TarahhNicolee

IS THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENING?

Elizabeth actually said that Lucas was the SAFE choice? As in ACTUALLY SAID IT? Is this real life? That is literally what we’ve been saying for YEARS.

This is all just so validating. It’s so nice that what we thought was happening on screen was actually happening. All those Nathan, Elizabeth, Allie and Little Jack scenes actually MEANT something.

I do feel sorry for the Lucas fans. To be expecting a wedding and then to be broken up with is very hard. I feel like at least the promotion around this season has been pretty much writing on the wall. Nathan and Elizabeth were, I would guess, almost half of the extra sneak peaks this season. Of course it could have been explained before as ratings bait, (which I believed to be honest), but now it’s clear it was because of the direction the show is going. But it’s definitely easy to say all of this in hindsight.

I don’t care if they drag Nathan and Elizabeth out for like 5 seasons. Let them come to an understanding this season, then season 11 a little dinner date, then a kiss in season 12, proposal in season 13 and marriage in season 14. Give them their ratings I couldn’t care less so long as they get together. I’ve waited 5 years, WHAT’S 5 MORE?!

Really curious how this will all play out. I don’t think Lucas and Elizabeth can come back from this, she pretty much admitted that she was trying really hard to make their relationship work but her heart wasn’t in it. Also will Lucas be elected as governor? I think he deserves it to be honest, this huge storyline is literally what they promised the “loser” of the triangle back in season 8. Lucas deserves to be the hero of everything and not have to be battered and bruised every two seconds like Nathan in season 9. Lucas should be careful though, there will be WAY more cars in Capital City than in Hope Valley, his chances of getting hit by one, taking into account his status as rejected by Elizabeth, are ASTRONOMICAL.

The LOG SCENE is coming, oh god this is insane. That could actually be a rewrite of the 8x02 scene, wouldn’t that be fun!!

It's all so surreal. Before this season, no one could've predicted this would happen. It was only a fantasy and now it's REAL!

I feel bad for them too. It's really unfortunate but the characters were on different paths. That doesn't make it easier to accept but hopefully they'll be satisfied with his path moving forward unlike a lot of us Nathan fans were with what he was given. From the interviews, it sounds like they have things planned for Lucas and he's sticking around. Chris said he was excited about it.

I'd be happy with a slow pace too. I just want them to be happy. I want to see them date and just enjoy being together and doing things with the kids. I also want angst and arguments and all of that. I want all of it. I don't really even care what it is at this point.

Reunited once again ❤️

In memoriam: HM Queen Elizabeth II

Short version: we enjoyed it more than Season 1

Long version (with spoilers): After the untimely demise of Sidney Parker (thank you, next), our heroine Charlotte returns to Sanditon as a faded, grief-stricken twenty-something seemingly destined for spinsterhood. However, Charlotte takes charge of her destiny and seizes the opportunity to become a governess. While being a governess is often portrayed by Austen as the worst-case-scenario fate worse than death, in this series, it is Charlotte's opportunity for financial and personal independence (although she confusingly still continues to live with the Parkers).

The season opens with Lady Esther Babbington offering advice to our three single heroines (Charlotte, Charlotte's sister Alison, and Georgiana Lambe) as they embark on this season's quest for romance. It seems Esther's advice is taken quite seriously, and her rules of seduction ("disdain his every word") dominate this season in all three romantic plotlines. Andrew Davies has clearly never gotten over Elizabeth Bennet.

As we have long since exhausted the fragments of Sanditon that Jane Austen actually wrote, in this season, the writers were free to weave together anything and everything that seemed remotely Austen-adjacent (with liberal allowances made for hairstyles and chaperone rules). The result is an entertaining romp with an Austenland-like quality where you can delight in watching the characters careen from one trope-filled romantic encounter to the next.

The greatest delight of the season was Captain Fraser, the "battle-scarred" army officer with a secretly poetic soul, who gradually wins over Alison Heywood. Georgiana's love interest is portrait artist Charles Lockhart played by Alexander Vlahos and dressed like the Mad Hatter. Lockhart was a bewildering, even ridiculous character in most episodes--it felt like Vlahos was going for "eccentric and passionate artist" and instead came across as genuinely unhinged, like some frenzied combination of Mr. Collins and Gilderoy Lockhart (possibly a relative, who's to say). But, in the end, this storyline (and Crystal Clarke's acting) was one of the strongest parts of this season.

Charlotte's plotline is unfortunately quite painful (again). The season takes a dark turn in the final episode (again) when Charlotte is literally fired from her job after a romantic encounter with her emotionally unavailable boss who then offers her a cringingly generous severance package, quickly turning what seemed like a promising match for Charlotte into an icky #metoo situation. It was great to see Charlotte demanding some more respect, but I'm not sure how we're supposed to continue to root for these two after that unforgivable behavior.

All in all, I found the season extremely entertaining, but, after that ending, I worry that season 3 is going to have a lot of explaining to do.