Sanditon – Season 2 Episode 3 Review

The second season of Sanditon has reached its halfway point. This episode has two love triangles, a contentious relationship, and the return of a troublesome character.

Charlotte continues her job as a governess and she finds out more about Mr. Colbourne and his niece Augusta. Colonel Lennox attempts the woo Charlotte and he seems to be succeeding. Captain Carter tries to impress Alison and asks Captain Fraser for aid. Clara has returned to Sanditon, nine months pregnant, and claims the baby is Edward’s. Yet she’s met with hostility from Lady Denham and Esther.

Sanditon’s second season seems to be traditional territory for a Jane Austen adaptation since it has three love stories going on at the same time. Charlotte has the interest of Colonel Lennox and clearly has a spark with Mr. Colbourne. The potential tension comes from Lennox and Colbourne having a past. Captain Carter wants to prove himself to Alison and Captain Fraser helps his comrade with writing and poetry but Fraser has unspoken feelings for Alison, leading to a Cyrano de Bergerac-style story. Georgiana also had a romantic story since Charles Lockhart drew a picture of her, but Georgiana is a prickly customer.

The two love triangles do offer a lot of potential for conflict.  There’s a mystery involving Lennox and Colbourne. Lennox has been offering Charlotte advice about how to deal with Augusta, unaware of who the teen’s uncle was. Colbourne revealed what happened to his wife, and Lennox adds more information with his reveal. Both men were still hiding information and there’s more to the story than they are letting on.

Lennox and Carter have been portrayed as charming men towards the Heywood sisters. Lennox sent Charlotte flowers, offers her advice and they go on a balloon ride together, whilst Carter wants to make a good impression. However, Lennox was not as good as he seems due to his last action in the episode involving Tom. Carter and Fraser butt heads towards the end of the episode with Fraser saying Carter isn’t good enough for Alison. The series has set the idea that the charming, reputable men are not good enough for the Heywoods, and Colbourne and Fraser would be better matches for the sisters, even if they don’t seem it on the surface.

Charlotte also gets involved in the Colbourne family drama. Augusta says her uncle sees her as a burden and Charlotte relays this information to Colbourne. Colbourne attempts to amend this situation by having a family picnic and talking about Colbourne’s wife and Augusta’s mother. Because of Augusta’s revelation, it offers an insight into her mindset and why she acted out so much. There were some fun interactions between Charlotte and Augusta, especially when they communicated in French and Charlotte’s language skills weren’t as good as she claimed.

Clara was my favourite character in the previous season so it was great to see her back for season two. She started off seeming like a nice, friendly character but showed her true colours as the series progressed. She was manipulative, yet had tragedy in her life because it was implied she was abused as a child. Clara and Esther’s interactions were the most entertaining because they were so passive-aggressive to each other. Plus, Lily Sacofsky is an excellent actress who I would like to see more of.

There was no let-up between the pair despite Clara’s condition. Esther was unpleasant to Clara, even when the young lady went into labour. There was no solidarity between women in their situation. Considering Esther’s desperation to have a child, Clara’s reappearance does present an opportunity and it seems like Esther could make a proposal to her rival.

Another storyline in the episode involved the Parker brothers. Tom has been trying to cultivate a relationship in the army in the hope they would build a base. In the previous episode, Tom ignored Arthur’s proposal to build a Theatre Royal because of his desire to work with the army. In this episode Arthur warns Tom not to rush into deals with the army until they know who they are dealing with, something Tom ignores. Yet there’s news that the army haven’t been paying their debts.

Like the previous episodes in the season, the third episode of Sanditon was perfectly fine. The characters and their dynamics were the draw of this episode and fans of British period dramas should be happy with the direction of the series.