#this is based on a screencap from the davy back fight

[zosanbrainrot]

zosantober day 04 - dodge

[mimicofmodes]

Sanditon, episode 2 part i

At the beginning of the second episode, we’re basically fully departed from the novel fragment Jane Austen wrote. 

Sidney, looking nice in a triple-collared greatcoat, fully pretends to be looking at something over his shoulder so that he doesn’t have to obviously ignore Charlotte. Even though she’s wearing a knitted spencer that laces up the front (???) and her hair is wet from a swim and down, it’s rude!

We go off to church, and Miss Denham is for once not in black! Her hat is technically kind of like the late eighteenth century “spa hat” or “Devonshire hat” that was briefly in fashion, a tricorn made of black straw, usually decorated with colored plumes. The way she’s wearing it forward and to one side is very 1930s, which reminds me of the way Tuppence Middleton as Helene in the recentish War and Peace was costumed very 1930s. Maybe it signifies more modern sexual mores? Maybe it just looks saucy. Sir Edward’s plaid waistcoat is not so modern, more 1830s.

In church, the priest gives a creepily sensual sermon based on how pretty all the girls are, “blooms” that will soon be “plucked”. Arthur Parker, however, wishes that people would allow him to be a lily of the field. Honestly, he may be my favorite character in this? Everyone else is just so serious and dramatic.

I REALLY like Miss Denham’s (Esther’s) white dress here. Regency productions are often unwilling to put characters that are meant to be attractive in the high-necked morning dress they should be wearing before dinner, but they are not doing that here and I approve.

The vibe in the room at Denham Park is “Crimson Peak”.

And again, NICE gothic-influenced gown and frill on Clara. Lady Denham is dressed like it’s 1785 while planning her pineapple-and-Miss-Lambe luncheon and she opens up the next scene by complaining about Sir Edward’s behavior (wasting his time on “conquests” rather than getting married) while dressed like the dowager countess of Grantham again. Ah well.

Okay, this is some very modern hair on Esther - it looks like Rita Hayworth’s or Veronica Lake’s in the 1940s - but let’s give them credit, she is shown en négligé, undressed, which is the only situation in which a woman’s hair should be down in a Regency show. Charlotte, take note! This kind of gown, very loose and low-waisted, was just worn to cover up the underwear and would not be taken outside.

(They ruin it a couple of scenes later where she tells the servant to allow Lord Babington to come in and see her like this, but ... she’s also telling him that her brother brushes her hair, so there’s A Lot going on.)

After Charlotte has a nice scene with Mr. Parker where she shares his interest in building New Sanditon (take that, Sidney; she’s not looking down her nose at him), he takes her out to see the actual building. She also meets young Mr. Stringer (left), the cheerful cutie who’s the son of the foreman, who’s immediately sweet to her. I love him! Sidney comes along, looking gloomy (in that black greatcoat, making quite a contrast with his colorful brother) and smoking with a long ivory holder, and she rushes to apologize to him. He of course throws the apology back in her face, so she throws his rudeness back in his. Nice.

Sidney is called from a boxing match where he’s fighting a shirtless opponent (gritty! sexy! Andrew Davies is showing us the REAL REGENCY!) to come to Georgiana Lambe, who won’t leave her room or, I think, get dressed. She’s rightfully not happy about this party of Lady Denham’s, which is about showing off the exotic pineapple and the exotic visitor together. (I can’t help but think, as Georgiana rails against Sidney for taking her away from her home - a mystery that I am intrigued by; what exactly is his connection to her family? It’s a Davies addition - about the West Indian servant standing in the corner. How much of a choice did she have to come to England, and what does she think about it?)

As the party starts, we get nice looks at the outfits:

This is a bad shot of Lady Denham, but honestly, I’m so tired of the shtick of costuming her like it’s the 1780s ... she’s even wearing a fancy whitework apron. Tired! Clara is of course actually up-to-date, and her waistline is nicely high - a lot of Regency productions have the waists just a couple of inches too low, while this one is snugged up as high as possible. The neckline does have some issues, though: it should be much shallower and nobody would have been wearing a filmy, skimpy fichu that’s open over the cleavage.

Georgiana comes in and stands out immediately in the brightest and most expensive-looking gown in the room, especially dominating Mrs. Griffiths’s demure and plain purple one. (Mrs. Griffiths has the slightly-too-low waistline I was complaining about; Georgiana’s is just right.)

The Beaufort sisters, who I will probably never screencap again, look appropriately insipid and pale next to her as well.

Clara and Esther are once again also dressed in an opposing way. Instead of the ambiguous grey this time, though, Clara’s outfit is mostly white with some dark decoration as she clears up Esther’s misunderstanding and admits to being an innocent victim of sexual abuse; Esther, undaunted and motivated by jealousy over her brother, is still in sexy red.

In the dining hall, Georgiana busts out some creole to make Lady Denham feel awkward, which is excellent. Sidney is a pain in the ass about it, which is hypocritical of him given his blatant rudeness at other times. Arthur loves it, which is why he’s awesome. Sir Edward then goes on to flirt extremely badly with her.

Sidney entreats Charlotte - whose sleeves are divinely puffed and gathered, by the way, although she is also afflicted with the dreaded Flimsy Fichu - to give him her opinions on the company, and she rightly rebuffs him as she knows he’s just going to tell her she’s awful for having critical thoughts. 

Lady Denham then basically starts taunting Georgiana for being black and having a mother who was a slave, and then tries to play Charlotte and Georgiana off each other only for Charlotte to sympathize with G instead. She’s completely losing her head because Georgiana’s not playing along with the scheme to marry Sir Edward. When Georgiana fires back with a “we ain’t suited” about him, everyone is clearly on her side. A gleeful Arthur goes to cut her a piece of pineapple as a reward, and we find ...

D:

Lady Denham is so upset about the whole thing (despite it being entirely her fault) that she threatens to pull her investment from Sanditon, which would ruin Tom. Poor man.

(cont’d)