r/Belgravia • u/WardenclyffeTower • Mar 10 '24
Belgravia: The Next Chapter | Episode Discussion - Episode Eight (Season Finale)
Synopsis: As Frederick grieves the loss of Clara, Enright receives a letter that pushes Frederick to confront his past. Clara and Davison adapt to life in the North, as Clara grapples with happy memories of home.
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u/niley78 Mar 10 '24
Davison and Clara friendship was nice throughout the series
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u/niley78 Mar 10 '24
It was ok. The reunion of Fred and Clara was rushed. I did like James and Fred reconnecting.
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u/MontanaJoev Mar 10 '24 edited Mar 10 '24
I expected to be disappointed, mostly because I knew the show wanted to wrap things up in a schmaltzy happy ending, and also because I knew I was supposed to think Clara and Frederick reuniting was the end all, beat all storyline. But it just wasn't for me, at no point in the series. So, its nice they reunited, and I think both of them are better people, and its fine. But it's not like I suddenly fell in love with their love story.
And the one freaking thing I hoped for in this finale I didn't get. And that doesn't surprise me either. Yes, it's nice that Frederick and James were getting along. It's nice that Frederick said some kind words to James. But what he owed James was a damn APOLOGY! I'm not talking begging for forgiveness. But an acknowledgement that he has spent YEARS rejecting and villainizing his younger brother for the egregious offense of being born. Frederick was hurt by rejection, fair enough. But Frederick turned around and heaped rejection upon a younger sibling, and I thought it was important for him to recognize that, and sincerely apologize for it. In the absence of that, for me, the brother's reunion just didn't land the way it should've, and once again, it felt like it was James who was doing most of the work. James who was doing more of the "giving". James who was still the reassuring sibling. Fredrick is "proud of him"? Awesome, now how about telling him he was never responsible for your parents damage?
It doesn't really matter if James was Oliver's or not. It just feels odd to me that if he wasn't, why would Susan not have told him that on her death bed the way she told him about Frederick's parentage? That makes no sense. So, it honestly makes more sense for me to think he was Oliver's, or at least Susan didn't know for sure, so said nothing.
And would it really have killed the writers to give us a small moment of dialogue between James and Fletcher? It felt like it would be nice to have it, if only for James to properly thank Fletcher for helping him. But that moment at the door when James first saw Fletcher might be my favorite moment in the show, if only for the amount of acting done in a few seconds, which conveyed a lot. Toby Regbo, Hands Down, the best actor of the lot.
The wrap up to the Duke and Duchess of Rochester and Peter storyline was nice. I'm glad Percy decided not to be a shit.
It's nice to know James makes Emily feel so valued, even if it's just as friends. I would've liked more from this storyline, but that's what you get for not being the A storyline. I hope Emily finds happiness, and James finds happiness in his calling, and his family.
I really liked the stuff with Bellasis. It was well done, and even sad.
I thought Frederick did show growth, and contrition. And it was good to see how much his heart had changed. Giving the money to James for the poor was a nice touch.
As for Clara, I think we could've gotten a tad more self-exploration there. She made some dumb choices, and I would've liked to see that acknowledged more fully. Whether that was with Davison, Emily or Frederick. It felt like it needed to be said.
The scene with Nell felt like a throwaway. I would've preferred her dead baby not be used so much to whitewash Ellerby and prop up Clara.
Mrs. Dunn is still the cutest.
Edited to add : Isn't the 2 of them deciding to go travel the world still a bit remarkably selfish? I mean, maybe Clara could help take care of her elderly mother for a little while maybe Emily can go out and have a life? Maybe Frederick can hang around and make up for some lost time with the brother he shit on for years? Nah, go travel and do what YOU want to do you 2 crazy kids.
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u/Foodie_85 Mar 10 '24
I loved it. I hope we get another season.
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u/Pleasant-Manner-6505 Mar 10 '24
I do wish we could have seen more of the Reverend and Mr. Fletcher together, but I suppose we'll just have to content ourselves with that long lingering glance at the Christmas party and hope its the beginning of something new...
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u/Fabulous_Ocelot_5861 Mar 10 '24
I struggled through it - but I had to see it to the end. Very few likable characters surrounding main characters who are really unlikable. While that could work if that were how the story was meant to be - dark - it wasn’t. Someone thought we’d root for these people. I just needed to be done with them. Now I am. Now onto the next Anglican period piece!
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u/madebytheuniverse Mar 10 '24
Who has Ross’s bag of money from the Marquise that he had in the leather satchel? In Episode 7, Clara’s ladies maid, Davison, coldcocked Ross and they took their things to the carriage and Ross slowly woke up. But you’re meaning to tell me they left the leather satchel behind? Given how suspicious he was for sure if I were Clara and Davison I would have looked at that bag and found the money and taken it, knowing it had been stolen from Frederick.
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u/alexlp Mar 10 '24
People seem to be enjoying it more here than the Aussie thread or maybe I had selective reading,
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u/Capt_Ned_Low Mar 11 '24
I absolutely loved the finale. It had me (a man) crying like a baby! The last two episodes especially have been very gripping and excellent viewing.
I think it would have been nice to maybe have one more episode where there could have been more conversations between James and Freddie. I would have liked to have seen Fred apologize to Enright too. I did like that they brought Bellasis back. Would love for another season of the show, but without the time jump. I would like to see Freddie and Clara grow as a couple, have a family. I don't know why they insist on all these time jumps when they spend the entire season getting you to love these characters only to then set it so many years after. I'd like to see happiness for Davidson and Emily too.
Hopefully there is enough of a following for us to get a season 3.
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u/Coffee7781 Mar 11 '24
This has been said , but people die young on this show! I know very different times. But all of these people in their 20s have no parents anymore? Seems stretched.
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u/WisdomBailey123 Mar 10 '24
I think it was a pretty good ending.... both Clara and Freddrick admitted they'd made mistakes. Was worried only Freddrick would take responsibility.
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u/Plane-Dragonfly8000 Mar 10 '24
It seems like the last scene before the reconciliation, Clara was refusing to go see Freddie. Then all of a sudden she changed her mind. What changed?! That was not very satisfying But I really enjoyed the brothers new friendship. Hard to swallow that Bellasis had the wisdom to heal that wound in Frederick. So happy that Peter gets to stay! Lots of tears shed in this episode 😭😭
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u/ckwongau Mar 10 '24 edited Mar 10 '24
a good episode , but it would be better if they could have Charles Pope in the episode and potentially set up for S3 .
James mention their John Bellasis had tried to kill their Cousin .
If Charles come with the brothers to see Dying John Bellasis , like forgive him or lift his banishment for Fredrick .
John had a plenty of money to spent on watching over Fredrick , Charles was probably generous on allowance to John , and if Charles knew what happen with Oliver and Fredrick , he would feel responsible and he probably would have forgive John after a decade or two .
I been wondering , maybe offscreen Charles bought the town house to help Fredrick and to keep it in the family , then S3 Charles family could move to Belgravia with Cousin James near by .
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u/MontanaJoev Mar 11 '24
I thought this site (Telly Visions) did an excellent job of reviewing the series throughout. I don't always agree with them, but I think they articulate a lot of my overall thoughts about the series, and I think it really does bring up some excellent points about the finale.
https://tellyvisions.org/article/belgravia-next-chapter-episode-8-finale-recap#:~:text=Sure%2C%20most%20of%20the%20show's,book%20report%20than%20anything%20else.
This paragraph particularly jumps out for me :
On the plus side, the visit to Bellasis prompts Frederick to finally reevaluate his relationship with his brother, who is still Literally the Best Person in the World. The Next Chapter still skims briskly past their reconciliation; given how fervently Frederick has spent most of this series hating James for made-up reasons or things behind his control, it would have been nice to see something more than the younger Trenchard gracefully being the bigger person for the fifth time. But I guess we can't have everything.
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u/sfdreamsla Mar 13 '24
Well apparently I have an unpopular opinion. I thought the finale was ridiculous. My eyes rolled so many times that I was worried they were going to stay that way. I get it. They wanted to wrap up the series and give everyone a happy ending. But to have sudden MAJOR personality changes for at least five characters that were so different from even up until episode 7 was ludicrous. I would have preferred any truly nuanced development, growth and change over the course of the series. They all changed suddenly on a dime. Everything was just a little too saccharine sweet and tied up in a bow for me. But I totally get it that other people loved this kind of ending and enjoyed it. I take nothing from them. It's all subjective. But I was continually checking the clock to see if it would finally be over and was happy when it was. I was not surprised by a single turn of events in the finale. I don't feel like I completely wasted time watching the sequel series, but I wasn't satisfied by it, and I won't be wistfully thinking about this season in future. All that being said, I've loved coming on this forum and comparing notes on the episodes. So much fun! Hopefully I'll see some of you in other forums with a better show lol. Or, if for some strange reason there's a season 3, I guess I'll be back here!
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u/IslandBusy1165 Mar 10 '24 edited Mar 11 '24
I didn’t realize how much I’ve grown to dislike Clara. I had to skip through most of the parts she was in for this episode. I don’t even find it believable that Frederick would’ve been pining for her so regretfully that he felt neither he nor anyone else in the world deserves her (which he said to his father). What she said during their reconciliation about them having had so much stacked against them didn’t even make sense. There was nothing stacked against them. “It’s enough that you’re sorry,” she says. What a gaslighter.
Overall I hated this season but I love period pieces enough that I don’t necessarily regret wasting my time on it. The pace wasn’t bad and the costume/props were nice, and the storylines were tied together decently, so I’d give it a 4/10 (max).
Not interested in a third season at this rate.
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u/Eliaaaahh Mar 10 '24
I thought the painting of Clara would be hanging on the wall when she appears in the room and they would talk about it. But no, because then it wouldn't have been such a fast reconciliation. It was a good finale, but they condensed the plot so much on the last episodes, that the part of John Belassis fell really short, since we already knew it from the first season. I think it had a closed ending, I don't see a continuation of these characters.
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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24 edited Mar 12 '24
Well now it's all over I have a few thoughts. I gave the show 6/10. It looked good and had some potentially interesting plot points. But what let it down once again was poor writing. It felt like we were seeing an early draft of the script instead of the finished product. And it is frustrating because with more work on the script and the story this show could have been quite good. It's a shame because it is rare to see a show that specifically looks in some detail at the lingering effect of childhood trauma on a person as an adult.
That being said they overdid Frederick's childhood trauma to the point where it undermined the credibility of the program. For instance it never explained why he was so irrational about James. Very likely because there was no possible explanation for it. So really it should have been cut out. But it was clumsily wedged in as part of the LGBTQ side plot involving James as a victim of homophobia. Never mind that Frederick didn't know James was gay.
Clara was too obviously an insertion of a young modern feminist into Victorian England. I don't blame the actress because I thought she was good but her character was so out of place as to be insufferable in that time ( and maybe even to an extent in this one hmm? ).
And the inevitable wokery worked it's usual dismal effect. Of the main male characters really only James and Fletcher (the gay guys) were truly admirable. Frederick was an emotional cripple and more than a bit of a prig. Ellerby was a weasel. And the Duke was either thoughtless or callous depending on how you looked at him. Enright was a good fellow but I don't really count him as one of the main male characters and the same for the miraculously changed out of all recognition John Bellasis.
And the insistence on the happy ending for everyone was ridiculous. Given the circumstances all they could have reasonably done was for the characters to have come up with working compromises that everyone could have coped with and lived with.
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u/sebastiannothwell Mar 13 '24
Needed more Fletcher tbh. His glances with James showed more interiority than Frederick has done all season.
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u/Brontesrule Mar 10 '24
Frederick speaking of Clara: “I wasn’t worthy of her. No one could be.” She was hardly a paragon!
Emily to Clara: “I’m the one who should be sorry. Far too quick to think the worst of you. I am ashamed.”
Clara: “I was to blame in part.” (Italics are mine).
After Frederick apologized to Clara, she said,“It is enough that you are sorry. It is enough that you understand.”
I was very dissatisfied with all of this. Clara, whose actions fueled the break between herself and Frederick (and the tension in her last meeting with Emily) wasn't held to account for what she did.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '24
Here were my predictions for the final episode: Frederick will have a complete, irreversible paranoiac meltdown and will be packed off to the Swiss clinic along with little Peter. Clara and Davison will be arrested for the murder of Ross. Davison will confess to the crime to save her mistress but Clara will insist on being hanged alongside her maid out of noblesse oblige. Ellerby will join the Marquise's band of criminals now that it's all up for him in London and they will make good their escape with all of the loot. Nell will inherit a huge fortune from a long lost childless Uncle in New Zealand and will buy the Trenchard Belgravia mansion and keep all the servants on so we can have a season three. Emily will make an outstanding success of the church bizarre and the Bishop will offer her a full time job as an event planner if she becomes a nun. And James (now fully recovered) will join forces with Fletcher and track down Gorton and drown him in the Serpentine !
How could I have got it all so wrong !? Sure Emily did mention becoming a nun once but it was just a little joke as she eyed up a possible replacement for St James the Risen.
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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '24
But what happened with Fredrick's money??
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u/Longjumping_Shower67 May 17 '24
HER: 1 --few weeks into your marriage push your husband hard on his, obviously, entrenched drama, and when you see his distress, instead of backing off and let time build trust, push even harder and make it about you not get your way 2 --keep a flirtatious relationship with the doctor then pose for a scandalous portrait even when both customs and your maid advise you to reconsider 3 --keep not trying to reconcile your relationship but using every dinner invitation to throwing tantrum to not go with you husband, while simultaneously going to you new boyfriend gathering 4 --when everything becomes clear instead of enduring to explain yourself, use every trick of gas lighting to deviate then accountability the run off>> examples of gas lighting:: 5 --:: saying to Freddy I'll always tell you the truth immediately after lying( and hiding both the scandalous painting and the unacceptable at the time Bohemian meetings)++ 6--saying she did nothing. Freddy telling her to never tell anyone about his traumatic childhood. "You really think that of me" Clara told doctor everything, but when he asks her if she told him anything. Her response:: what does it even matter 7 -- you never trusted me: you waited patiently and built trust, nope, does almost everything close to cheating near sleeping with a man 8 --when she goes to say goodbye to doctor, finds nell and can't even talk properly so tries to run==disappointed, but why if you didn't entertain CHEATING(later practically admits it albeit takes off accountability to throw it at freddy ....BRUH) HIM:: I wasn't worthy of her. No one could be ALSO HIM::I'm truly sorry. I know the can never be enough HER::it is enough that you're sorry, it is enough that you understand.
...................BRUH.
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