'Belgravia's Second Episode Gets Down to the Business of Being Catty

After a premiere installment that spent most of its time setting up the framework for the rest of the season through flashbacks, Belgravia’s second hour is much more the show we thought this series would be. It’s dramatic, soapy, and full of characters lying and behaving snottily to one another while wearing lovely dresses. Also, the series’ big secret is officially out. Anne Trenchard, tired of thinking of Lady Caroline Brockenhurst being sad at home with her wealthy husband and piles of money, spills the literal and proverbial tea by telling her about the existence of her grandson.

Lady Caroline actually takes it kind of well until she and Anne get into an argument over who is more to blame for their kids’ long-ago hookup. (Edmund is the trash person in this equation, but Anne might have waited for maybe a few days before pointing that out.) The two women part on relatively awkward terms, but the Countess does promise not to share the Trenchards’ secret. Sophia’s son, Charles Pope, was given to a friendly vicar to raise right after he was born. He’s grown up to become a cotton merchant with a head for business and a generally sweet disposition.

The Countess makes it roughly 36 hours – and one conversation with her husband, amazingly named Peregrine, who’s mopey about not having a son to leave his fortune to – before paying a visit to Mr. Pope under the pretense of investing in a new business venture of his. Charles tries not to be rude about how weird and overly eager the Countess is to talk to him, which is random and creepy because she has a lot of money, and he needs some. So, when Caroline invites Charles to an after-supper party, he says yes. But he doesn’t know this old lady is a massive schemer and has decided to make her sudden interest in Charles the talk of her social set.