We had a deal

Finished watching Sanditon. If you haven’t seen it but intend to, stop reading now. If you don’t mind major spoilers, as in let me tell you how it ends, here goes: the heroine in tears, the hero all apologies, and the viewer aghast. I took a deep breath, then another, then mad-dashed online for information on season two. There is none. I mean there is info, and it says there is no season two. By which time you start doing the math (how many hours did I invest in this), and looking to contact Andrew Davies (oh, numerous viewers have already skewered him on Twitter), because WTF.

Mr. Davies, you have some explaining to do, and it better be good. You took upon yourself to write an Austen. A 21st century Austen, granted, but fiction of a certain genre. And certain genres come with certain expectations, and when you decide to trample on people’s expectations, they will have questions. Did you take a gamble, certain there would be a second season? If there was no such certainty, why not just make a miniseries satisfactory to all? A broad story arch is all fine and dandy, but you can’t end an Austen like you did. The arch is missing a whole lot of story. And a happy ending

And so, we are not happy with the ROI. Yes, investment. Genres are deals. Going into one, you know where you are headed. You expect to get there. That’s the deal. If you want to be surprised, you know to take another bus, one that takes you…where exactly, you don’t know. That’s the point. Poetry is the only exception, at least in my view. Poetry doesn’t have to be or do anything. No rules, expectations or limitations. If it’s a bus, it has wings instead of wheels, and there is no telling where it will take you. That’s the drill and the thrill.

Mr. Davies, you owe Charlotte a happy ending. You owe the viewers a happy ending. We are Charlotte, teary-eyed and disillusioned. You are Sidney, so very sorry it had to be this way. Now pull a Lady Susan Ex Machina, as I thought you would, to leave us with some hope of the bus turning around and getting us where we thought we’d go.