covid brain fog is still kicking my ass but I’ve been thinking about one of the sadder aspects of Kate’s missing backstory and flashbacks. Anthony over the two seasons is now relatively well rounded, his behaviour in season 1 and most of season 2 is explained by his past, we see this visually through the season 2 the flashbacks. Kate however didn’t get that, Anthony has a tonne of parallels with his past self, his parents and with Kate. We see and know so little about Kate Sharma in the show that she only has parallels with Anthony and I don’t like that. There is a lack of agency for her character as a woman and when you consider she is a South Asian woman being presented only through her devotion to her family and relationship with a man, it’s looks bad.
A really simple scene that could have prevented this is seeing Kate learn to ride or riding with her father on the grounds of the royal family he clerked for. Seeing her ride during rough weather like monsoon rains would have been so good and paralleled so well with many aspects of season 2. Firstly we would have seen her with her father, who she I assume was very close with due to losing her mother so young. Like Anthony she has that pain of losing a father, she is also an orphan but the loss of a father was more thematic for this season *gestures to Anthony and Edmund*. We see it mentioned when Anthony first mets her that she is riding astride, yes he makes the quip about if she’s single but there’s more there. I imagine in India titled or not being close with the royal family meant she had a lot of freedom and relative privilege and could ride carefree on their lands. Riding astride is something she holds onto from her past in India it’s how we are introduced to her character, it relates to her father, culture and freedom his position granted her in India. When she comes to England she knows the riding etiquette for women and is being rebellious by riding astride anyways.
Her knowledge and history with house riding elevates so many other scenes, the royal ascot races, Anthony’s inferior horsemanship, the irony of Edwina being gifted a horse etc. It even elevates the tragedy of her fall. I believe she skilfully rode in the rain many times in the past. For Kate horse riding was something she had as her thing prior to meeting Anthony or settling foot in England. She fell because she was troubled, feeling guilty and confused and the ride that would clear her head hurt her. She’d just spent the night with Anthony and knew she was in love with him but that must have been scary for her. She had given into her desires and cast repression aside and done something for herself but she still felt bad about it. Just including a horse riding flashback would have done so much, imagine how much more at just a couple scenes about Kate would have improved the season. Idk how much sense this post even makes but yeah Kate deserved better
