My next Autumn in August stop takes me to the shores of Sanditon

 Welcome back to more of Autumn in August , where we deal with the late summer heat by watching some fine fall season fare.

Granted, there is quite a bit of summertime energy in our next entry, Sanditon(based on an unfinished novel by Jane Austen) but the plot points are autumnal enough to certainly suit our seasonal needs.

I have rewatched the first four episodes-there are eight in all-and instead of doing a recap, I will just highlight some of my favorite elements of this series (and one low point as well) in the manner of vacation style reminiscing.

The general plot is that the title location is a small seaside town looking to become a major tourist spot for those seeking healthy spa like remedies. One of the main proponents of this cause is Tom Parker(Kris Marshall) accompanied by his supportive yet sensible wife Mary(Kate Ashfield).

They have a brief roadside accident that literally throws them into the path of Charlotte Heywood (Rose Willams), the eldest daughter of a country family. Out of gratitude for her assistance, the Parkers invite her to Sanditon and that sets off a whole chain of events, including meeting Tom’s brother Sydney (Theo James) who is meant to be Charlotte’s love interest but we’ll get to them soon enough.

In the meantime, here’s a look at a few of my personal highlights from this first half:

Favorite Character:

To be fair, Georgiana Lambe is my favorite character in all three seasons of Sanditon and as portrayed by Crystal Clarke, she is as timeless as Elizabeth Bennet or any other Austen heroine.

As a heiress from Antiqua whose is made to leave her homeland upon the death of her father and pushed into society by the dealings of her guardian Sydney (who doesn’t hide the fact that this is a burden that she’s making more difficult for him in his obnoxious opinion!), Georgiana has much to bear with and while expressing her displeasure very forthrightly, is also just a girl looking to find her own way to happiness.

Her friendship with Charlotte allows Georgiana some moments of comfort and levity there. Also, she is strong enough to handle the biases of others yet vulnerable to being thwarted in love(as we shall soon see), making her way more interesting than most of the ladies in this first season alone and for good reason indeed!:

Best Takedown Moment:

That honor goes to Georgiana as the reluctant guest of honor at Lady Denham’s luncheon. The true reason for this get together is for Lady D(Anne Reid) to push her odious nephew Edward(Jack Fox) towards marrying into Miss Lambe’s quite considerable fortune.

Georgiana is not only well aware of this but equally aware of the patronizing bigotry that goes along with such an invitation. Unlike her ladyship(whose manners would make Lady Catherine De Burgh blush!), Georgiana is demurely able to put this vulgar display into proper check with one withering line:

Best Romance:

Once again, I have to give these roses to Georgiana as many of the love stories here range from hopeful(Charlotte and Young Stringer,yes!) to creepy (Edward and his stepsister plus cousin,ewww!)at best.

Miss Lambe, however, has a potential love match in Otis Molyneux(Jyuddah Jaymes), who she met in London and is kept from by Sidney. While there are facts yet to be revealed about their relationship at this juncture ,Otis and Georgiana do have such onscreen chemistry that sparks practically fly off them during each of their scenes together (however, Georgiana should’ve given Charlotte a heads up about being the cover story for that secret meeting!):

Worst Ballroom Blitz:

Sidney and Charlotte as the main couple of this show just never felt right to me for many reasons, first of which is his unwarranted rudeness to her from the beginning. “New maid?” he asks of his sister in law as he rides into town and greets Charlotte and Mary out in a walk together. Their relationship goes downhill from there.

At the first ball of the Sanditon season, Charlotte finds herself alone with Sidney and upon his request, tells him some of her initial impressions about his family. Now, while she was a bit too snarky in some of her comments, he did ask her for her honest opinion and too bad if it wasn’t to his liking!

Truly, it feels like this scene was written as an excuse for Sidney to be justified in being rude to her yet given his cold and dismissive attitude towards her from the jump, this makes him more of a jerk not the less of one here:

Despite such ballroom bumps in the road, this revisit to Sanditon has been an entertaining experience for the most part.

It’s one that I am able to take via PBS Passport, a reasonably affordable streaming service that helps public broadcasting out very much during these turbulent times as federal funding has been unnecessarily cut. 

If you fondly remember watching Sanditon when it originally aired and/or curious about the entire series , many of the PBS channels this week will be showing a “Sanditon Revisited” special that you can either watch on your regular station or view online at PBS Passport. Remember, “Defunded but not Defeated “ is the right way to join in this particular fight for intellectual freedom.

I hope to finish my trip to Sanditon by Labor Day but there’s no need to rush through such good times, now is there? Oh, and I leave you with my last favorite thing about Sanditon-the opening credits! They are such a joy to behold in their innate simplicity that really sets the perfect tone for what’s to come: