Belgravia: The Next Chapter

I'm a (very) latecomer to period dramas. "Downton" had long since finished before I began to tackle the 50+ episodes and what a treat that turned out to be. It would be asking a lot for any series to be its equal or even come close but one that really impressed was "The Gilded Age".

I have not seen the original "Belgravia" for the simple reason that I had never heard of it but will find it to watch.

This latest "Next Chapter" seems to be taking a lot of flak from what appear to be seasoned period drama viewers so who am I to argue?........but I will. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the final two episodes were extremely moving.

I found all of the characters to be interesting in their own way and, of course, anything with a music score by John Lunn is always worth watching.

I'll start off with the bad. The main "love" story between Frederick Threnchard and Clara Dunn is a problem. He has the personality of a block of wood, and Clara's instant love for him is a puzzlement. To her credit, away from him, the actress comes alive, so I'm assuming he's sucking the charisma out of her.

To be fair, the actor is saddled with a ludicrous storyline where his personality and demeanor is explained by his father being cruel to him and loving his brother more. So, he has to spend copious amounts of time, staring off into space, wallowing in his man pain. He's tedious and boring, and his hatred for his brother is so irrational and off-putting.

BUT, there is stuff to recommend here. Toby Regbo as Frederick's kindly brother, who is devoted to his work as a Reverand, and hides a painful secret from the world, is a revelation, and easily the most interesting character in the show. Sophie Thompson as Clara's dottering mother is charming and sweet. Hannah Onslow, playing Clara's less effervescent sister nails her characters barely disguised bitterness. Liam Garrigan and Elaine Cassiday also shine as members of the household staff with their own stories to tell. And Sophie Windkleman and Miles Jupp as the Duke and Duchess of Rochester have a side story that is surprisingly effective.

Jury is out for me on Edward Bluemel's doctor character, but perhaps he'll become more fully fleshed out as the show goes on. The actor is solid, so that helps. But he feels threadbare as a character.

I do think the show suffers from pacing issues, and whatever big bad thing that happened between Frederick and James really should've been revealed already. The longer its drawn out, the more likely it is to disappoint when its revealed.

Belgravia was written by Julian Fellow and his attention to details was visible everywhere. It wasn't perfect, but it was interesting, the actors were good, the time period well presented. But this New Chapter feels like a high school play. The actor playing Frédéric Trenchard is so bad! The costumes are awful, again it looks like a mom took whatever look like from before 1900 and dressed the characters with it, with no research of the specific period. So there is costume from the Elizabethan period (16th century) mixed with the early Victorian (1840'). The characters display 21st century values and attitude. It could be funny if it was a spoof but it's not supposed to be. Neither is it a period-fantasty like Bridgerton. I can't understand how Julian Fellow accepted to have is name associated to it. Did he lost a bet?

Ignore the low scores. I thoroughly enjoyed this. The story had many elements to it and kept my attention and me entertained throughout. If there was one negative it would be the character Frederick Trenchard. I felt the actor playing him had only one expression on his face. I feel I need to see him in something else to see if he acts any different. A comedy role perhaps because to watch him on screen in this was pretty depressing. Apart from that all of the other characters were good but one really stood out for me. The actress Hannah Onslow. Her facial expressions in every scene were captivating. She doesn't have to deliver a line of script, she just expresses herself so well with her facial expressions and body movements and often had me giggling. Well worth a watch and even a binge.

Belgravia Was awesome. But this part 2, the next Chapter is a poor follow up.

Sadly, I find the next chapter, extremely depressing, extremely slow, not as polished, overall extremely considered this failure.

With the next chapter being so poor, I cannot see this being renewed for a third season, which is so disappointing after the first season was so great.

It's not often that you completely destroy a series like they have here with the sequel to the original. So disappointed the lead character is either a really bad actor or his character. He's completely flawed.

After watching four episodes now, I don't even see the point of this season with him being just miserable, and we all know that he isn't the legitimate child and air. It is actually his brother if you've watched the first season

disappointing. Overall, I suggest you avoid.