Belgravia Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Is Charles legitimate?

The true intentions of Charles Pope

The fifth episode of Belgravia features Oliver traveling to Pope’s cotton mill to have a look around, Pope is in London and not available. What exactly is Oliver’s motive here? He asks the men working if they’re content at the mill. Mr. Riley corners Oliver afterward, asking if he is there to make trouble. He tells Oliver that of course, they’re not “content,” and adds that he should return that night if he wants to learn more.

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When Oliver shows up at the pub in the evening,  he meets with William Brent and Jacob Astley. The two men regale him with a sinister story about a side of Charles we’ve yet to see. They inform Oliver that Charles bought the mill from Samuel Girton’s widow.

According to Brent and Astley, they originally had a contract with her that would have protected her for life, but Charles came at night and frightened her with tales of imminent ruin until she agreed to end their contract and sell to him instead.

They make it sound like Charles threatened an old defenseless woman. They also say he cheats the imports to avoid having to pay full tax.

As for Mr. Riley, he was supposed to be a manager at the mill under Brent and Astley, when it was sold to Charles, he hired Riley to work as a mere loom.

These men all think Charles’s generosity is only on the surface. The men agree to help Oliver convince his “friend,”  but only if it doesn’t go to court, as they have no interest in testifying.

Well, James isn’t as eager to believe in Charles’s supposed dark side as Oliver is, while he does read the letters, he won’t accept any of it until he hears his grandson’s side of the story.

Unfortunately, James doesn’t get the denial he desires from Charles, who appears very sobered by the letters. It isn’t entirely clear if the accusations are true, but he starts to think it would be best if James were no longer an investor in his business.

When James tells Anne about this new development, she is equally disturbed.

Oliver and James meet for lunch at the club and he has an aggressive outburst when James reveals he hasn’t taken his money from Charles’s business yet.

Oliver thinks he is accusing him of being a liar, especially when James reveals he intends to visit with Astley and Brent to get the full truth of the matter. He storms out of the hall after cursing everyone in it, James is probably going to lose his membership at this point, huh?

Anne and Caroline meet up again so Anne can tell her about all this drama regarding the mill. Caroline doesn’t really seem to believe it, and even if she does she thinks it’s just a good reason to shore up his place in society.

She wants to claim Charles as Edmund’s son, illegitimate or not, so she can set up him with a good marriage with Maria and give him a rich life. But that would mean wiping out Sophia’s side of the story altogether if they want to protect her reputation. Anne seems to be coming around to the idea. She assures Caroline she’ll talk to James when he returns from Manchester.

James says that even if Charles is guilty, they must help him the best they can, which aligns with Caroline’s idea. Surprisingly, James has come around too. They both acknowledge that if they love Sophia, and want to protect her name, they must give up their grandson and let Charles go become a Bellasis as they “fade into the background.”

Thankfully, Charles reveals to Maria that none of the information was true. Charles set up the whole thing to get James out of his company because he didn’t want to come between Oliver and James any longer.

Maria is then motivated to do something desperate, like runaway with Charles so they can be together and start a new life. But before she has to do that, she visits Caroline who reveals the truth of Charles’s heritage. It looks like the final episode of Belgravia is going to be quite juicy.

What did you think of Belgravia’s penultimate episode? Will John be able to hide Charles’s legitimacy? Will Lady Templemore ever come around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

New episodes of Belgravia air Sunday nights at 9/8c on Epix. If you have the Epix app, you can catch up on old episodes now and watch new episodes early!