'Sanditon': Tale of Sidney-Charlotte's love and loss still not confirmed for Season 2 as makers pin hopes on US
If you feel unsettled by the finale of 'Sanditon', you have Andrew Davies, the writer behind the adaptation to blame. To be fair, he was working off the unfinished Jane Austen novel with only 11 chapters and realistically this is how the situation would have been resolved in the old times when marriage was rarely for love and almost always a business transaction.
But Austen's heroines have always found a way to marry for love and financial security. So why should Charlotte be any different? Both Davies and producer Belinda Campbell have said that they are banking on a 'Sanditon' Season 2. While the UK viewing numbers were not high enough to secure a second season, they are hoping that the US audience will help them secure a renewal. Campbell has even said that the Season 1 finale can be looked at as "the midpoint of Sidney and Charlotte’s story".
Given this encouraging prognosis, we can indulge in the guilty pleasure of figuring out how the threads of the "Sid-lotte" tale can be tied up in a more satisfactory ending. The finale saw Tom Parker facing the prospect of debtor's prison after his uninsured seaside construction went up in flames. Since Tom owes investors and debtors 80,000 pounds, even Sidney and Arthur Parker's collective fortunes are not enough to save Tom from financial ruin.
Sidney has been shown to be fiercely protective of his family and those dependent on him, like his ward Georgiana. So once he fails in his duty to get bankers to bail out Tom, Sidney makes the predictable decision to marry Eliza Campion for her money.
In the process, poor Charlotte, the farmer's daughter, is left heartbroken and wise to the ways of the world. Even though we do get that last moment of Sidney catching up to her departing carriage to tell her that he loves only her, not Eliza, their love affair is nipped in the bud as soon as it blossoms.
A Season 2 would probably see Charlotte trying to return to her home life in her father's county but unable to forget Sidney even as Sidney does the same in London. Georgiana will probably grow even more rebellious with Sidney casting aside the only friend she has made in England.
After all, she had warned Charlotte not to trust Sidney. However, the couple does have some supporters -- primarily Sidney's best friend Lord Babington who has married for love, who will give Sidney hell for abandoning Charlotte and, lest we forget, Lady Susan.
The influential Lady Susan, who Charlotte charmed in that ball in London, is unlikely to leave her languishing in the rural hinterlands. It is quite possible that Lady Susan will take Charlotte under her wing and groom her to be hit in London's glittering social circles, giving Sidney cause to pause his wedding plans.
We would also love for some extended and witty Austenian 'thrust and parry' dialogue between Eliza and Charlotte, just like Season 1's battle between Esther and Clara.
Lady Susan also has the means to bankroll Tom Parker's entire enterprise or get the Prince Regent to nudge investors in that direction. There is also Georgiana who could marry well and ask her fortune to be devoted to Sanditon, freeing her guardian to marry her best friend.
So there are many possibilities for the lovers to reunite -- and here's hoping for a Season 2!
‘Sanditon’ finale aired at 9 pm ET on February 23.
