.

That said, I am so happy Lady Susan got her happy ending. She was my favorite. Sophie Winkleman was very well cast, and not just because she has the can't-take-your-eyes-off-her beauty one would expect of a King's courtesan. Although, you know, that was pretty nice. She also had a sort of calm, kind, and knowing presence in the middle of all the drama that made her enormously appealing and sympathetic.

[shapeshifter]

26 minutes ago, MJ Frog said:

I am so happy Lady Susan got her happy ending.

I missed how that happened. 
The King demanded she return -- but she could choose not to return if she was cheeky enough? Probably not that, but what?

[gingerella]

4 hours ago, Doublemint said:

Mrs. Colbourne with a new baby and teaching school?  "Women can be doctors and lawyers" from Leo and Augusta?  The ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

Maybe it's part of a new franchise, Back to the Regency...?

[MJ Frog]

47 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

1 hour ago, MJ Frog said:

I am so happy Lady Susan got her happy ending.

I missed how that happened. 
The King demanded she return -- but she could choose not to return if she was cheeky enough? Probably not that, but what?

Movie magic. I think we're just supposed to quietly hand-wave the fact that ignoring the royal booty call would make her and her new husband's lives a misery of social and professional consequences. But, happy ending! Yay!

[seasons]

The ending at the reception where charlotte views everyone happy and together in slow motion reminded me of the end of “Titanic”. Old lady Rose warm in her bed, dreaming of being back on the ship with Jack and everyone else, slow motion, dreamy sequences. I love a good happy ending. I did have some questions about some of the plot gaps (in Sanditon and Titanic!) but let them go for the most part. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by seasons

[Orcinus orca]

I was lukewarm about this whole series but it was pleasant enough until last night when it turned into a Disney flick.  Eye rolling all over the place at my house.  Every single story all "happily ever after" including spending a boatload of money on the peasants to make everyone warm and cozy.  In what universe would that happen except Disneyland?

I have always hated One Year Later crap and they had to go a do that.

8 hours ago, Doublemint said:

The ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

Yep, that's it in a nutshell.

I did let out a snort when seeing Edward in his clergyman get up.  Hee!

 

The WGBH recap.

 

[smartymarty]

I was okay with the happy ending. The show is over; let's let all plots tie up pleasantly.

Agree about Otis though -- we barely saw him to understand that there was still True Love there. (I can't remember now what the falling out with him was about in season one? Was he redeemed only by finding G's mother?)

And so tired of Charlotte. Didn't care for the Surprise! Lydia likes someone else! pulled out of a hat. Glad only for Colbourne to be happy. (Better would have been he marries Lydia and Charlotte becomes the spinster teacher.)

Really was just rooting for Lady Susan and the minister's sister.

WTF was that with Mr. Parker leaving his dying wife's bedside to visit Old Town??? Why couldn't he wait? Fortunately for him, she was Not Dead Yet when he returned. (I never understood this plot -- does he somehow own the land that Old Town sits on? That's why he could evict everyone?)

Why did Georgiana's mother leave and then come back? Besides Plot Reasons. She was upset by the money, left a note saying that, but then came back anyway. Couldn't she have just gone to Georgiana with the money and told her about it? (I guess she went to London to see if Otis still loved G, but she could have sent a note to him instead? Or told G "I'll be right back," since going to London seems to only take half a day.)

Edited April 24, 2023 by smartymarty
forgot about G's mother

[iMonrey]

I've never understood this show's aversion to having Charlotte wear her hair up. Even at her own wedding she was the one and only person at the reception with her hair hanging down her back.

I think there were basically just too many stories going here. It's weird that Lady Lydia was having a secret romance with someone we never even got to see. And that they brought Otis back for all of two episodes so Georgiana could marry him. The subplot with her mother didn't really work very well, there was too little time devoted to it. Charlotte didn't really do anything all season except make moon faces at Colbourne and brush off farmer Ralph.

Quote

Granted, you have been able to do virtually anything, including travelling alone in a carriage at night with an unmarried man, and now, running a village school, but that is absolutely not true for other women in this period. Kindly pause for a moment and read both Pride and Prejudice and Emma and learn something from your predecessors, because your current sentence makes this one of the most unrealistic happy endings I've ever seen.

A lot has been written about the anachronisms, but I wonder if it might have been a little easier to color outside the lines in a beach resort like Sanditon. I mean, they're not in London. It's a small, exclusive community where everyone seems to know each other.

[MaryHedwig]

42 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

It's weird that Lady Lydia was having a secret romance with someone we never even got to see.

I had to complete this story in my own head. "Lydia is marrying the Colbourne's groomsman. That why Lydia spent so much time with on Zander's property riding the horses."

[Daff]

On 4/23/2023 at 10:38 AM, nara said:

Since it’s unclear if most people have seen the season 3/series finale I will put my thoughts in spoiler mode. 

  Reveal spoiler

I found the Charlotte-Colbourne romance to be insufferable. I get that they had to scramble when Theo James decided to leave but another surly guy was not the only path they could have followed. I actually like young Stringer better for Charlotte—though I think we can all agree that Theo James is swoon worthy. Young Stringer could have returned to Sanditon after his studies.

Given the relationship of Charlotte-Colbourne in season 2, I think I would have preferred having Charlotte have a friendship to love relationship with Ralph in season 3 and have Colbourne marry Lady Lydia instead.

I liked the Augusta-Edward storyline and I liked the way it ended—with him having changed a little, as evidenced by his sacrifice for Augusta’s own good, but not having had a ridiculous personality transplant. I loved his reaction to the idea of being a clergyman. 

I would have liked to see more of Susan’s dilemma with a summons from the king. It never occurred to me to wonder how much choice she really had in the matter and I would have liked some insight into history here.

How is Leo still wearing short hair and pants in public in the last scene? I am all for her tomboyish, but there are still conventions that it’s unlikely Colbourne and Charlotte would ignore. They should have at least changed her hair to show some aging of the girl. Augusta was looking quite grown up at the wedding.

I liked the ending related to the development of Sanditon. I really believe business growth and worker welfare are not mutually exclusive.

I found Georgiana’s overall storyline a little uninteresting, but I am glad she ended up in a place to use her fortune for good.

I wish Arthur could have ended in a better place. The duke has to marry someone, though, but the next person might not be as understanding as Georgiana.

 

The Susan outcome made sense only if you realize what she gave up to reject the “summons”. Apparently, as she traveled, she realized that she valued Samuel and his professed love/care over the gifts, clandestine societal recognition/status and “freedom” that her association with the king afforded her. Besides, she probably reflected upon her recent “out of favor” status, and not liking it, thought about future, similar rejections (inevitable). If she chooses not to value and participate in that lifestyle any longer, there’s little the king can do, and he probably is on to greener pastures anyway.

[Daff]

16 hours ago, alias1 said:

I had a suspicion that Lydia had a secret boyfriend that wasn't Colbourne.  I wish we could have seen them together at the end.  Pretty much everything turned out the way we all thought. 

It was strongly implied, when over tea, she admitted that “Mother” had abruptly ended an unsuitable association in the past. She announced it with some weird sort of bravado, as if to say, “Wink wink, so SHE thinks.”

[Daff]

15 hours ago, Doublemint said:

It seemed odd that Edward would be at Colbourne's wedding reception.   Maybe he becomes a clergyman and eventually marries Augusta.

Mrs. Colbourne with a new baby and teaching school?  "Women can be doctors and lawyers" from Leo and Augusta?  The ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

I agree with the anachronism, but for a second, there’s a long shot down the aisle toward the very back of the church. There stood Edward, donned in his drab ‘vicar in training’ robe! Apparently his contribution to the ceremony was to close the door once everyone was seated.

[Daff]

6 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

I was lukewarm about this whole series but it was pleasant enough until last night when it turned into a Disney flick.  Eye rolling all over the place at my house.  Every single story all "happily ever after" including spending a boatload of money on the peasants to make everyone warm and cozy.  In what universe would that happen except Disneyland?

I have always hated One Year Later crap and they had to go a do that.

Yep, that's it in a nutshell.

I did let out a snort when seeing Edward in his clergyman get up.  Hee!

 

The WGBH recap.

 

Great capture for those who might have missed it. Seemed like less than a second, and was a tiny shot..I laughed hysterically.

[Dehumidifier]

The way the episode started I thought they were going to break the mold and give everyone an unhappy ending. Disappointed that they didn't.

[Daff]

36 minutes ago, Dehumidifier said:

The way the episode started I thought they were going to break the mold and give everyone an unhappy ending. Disappointed that they didn't.

And the completely fairytale ending shot, panning out, as if the utopia of Sanditon miraculously solved the problem of street grime and squalor with universal good intentions. Rather Hallmarkian, no?

[Orcinus orca]

1 hour ago, Daff said:

Rather Hallmarkian, no?

And since I hate Hallmark crap, this entire thing was a deadly dull disappointment.

And in what universe did they applaud the newlyweds IN A CHURCH in the 1800's?  Oh, yes, Hallmarkia.

[magdalene]

2 hours ago, Daff said:

The Susan outcome made sense only if you realize what she gave up to reject the “summons”. Apparently, as she traveled, she realized that she valued Samuel and his professed love/care over the gifts, clandestine societal recognition/status and “freedom” that her association with the king afforded her. Besides, she probably reflected upon her recent “out of favor” status, and not liking it, thought about future, similar rejections (inevitable). If she chooses not to value and participate in that lifestyle any longer, there’s little the king can do, and he probably is on to greener pastures anyway.

I agree that nothing adverse would have happened to her. This wasn't the MA where they had absolute power monarchs. I looked up who would have been king during that time period, and it was George IV, the one who came after the wackadoodle George.  This George was an overweight and promiscuous man who spent way too much on frivolous things. He wasn't overly bright and unpopular with his subjects. Just write him a diplomatic letter flattering his ego and make it seem her moving on is his idea. A new shiny would have caught his eye soon anyways.

Well, this was an ending.  Happy endings ranging from the satisfying to the ridiculous, to the meh!

Charlotte teaching school soon after having a baby was ridiculous. Ladies did do charitable works but not in these circumstances.

I didn't like Otis ending up with Georgianna.  Wasn't it him who participated in her kidnapping in the first season to pay off his gambling debts?

I am pleased about darling Arthur and the Duke,  Susan and her dream boat lawyer and the vicar's sister and Herr Doctor.

I am tickled about Edward becoming a clergy man.  We saw him already eyeing another lady.  Hopefully he'll give some bored married women a thrill and some good councel  to a few people in need. Sometimes a sinner becomes a saint? Eh, probably not in this case though.

I would like to see Jack Fox in other things. He is a good actor, not a surprise given his family. My mother likes both his father James and his uncle Edward. Those Foxes have got it going on.

[quarks]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

A lot has been written about the anachronisms, but I wonder if it might have been a little easier to color outside the lines in a beach resort like Sanditon. I mean, they're not in London. It's a small, exclusive community where everyone seems to know each other.

I'm not sure that the beach resort offered all that much leeway in Jane Austen's world. In real life, maybe, sure, but in Persuasion, everyone makes a point that yes, they at least sorta have to follow the rules even though they are in the beach resort of Lyme - that's why Mary and Anne don't talk to Evil Cousin Elliott there, and part of why they have a huge discussion of who is the most proper person to take care of Louisa after her fall and who can be sent to get the parents with the least amount of scandal. And although Lydia and Wickham end up eloping from the beach resort of Brighton, it's still considered scandalous enough to pollute the shades of Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. 

But agreed on the everyone seeming to know one another, which I think will be a future problem for Augusta and Edward, who apparently will still be meeting fairly frequently. (Three times just in this episode!)

[norcalgal]

19 hours ago, Doublemint said:

Mrs. Colbourne with a new baby and teaching school?  "Women can be doctors and lawyers" from Leo and Augusta?  The ending was 2023.  It didn't fit at all.

 

16 hours ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Yeah, this whole series was if the Regency happened in 2023.  I am so tired of modern sensibilities being cast onto the lives of people from hundreds of years ago.  After a while people will wonder why anyone felt the need to 'progress' at all, since the old days were so free and easy and equal. Just us with different clothes.  It's hard to immerse yourself in a past when the authors insist on pretending nothing is really much different.

I found the ending too easy, too much of 'and they all lived happily ever after'. 

ITA to both posts above.  :::::: clapping with a standing ovation :::::::::

15 hours ago, MJ Frog said:

That said, I am so happy Lady Susan got her happy ending. She was my favorite. Sophie Winkleman was very well cast, and not just because she has the can't-take-your-eyes-off-her beauty one would expect of a King's courtesan. Although, you know, that was pretty nice. She also had a sort of calm, kind, and knowing presence in the middle of all the drama that made her enormously appealing and sympathetic.

Man did I ever come to love Lady Susan and Sam Colbourne.  So freaking happy they did get together in the end. However, see below.

3 hours ago, Daff said:

The Susan outcome made sense only if you realize what she gave up to reject the “summons”. Apparently, as she traveled, she realized that she valued Samuel and his professed love/care over the gifts, clandestine societal recognition/status and “freedom” that her association with the king afforded her. Besides, she probably reflected upon her recent “out of favor” status, and not liking it, thought about future, similar rejections (inevitable). If she chooses not to value and participate in that lifestyle any longer, there’s little the king can do, and he probably is on to greener pastures anyway.

So Lady Susan and Sam are together, but is it “happily ever after”?  I bolded the above post because I do wonder if the King would just quickly and easily move past Susan’s diss of him. The King might not have any real feelings for Susan, and only wanted her for her beauty (and other reasons), but he’s the monarch.  Would he be ok with someone - much less a woman - ignoring his summons?  After all, there’s a reason the phrase “it’s good to be King” exists.  I wonder if the king would retaliate in some way IRL. 

One thing I wish this final episode did was go from Charlotte and Colbourne finally getting together romantically at the cliff side straight to the “One Year Later” and not bother with either the wedding ceremony or the wedding reception because it was SO glaringly obvious that Charlotte did not have *a single family member* in attendance!!??  And here I thought she came from a loving, close knit family. The show really needed to hire a bunch of people in non speaking roles and allude to them as Charlotte’s family in some way, instead of panning crowd shots that give the sense strangers in those shots were just that - strangers (who I’m guessing were supposed to be Sanditon residents). I mean, you’re already showing strangers, just shoot in a way that conveys they’re her family! Is it really that hard?  (And non speaking roles would cut down on the cost of the actors)

[norcalgal]

23 minutes ago, magdalene said:

I agree that nothing adverse would have happened to her. This wasn't the MA where they had absolute power monarchs. I looked up who would have been king during that time period, and it was George IV, the one who came after the wackadoodle George.  This George was an overweight and promiscuous man who spent way too much on frivolous things. He wasn't overly bright and unpopular with his subjects. Just write him a diplomatic letter flattering his ego and make it seem her moving on is his idea. A new shiny would have caught his eye soon anyways.

Charlotte teaching school soon after having a baby was ridiculous. Ladies did do charitable works but not in these circumstances.

Thanks for providing a reasonable explanation of how Lady Susan and by extension, her and Sam Colbourne could have indeed had a happy life together and not worry about a vindictive monarch.

As for Teacher Charlotte, was it illegal for women of a certain social rank to work? Lower class women had no choice, but I thought it was illegal  - or if not illegal, then common practice for women at/above a certain status not to work outside of the home?  

[Andyourlittledog2]

The thing that made it so 'Disney' for me was the way the school was crystal clean and perfect and all the poor children had nice clean new clothes and everyone was happy and healthy and charming. And there was daddy Colburne, meeting his wife at the school door, baby in arms, so they he could walk his working wife home in bliss. Mr Mom, Regency edition.  I doubt the writers have any idea at all about the period they are writing about, or have a terrible case of shoulda beens.

The only thing missing was the little birds fluttering around them and the sparkly magic dust.

[MaryHedwig]

3 hours ago, Daff said:

And the completely fairytale ending shot, panning out, as if the utopia of Sanditon miraculously solved the problem of street grime and squalor with universal good intentions. Rather Hallmarkian, no?

Except that the title said 'One Year Later' (from the Charlotte-Zander wedding and that baby was definitely older than three months.

[Andyourlittledog2]

9 minutes ago, MaryHedwig said:

Except that the title said 'One Year Later' (from the Charlotte-Zander wedding and that baby was definitely older than three months.

It's like casting dept thought, one year, and found a baby less than a year old. Forgot about nine months of pregnancy. I mean, there was no one else whose baby that could have been meant to be in that scene. So weird. So dumb.

[shapeshifter]

16 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Man did I ever come to love Lady Susan and Sam Colbourne.

Too bad Sanditon Seasons 2 & 3 didn't follow the Bridgerton model of focusing on different romantic pairs, specifically, for Season 3, Lady Susan (no relation to Austen's character of Lady Susan) and Sam Colbourne, who were arguably more engaging than any of the Bridgerton or other Sanditon Charlotte Plus-One pairings.

[Doublemint]

1 hour ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

The thing that made it so 'Disney' for me was the way the school was crystal clean and perfect and all the poor children had nice clean new clothes and everyone was happy and healthy and charming. And there was daddy Colburne, meeting his wife at the school door, baby in arms, so they he could walk his working wife home in bliss. Mr Mom, Regency edition.  I doubt the writers have any idea at all about the period they are writing about, or have a terrible case of shoulda beens.

The only thing missing was the little birds fluttering around them and the sparkly magic dust.

THIS

[MaryHedwig]

1 hour ago, MaryHedwig said:

Except that the title said 'One Year Later' (from the Charlotte-Zander wedding) and that baby was definitely older than three months.

Oh my gosh! I just did the math. Could that baby (who looks at least six months old to me) be Charlotte's and Ralph's? Could Colbourne be raising yet one more child that he didn't shire? What god did he piss off?

[dizzyd]

JA is rolling in her grave with the storylines of this season. No way would she have written any of that besides the preservation of old town Sanditon and even the actors seemed to just be going through the motions to bring it to an end. Honestly everything after Sydney and Esther was boring and don’t get me started on Edward’s redemption, so I’m glad it’s over. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by dizzyd

[norcalgal]

31 minutes ago, dizzyd said:

Honestly everything after Sydney and Esther was boring, so it’s good it’s over. 

When we learned there would be a second season, we speculated it was because of the success of Bridgerton, so I wonder how well Sanditon fared in the ratings.

[ComeWhatMay]

Honesty I figured the writers just went whole hog on Regency 2023 with a mama-to-be bride, even before the one year later. 

Zander rocking up to Charlotte’s work with the baby at the end had me rolling too. The actors did carry it off, I thought, to their credit. 

Austen was in a class by herself and she never had to contend with actors leaving. They tried. 

[magdalene]

You betcha that this show only suddenly got uncanceled when Bridgerton hit it big on netflix.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Leonora was my favorite character, always seemed to bring everything together. 

[quarks]

2 hours ago, norcalgal said:

As for Teacher Charlotte, was it illegal for women of a certain social rank to work? Lower class women had no choice, but I thought it was illegal  - or if not illegal, then common practice for women at/above a certain status not to work outside of the home?  

I don't think it was common, but it wasn't unheard of either for women in the gentry/aristocratic classes to pursue what we might now call careers in writing, art, music, physics/mathematics (Mary Somerville), geology (Elizabeth Philpot.) And Lady Byron founded a school after her disastrous marriage to Lord Byron.

Despite that, the idea that Colborne would look after the suspiciously large almost certainly conceived before the wedding baby while Charlotte taught at the school seemed a bit off to me.

[magdalene]

There was also Lord Byron's only legitimate child,  Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852)  an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer. (Wiki)

That woman was a genius.  And considered eccentric.  I am sure it was probably easier to be "eccentric" if you were an aristocrat and had the support of your aristocratic husband, like Lady Lovelace did.   It would have been so hard for a commoner to even get the opportunity to go against society norms for women.

As to our fictional character Charlotte, she was only able to teach at that school because her husband "permitted" it.  Had he said "no"  she couldn't have done it. Once a woman married her husband had a lot of legal rights over her.  That's why it made a lot of sense for Edwards aunt to spurn her suitor at the altar. She had gotten to love her independence over the years.

Edited April 25, 2023 by magdalene

[twoods]

The baby looked like a three month old because his/her head control wasn’t fully there- I was shocked that it wasn’t the usual massive 9 month old. 
 

I admit to being a sucker for the passionate love reveal-kiss by a windy sea cliff so Colbourne and Charlotte made me very happy. Same with his brother and Lady Susan, who were very cute. I wish that we had more of them. I’ve always liked Georgiana with Otis so glad that they ended up together and she can use her money for good. 

[Daff]

7 hours ago, magdalene said:

As to our fictional character Charlotte, she was only able to teach at that school because her husband "permitted" it

I believe he specifically donated the money for the school with the idea in his mind that Charlotte would be the teacher there. That seemed to be the implication, and that it complied with her stated aspirations as well as keeping her in Sanditon.

[Dehumidifier]

At what age do babies first get vaccinated? I know there are all sorts of rules about babies on sets. They may not have been able to use a younger child with a large cast in close proximity. Or it could be a cast members kid now immortalized. 

Anyway, one year later doesn't have to mean exactly 12 months to the day.