The Finale of 'Belgravia: The Next Chapter' Speedruns to a Happy Ending

Despite its initial promising start, Belgravia: The Next Chapter has become something of a muddle, crammed with what feels like a half dozen subplots that don't get the depth they deserve and a narrative that's all too content to use Frederick's abundant (and annoying) Daddy Issues to as the crutch that propels its larger story forward. Thanks to a bloated midsection that seemed content to retread many of the same narrative beats — we get it Frederick blames James for all his problems and doesn't trust his wife —the series' final episodes had to rush things in a way that, while fun to watch play out, did a real disservice to the more significant stories of these characters. (Beyond the fact that he is gay, a vicar, and determinedly loves the brother who loathes him, it's safe to say we know almost nothing about James Trenchard.) 

After the dramatic events of last week's episode, which felt like it had roughly four hours of plot crammed into one, the Next Chapter finale has surprisingly fallout. Sure, most of the show's outstanding plot points are wrapped up (shockingly) neatly, but two-thirds of the big, highly anticipated moments take place offscreen. We hear about them afterward, and, as a result, this finale feels more like a book report than anything else. (Which isn't what anyone would call compelling television.) 

There's a tremendous amount of telling instead of showing, as though the show itself assumes its audience already knows everything generally turned out alright in the end, and the finale needs to run down a quick list of how each of those events happened. Almost everyone gets a happy — or at least a satisfactory — ending, but none feels terribly earned. And it's because we don't see any of the emotional work or growth the show claims has been going on behind the scenes. 

After watching Frederick and Clara have the same fight in different outfits for weeks, their break-up (or, more accurately, Clara's decision to leave her husband) was almost a relief, but the series shows none of the immediate aftermath. Instead, The Next Chapter jumps forward several months, robbing viewers of the satisfaction of Frederick's collapse and essentially skipping past the part where Clara sets up a new life for herself. We also miss the immediate aftermath of Frederick's business disaster as well. The very pillars of his life come crashing down — and the show doesn't think any of that is worth watching! 

Instead, we're told what Frederick has done in response or is doing now. Granted, we don't see those either, but we sure hear about how sorry he is for his treatment of Clara, how bad he feels about everything that happened between them, and how wrong his assumptions were. Why or how he came to those conclusions is a mystery that Belgravia: The Next Chapter is relatively uninterested in exploring; viewers are supposed to take his change of heart as fact. We watched four episodes of him calling his wife names and accusing her of deliberately ruining his life. I can't imagine why anyone might have some interest in watching him atone for that somehow. 

Anyway, Frederick cures his daddy issues by meeting his actual father. Enright's secret letter-writing campaign was to the primarily villainous Bellasis all along. When Enright learns Bellasis is dying, he goes straight to James, and the pair of them convince Frederick that he should meet the father he never knew to get the chance to say goodbye. Frederick does, and Bellasis (in keeping with the episode's apparent theme) says things about being sorry and loving him from a distance, none of which are borne out by behavior he has exhibited in this series or the original Belgravia. But hey, he's dying, so I guess we're meant to be forgiving. (However, he doesn't miss the chance to tell James he's pretty sure he's illegitimate, so at least that tracks.)  

On the plus side, the visit to Bellasis prompts Frederick to finally reevaluate his relationship with his brother, who is still Literally the Best Person in the World. The Next Chapter still skims briskly past their reconciliation; given how fervently Frederick has spent most of this series hating James for made-up reasons or things behind his control, it would have been nice to see something more than the younger Trenchard gracefully being the bigger person for the fifth time. But I guess we can't have everything. 

Clara, for her part, settled into a more working-class life in some unidentified location in the north and is still refusing all contact with her husband and family. However, she misses her sister and mother badly when the anniversary of her father's death comes around. Thankfully, she has Davison, the most ride-or-die servant in the world, to help. (One of the few things this finale does well is convey the increased depth of the relationship between Clara and her lady's maid, who seems like more of a friend and confidante than ever before.) 

Clara decides to return home to London for a visit for the holidays, though she swears up and down she won't see Frederick while she's there. Instead, she's happy to see her mom and sister, and she and Emily cry and hug like the latter hadn't just called her a whore to her face and wished ill upon her the last time she saw her. There is, once again, little interest in how either of them feels about that or the month-long distance between them, but Emily apologizes, so all is forgiven, I guess! It's all fine! Emily has, for some reason, at least kept all the letters Frederick sent them asking if they knew where Clara was, so that's something. 

Lots of things happened between the penultimate episode and the finale, including James' recovery from being nearly beaten to death. I guess his blackmailer took all those threats from Fletcher to heart because the good vicar no longer seems afraid of having his sexuality outed to his parishioners. He also let Emily down easy, telling her he is "married to the church" but insisting if he wasn't, boy, he'd sure consider marrying her! (James dodged a bullet here, no matter how unintentionally hilarious his non-breakup breakup speech is.) 

Frederick inherited money from Bellasis but gave it to his brother to distribute to the poor. (Again, the idea that Belgravia decided this character growth is something the audience didn't need to see boggles the mind!) Ellerby got over Clara with a blessed quickness and married his hometown girlfriend, Nell. The pair built a sweet memorial for their lost child, naturally painted by his Bohemian friends. (We never do find out if Enright discovered Mrs. Enright was ready to run off with Mr. Ross, presumed, though not officially confirmed, dead.) 

It seems odd to leave the fate of Frederick and Clara's relationship until this far down in this recap, but that's precisely what this episode does. The estranged Trenchards — the show's ostensible big central romance — first share a scene with precisely eight minutes left in the finale, which is all the time they get to have a come-to-Jesus talk about the state of their relationship and reconcile quickly enough to crash the Christmas party at the vicarage. Frederick apologizes and seems relatively sincere about it, even though we've seen him do virtually zero self-reflection during his wife's absence. Clara cries about how much she's missed him and how good the genuine moments of joy in their marriage were. They hug it out, kiss passionately, and all is suddenly well enough to announce their reconciliation by attending James's Christmas gathering, full of plans to travel the world. 

If their reunion feels rushed and vaguely hollow, that's because it is, particularly when you consider how long we had to watch these two self-destruct and tear each other down before this moment. Is this enough payoff for all that pain? Not really. But, hey, at least we got a happy ending.