I’d like to begin this post with a *SPOILER* warning. If you haven’t watched the final episode of Sanditon, read at your own risk.
I’ll be honest. I watched the final episode of Sanditon four months… and I’m still not OK. I have SO MANY feelings. That ending! So, when I realised that the final episode of Sanditon was showing in North America, on Sunday, I had to ask our Historical Romance authors for their opinion. And, more importantly, invite them to discuss how they would have ended Jane Austen’s final and unfinished novel…
Jenni Fletcher says…
I have so many opinions about this!!!
I really enjoyed the series – honestly, I’m a sucker for any period drama – but I WISH the last episode had ended on the clifftop when Sidney and Charlotte finally kissed! It would have been shorter, but it would have saved me some Twitter outrage. Instead, I watched the last five minutes in a state of disbelief, hoping there was some kind of mistake.
To be honest, my biggest problem wasn’t so much the unhappy ending, but Sidney’s behaviour. I don’t know how you redeem a hero who proposes to another woman, even to help his brother. So if they’re really not making another series, my solution is for the producers to go back and re-edit the whole thing with Stringer as the hero. He’s a better rower anyway (but maybe they could change his hat.)
Having said all that, I LOVED the Esther/Babbington storyline so I’m glad there was one happy ending.
And it was almost all worth it for the line: ‘I believe I am my best self, my truest self, when I’m with you’. Sobs…
Annie Burrows says…
I enjoyed watching the series Sanditon, although I did feel let down by the ending. I would have preferred Charlotte to have found a happy ever after.
Still, at least she didn’t end up with Sidney Parker, who didn’t measure up to my idea of a True Hero. At all!
If only she seen the worth of Young Stringer, who adored Charlotte from the start.
On the whole, I felt as if Andrew Davies was trying so hard to appeal to a modern audience that he lost sight of what makes Jane Austen’s works so timeless – the integrity of the central characters, no matter what shenanigans minor characters indulge in.
If only she had lived to finish the work, I’m sure Jane would have come up with a far more satisfying resolution!
I’d love to hear, SYTYCW readers, how you would have ended Sanditon!
