Sanditon Series 2 Episode 5

Alison (Rosie Graham) wants to leave and go back home as she’s done with Sanditon, as she feels humiliated. Fraser (Frank Blake) tells Carter (Maxim Ays) to apologize to her as it's the only way to salvage any relationship with her, although he secretly pines for her.  Later Fraser tells her she can’t let Carter drive her away like this and shouldn’t let that be her last memory of Sanditon. She confronts Carter at the Parker ball as he's surrounded by more women.  I was going to say as the sleaze is surrounded for some reason ha.  And says he should mend his ways before he hurts another girl.   Sharing a dance with Fraser as she's all dressed up as a marshmallow.   They share some more pleasant insults towards one another.  

Mary (Kate Ashfield) finds out from Lady Denham (Anne Reid) that the last Company the town was at they left without settling their debts, so she heard it from a friend.   As Esther appears to be drunk with the potion Edward's (Jack Fox) been feeding her.   Clara (Lucy Sacofsky) realizes his plan is not for baby George but revenge on her and refuses to go through with it but doesn’t do anything to make him stop.  She too had her sights set on the fortune. 

Mary tells Tom (Kris Marshall) about the news and he tells her he's lost £100 to Lennox (Tom Weston-Jones) and he won’t settle his debt until Tom pays up. Yeah like he's ever going to settle it.  Didn’t in the last town or anywhere else the Company's been.  Tom tells Arthur (Turlough Convery) he can’t put on the ball as they don’t have money for it.  The store owners retrieve their goods. Arthur comes to the rescue as his patronage at the bakery pays off and he's been given three days to clear their debts.  Lady Denham tells Tom she warned him about the company and he says he heard no such warning from her.  Tom wallows at the ball saying Sidney would’ve known what to do.  But Arthur tells him Sidney wasn’t like him as Tom had the vision for Sanditon and saw it through to what it is, not just rows of beach huts anymore.  Tom finally realizes he has a brother in Arthur and not just Sidney.  

Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) asks Arthur to chaperone her with Charles (Alex Vlahos) and he persuades Arthur to leave them alone.  Being an artist he needs his creative juices flowing with his subject alone.  Whereupon he confesses his love for her saying if he had her inheritance he would travel the world, eat fine food and stay in bed all day. He wouldn’t be working on pitiful commissions all day.  Telling her that hers is not just any portrait.  She can’t control her emotions and kisses him.  Well no red flags from Georgiana as he claims to be an artist but doesn't want to ply his trade anymore and would rather just live off the wealth.  That was a massive clue as to who he really was.  They dance at the ball together. 

Esther (Charlotte Spencer) has a turn for the worse after Edward hands her his spiked wine, giving Georgiana and Charles sneak out and he says he's leaving but he wants her to come too.  She replies as his concubine but he says as his wife.  Interrupted by Mary in the nick of time.  I still get the impression he’s the one in Antigua after her inheritance.  Since her solicitor didn’t mention any name.  Well there must be some sort of foreshadowing here with him just coming into the picture, who really knows him and he befriends Arthur of all people.  Though Arthur seems to be a good judge of character as far as Lennox was concerned.  Well Alex did play evil Mordred in the BBC Merlin after all!  

Charlotte (Rose Williams) has another new dress for the ball and she dances with Lennox.  As Colborne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) also arrives with Augusta (Eloise Webb).  More beguiling looks are exchanged between them as he dances with her and ends up with Charlotte being upstairs with Lennox who's peeved she's still in Colbourne's employ. 

He proposes to her and then forces himself on her and kisses her even as she rejects his advances saying she made no such move on him.  Flustered she leaves and Colbourne takes her to his house.  That balcony looked like the same balcony with her scenes with Sidney and their scenes.  But they were supposed to be new assembly rooms.  Colbourne tells her about Lucy wanting to stay in London for another season.   They got married young.  There she was taken in by Lennox and had his child, Leonora (Flora Mitchell).  As Leo listens to them.  She died a few months later and Colbourne regretted his actions in his treatment of her.  Charlotte wonders why he didn’t tell her all this before.  Why would he, it was his humiliation but also his guilt. There was the Wickham story and Darcy also looked after his sister, Georgiana when Wickham was pursuing her.  They kiss. 

Ester has a turn and is taken home.  She can’t find George and she has him as he was crying. She takes him away again telling Edward he is using laudanum on her and she wanted the money for George but didn’t agree to this.  The doctor had only been giving her a placebo to ease her burden but says shes not well in the head.  As Charlotte writes to Babbington without any luck again.

Plenty was going on here least of which was Charlotte's dilemma with Colbourne after she finally learns the truth about Lennox and where she should go from here.  As well as Georgiana preparing to run away with Charles.  Of course everything will be solved in the final episode, but they rushed through these five with plenty going on whereas they would've taken a more slower approach had there been the usual 8 episodes.