The Penultimate Episode of 'Belgravia: The Next Chapter' Gleefully Ruins Everyone's Lives

After a season that often felt like it was struggling to get to the point, the endgame of Belgravia: The Next Chapter is finally in full swing. The penultimate episode is stuffed to bursting with subplots, surprise revelations, emotional meltdowns, and unexpected twists. This hour goes so hard that it's hard to imagine that all its disparate plot threads can possibly be resolved in the single episode remaining in this season. But it certainly is the show's most propulsive and watchable installment yet. 

From the final implosion of the Trenchards' marriage to the collapse of the Marquise D'Étagnac's investment scheme, with some lower-class scheming and theft thrown in for good measure, the show finally manages to draw some (albeit often tenuous) connections between the many seemingly random subplots that have been going on for the past six episodes. The hour certainly never drags, but it's difficult not to feel a little resentful that so much is being crammed into these final two episodes. The season's meandering midsection might have been improved by tackling some of these stories before now. But here we are.  

However, it does beg the question: Is MGM+ banking on a second season to wrap some of this up? The sheer number of dangling plot threads twisting in the wind at this precise moment is painfully daunting, and there's no way this series ends without Frederick and Clara getting back together. Given where this episode leaves them — Clara having vanished into the night, Frederick broke, both angry at each other — a happy ending in 50 minutes or less seems like a lot to ask for.

At this point, anyone still watching this show pretty much has to be rooting for Clara by default. Nearly every other character — save for James, a literal man of God, and Davison, the Platonic ideal of the ride-or-die servant who is also your bestie for no real reason — has turned out to be not just annoying, but also a genuinely awful person. Dream husband Frederick has turned out to be borderline abusive and dangerously self-obsessed, seemingly sweet Dr. Ellerby abandoned his pregnant girlfriend before arriving in Belgravia, Mr. Ross is not just a thief but a would-be rapist, and Emily Dunn is an awful sister and a mega-beyotch too. 

Poor Clara, for her part, spends the episode getting called a whore to her face, as everyone in the Trenchards' social circle gossips about her supposed infidelity with Dr. Ellerby. The Duchess of Rochester decides the best way to handle this brewing scandal is to talk to literally everyone except Clara about it, dragging Emily and the girls' mother into her parlor for tea and some polite social shaming, before going straight to Frederick to fill him in about his wife's supposed extracurricular activities. (Between this and the Duke failing to fill Frederick in on what he'd been told about the Marquise D'Étagnac's shady past, you have to wonder how much the Rochesters like this dude.)

But at least they're nicer than Emily, who marches directly into her sister's home to yell at her, accusing her of everything from selfishness to greed, that she's never satisfied with anything, and her behavior is ruining her life and her family's. Clara bursts into tears and tries to tell Emily how unhappy she's been, and her husband's increasingly psychotic behavior. Emily (who is, again, The Worst) responds Clara should shut up, sit down, and try harder to make Frederick love her because she's not about to have anything threaten her shot at a happily ever after with the good Reverend James. (Emily has a whole different reckoning coming her way on that front, and, as the kids say, I will be seated when that happens.)

Clara isn't totally innocent here. It's been evident for weeks that her relationship with Ellerby bordered on inappropriate, and it's nigh on amazing she just didn't shoot the guy down after he confessed his love last week. But Clara is so starved for the barest scraps of attention from someone who behaves like he wants to be around her that it's easy to see why she let things go on a little too long. 

But she certainly doesn't deserve the barrage of accusations her husband lays at her feet, as he manages to make her public humiliation all about him, insisting that she set out to ruin and embarrass him, whining he always knew she would since that's his fate in life. He forbids her to see Ellerby and her Bohemian friends again, declaring they will remain married in the eyes of their neighbors; however, their relationship is over. Emotional and furious, Clara accuses Frederick of setting them up for failure because he can't get over his daddy issues or trust anyone. 

Clara packs her things and, with the help of Davison, leaves the Trenchard house. Despite her insistence that Ellerby means nothing to her, his house is her first stop, ostensibly just to let him know what's happened. (Hands up if you believe that.) But, the good doctor is busy consoling Emily's domestic worker, Nell, who, as it turns out, was the mother of Ellerby's child. She flees again, but is soon forced to turn to Frederick's sidekick (employee? assistant? idk) Ross since she stupidly left her husband without taking any money along. Ross, who's always had a creep vibe where Clara's concerned promises to help her and offers to let the two women travel north with him, as he's planning on leaving town himself. 

That's right, the collapsing marriage isn't Frederick's only crisis. Ross has confirmed the Marquise D'Étagnac's not who she claims to be. Surprisingly, she actually does have a title; that part wasn't a lie. However, she's flat broke, having seduced her way into marrying a poor relation — and the sounds-too-good-to-be-true emerald mine plan was a scam to gather "investments" from the rich of Belgravia before skipping town. But instead of heading straight to his boss with this info (who, let's not forget, told him it would be "inappropriate" to invest in the scheme alongside him a week or two ago), Ross struck a deal with the Marquise: give him half of Frederick's cash, and he'll leave town and keep his mouth shut. 

(Lord Trenchard really needs to work on his people skills.)

Ross left a note, kicking off a domino of wild events starting with Lord Trenchard storming the Marquise's home to find it abandoned, racing to the Rochesters', where the Duke shrugs; he had an inkling something wasn't entirely on the up and up, but didn't bother mentioning it. Having borrowed against his home to drop money into this scheme despite everyone's insistence he shouldn't, Frederick is devastated, and, reader, it is a delight to behold. Rarely has a period drama leading man gone from hero to zero quite as quickly and thoroughly as Frederick Trenchard, and I celebrate his ruination, except that it'll all inevitably turn out okay because Clara doesn't deserve this. At least let me watch him suffer for a while, show. 

And if all that wasn't enough, Ross attempts to sexually assault Clara, though thankfully, he's unsuccessful thanks to the quick thinking of Davison, who knocks him out with a blow to the head. She doesn't kill him, but she slows him down enough for both women to run, leaving an injured Ross at the mercy of the Marquise's vengeance, as she has sent that guy who pretended he didn't speak English — her butler? lover? personal hit man? who can say? —to kill him and reclaim the cash he stole. Sorry, not sorry, my man. 

With one episode to go, our central romance is on the rocks, Frederick and James remain estranged, the Trenchards are ruined financially, Emily doesn't know the guy she's crushing on can never love her back the way she wants, and Enwright's clandestine letter-writing campaign has been exposed (though not the reasons behind it). How are we ever gonna wrap all this up?