![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e85c5c4c8dd0316a43a359a249d4136c0c-The-Forsytes--episode-6-.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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The Forsytes<\/a><\/p>\n Episode 6<\/p>\n \n Season 1<\/p>\n Episode 6\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 5 stars<\/p>\n *****\n <\/p>\n \n Photo: Sean Gleason\/Mammoth Screen Limited\n <\/p>\n The finale! My relationship with The Forsytes has gone from stark disappointment to ardent love, and I am absolutely chuffed that it has already been renewed for two more seasons<\/a>. I love a show that gives me ridiculous drama and also makes me love everyone on it. It is a rare feat! I mean, okay, I don\u2019t care about Jolyon and Louisa, and June is fine, but everyone else is near and dear to my heart. Even Phil and his stupid hat.<\/p>\n Is Frances drinking laudanum? She pours a red tincture in a glass and then gets really unsteady on her feet, so we\u2019re thinking laudanum, right? Oh, Frances. Her shirtless husband is off hitting a punching bag, which is the best version of Jol, and I will accept more of it, thank you. Frances is at home, self-medicating and snapping at the servants. People are starting to talk about Jol not living at home, which Frances and Bill from True Blood are worried will impact his chances to lead the firm. Side note that Bill tells Jol to return home to his excellent wife, and later tells Frances that he knew from the moment they met that she would be \u201cthe jewel in our crown.\u201d Just get married. I know Jol has abs, but his personality.<\/p>\n Soames gives Irene a damn collar. Soames, stop giving your wife obvious metaphors that are also giant chonky boy jewelry. Oh, Soames. So handsome. Such an asshole. He\u2019s back to wanting to lead the brokerage, but he\u2019s not going to let that distract him from trying to keep his wife in complete isolation as soon as he can. Irene keeps trying to remind him of the things he told her when they first met and when he proposed, to which Soames replies, \u201cI cannot imagine saying any such thing.\u201d Soames, nooooooo! You were so kind! You were so understanding! Why do you have to be a jealous dick now, nooooooo!<\/p>\n June foolishly brings Phil to Irene\u2019s dance studio. June! Don\u2019t bring your artistic fianc\u00e9 to watch your beautiful but tortured relative express herself through the medium of dance! \u201cIsn\u2019t she enchanting?\u201d June foolishly asks. \u201cExtraordinary,\u201d replies Phil. JUNE. Phil is responsible for his actions, but also, come on, man. Irene looks like a particularly beautiful fairy. Soames later hears Phil thank her for letting them see her dance. Discretion, Phil!! You are so bad at discretion! Soames immediately makes Irene go home because he doesn\u2019t want anyone else to acknowledge her existence. At home, Soames looms over her like Trump in that debate with Hillary<\/a>. Irene says perhaps she is still mourning, and when he asks, \u201cYour father?\u201d she says, \u201cMy life.\u201d Daaaaaaamn<\/a>.<\/p>\n So to fix things and also make sure Phil never sets his peasant eyes on Irene again, Soames offers Phil his first commission. He wants a country house in the middle of nowhere. It\u2019s thirty miles from London with no neighbors, so it\u2019s ideal for isolating your wife when you\u2019re a controlling and abusive asshole. He tells Phil not to mention the commission to anyone, so of course Phil tells June, and then June immediately tells Irene. Irene goes to Phil\u2019s, and he says, \u201cIs this about the commission?\u201d PHIL. I\u2019m not saying Irene shouldn\u2019t know, but Soames literally said it was a surprise for Irene, and before she even mentions any worries about it, you\u2019re like, oh, hey, so you\u2019re here about the surprise? Anyway, Irene finds out how isolated it will be, and then Phil tells her he\u2019ll find a way to make Soames fire him. He kisses her hand (unnecessary) and leaves. Phil\u2019s way of getting fired is to present Soames with a massive and incredibly expensive proposal. Soames fires Phil, and Irene is pleased.<\/p>\n Do you care about Jolyon? Does anyone care about Jolyon? Maybe he has some massive fanbase of which I am unaware. \u201cMore artistic yearning!\u201d they cry. Grandmama Ann tells Jol that his father and uncle won\u2019t cover Harry Faulkner\u2019s losses, so she\u2019ll give Jol the money, and he has to do it, as she has a moral obligation to. She also wants Jol to get a grip. INDEED. He does this in his Jol way by taking a barouche out to the country house and painting a mural of Venice on the wall. Later at the brokerage, Soames taunts him about his supposed leadership, and Jol tells everyyyyyyyone that Soames knowingly bankrupted Irene\u2019s family in order to make her dependent on him. Soames shouts back that Jol jilted his wife to debauch his mistress and fawn over his brats. Damn, I love this show. It has everything but gay, and I know gay can be hard to come by in our period shows, so I\u2019m willing to wait. Bonus points for ladygay, writers. Hmmm, who would I pair up in that department? There are honestly not a lot of options, so even though I am shipping Frances\/Bill, I would probably put Frances with some new character. I also support Soames having a gay awakening, or a \u201cgaywakening\u201d as no one says.<\/p>\n The big company gala is nigh, and Jol is late, despite being the Man of the Hour. He\u2019s late because he\u2019s with Frances, telling her he loves her, but he will never return to the firm or the house. Wow. Then we get a truly supreme Frances moment, as she tells him there will be no divorce; his children will not be legitimized; he will suffer rejection from the family, the firm, and all of London. Jol twists the knife with an \u201cI accept that.\u201d Geeeeeez, Jol. Okay, then we get a killer line though, with Frances\u2019s \u201cYou were once interesting to me.\u201d YOU WERE ONCE INTERESTING TO ME. I love it so much. It\u2019s ruined by the follow-up \u201cNow you bore me,\u201d but just ignore that part! \u201cYou were once interesting to me\u201d is so vicious and so good. You don\u2019t need any addendum to that statement. Just let him walk out so you can cry when he leaves. Jol goes to get Louisa, and now they\u2019re together, etc, etc, they\u2019re the least interesting part of this whole show, let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n Should we talk more about Frances\u2019s struggles this episode? Her mishandling of the garden party, where she asks Mrs. Parker-Barrington if fallen women wouldn\u2019t benefit more from an atonement-based charitable model? (No one is into this as it\u2019s not the 1860s anymore.) After Jol upends their lives \u2014 and on the night of the gala, she said gleefully \u2014 Frances gets her shit together, shows up at the party, and immediately tells Mr. Cole she has some empty property in Camden (it\u2019s the house where Louisa is staying!) and she wants to donate it to Mrs. Parker-Barrington\u2019s charity for women of ill repute. Okay, it\u2019s already understandable that she doesn\u2019t want the woman her husband is leaving for in her house, but also \u2026 that\u2019s HER house?? As in Frances owns it? Jol put Louisa up in his wife\u2019s house? Couldn\u2019t he rent her another house somewhere?<\/p>\n Ann gives a speech at the gala, saying a Forsyte knows the value of loyalty, family, and repute. They are tenacious, they are survivors, and they should never be underestimated. She also tells Bill from True Blood that Harry Faulkner is her grandson, and I absolutely do not understand whose child Harry is. Also, where is Alexandra! Is she a season two reveal then? Will we hopefully never see Jolyon and Louisa again? Who will Frances get with? How far into season two before Phil betrays June with Irene, and will Soames murder Phil in a Harry K. Thaw turn of events<\/a>? Season two has already been filmed, and I personally cannot wait.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Vulture Newsletter<\/p>\n Entertainment news, for the pop-culture obsessed.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n