Rose Williams Takes ‘Sanditon’ Fans Through Charlotte’s “Emotional Crisis Mode” After That Steamy Cliffside Kiss

Sanditon Season 3 Episode 4 finds Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) grappling with herself like never before. At the end of last week’s installment of the Masterpiece on PBS series, Charlotte was discovered on a walk by none other than her true love, Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). The dashing gentleman — operating in full Mr. Darcy mode — declares his love for Charlotte and they kiss. However Charlotte immediately regrets the moment of passion because she has promised to marry her childhood sweetheart Ralph Starling (Cai Bridgen).

Early on in Sanditon Season 3 Episode 4, Charlotte finally confesses what has happened to her best friend, Georgiana (Crystal Clarke). She is wracked with guilt, but over what? Decider couldn’t help but wonder if Charlotte doesn’t regret the kiss so much as she feels ashamed that she’s let Ralph and her family down by succumbing to her true emotions.

“That absolutely is what I think was going through her,” Sanditon star Rose Williams told Decider. “She’s so frustrated with herself. I think she’s very angry with herself and confused and that confusion and frustration kind of comes out in this disjointed way.”

Williams added that she was a huge fan of the scene where Charlotte confesses the kiss to Georgiana. “That was a really important scene to shoot,” she said. “It told the story that we wanted it to tell, which was this fraught kind of frustration and this tension that had been building up and resurfacing.”

“It’s just the sword’s pointed inwards, I think with Charlotte. She’s frustrated with herself. Like she’s frustrated that she has these feelings. If she could bury them and put them somewhere, she would. She’s in kind of emotional crisis mode I’d say.”

Charlotte’s emotional state is understandable. She finally healed from the grief caused by losing her first love, Sidney Parker (Theo James), and almost gave herself fully to Alexander Colbourne. But a misunderstanding at the end of Sanditon Season 2 severed the lovers. Believing she had totally lost her shot at true love, Charlotte consented to marry Ralph, her parents’ choice of husband. Now Colbourne has finally made his intentions clear, but she has bound herself to Ralph. And Charlotte is nothing if not an honorable, honest young woman. She has made her choice and given her word. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t regret her decision.

Later on in Sanditon Season 3 Episode 4, Charlotte not only tries to talk Georgiana out of agreeing to a marriage of convenience, but she also gives the lovelorn Augusta Markham (Eloise Webb) a pep talk that sounds remarkably like what we’d all like to scream at Charlotte.

“She might be projecting a little bit, mightn’t she?” Williams said, when asked about Charlotte’s advice to Augusta to pursue love at the risk of a lifetime of regret. “I think it’s not just that. It’s not just projecting and making it about herself. I think Charlotte really does fiercely, fiercely care about her family. She really does fiercely care about Alison (Rosie Graham). She is constantly thinking about her brothers and sisters and her parents and her friends.”

“And because of the level of anguish that she’s feeling, she doesn’t want Augusta to experience that. She’s like, ‘I’m an example of where you don’t do that and I don’t feel good. So I’m going to do everything in my power to inspire the women around me that I care about to follow their heart and bliss if they can. Because I don’t want this feeling to exist in the people that I care about.'”

Williams added that while Charlotte’s “kind of projecting” with Augusta, she thinks “Charlotte’s the type of person that genuinely is practical-minded in her compassion. She has practical compassion. She wants her loved ones to be okay. And I do think that’s coming from a place of, I don’t want you to feel like this.'”

“This is a bit about me, but it’s more about I don’t want you to have to experience this.”

So is there anyone on Sanditon who can break through Charlotte’s walls to help her realize she also deserves true love over a lifetime of regret? Or will she be stuck with Ralph?

You can stream the entire third season of Sanditon on the PBS Passport app or wait for Episode 5 to premiere on Masterpiece on PBS next Sunday.