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Victorious Blog, Season 2: Season Finale

February 26, 2018 Jonna Mayberry Leave a Comment

This is part of the Victorious Blog series. Click here to read the series.

Can you believe this season of Victoria is already over?! At least the last episode gave us a full 90 minutes to savor with our beloved cast members – and a few joyful surprises along the way.

If you’ve already watched Sunday’s episode, you can read the recap below. If you still need to catch up, watch the full episode online anytime here.  And don’t forget that you can use WPT Passport to  go all the way back to the beginning!

And if you’re ready to look ahead to the next season, click here to learn about what to expect in Season 3 from writer and creator Daisy Goodwin, Jenna Coleman (Victoria), Ferdinand Kingsley (Francatelli) and David Oakes (Ernest).

The Holly and the Ivy

No one in the history of the world has ever been as into Christmas as Albert. We’re talking non-stop Christmas carols, delicate baubles straight from Bohemia and a giant room FILLED with Christmas trees. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

The holiday spirit seems to be influencing others in the palace, too. Miss Skerrett turns down a fortune to do the right thing, setting her late uncle’s slaves free. Victoria gives her heart to little Sarah. Even Uncle Cumberland (eventually) shows some kindness to Victoria.

Righting Some Wrongs

Miss Skerrett learns that she has come into a huge inheritance. Unbeknownst to her, she had a SECRET wealthy uncle in America who recently passed away. All of his money is to go to her! With the fortune, she could run away with Francatelli and live her dream life.

But there’s a catch.

Skerrett learns that her uncle’s fortune was built by trading slaves, and those slaves would have to be sold off in order for her to get her inheritance. Skerrett is horrified, and decides that she cannot accept the money. Rather, she asks that the slaves be set free.

This episode didn’t shy away from the horrors of slavery; it also addressed the subject by introducing us to little Sarah, who was given to the Queen as a gift (ICK!) by King Ghezo of Dahomey in West Africa. While living with Captain Forbes (who brought her to England), Sarah was as happy as a girl who experienced the worst the world has to offer could possibly be.

But Captain Forbes wants to hold true to his word by presenting Sarah to the Queen. For a while, Victoria tries to make Sarah feel at home in the palace, but she quickly learns (with a little not-so-gentle nudging from Albert) that Sarah is simply miserable there. Sarah had bonded with Mrs. Forbes, and misses her singing. Plus, all of the barking dogs at the palace are a bit unsettling.

Luckily, Victoria does what is right and sends Sarah back to the Forbes’ home.

Did you know? Sarah and Victoria’s relationship is based on fact.

Sarah Forbes Bonetta, in an 1861 portrait.

Originally named Aina, Sarah Forbes Bonetta was the child of West African Yoruba royalty who were killed by the army of notorious slave trader King Ghezo. When Captain Frederick Forbes encountered the enslaved girl while on a Royal Navy mission, he managed to negotiate her release to his care by proposing to give the girl to Queen Victoria. She was then given the name Forbes (and Bonetta, after his ship the HMS Bonetta), and presented to the Queen as a “gift” from one royal family to another. Impressed by the girl’s remarkable intelligence, Victoria took an interest in the young princess, made her her goddaughter, invited her to Windsor Palace regularly, and provided an education worthy of Sarah’s tremendous intellect and talents in the arts.

Star-Crossed Lovers

Did you expect everything to end happily in the season finale? Well… some things did. But some things didn’t go so well.

In not-perfect territory: Ernest and Harriet, of course.

This was a non-stop nightmare. Ernest spent most of the episode breaking her heart over and over again, while never telling her that the only reason he doesn’t want to be with her is because of his syphilis. For once, Uncle Leopold meddled in a helpful manner by telling Harriet Ernest’s secret.  (By the way, Ernest also broke Princess Gertrude’s heart, but I’m kind of focused on the Ernest/Harriet plot, here.)

Once Harriet finds out the truth, she confronts Ernest and tells him that she doesn’t care about his disease: She only wants to be by his side! But it still seems like he’s dead set on pushing her away.

It’s hard to hold out any hope for these two.  But at this point, I’m kind of annoyed with Ernest, so I can’t say I care as much as I used to.

Ernest’s attitude this season: 

But! On the feel-good romance front: Miss Skerrett and Francatelli are having a grand old time.

These two are talking about marriage, smooching when no one’s looking and giggling up a storm. And Francatelli’s not upset in the least when Skerrett forgoes her fortune to do the right thing. So  they’ve got that going for them. Which is nice.

Also! After gifting him a lock of Drummond’s hair (sigh…), Miss Coke receives a marriage proposal from Alfred. This of course makes the Duchess of Buccleuch ecstatic. And Miss Coke is pretty happy, too.

But is Alfred happy? I mean… is he REALLY happy? I’d like to hear some opinions on this.

Thin Ice

Literally and figuratively! Uncle Cumberland is on thin ice with Victoria after coming for her beloved necklace. And Albert literally had a run-in with thin ice while skating.

First… Uncle Cumberland. While the Duchess of Buccleuch seems to think he’s just wonderful, Victoria isn’t too keen on him. Apparently, he’s made it pretty clear throughout her life that he wishes she hadn’t been born, since she stole away his chances of having the throne to himself.  In fact, he was so terrible to her that Victoria’s mother made Victoria share her room every night in case he would dare to take her life.

After that heartwarming track record – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! – he decides to come waltzing back into Victoria’s life. At Christmastime – doesn’t family always save the most drama for the holidays?

Naturally, he’s not there to say “I’m sorry.” Instead, he’s back to claim his mother’s necklace, which Victoria wears proudly around her neck. Understandably, this doesn’t go over well with Victoria.

Still, after a not-so-nice visit from Uncle Leopold, Cumberland comes around. He arrives at the palace during dinner to say his goodbyes, and actually tells Victoria to keep the necklace! He says she can count it as a Christmas present. How nice. (Really, any Christmas present that emerges from Leopold’s blackmail isn’t really a Christmas present, but I guess we’ll take what we can get from this guy.)

Meanwhile, in Albertland:
Albert gets a little emotional after Ernest basically tells him that his memories of happy Christmases back in Coburg are false. He decides to head out to the pond for a little Angry Skating Time. While he’s skating, Victoria, who’s out looking for a temporarily missing Sarah, stumbles across his skating frenzy. She takes a moment to admire her husband’s furiously fast skating and then – DISASTER! The ice cracks and Albert falls through.

Victoria rushes over to help her husband, pounding down on the ice as he pounds up on it from below. Way too much time goes by with Albert beneath the ice, and it’s easy to wonder if he’ll ever emerge. But for those of us who know the historical timeline, we know he has to emerge eventually.  Thankfully, he does emerge, and Victoria hugs him as he gasps for breath.

And this is based in fact, too! From Victoria’s diary: 

The ice cracked, & Albert was in the water up to his head, even for a moment below. In my agony of fright & despair, I screamed, & stretched out my arm, Miss Murray pulling me. My dearest Albert managed to catch my arm, & reached the ground in safety. Oh! how thankful I felt to see him at my side again & that God should have mercifully preserved him from such a great danger!

He cut his chin a little, & was of course dripping with water, so that he ran home as fast as he could. It was a horrid experience, & I never felt anything so dreadful, as seeing my beloved one in the water, & thinking, as I did, that I should lose him before my very eyes unable to rescue him!

I’m with you, sister. At this point, I’m thinking, “Please get this man inside immediately.” Sitting in wet, freezing clothes is a recipe for disaster.

Nonetheless, Albert recovers in time for Christmas festivities! (You knew THIS guy wasn’t going to miss Christmas.) He opens the doors to the Christmas room and the kids rush in to admire their trees and see their gifts! Alfred gives Miss Coke an engagement ring! And Victoria and Albert, the most romantic couple we know, share a little Christmas magic!

Sigh. Not too shabby, Victoria. Not too shabby.

If you’re as sad to see the season end as I am, here are some tidbits to tide you over until Season 3:

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