Belgravia series premiere recap: What really happened between Edmund and Sophia?

The truth about Edmund & Sophia

Later that evening, we get a lovely scene of the new Trenchard family, complete with Anne, James, a grown-up Oliver, and his bratty wife, Susan. Susan and Anne do not get along well, as quickly demonstrated by the numerous quips they toss back and forth over the dinner table.

Oliver is keen to stretch his wings and prove himself a society gentleman, but his father’s offering of a house on Chester Row does not appease him or his wife, who calls them a little “poky.” Does Oliver deserve to live in a better house than his parents did at his age?

In the following scene, the servants get together for their dinner and dish on all the Trenchard family gossip. Most of them agree that Susan is a pain in the you-know-what. However, Turton, the family’s long-time butler, says his sympathies lie with Oliver. A gentleman does not earn his keep, and he inherits it.

Not only is this a great scene for the comedic elements, but we meet several key servants such as Susan’s loyal housemaid, Speer, Turton, and we see that Ellis, Anne’s lady maid, is still working for the family and enjoys her time with Anne.

Then comes the big bombshell of the episode, Anne reveals to James what Caroline said about her having nothing left. She wants to tell him that Edmund and Sophia HAD A SECRET GRANDCHILD. James will have none of it. He doesn’t want to damage his precious reputation, or Sophia’s for that matter.

It gets even uglier in a flashback when we learn the truth of Sophia’s pregnancy. Edmund duped her into a false marriage, a marriage that James blessed in his desperation to climb the proverbial social ladder. The night of the ball, when Edmund left, Sophia saw the faux-priest riding off with her “betrothed” and realized the wedding was fake.

She believed that Edmund forged the whole thing so he could get her into bed, but now we’ll never know the truth since he died. Either way, he left Sophia with a child, and while she tried to get rid of it, she could not.

Finally, she told her mother, and Anne handled it with surprising grace. Her anger manifested more toward James, who overlooked his own daughter’s protection in favor of his social status. Sadly, we learn that Sophia died during childbirth.

Her final wishes were for her mother not to blame her father too harshly for everything and to “remember me.” Back in the present tense, Anne looks at a portrait of her daughter. Sophia really was her whole heart.

What did you think about episode one of Belgravia? Are you planning to watch the remainder of the season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The first two episodes of Belgravia are now available to stream on EPIX.