The end of Sanditon season 2 episode 3 included a big reveal about our heroine’s two potential love interests this season – in addition to a romantic balloon ride over Sanditon Beach.
The episode focussed on the annual Midsummer Fair, with Tom Parker (played by Kris Marshall in the Sanditon cast) desperate to obtain an elephant as a star attraction to bring in visitors.
However, when a rival town outbid Tom, Colonel Francis Lennox (Tom Weston-Jones) came to the rescue with the loan of a hot air balloon from his regiment and, to Lennox’s delight, our heroine Charlotte (Rose Williams) was the first local brave enough to take to the sky alongside him.
Elsewhere, Esther (Charlotte Spencer) was left alone at Sanditon House with the deceitful Clara Brereton (Lily Sacofsky) while the servants and Lady Denham (Anne Reid) attended the fair – and unfortunately, Clara immediately went into labour after they left, forcing Esther (who has been struggling to conceive) to help deliver her enemy’s child.
At the episode’s conclusion, Charlotte revealed to Lennox that she had finally warmed to her difficult employer, Mr Colbourne – prompting an apparently jealous Lennox to reveal a dark connection between himself and Colbourne.
Who are Charlotte’s love interests in Sanditon season 2?
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At the end of Sanditon season 2 episode 3, Colonel Francis Lennox warned Charlotte about her widowed employer Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), the guardian of her two young charges.
Colonel Lennox claimed that Mr Colbourne “stole” the love of his life, Lucy, from him before “destroying” her – and we know that Colbourne’s late wife, the very same Lucy, died under mysterious circumstances.
Lennox also claimed Charlotte was very similar in character to Lucy, implying that both men would find Charlotte as equally attractive.
Can we trust Colonel Lennox? At the start of Sanditon season 2, the charming soldier seemed the obvious choice for Charlotte, but the seeds of doubt are already being sewn after Lennox failed to pay off his town creditors and additionally pressured Tom Parker into gambling away a sizeable sum at the end of the episode.
Could Colonel Lennox represent the duplicitous ‘Mr Wickham’ figure of the season, while Mr Colbourne – both prickly and proud, but clearly warming up to Charlotte – represents the ‘Mr Darcy’ character?
What’s more, Sanditon is also setting up a Cyrano de Bergerac-esque scenario for Charlotte’s younger sister, Alison (Rosie Graham), with the brave but battle-scarred Captain Fraser overshadowed by the handsome, tongue-tied Captain Carter, who uses Fraser’s poems and war stories to woo Alison by passing them off as his own.
Sanditon season 2 airs on BritBox in the UK, with new episodes arriving on Mondays. Take a look at the rest of our Drama coverage, or check out what else is on with our TV Guide.
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