Sanditon is going out with a bang. The PBS period drama returned on March 19 with a season premiere that set the stage for the show’s last episodes. Both Charlotte (Rose Williams) and Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) are on the cusp of starting a new stage of life. Charlotte is about to get married, while Georgiana is finally going to come into her fortune. But when a couple of familiar faces from the past reappear in Sanditon, it could affect each woman’s future plans.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sanditon Season 3 Episode 1.]
Charlotte and Ralph arrive in Sanditon in the season 3 premiere
Charlotte shocked everyone in the Sanditon Season 2 finale when she revealed she was engaged to farmer Ralph Starling (Cai Brigden). Her romance with widower Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) had ended badly, and it seemed she’d given in to her father’s wishes to marry Ralph, whom she’s known since childhood.
In the season 3 premiere, Charlotte and Ralph arrive in Sanditon to celebrate Georgiana’s 21st birthday. Charlotte is eager to reconnect with her old friends, but country boy Ralph is less comfortable in the cosmopolitan seaside resort. He’s surprised that his fiancée is friendly with members of the nobility and the king’s mistress, Lady Susan (Sophie Winkleman). And he’s definitely out of his depth when it comes to the latest trends in poetry. Charlotte sweetly reassures her husband-to-be that he’ll help her keep her “feet on the ground.” However, it’s hard not to feel that she and Ralph are mismatched. Plus, when Georgiana asks Charlotte if she loves Ralph, she replies that she’s “very fond” of him. Ouch.
Will Charlotte go through with her marriage to Ralph? Charlotte already looks like she might be having second thoughts when she sees Colbourne – who’s made an unexpected return to Sanditon – at Georgiana’s party. When they speak, he seems on the verge of telling her he hopes she’ll give him a second chance. But then Ralph appears. Colbourne is visibly deflated when he learns Charlotte is engaged, then cold when they dance together. Meanwhile, newcomer Lydia Montrose (Alice Orr-Ewing) has her eye on Colbourne. She’s on the hunt for a wealthy husband and swiftly finagles an invitation to go riding on his estate.
Georgiana fakes a romance
Charlotte’s big party is an excuse to celebrate achieving the independence she’s long desired. As a wealthy heiress, she’s still fending off eager suitors right and left. But once she has control of her own money, she’ll be able to live as she wishes. Marriage isn’t in her plans. So, when Lydia Montrose’s brother Lord Henry Montrose (Edward Davis) makes a move, she gives him the cold shoulder. He’s a penniless duke, and she thinks he’s just after her fortune.
But the situation changes when Georgiana spots Lord Montrose with another man. Later, he visits Georgiana to beg her to keep quiet about what she saw. She agrees, then presents him with a proposition. They’ll pretend they’ve fallen for each other, which will keep fortune-hunting men away from her and keep his marriage-focused mother off his back. It sounds like a good plan in theory, but we have a feeling that the truth about the duke’s sexual orientation will come out eventually. On the plus side, spending time with Georgiana will throw him into the path of her good friend (and confirmed bachelor) Arthur Parker (Turlough Convery). Perhaps a romance will soon be brewing on that front.
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Is Edward Denham a reformed man?
Sanditon’s second season ended with Lady Denham (Anne Reid) offering her caddish nephew Edward Denham (Jack Fox) a shot at redemption after he was kicked out of his army regiment. But there was a catch. He’d have to submit to her program of moral reform. As we see in the premiere, that includes regular, tedious meetings with Sanditon’s moralizing vicar and being frequently doused with cold water on the orders of Dr. Fuchs (Adrian Scarborough).
Edward is saying all the right things to his aunt in an attempt to get back in her good graces. She’s promised to support him financially if he can prove he’s reformed. But his sighs and eye-rolls when her back is turned suggest he’s still the same old manipulative Edward. Which is why it’s more than a little concerning when a chance encounter with Colbourne’s niece Augusta (Eloise Webb) leads to her developing something of a crush on the town’s resident rake. And when Edward learns that Augusta has a fortune of her own, some big alarm bells start going off. We foresee major trouble ahead, especially given that the independent Augusta is unlikely to listen to any well-meaning warnings about Edward.
Lockhart makes an unwelcome return
Last season, Georgiana’s romance with artist Charles Lockhart (Alexander Vlahos) came to an abrupt end when she realized his true motive for wanting to marry her. Lockhart was a relative of her late father. He felt that he, not Georgiana, should inherit her fortune. When a court in Antigua rebuffed his efforts to claim his uncle’s estate, he decided to get his hands on it by marrying her instead. Fortunately, his plot was discovered before he and Georgiana eloped.
Unfortunately, Lockhart is not willing to slink away. He makes an unwelcome return in the Sanditon Season 3 premiere. Proving that he has a definite flair for the dramatic, if nothing else, he bursts into Georgiana’s party uninvited. He demands to speak with her alone. She reluctantly agrees, and he hands her a writ stating that he is the rightful heir to her father’s fortune. This guy doesn’t know when to quit, but unfortunately, there’s a solid chance that a court in England might be more receptive to his claims than one in Antigua. We foresee stormy times ahead for Georgiana.
New episodes of Sanditon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
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