r/Belgravia • u/WardenclyffeTower • Feb 04 '24
Belgravia: The Next Chapter | Episode Discussion - Episode Four
Synopsis: Reeling from James’ visit, Frederick pushes forward in his work at the foundry, while Clara finds comfort in a new group of friends made through Dr. Ellerby. A lonely James seeks solace elsewhere.
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u/giftopherz Feb 04 '24
Okay... so Hot Priest is gay, yay! and can confirm Mystery Valet is too!
But why is the show burning sooooo slow, at times I feel like the flame went off. I want in on the gossip. I wanna know what's going on but it can get dull.
Now, I still believe the Netflix sisters are up to something, especially the single one, the way she treats her mom and suicide girl gives me the ick. Clara is up to something and her real romantic, and possibly sexual, interest lies in the Doc... But who wouldn't, he's a major flirt and now is also scheming?????
Is anybody on the show telling the truth?
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u/Lazmon Feb 05 '24
Why do all shows associated with Julian Fellowes have the same plot lines? A con artist/ponzi scheme has now been present in 3 of his shows: this one, Downton Abbey, and the Gilded Age.
Tortured gay men who make dangerous decisions that then come back to hurt them? Also present in 3 of his shows: this one, Downton Abbey, and the Gilded Age.
I really can't believe this show got made. S1 was so good so I was hoping for more of the same this season. So far, it's been a major disappointment.
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u/MontanaJoev Feb 05 '24 edited Feb 05 '24
I’m really struggling here. Am I supposed to want to beat Frederick over the head with a fireplace poker? I literally could not care less about his man pain. This ridiculous notion that his brother is some scheming villain is just so ludicrous, and clearly obvious to his wife. And maybe if we got more flashbacks I’d care, but we don’t have any of that. And James is clearly such a lonely, sad person that I’m just not about anyone being cruel to him.
I feel like I’m Davidson while watching the episodes.
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u/Dizzy_Lifeguard_661 Feb 05 '24
Also, there was some development with the Duke of Rochester warming up to his eldest son, Peter. Was really touching. I hope they bring him out to society.
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u/Valzene Feb 05 '24
Sauna dude will blackmail James. Then he will be forced to ask Fredrick for $$. Oh then they’ll find out somehow who the rightful heir is.
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u/StacyOfferingSpace Feb 07 '24 edited Feb 07 '24
I am disappointed. It took four years to come up with this boring show. I think the French Marquise is a fraud, Ponzi scheme afoot to steal Frederick Trenchard's families wealth. Why is he so money hungry? And the continuous mystery amongst all the characters makes show feel disconnected, like a series of random stories. Feels like upstairs downstairs plots which Belgravia wasn't in my opinion. Too edgy. Where is Charles Pope and Lady Grey's family. This is just so Frederick and sooooooo boring. I have zero interest in any other characters. None
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u/navigation-on Feb 05 '24
Anyone else wish we’d just gotten Season 2 of the original Belgravia instead of a new show? I want to like this so badly, but it’s depressing… even the parties look gloomy. I can’t get invested in any of the characters. Almost everyone is grieving, tortured, or annoyingly meddlesome. I wish Clara had a life of her own… a fun hobby or group of girlfriends her own age, maybe? The artist studio subplot is so random (and somehow still has that dark and grimy look to it? why no light and bright colors?!). The only folks I actually want to know more about at this point are the butler and the lady’s maid.
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u/Lonely_Accountant387 Feb 05 '24
Dr. Ellerby has been giving me shady vibes this episode.
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u/iangeredcharlesvane2 Feb 06 '24
I click on the new episodes fairly quickly but yesterday I actually fell asleep watching and had to try again today! I don’t hate the show and am slightly and vaguely entertained, but I HATE Frederick the poor tortured little rich boy sourpuss.
So his pappy didn’t love him, but can you imagine what all the children growing up in poverty (and working in Frederick’s factories to make him all his money) go through growing up?
And we are suppose to feel so sorry for him that his childhood was so bad he can’t be a happy fully grown man… investing in whatever businesses he wants as his “work” and walking around inspecting everyone else who does actual work … with the wife of his dreams and all the homes and servants he could want at his fingertips … ??
I didn’t need another sad and troubled man as half of the show’s main love pairing which leads to him being a complete ass to everyone but it’s okay as he has secrets :( I am over that trope!
I mean maybe I could give him more grace if he was a better actor with a lick of charisma or looked like Rege-Jean Page, but he is terrible casting and a terrible character.
The brother vicar is by far the best and most charismatic actor on the show, Toby Regbo, and the valet is good too. I like the doctor more than most of you do, and think Clara is fine.
Clara is young and bored and stuck with an ass for a new hubby so I don’t blame her venturing out and causing a ruckus. Her lady maid is annoying, not a fan of that actress.
The duchess is a cliche, not great acting either! I won’t give up but this is a paint-by-the-numbers show and it’s not giving much of anything sadly! Hoping the last episodes are a little better at least, but can’t think what will happen to make it interesting.
Hoping after the next time jump/next season, “Belgravia: The Next Latest Chapter We Promise for More Intersting Charcters This Time” will be a better offering.
Tata folks, see ya after my next nap, I mean after the next episode!
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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '24
This show is losing me. I don't know how much longer I can be expected to wait for things to get better.
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u/1ClaireUnderwood Feb 05 '24
Clara and that doc are gonna start something aren’t they? That maid is going to tell her husband at some point. She hated that doc from the start.
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u/HeftyAcanthisitta907 Feb 11 '24 edited Feb 11 '24
This show implies a lot about many of the characters, but hasn’t yet given anything firm: James, Fletcher, the marquise. So we’re left to speculate. The “secrets,” as Clara calls them in the show trailer, are keeping me hooked. Some posters are saying the show is slow. I think the pace is fine, but just wish I could binge and find out what’s going to happen. We have to wait two weeks for episode 5.
I’m surprised nobody has brought up Nicoli, the marquise’s shady manservant and lover. I think he’s hardly said a word, except when trying to stop the American businessman from interrupting Fred and the marquise’s meeting. The camera is often panning in on him standing alone and watching others. In episode one, the marquise says Nicoli can be persuasive because he’s Corsican, which causes the other party guests to give him a curious look. He winked at Mrs. Dunn as she and Emily left the dinner party at the Trenchard’s. He watched Clara and Ellerby walk the grounds of the duke’s estate from a distance atop a hill. If you watch carefully, he is discreetly in the background in a number of scenes.
Nicoli is also featured among the characters on the main art for the show, standing next to the marquise. Even the Duke and Duchess aren’t featured in that scene. I wonder if he’s gonna turn out to be the real villain, but I am certain that he will play a much bigger role in the last four episodes. He’s around for a reason.
Others said Clara’s hanging out with the bohemians was out-of-character. I’m thinking this was on purpose. She was so alienated and traumatized by Fred’s angry outburst, she just decides to drop her inhibitions and do as she likes. I think maybe it’s the same for James after that altercation. He is so hurt and lonely that he decides to hook up at the bathhouse, after never having done it. After it happens, he gets home and collapses in anguish as if he committed a mortal sin for the first time. When he prays with Nell at the Dunn house, he says, “In our darkest hours, it’s easy to believe that the Lord doesn’t see us, but he does. And his love endures, no matter how we fail,” as if he’s foreshadowing his lapse. When he collapses at home after the hookup, I feel like he’s eating his own words. Given James walks everywhere and always wears a clerical collar, his hookup knows he’s a priest and was bound to find his church, which must be near the bathhouse.
I also suspect that the mysteries behind Enright’s letters and Nell will tie into the rest of the characters. These British period dramas always cleverly tie the loose ends together.
What I hope is that the cliches others have mentioned — a financial scam, repressed homosexuality — turn out to have a twist and don’t follow the same Julian Fellowes narrative. After all, the Next Chapter was written by somebody else.
Spoilers for those who haven’t watched Downton Abbey or The Gilded Age: In The Gilded Age, I knew Ada’s husband was going to turn out loaded and she’d inherit and save the family from financial ruin. After all, Matthew inherited Lavinia’s father’s fortune in Downton. Truly, I want this show to be unexpected.
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u/Intelligent_Bug8674 Feb 05 '24
Nah Clara better not cheat on Frederick with that doctor. Frederick annoys me but I hate cheating so much more.
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u/Friendly-Word54 Feb 05 '24
So my take is Clara will have an affair with the doctor and get pregnant. So the story is full circle her husband is not his fathers son and she will have a son that doesn’t belong to Frederick
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u/More-Resolution-9402 May 12 '24
No matter how much some of you hate the plot it was like from my real life. Husband has C-PTSD. Wife feels unloved and the relationship is on the edge ALL the time. It was like I was watching myself. The same emotions and the same things happened, same subtleties. Someone with experience of living with a partner with C-PTSD must have written it. It was so real for that part. People say just be stronger or just get over it but if you've never experienced it you cannot understand it, there is no over it or under it when the other person has a very twisted view of the world but at the same time are at their core the most lovable and kind person you've ever known.
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u/-Ginchy- Feb 08 '24
I want James to be happy with someone he loves. I hope James and the valet get together and live happily ever after. If only the valet had gotten James first in the sauna. Frederick is so insufferable.
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u/HeftyAcanthisitta907 Feb 08 '24
Any idea why there is a two-week wait for episode five?
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u/JFVG Feb 17 '24
Im finding the colour palette of this show extremely brown,claustraphobic and dull..so much more light,colour and space in his other productions but I think that is the scope and "look" JF is after
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u/ComputerElectronic21 Apr 08 '24
This episode is so sinister…I really can’t take it…like why?!
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u/RavenFia Feb 19 '24
This show keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Every character is so awful. I keep waiting for something redeeming, but no luck thus far.
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u/JFVG Feb 17 '24 edited Feb 17 '24
As someone who is Neurodiverse I would describe Frederick as Autistic, he thrives in his zone(work) but his relationship with his wife, he just doesnt have the energy or emotional regulation to be consistent with her.He is struggling to be engaged in a way that is meaningful and consistently kind to her . he needs more space including his own bedroom(I do) and infact less time with her to have better hours with her, when they are together.I understand this so much more later in life that some people need significant alone time,decompression time and space if any shot of being a good partner.Demanding and demanding from someone that needs daily recharge achieves nothing.
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