'The Forsytes' Recap: Episode 5

The Forsytes airs Sundays at 8:00 pm on WTTW and is available to stream. Recap the previous and following episodes.
Keep up with your favorite dramas and mysteries by signing up for our newsletter, Dramalogue. 

Irene is beginning to worry that she and Soames will not return to Paris in time for her to audition for the ballet. She’s not used to the life he expects for her in London, going out with June for flowers instead of sending staff. She also insists on meeting each member of his staff and learning their first names, to their consternation. 

Soames confirms her fears when he returns from his first day back at the family company and tells her that his father James has heart issues, so they should stay in London rather than aggravate his condition. They will not be returning to Paris. When Soames and Irene go to dinner with his family that evening, Irene can barely hold back tears. But Soames’ lie is already starting to unravel, as Emily and James talk about how robust James is.

Soames tries to ease things over by buying Irene a locket with portraits of both her parents. 

Even though both Frances and Louisa want Jo to stop seeing Louisa, her children’s bout of scarlet fever has only increased his desire to support them, especially since he learns from Louisa that they have weak immune systems. She finally acquiesces to him paying for their education and otherwise supporting them, and occasionally seeing them.

Suspicious, Frances has assigned the butler Wiggins to watch Jo. He reports that Jo again visited Louisa and his children. 

When June tells Jo that she saw him in the market with his other children, he explains that his love for June has revealed to him that he also owes his other children love. June understands this now, and forgives him. He will tell Frances that he is going to support his children tonight.

But first he goes on a picnic with Louisa and the kids. When Wiggins informs Frances, she hesitantly tells him to move ahead with arrangements.

June sets off to visit Louisa, buying marshmallows for her newly discovered step-siblings in a bid for a bigger family. But Louisa refuses to acknowledge June’s hints that she knows about Jo and Louisa. When Louisa receives a distressing letter that she is being evicted while June is there, she begs June not to tell anyone, even as June tries to offer Jo’s help.

June returns home to find Frances upset, blaming Louisa for “entrapping” Jo. Frances had to put Louisa out of Jo’s reach.

Louisa has also guessed that Frances is behind her eviction but will not appeal to Jo for help. She wants nothing more to do with the Forsytes. Despite the loss of her clients, she and her family will leave London and find a way forward on their own. 

Nevertheless, June tells Jo that Louisa is being evicted, and hints that Frances might be behind it. Jo rushes off to conduct business.

James has made a mess of the Forsyte business: the mine he urged clients to invest in has suffered a devastating explosion that killed some two hundred workers and the mine owner, bearing out Jo’s worries over working conditions in the mine. Soames takes the initiative and announces that the responsibility for loss of money speculating on a risk comes down to the individual investors in the end, not the Forsytes. 

Ann summons her two sons to her. She has heard that their client Harry Falconer has lost his entire fortune because of the mine. She tells Jolyon and James that they owe it to Harry, who covered them when they both chased the same woman as young men, to cover his losses.

Frances tries to help Irene understand her role as a Forsyte woman. Soames has tried to discourage Irene from continuing ballet, but Irene has ignored him and started lessons again. When Frances takes Irene shopping, she advises letting the men think everything is their own idea. 

After Emily and Winifred both extol James’ health to Irene, she confronts Soames. She has seen through him, realizing he simply did not like her free-spirited, artistic existence in Paris and is lying about his father’s help. He reminds her how much he has improved her material circumstances, and warns that their life together can either be pleasant or difficult – it’s Irene’s choice.

Frances has her own confrontation with her husband. Jo asks her if she’s behind Louisa’s eviction; she asks him why he’s still seeing Louisa. He tells her that he is going to support his children; she accuses him of having an affair and Louisa of gold-digging. Jo keeps going behind Frances’ back. She demands that he remove Louisa from their lives. He says he can’t and packs a bag, leaving to spend the night with his friend Isaac Cole. 

Jolyon tells Frances that Jo will come to his senses and return.

Louisa and her family will not: Jo has bought them a house, to which they now move.