Sanditon Season 2: A Slew of New Suitors Prove There Are Plenty of Fish in This Seaside Town
Photo Courtesy of PBS Masterpiece
After much longing and ballyhoo, the ITV series Sanditon—airing in the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece—returns for its second season. Based (sparingly) on Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel of the same name, the series tracks the romantic exploits of this Regency era seaside town through the lens of one Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), a provincial young woman who finds herself taken under the wing of one of Sanditon’s founding families.
Though the show has found a devoted following, I was among those who were deeply disappointed by its first season. Screenwriter Andrew Davies may have lent his penchant for adaptations to many other well-received Austen (and Austen-adjacent) works in the past, but Sanditon felt (as I said at the time) peculiarly pulpy. It could be that, or it could be Austen—it couldn’t be both, and in trying to split those sensibilities, it ended up muddled and uncertain in both its tone and direction.
But lo! With Season 2, Sanditon is reborn in six episodes that seem to ask, “you want Austen? Well then I’ll give you Austen!!” Often a pastiche of well-worn tropes and some very familiar plots lifted straight from Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and maybe even Persuasion, the new season of Sanditon is nevertheless very satisfying. It’s also almost entirely a clean slate.
When we pick up with Charlotte here, she is quietly grieving the loss of her Season 1 love, Sidney Parker (played by Theo James, who chose to depart the show after its initial outing). Sanditon makes quick work of that unpleasantness, though, as Charlotte—flanked by her sister Alison (Tessa Stephens) and heiress friend Georgiana (Crystal Clarke)—is greeted by a bevy of new, often shirtless suitors. As such, each of the young women become almost immediately embroiled in romantic pursuits.
Though Charlotte has sworn off marriage, she has caught the eye of a handsome Colonel Lennox (Tom Weston-Jones) as well as the surly, reclusive Mr. Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), who becomes her employer when she decides to work as a governess for his two wayward charges. Meanwhile, like any Regency girl worth her salt, Alison instantly swoons over a regiment of soldiers who alight in Sanditon, including a Captain Carter (Maxim Ays) and Captain Fraser (Frank Blake) who via for her attentions. As for Georgiana, well, every man in Sanditon is desperate to get his hands on her fortune, but there is a charming young artist, Charles Lockhart (Alexander Vlahos), who brings something a little different to the table.
The dynamics, though, all follow a familiar pattern. As Esther (now Lady Babington) says in the first episode back, “Disdain his every word. If he persists, marry him.” That advice truly sets the tone; as far as Sanditon is concerned, there is no other way to experience love. Still, even if every plot turn is telegraphed (or rushed, in the case of the final episodes) and some more diversity in affection would be nice, these are fertile fields for romance for a reason—and one proposal did bring me to happy tears.