'Sanditon': Season 2 Episode 5 Recap

Love is in the air in the penultimate episode of Sanditon Season 2, as the Parkers manage to stave off their circling creditors long enough to throw a ball that gives all our favorite characters the chance to deck themselves out in gorgeous dresses, dance the night away, and engage in relationship drama of some form or other.

Thanks to yet another impassioned speech from Charlotte, Colbourne makes the barest bit of effort and leaves his house to escort Augusta to her first official ball. She's over the moon about all this and begs Charlotte to stay with the family always since she's had such a positive effect on him.  Colbourne, once he ends up dancing with Charlotte, echoes these sentiments, gloppily proclaiming that Charlotte's presence has transformed the girls and brought their whole family back to life. I mean, yay, I guess, but I might believe more of this if I felt like Colbourne really knew anything about who she really is or what she herself has been going through.

If anyone was wondering whether or not Charlotte and Colbourne were the show's preferred pair, though, just contrast the way they filmed the scenes in which our heroine dances with each of them. While she seems like she's talking to the mailman with Colonel Lennox, as soon as she's with Colbourne the camera angle contracts to the point where it appears as though they're the only pair on the floor. (And that's before Lennox gets grossly presumptive and violent with her later on. Not enough for him to just be the wrong choice for Charlotte, he's also got to be a domestic abuser!)