It’s all very decorous - and one wonders if the innocent Arthur really understands the implications of acting on his feelings - but it is there throughout the season, right to the end. Well, in season three, he’s not headed to the altar, but he is making, at first, tentative, and then, enthusiastic, steps toward romance with a closeted nobleman. But, there’s no romance there.Īctually, Arthur hasn’t had any romances, saying, “I’m not the marrying kind.”

These aren’t the end of the traditional romances of Sanditon, but (and if you want to remain utterly spoiler-free, leave NOW) the show also dips just a toe into the waters of same-sex attraction.Īrthur Parker (Turlough Convery), jovial, good-hearted brother of Sanditon developer Tom Parker (Kris Marshall), is kindly and sweet, and has become Georgia’s closest friend and confidante. So, she contemplates marrying into nobility as a way of insulating her future.īut, her past resurfaces in a very personal way - both regarding her family and her former love, abolitionist (and onetime gambler) Otis Molyneux (Jyuddah Jaymes). Georgiana, while generally accepted in Sanditon, deals with disapproval and prejudice from the outside world. At the center of these is her brooding former employer and erstwhile love interest Alexander Colburne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), who never quite manages to shave (or grow a beard). When she returns to the seaside resort, freshly minted fiancé in tow, inevitable complications ensue. This being Sanditon, the matter is not, shall we say, written in stone. To No One’s Surprise, Romance (and Romantic Complications) Are in the Air in Season ThreeĪs season three opens, Charlotte has dealt with romantic disappointment in Sanditon by going back home and getting engaged to a charming farmer. We still didn’t have Austen’s sparkling dialogue and clever plotting, but it was perfectly acceptable Regency escapism. The sex vanished, more Austen-appropriate romance returned, and the story took on a decidedly soapy quality (not a bad thing, though). Season two took an abrupt U-turn (as I discussed here, with quotes from the producers and writer). To put it mildly, Austen fans were displeased. The author certainly knew sex existed, and many of her characters are hardly paragons of virtue, but she never wrote a sex scene. Season one featured a sex scene that, while tame by modern standards, was definitely not Jane Austen’s style. She’s a biracial Caribbean heiress who copes with secrets from her past and with the attention (unwanted and otherwise) that comes from being single and having a sizable fortune. Parallel to Charlotte’s romantic ups and downs is the story of Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke).

Sanditon book ending