‘Sanditon’: Rose Williams Says Colbourne Finally Won Charlotte Back By Going Into “Dad Mode” For Augusta

Oh happy day! Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) is finally free to marry Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes)! Sanditon Season 3 Episode 5 on Masterpiece on PBS ends with Ralph Starling (Cai Bridgen) agreeing to end Charlotte’s engagement. Turns out that good old Ralph saw the way Charlotte and Colbourne held hands and looked at each other outside Trafalgar House and finally realized his fiancée was in love with another man. Charlotte and Ralph are done! But what exactly pushed Charlotte to admit that she couldn’t honor her word to Ralph and her parents? Was it indeed a certain look that passed between Charlotte and Colbourne outside Trafalgar House? Or something else?

In last week’s episode of Sanditon on Masterpiece on PBS, Charlotte admitted to her bestie Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) that she had kissed Colbourne. Sanditon star Rose Williams divulged to Decider that Charlotte’s guilt wasn’t about the kiss, but the fact that she had let Ralph and her family down by wanting the kiss with Colbourne. What exactly happens in this week’s episode that pushes Charlotte over the edge? And if Ralph hadn’t broached the issue, would Charlotte have found the guts to end her engagement?

“I think she would have done,” Rose Williams told Decider, “but I don’t know if it would necessarily have been that night.”

Williams revealed that the journey Charlotte takes with Colbourne to “rescue” Augusta (Eloise Webb) from eloping with Edward Denham (Jack Fox) definitely took her to the point where she knew she had to be with the brooding gentleman. However, it was less about the moment the two share outside Trafalgar House and more to do with how Colbourne finally snaps into “dad mode.”

“I think the moment [Charlotte decided to end things with Ralph] would more be when Charlotte witnesses Colbourne really relent to loving Augusta…having more understanding and having more compassion for the situation,” Williams said. “And seeing him kind of go into ‘dad mode’ in a way that she’s been wanting him to go into ‘dad mode.’”

“If there was a crux point of that decision, it would have been that, but I think it’s an accumulation of moments and the conversation would have happened. The stakes being so high and also the fact that Mary (Kate Ashford) is unwell and witnessing that life is precious in a way that she hadn’t been reminded for like a while — I guess since Sidney (Theo James), it had to be — then she couldn’t hold on any longer.”

“But I would say an accumulation of moments. But if there really was ever that point, it would have been with Augusta.”

So there you have it. The reason why Charlotte finally decided she had to be with Colbourne no matter what was when he told Augusta in the inn that it was her choice to marry Edward Denham, not his. Though I’m sure the way they locked eyes in the moonlight didn’t hurt.

All six episodes of Sanditon Season 3 are now streaming on PBS Passport. The Sanditon series finale will premiere on Masterpiece on PBS on Sunday, April 23 at 9/8 C.