What the heck am I doing?
The last time this show was on TV was before the pandemic when I was still in high school. I remember watching the sad edits on YouTube with Sidney and Charlotte to sad pop songs and loving it.
Now as I watch the second season it all became so much clear that the first season should have ended with a happy ending.
There were numerous good scenes in season 2 and some very likeable new characters. I thoroughly enjoyed Georgiana and Charlotte’s friendship continued from the first season and Charlotte’s relationship with those at Sanditon.
I wasn’t that interested in the inclusion of the characters of Alison and the various military soldiers being there? Alison is a fun character but I don’t quite understand the need for her to have so much screen time in this season. Her romantic life is sweet but I’m here for the characters I’d fallen in love with in the first season and not the drama of Charlotte’s sister who all of a sudden is now in Sanditon and whilst Alison’s arc ends on a happy note I feel as though we could have skipped the majority of it to the same effect.
Esther’s storyline was interesting but the conclusion to Edward and Clara’s evil plan felt very predictable to the extent that I was a bit frustrated with it. Lady Denim and Esther’s relationship in this season was a highlight. I hope that Lord Babington returns for the next season as his and Esther’s romance was an unexpected favourite of mine and many others.
Charlotte remains a good person with a good heart but her sense of happiness has been slowly sucked out of her by her and Sidney’s parting. Even watching the show made me feel jaded and unloved as Charlotte took another L only to find herself engaged to a farmer from back at her home whom she does not love. Whilst Charlotte excels at being a Governess, she is adamant to never again have her heart broken. There is a tragic irony to her being now against marriage not unlike the way Sidney was before they fell in love. But Sidney has died of yellow fever ( though I hope this will end up being retconned in the next season however unlikely) and now Charlotte has lost the love of her life to another woman but also literal death.
The absence of Sidney Parker is felt deeply in this season and I do wish that they had brought back Mr Stringer as aside from Sidney, I did ship him with Charlotte and like them together.
Colbourne and Charlottes’ romance is very good but it’s nearly impossible to NOT look behind the couple expectantly, for the dramatic reveal that Sidney is alive after all and back to win Charlotte back. When they grow closer it feels like finally, things may be looking Charlotte’s way until Colbourne allows his fears of ruining her happiness to control him and he fires her.
By the end of it and the dramatic reveal that Georgiana’s artist lover is actually the source of all of the Antiga problems. That indirectly his greed resulted in a chain of events that killed Sidney just felt like another thing to dump on the sad mess that is Charlotte’s life. Whilst Georgiana suffers another heartbreak, she learns to accept the Parker’s as her friends and now remains hopeful of finding her mother. I hope to see more of Georgiana’s story in the next season with more screen time for her storyline and less for side plots that don’t really affect the overall story arc.
Whilst I did not like the too realistic sad love story of Charlotte I also equally enjoyed it. It was like watching the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the characters are suffering and it’s painful at times to watch but it is also a great story.
This season is really good despite its many, many faults. Too little attention was paid to Charlotte’s relationship with the Parker’s and the Colbournes’ and too much attention was paid to various side plots that weren’t all that necessary. I don’t understand why there was never a conversation between Tom and Charlotte after he found out she and Sidney were in love and couldn’t be together because of Tom’s debt. I feel as though Tom should apologise and express remorse for his part in everything.
Maybe it’s because I binged the whole of season 2 in one night and it’s now early morning the next day that I feel a sense of emptiness and misery but I feel it nonetheless.
Had season 1 ended the Jane Austen way I would have been sad not to explore more of the story but content in seeing my ship sail. Season 2 ends equally as miserable with my new ship sinking and Charlotte now engaged to the farmer, the very thing she didn’t want to do.
Every time Charlotte visits Sanditon her life gets infinitely more depressing so hopefully, the third time is the charm and in season 3 ( which I hope Theo James and other cast members return for and, though that seems unlikely, so too did any hopes of Sanditon being saved until it was) we get to see our ships sail.
All in all I’m looking forward to season 3 of Sanditon! #SanditonSisterhood
The Medusa Diaries 