TV Review: Sanditon Season 3

I’m an Austenite. I can’t help it. Jane Austen’s works are classics for a reason. Yes, they are formulaic and always end with a happy ever after where all the characters defy the odds of that time and find both love and sensible matches. But who doesn’t love a happy ending?!

More than that, she’s my hero. She defied the odds and lived by her pen. She helped pave the way for female authors. 

Like many authors, she had unfinished works. Sanditon was one such unfinished work. When I read that they were finishing it and adapting it for TV, I was both excited and apprehensive. Would anyone be able to do her work justice, or would they mar her name? As a Jane Austen fan, I decided I would risk it and watch the show.

I haven’t read the book yet (adaptations are like long book trailers for me), but I can say that season three really came through for Jane Austen fans in this modern era. 

Huh? What does that mean?

I love Jane Austen, but her books were from a different time. Lydia and Wickham running off was a threat to her entire family’s reputation and future, but Wickham would have been fine. And he still got the fortune he sought after! A common theme is advantageous marriages because that’s what the goal was for men and women alike, with men most definitely having the upper hand since the fortune was always theirs. 

Charlotte gave a more modern voice and perspective to Jane Austen’s world. She even has a full conversation with Colbourn about how women are forced into loveless marriages as they race to save his niece from being ruined by Edward, Sanditon’s resident Wickham. But what I really loved was how boldly she reminded him that no matter what transpired, it didn’t mean his niece was ruined. 

I about stood up and applauded. 

I also loved how all the characters found happiness in their own ways and not necessarily the traditional ones. Lady Denham refused to give up her independence even for her long lost love, but they still found a way to make it work. Arthur and the Duke aren’t clear on their plans, but we’re left with hope. Even Edward is seemingly on his own path to redemption and happiness, having been changed by experiencing love for the first time. 

These aren’t the traditional happily ever afters that we’re accustomed to, but I think Jane Austen would approve. After all, she was no stranger to forcing change in society that told her to conform.