'Miss Austen' Recap: Episode 2

Miss Austen airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episode.
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Mary Austen has returned to Kintbury earlier than expected to begin searching for her sister-in-law Jane Austen’s letters. Her tea with a friend was cancelled because the friend said that the arrival at Kintbury of Mary’s sister-in-law Cassandra Austen without a word to Mary was rude – but Mary of course vigorously defended Cassandra.

And she’s a delightful house guest, finding shortfalls everywhere, demanding that the maid Dinah move faster and browbeating her niece Isabella to essentially act as her maid. Isabella is already stressed as it is, rushing about the vicarage to pack it up in two short weeks before Mr. Dundas, the new vicar, moves in after the death of Isabella’s father, Fulwar. Cassandra and Mary are both ostensibly helping her pack, but both are far more concerned with letters from Jane and others to Eliza Fowle, who was Isabella’s late mother, Mary’s sister, and Cassandra’s friend. Cassandra has hidden the letters – but lies to Mary that they’re nowhere to be found.

Cassandra is also trying to secure Isabella’s future – Fulwar asked her on his deathbed to ensure that Isabella went to live with her sisters. She pushes Isabella to visit them – and does so herself when Isabella delays. First she calls on the oddball Mary Jane, who dislikes unexpected visitors but insists that it’s already settled, even if Isabella has doubts: she will live with Mary Jane.

Cassandra has experience with domineering sisters: as a younger woman, when she was called Cassy, she was invited to stay at her brother Edward’s estate to help her recover from the grief of losing her fiancé Tom to yellow fever. She was enlisted into taking charge of Edward’s numerous children while his wife Elizabeth enjoyed a respite, even keeping Cassy from family dinners “because of her grief.” Jane surmised this from Cassy’s letters and devised a plan to save her sister from the nursery, as Cassandra learns from reading her letters years later: Jane asked their friend Eliza, Fulwar’s wife, to request Cassy’s presence at her confinement – a request Elizabeth could not deny.

So off Cassy went to attend Isabella’s birth. Fulwar was disappointed to have another girl.

It seems he may never have forgiven Isabella. Her maid Dinah hints to Cassandra that Fulwar would “bellow” at Isabella and never praise her, despite her facility in tutoring pupils. Her sister Beth broke away from this to start a school in the impoverished village, and Cassandra goes to visit her next.

The school is closed, but Cassandra finds Beth at a Miss Winterbourne’s with the surgeon Dr. Lidderdale, whom Beth is assisting. There is an outbreak of diphtheria, and the surgeon and Beth quickly rush Cassandra away lest she get sick. Beth assures Cassandra that Isabella can tend to her own future; Beth tries to stay out of Fowle family politics. Indeed, Mary later tells Cassandra that Beth has been a “trial” to the Fowle family; Fulwar didn’t approve of her “fraternizing,” presumably with the lower classes.

Fulwar also looked down upon the reading of Jane’s novels, but Cassandra has been reading Persuasion aloud to Isabella, to the younger woman’s delight. Isabella is especially invested in the character of Anne Elliot. She believes marriage can be the only happy outcome for her, but Cassandra insists that there are many other ways for women like her and Isabella to find happiness, while Mary doubts it.

Struck by Jane’s depiction of romance, Isabella wonders if the author ever knew love. Cassandra says no man was ever worthy; Jane loved only writing. But Mary brings up a man the Austen sisters met during a seaside holiday – wasn’t there even a romantic rivalry between Cassandra and Jane? Cassandra denies anything of the sort and retires, begging a headache.

Mary’s own stepdaughter Anna, to whom she is not the most loving mother, went on that trip to the seaside with the Austen family: Jane, Cassy, their brother Frank, and their parents. While Jane strolls on the beach, Cassy takes Anna into town, where Anna tries to convince Cassy to ditch her black mourning clothes for something more vibrant, like a brilliant yellow dress. She pulls her into the store where said dress is displayed, where Cassy and a handsome man lock eyes and exchange charged pleasantries before he leaves.

Cassy soon runs into Henry Hobday again while on the beach with her mother and Jane, who are both charmed. Another day, Cassy’s father and Anna are collecting shells while Cassy sketches when Henry again appears, and delights Anna with his knowledge of fossils. Cassy spends special time on a sketch of Henry, which her father points out to Henry.

The Austen family are keen on Henry and have noticed the spark between him and Cassy, but Cassy – having promised her late fiancé Tom that she would never marry anyone else – tries to instead position Jane as a prospective wife. Jane is uninterested.

Mrs. Austen takes tea with Mrs. Hobday, who gives further reason to admire Henry: he loves books ranging from scientific to novels, and has devoted his time to caring for his mother after her husband died of a tumor. He reads novels aloud to her.

When the Austens again fall in with the Hobdays after church, Jane shares strong opinions, as is her wont – and Henry agrees. Jane tells Cassy that Henry has eyes only for her, but Cassy denies it and says she is not interested in Henry.

But Jane and Anna scheme to buy the yellow dress that first brought Cassy into contact with Henry and encourage Cassy to wear it before they go to the beach. They have arranged for Henry to meet them there. He offers his arm to Cassy, and they stroll apart from the others.

Jane writes to Eliza that Cassy is in love.

Rereading about this romance as a fever deepens, Cassandra finds herself outside without memory of how she got there. She goes back to her room and stashes Jane’s letters in a drawer without closing it fully, then collapses. Dinah and Isabella rush in. When Dinah says they must send for Mr. Lidderdale, Isabella pauses, then says he’s too busy. They can nurse Cassandra themselves.