'The Forsytes' Second Episode Continues Its Breakneck Pace
Multiple generations of the Forsyte clan stress over affairs of the heart.
Secrets don't stay buried for long in The Forsytes' second episode. Our second installment rockets through what once would have been a half-season's worth of plot in 45 minutes or less, dropping major revelations, shaking up several core family dynamics, and promising a dastardly revenge scheme to come.
It's unlikely anyone thought the secret of Jo's past with Louisa — or the children she gave birth to without telling him – was going to remain hidden for very long. (Especially since his actual wife never produced a male heir, which makes the daughter from her first marriage the family default.) This sort of mess is a narrative gold mine, after all, the kind of twist that forces major characters to reevaluate their understanding of their own lives, puts key relationships in jeopardy, and is just generally entertaining to watch unravel. Besides, she went and had twins. Even Shakespeare knows how to have fun with nature accidentally spawning doubles.
But The Forsytes is either uninterested or incapable of the storytelling subtlety that would be required to pull that off, and instead essentially decides to burn its own house down pretty much immediately.
By the time the series' second episode concludes, it's difficult to name a Forsyte family member who doesn't know the details of Jo's dirty secret unless Emily's dog Cyril counts.
