How I Would Fix Sanditon (2019)

If you have seen the 2019 adaptation of Jane Austens unfinished novel Sanditon, you would know it is messed. If you haven't seen it though, don't put yourself through the trouble, you can read all about what is wrong with in my last article (THIS IS NOT WHAT JANE WANTED). There is a lot bad and wrong with the show and so today I'm going to try and fix the show to make it just a bit better. (I will not be touching on the sibling relationship, the fix is to just get rid of it entirely, the end).

Cliche Characters

I kind of touched on this in my last article, but the character of Eliza is such a cliche ex-girlfriend, and it's so annoying. To summarize, the hero of the story, Sidney, used to be envolved with Eliza until she went off and married a richer man. That broke Sidney's heart, and he didn't talk to her for years, blah blah blah. Then she comes back because her husband is dead! Now she is single and incredibly rich (like richer than Sidney).

Our protaginst, Charlotte, becomes competition to Eliza because they both want Sidney of course. And their first interaction is quite cold. After seeing the first scene where they "interact" (they really don't but they're both there), I said "Eliza's going to end up being a nice person who encourages Charlotte to go after Sidney." I thought they would break the stereotype of jealous ex-girlfriend and surprise the audience with her being really supportive of Charlotte. But no. She was just the sterotypical jealous ex-girlfriend. Overdone. Boring. And at this point enraging.

The Ending of Season 1

After finishing wacthing the first season, I was obviously livid to find out what happens in the following season two. I could not even continue to watch the rest of the show, because the main characters NEVER END UP TOGETHER!

Essentially, the show was supposed to be cancelled after the first season (which I would have thanked god if it had been) but it was brought back (and then cancelled again, I think, and then brought back again). When it was picked up for a second season, the leading man, Theo James, decided not to come back because he liked how they had ended the first season? (which is ok, everyone is entitled to their wrong opinions). So, we have Theo to blame for the atrocity that is the unaustenian unhappy ever after.

My fix for this is to just not continue with the show. Now, obviously people want money, people need jobs, and so I understand that just stopping a show is bad. But that aside, there are so many shows that go on for way too long, that have an obivous decline in entertainment value or artistic value because stories are just being dragged out. In this case, the first season ends on a cliffhanger, the main hero and heroine are not together, in fact they are being torn apart, he might have to marry someone else, oh no! the horror! And just end it there. The end. Then fans can speculate for themselves how the couple did (or did not if you're a sadist) end up together.

A Single Line

The Parker's (Sidney's family) need money. Eliza has money and wants Sidney. So, spolier alert, Sidney agrees to marry Eliza for her money. The moment in which this is revealed to Charlotte and the audience could have been so much better.

First, we see Sidney in the parlour, his family crowding around him. They all seem happy because they were all just saved by Sidney, but he is not happy because obviosuly he loves Charlotte and wants to be with her. When the family notices Charlotte they tell her the good news: Sidney will marry Eliza. Then they leave Sidney and Charlotte alone. This all happens in the show. What I needed to happen after was one thing. Sidney walks up, hold Charlotte's arm or something and says one line: "It should've been you". And that's it. Or even I could go for a "I won't stop until it is you."

That would've been just *chef's kiss*.

Ok, I Am Going To Talk About The Siblings

I also talked about this in the article but I thought I'd bring it up again. In Sanditon, there are two (step) siblings who the whole time, their entire stroyline, is trying to get enough money so they can be together. But in the end of the first season they kind of try to make it seem like the sister in the relationship was being manipulated into wanting this. Which I think is an (more) interesting story than just siblings wanting to f***. They just don't set it up properly. So my fix would be to show her being very hesitant earlier in the season. In the early epsiodes they portray her as the manipulator, that her brother and everyone else around her are just her pawns in her game to get exactly what she wants (which is her brother). Because of this I would sooner believe that she was smart enough to play the victim, and pretend that she was being manipulated than to actually have been, which I think is neither good nor what the show was going for (although they did that for something else which just pisses me off).

Finally

In conclusion, Sanditon sucks. It just does. Me writing about how I would fix the show doesn't actually do anything, it can't change the show (though I deeply wish it could've). The best thing to come out of the show is the almost 2000 words I've written about it and the comments about how I'm not alone in hating this godforsaken show.