Spending the summer in Sanditon,thanks to Pemberley Digital

Fans of the Jane Austen based web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries were eager for more modern day adventures with an Austen heroine or two,so the good folks at Pemberley Digital brought us a special summer series called Sanditon.

Sanditon was one of Austen's uncompleted novels,leaving the writers a lot of leeway with the story telling yet they kept to the same plot set-up of a small town determined to turn itself into a health and fitness mecca for the tourist trade.

The outsider narrating this small town saga is Gigi Darcy( the perfect
spin-off character to anchor this storyline from the LBD,in lieu of Charlotte Heywood from the book) who is running a beta test of PD's Domino communications system. Mayor Tom Parker is more than happy to have the seaside town as the testing grounds since he gives him more of an opportunity to promote his visions of "New Sandtion" and to pressure local ice cream parlor owner Clara Breton into converting her business into a juice bar:

Clara has no interest whatsoever in trading in Sanditon Scoops(quite a great name!) for a juice bar but she is very supportive of the beta test and even offers up fun recipe videos for ice cream combos.

However,the persistence of Mayor Tom and his assistant Ed Denham(a sci-fi geek and rather reluctant administrator) into making Clara switch over to their plan for "New" Sanditon rallies her fighting spirit and even gets Gigi on her side in this debate:

The whole Sanditon Scoops situation leads to a showdown as Ed tries to stage a sit-in at the ice cream parlor. At first, it simply becomes a shouting match but later on that night, Domino works it's magic.

 While recording an after hours conversation between Ed and Clara, Domino's editing abilities seem to suggest that romantic sparks are flying here. Gigi at first assumes it's a glitch but soon enough,it's clear that Ed and Clara are intended to be a couple:

Meanwhile, The Mayor's attention is diverted by a pair of new businesses in town, which are pretty much the same kind of business there. Brother and sister Beau and Letitia Griffiths decide to open up competing spin cycle centers(that also happen to be side by side),fueling their sibling rivalry.

 As thrilled as the Mayor is with attracting new business, he and Ed's influential Aunt Denham are not pleased by the new bond forming between Ed and Clara. So,when given the opportunity, the mayor tries to put up a roadblock to their romance by making Ed and Ms. Griffiths(who prefers to be called "Griff") go out on a date at the local Fourth of July festival in town. Ed's meekness in this instance irks Clara a lot,but she would rather wait for him to make up his own mind about their possible future:

 

Fortunately,even in uncompleted Austen stories,love triumphs over all and it looks as if Ed and Clara will be able to make their own happily ever after.

I have to say that this has been a fun little series for summer viewing and while I could've done with less of the fan contribution clips(which were fine but sort of slowed down the story line), Sanditon has been a charming delight to watch during these insanely hot days. The series is about to finish up soon and Pemberley Digital is planning to launch another Jane Austen themed series soon(possibly a Sense & Sensibility themed one,not sure of that just yet!).

However, there is plenty of time for you to discover the joys of Sanditon(if you haven't thus far) and savor the sweet surprises along the way. While we will never know how Jane intended to end this story, I think it's safe to say that she would certainly approve of a dish of ice cream meant for two: