Sanditon Musings by Claire Marie Panke

We are all dealing with a lot these days with COVID restrictions and some very real emotional, financial and health fears. Let’s see if we can lighten the load, and allay a bit of the recent frustration & confusion in #Sanditon Land.

Of course there’s a certain built-in anxiety that comes with remaining *Breathless With Anticipation* about whether or not a Season 2 will materialize (pause for a group intention of YES right now!), but I wanted to offer a few notes from the perspective of someone who has studied story structure, and tried to create suspense, surprise, recognition and resolution in the film stories I have worked on…All with the understanding that film/ TV viewers always have differing interpretations of characters / storylines, and everyone’s perspective is valuable.

(apologies for the SanditonDissertation that follows for those who like quick pithy posts)

It seems the revelation that Sidney spent time with Eliza in London for about a week prior to the Regatta (and following the London Ball that included THAT dance) has ramped up a feeling that he was selfish, oblivious, cruel, disingenuous, shallow, or any combination of the above.

What we’re witnessing is a tremendous inner shift that takes time, and the evolution of a story… that like a river winds this way and that (rather than a straight line), to reach its destination. More about rivers in a bit.

Those plot twists and turns and conflicts and oh no! points are built into the DNA of storytelling. Think of Frodo. And Dorothy. And Elizabeth Bennett. 

The trick is to not zigzag back and forth too much or too quickly, as may have happened for many viewers with the whiplash-inducing shift from Charlotte and Sidney finishing that dance to immediately moving into Eliza territory.

I wanted to write a little about why I think the writers may have set it up the way they did. Hope you’re still with me.

From the very first shot of the show, Charlotte takes aim…and

from that first rush toward the overturned coach, we immediately know her to be capable, intelligent and compassionate. She assumes too much and can demonstrate naiveté about complex issues, but she acknowledges that fault and works to improve herself. She is our guide through the story and we experience most scenes primarily through her perspective.

Looking at the Sidlotte duo, Charlotte is indeed our main protagonist, but it is Sidney who goes through the deepest transformation, one that the writers, directors, and certainly Theo James, would have thought deeply about.

How and when to reveal the layers. Risk having him behave like a brute but reveal his deep loyalty to defending his family (and others’ opinions of them) that will prove telling in later episodes. Create the body language, face-softening smiles, glances and second looks that open a window into his gradual thaw. Let us misjudge him the way Charlotte does. Until we don’t.

(and yes, he misjudges

her too. Pride & Prejudice, ahem)

So Charlotte has begun to crack Sidney’s armor, with little chips here and there…her sharp, observant retorts to his “tongue-lashings” which leave him off-guard. And intrigued. “What did she just say to me? Oh dear I might actually like this…” His unexpected vulnerability at times before her (Literally. Naked.). She is not like other women.

To me she is not a magic wand that comes in and fixes him. None of us wants to be fixed. But I do think she stirs something deep within that makes him want to be a better man. To return to the man he really is.

Most of us when crushed with emotional pain lash out, say things and act in ways we regret, and create a narrative about what we are or what we deserve…or what we don’t deserve. That part is very true to human nature. Shifting those inner narratives takes work, time, and nurturing. Sidney is figuring out that he doesn’t want to – or have to – stay stuck in his pain. His story-line has to move toward his future. But it also has to move away from his past.

The Day of the Dance is a major pivot in the story, a reawakening

for both Sidney and Charlotte that includes searching for Georgiana and *I decided against it*, and *Is that really what you think of me* during the conversation that changes everything.

In the close confines of the carriage, they face each other, call each other out on their excuses, and see into each other’s hearts. In a few hours they will be saying *I misjudged you*, *I underestimated you*, *you’re not too anything*, and *I care more about his opinion than almost anyone else’s*.

And then Lady Susan comes and lays it all out for us. And for them. Love her. And then, on with the dance.

And what a dance that was. It is the choreographed manifestation of their relationship, and I really feel it is a true feat of film-making excellence (costume-hair-lighting-set design-direction acting- music-dance-camera-sound).  Sublime.

At a masquerade ball, their masks are off. And as Sidney and Charlotte move together, they weave a new way of being with each other, as the dance mirrors a deep shift within each of them. Each of us watching felt it. How could you not feel it. Seriously, I can STILL feel it! Sigh. Which is why we want Sidney to keep dancing with

her, to continue in the reverie of that moment, and to not veer south toward Eliza.

Then the music stops, and Tom once again plops in. Charlotte’s face – why Tom who might you be referring to when you say the presence of a certain lady has shifted Sidney’s demeanor? Could that be me? It’s me, right? He’s falling in love with me right? Is it true? Oh…um, maybe it’s not true? Wait, what? WHAT???

We are absolutely meant to feel what Charlotte feels. The camera

movement and blocking of the other dancers swirling around her zoom us in and zoom us out in a way that brings us right into her own sense of SanditonWhiplash. And certainly it would have been a confusing night for her after that. (I’ve been in that exact situation. It is not fun). But she doesn’t crumble into a heap. That’s not Charlotte.

It might have felt nice and fairytale-ish for Sidney to get down on one knee and say I love you and let’s never stop dancing together. But he is not ready for that, and again, the story needs to unfold a little more.

The dance doesn’t just go away. The dance had to happen BEFORE he saw Eliza. The dance would change everything about the time that he may have spent with Eliza over the next few days, trying to see if they could rekindle their relationship.

The dance with Charlotte represents his new story, that which helps him finally let go of that which has kept him frozen. But he’s Not Quite There.

Eliza has ruled his psyche for years, and suddenly there she is. Her appearance at the ball probably felt like a direct punt from fate into his lap, and he had not yet evolved to the point of saying sorry you missed your chance, I moved on. That’s the point. He had not moved on. Not yet.

I absolutely understand why people are surprised that Sidney walked away toward Eliza, who appeared to him as if out of a mirage. By then Charlotte was dancing with Tom. (thanks a lot, Tom…). His heart had been softened. And he walks that softened heart right over to Eliza.

Unlike some viewers, when I next saw Sidney and Eliza coming to Tom & Mary’s, I did actually make the jump and assumed they arrived together, and I could see through their body language that they had spent some time together - different than if she had just arrived after only seeing him that one night at the ball.

Of course Charlotte didn't expect or want him to come back from London (which after all was his primary residence) with Eliza. Agreed, it was heartbreaking for Charlotte:  Oh, I see…perhaps I was wrong about us. Eliza is beautiful. Maybe he’s happy. 

All meant to keep the story complex, layered.

And we don’t know whether Charlotte was introduced right after the camera cut from her. It’s not a play-by-play of real life. The camera, writing, actors and directing tells us what we are meant to pay attention to. And in this case it’s how hurt she looks (and how beautiful she looks), and how guilty-conflicted Sidney looks once he sees her again.

Don’t assume Sydney‘s time with Eliza was all tea and crumpets. He had thought that maybe he finally has a “chance at happiness” with Eliza, but all his facial expressions at the Regatta (especially after Eliza’s condescending comments about Sanditon and toward Charlotte) tell me spending time again with Eliza was like trying to get back into an old pair of shoes that don't fit you anymore. And you realize you might not even like the color.

There is no way he did NOT think of Charlotte during that week. He admittedly doesn’t enjoy London society or social pretense, and feels like an “outlier” amid that environment. He is clearly not as comfortable with Eliza as he is with Charlotte (again, excellent acting by husband and wife!). So the week with Eliza helped him move AWAY from his obsession with an old, defunct love. Not a bad week’s work.

So this way and that, the story moves us forward. We make some mistakes as we search for our true selves. Sidney was wrong about Charlotte and she grew in his eyes. He was wrong about Eliza and she shrunk in his eyes.

But at the Regatta, Charlotte is not seen weeping behind a tree. She was hoping that Sidney returned her feelings, but sees him with Eliza, and when talking to both James Stringer and Lady Susan she seems almost resigned to that fact. Sad but resigned. Thank goodness for all of us Lady Susan says pooh pooh to that. This is written for us to know the intended path of the story. (The story that needs to be completed!)

So the river rowing scene.

One of my favorites, and the deepest revelation of how far Sidney came during that week with Eliza, how much he was actually moving toward Charlotte. He tried to figure out if he could return to the “river” with Eliza. Nope. He actually slips away from Eliza under the pretenses of needing to practice his rowing, knowing full well Charlotte would be there. She knows the Heraclitus quote. The outstretched hand. Come on. Balance. Compatibility. A different river, a changed man.

He also jolted out of the tent to chase Charlotte.

He was JUST ABOUT THERE. *What do you want from me?* Oh my goodness, could it be what I want with you is what I thought I wanted with Eliza all these years? That is a wallop of a realization to process. But again, instead of three years of therapy, he takes about three hours or so, then he comes to it, finally. I don’t want to be in London. I don’t want to be with Eliza. I am my best self, my truest self when I am with you. Another moment that will stay with me.

The soul-crushing ending: Felt like we spent 8 weeks sewing an intricate, beautiful sweater and then it got snagged after only wearing it 10 minutes, and the whole thing unraveled. WHAAT?

As a midway plot point, it works even if it feels awful (and not enough time to have Sidney and Charlotte together). To get viewers coming back, it works. To get viewers to feel like it’s the end of the story, it’s just sad, and feels like it betrays all of the kernels that were dropped along the path for us to follow. Frodo falls into the lava flow. Dorothy never gets to Oz. Darcy marries Caroline Bingley.

So here’s to feeling like the revisiting with Eliza needed to happen for this particular story. And for Sidney's ability to truly give himself to Charlotte.

That his love for and connection with Charlotte is real.

That we are on yet another twist in the story line, but not the end of the road.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.