As the finale of The Confessions Of Frannie Langton begins, Frannie (Karla-Simone Spence) claims every English trial is a story of a crime and not a person. By the time they’re finished with you, they could almost make you hate yourself. Olaudah (Patrick Martins) arrives at Frannie’s trial. Mr. Jessop (Mace Richards) handles the prosecution while William Pettigrew (Henry Pettigrew) represents Frannie. Jessop says they believe Mr. and Mrs. Benham were stabbed to death on the evening of the 17th. Frannie stands accused of those crimes. The fetus was recovered from beneath the prisoner’s bed.

Jessop shows everyone the weapon that was used to commit the crimes. Frannie yells that she never touched the knife and suggests someone put it there. Jessop explains that they’ll hear from guests who attended the soiree at the Benham residents. They’ll say that Frannie confronted the couple in their drawing room and threatened them with death. Jessop claims Frannie started thieving and took up prostitution. In the past, George Benham (Stephen Campbell Moore) asks Marguerite (Sophie Cookson) and Frannie to sit down. Marguerite says Mr. Benham’s man of affairs has found a house in Cornwall and arranged an annuity for Frannie.

Once the child is born, Marguerite and George will go back to London while Frannie will stay at the house. George explains that Frannie will take the child and raise it, but it’ll have nothing to do with them. In the meantime, everything in the house will continue as usual. Hep Elliot (Jodhi May) says there was something obsessive about it because Meg was always with that girl. William Pettigrew asks if there was something sinister with Abigail towards her mistress. He points out that part of Frannie’s duties was to serve as a companion to Mrs. Benham. Hep says she and Marguerite were fond of each other.

William reads from Marguerite’s manuscript which mentions that Hep is far from handsome. It goes on to say they wanted to live as men, but Hep is now an irritant. Hep confesses that she isn’t surprised before revealing she called Meg “the magpie”. Meg was always collecting things and people. Hep asks Frannie if she thought it was different for her. She tells Frannie not to believe she was the only one or that she felt any real love for her. Hep goes on to say Marguerite didn’t care that she hurt people and just left them. She calls Meg a b!tch before the judge stops her. Frannie thinks they were equal in their devotion and anger.

In the past, Marguerite apologizes to Frannie and explains that George threatened to leave her with nothing. She believes she’d be finished if she had a black child so she must do whatever George wants. During the trial, Dr. Wilkes is called to the stand. Dr. Wilkes (Robert Wilfort) tells the court about the wounds the victims sustained. He reveals that the constable brought a butchering knife to the hospital and claimed it was found under the prisoner’s bed. He matched the weapon to the wounds and found that Mrs. Benham had recently been with child. It couldn’t have been born alive.

It could’ve fallen victim to whatever killed the mother. Jessop alleges that Frannie killed Meg and carved the child from her womb, but Frannie says he miscarried. In a flashback, Frannie tells Meg that she took it upstairs. Meg admits her husband always said it was her fault they couldn’t have children. Frannie believes she brought it on herself, but they didn’t speak about it. Sal (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) yells for Jane and Martha before telling them that Wilkes was there testifying against Frannie today. She suggests something is not right for Wilkes to pop up out of nowhere and point fingers at Frannie.

Sal asks them to find Farley and make him stay put. During the trial, Mrs. Linux (Pooky Quesnel) takes the stand. Linux claims Frannie came downstairs, went up to Marguerite, and told her she was going to kill her. After that, Linux went to George to talk about what should be done with Frannie only to find him dead. When Linux is asked about the knife, she identifies it as her butchering life. She confirms that Frannie had access to the kitchen. William Pettigrew asks Linux if she went straight from her master’s body to her mistress’s bed chamber. He questions if she sent for the constable after discovering Mr. Benham’s body.

William suggests she covered her own tracks by implicating his client. He suspects she had been arguing with George recently because she was upset he let the prisoners live in the house. Linux is also accused of complaining about having to serve a French woman. She insists she did nothing that night except what she always does. She didn’t threaten to kill them and she wasn’t covered in blood. Linux questions how Frannie could sleep while Marguerite was massacred right next to her. Frannie confesses it was difficult to be sure she didn’t do it because she couldn’t make sense of it. During a break, Sal approaches William Pettigrew saying they need to talk.

When the trial resumes, Pru (Lydia Page) says she doesn’t see how Frannie could do something like that. Then, a doctor takes the stand to talk about a kind of insanity. He believes the same state could be caused by an excessive amount of opium. In the past, Frannie tells Marguerite to stop crying because she is free now. Frannie says she is being honest, but Meg has no idea what honesty looks like. As Dr. Lushing (Peter Hamilton Dyer) finishes, Sal enters the courtroom. Pettigrew tells the judge he has an urgent application because there have been some new developments. They want to recall Dr. Wilkes.

William tells Frannie that they can mount an attack on Wilkes thanks to Sal. Once Wilkes is brought back, he is questioned about examining Marguerite’s stomach contents. Wilkes claims he found nothing except what she had eaten. William asks if he knew how often Meg used laudanum before he cut her open. Wilkes admits he didn’t test for it because it would’ve been consistent with her medical history. William asks how he’d know the levels were consistent with her medical history if he didn’t test for it. Lord Percy stands up and says he refuses to sit idly by while his sister-in-law continues to be slandered. Once he sits down, William suggests Dr. Wilkes intentionally overlooked the laudanum in Meg’s stomach.

When the judge tries to stop William, he explains that Dr. Farley has come forward saying he performed the autopsies and not Dr. Wilkes. William admits it has not been possible to locate Dr. Farley. He believes Farley’s employment was terminated at the behest of Lord Percival Benham. William insists it is very important because Farley believed Marguerite died of opium poisoning and not stabbing. He goes on to say there were no knife wounds found on Meg’s body. William alleges that Wilkes conspired with Percy to ensure Marguerite’s overdose would never become public. Frannie breaks down and says she didn’t do it.

The judge asks the jury to disregard everything they just heard before adjourning for the day. In private, Sal tells Frannie that the laudanum had to have killed her. She explains that Wilkes was the doctor that got paid off when Benham crippled the girl. Farley was his assistant back then. Farley told Percy to go to Wilkes and pay him to lie against her. Farley is still too cowardly to come forward, but Sal believes he’ll tell the truth this time. Back in the courtroom, Jessop tells the judge they’d like to call Dr. Pears. Frannie believes she sees her mother who tells her that she won’t take responsibility for anything.

Frannie is given the chance to speak to the jurors. She admits she couldn’t think of anything to say that any of them would believe so she told the truth. Frannie says she is guilty of loving Marguerite if she is guilty of anything. She tells them that white men have been wrong more than they’ve been right, but they will never try themselves or take responsibility. Frannie argues that no man who owns slaves can be good. She says they believe John Langton (Steven Mackintosh) is a monster in plain sight, yet there is little difference between John and George. Frannie wishes she had never set foot inside that place. The judge urges her not to waste their time. Frannie says she’ll tell the truth about what happened there.

She explains that John Langton wanted to prove that the African is not a member of the human species. John yells not to bring him into this. Frannie says George Benham told John where to look and who to buy. She claims George wanted it all done in the first place. Last year, John Langton bought a boy and his mother even after the trade had been abolished. George Benham financed it. Frannie says he wanted to conduct a study on an albino. She says her mother was at Paradise and tried to save the boy, but she ended up getting caught. John Langton murdered Frannie’s mother for it. Frannie says she saved the boy by burning it all down. Once Mr. Jessop takes over, he says he didn’t hear a denial from Frannie.

He claims Frannie knew Meg was pregnant with her husband’s child and could not tolerate it. Frannie denies killing Meg and says she miscarried. In a flashback, Frannie tells Marguerite that the child is better off because she is cruel. She quickly apologizes to Marguerite who turns around and walks out of the room. Jessop alleges that Frannie killed them because she was being turned out again. Frannie blurts out that George Benham deserved to die. In the past, Frannie pleaded with George to get a doctor for Meg who is ill. He refuses and blames the drug. George makes it clear he doesn’t care if she dies. He goes on to say Frannie is worse because of the things she did at Paradise.

George continues insulting her until Frannie stabs him in the chest. Once George falls to the floor, Frannie stabs him again and again. In court, Frannie admits to killing George. She knew she should’ve run, but she went back upstairs to Marguerite. After Frannie told Marguerite had been stabbed, she didn’t know whether she did it. She knows she should’ve confessed to everything immediately, but she needs to know she didn’t kill Meg. Judge Butterfield (David Bark-Jones) says he has never seen anything like this in his career. The jury finds Frannie guilty of both crimes. She is told she will be hanged until she is dead.

Olaudah checks on Frannie and asks if there is anything he can do. He also thanks her for not saying anything about him and Meg. Frannie asks what happened between them. Olaudah tells her that Meg was lost. He didn’t know what would come of them or the child. Olaudah agrees that George deserved to die. Many people have told Frannie that being owned must’ve taught her to hate, but there was love as well as hate. She writes a letter to Sal and finishes her manuscript. Before Frannie is taken from the cell, she imagines that Marguerite is sitting nearby.

 

The Confessions Of Frannie Langton Review

The final episode of The Confessions of Frannie Langton was pretty straightforward without many surprises, but that is good since it was at least grounded in reality. The performances are strong enough to carry the episode which ended with a short emotional scene. The series may not be memorable with so many other dramas being released, but it was a good time killer for four episodes.

In the finale, some of the courtroom scenes felt a little tedious so they could’ve been sped up. That would’ve given the series more time to focus on Frannie coming to terms with the outcome. Truthfully, this would be an okay binge that will keep viewers engaged for four episodes even if it never really reached an emotional climax. The finale scores a 6 out of 10.

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