'Sanditon' Recap: Episode 7

The penultimate episode of Sanditon wraps up what feels like a lot of loose ends, which leaves me wondering exactly what sort of story the finale is aiming to tell. After all, this hour basically settles things in terms of the love triangle between Charlotte, Sidney and Young Stringer, exposes Clara and Edward’s scheming, crowns Esther as the queen of this show that she so obviously is, and makes the town a relative social success thanks to Charlotte’s ability to make high placed friends.

I suppose there’s still the question of when all our endgame couples are all going to marry one another. (Esther, choose happiness girl!!) There’s also what exactly the future will hold for poor Georgiana, now that she’s had her heart broken and her eyes opened to the general perfidy and scumminess of the male sex. And I suppose Charlotte and Sidney have to actually run into each other’s arms after his declaration of love via self compliment at the end of this episode.

Okay, I’m mostly kidding on the last bit. Yes, Sidney’s admission that Charlotte makes him feel like his best self around her is almost as much a compliment to him as it is to her, but also, it’s extremely adorable at the same time. Especially coming from a man that we’ve watched struggle and resist the idea of caring about people, or the place he comes from, or Georgiana, or literally anything at all, for so long. Sidney seems willing to try at life again, and that’s a big deal for him as a character.