As the third episode of The Pursuit of Love begins, Linda (Lily James) tries to leave but Fabrice (Assaad Bouab) catches her and offers to give her a ride. Then, we jump over to Chelsea, London, and Fanny (Emily Beecham) tries to track down Linda. Fabrice convinces Linda to go to lunch with him. Fanny climbs through the window, unlocks the door, and brings the baby inside. Linda tells Fabrice that she left her second husband because he has fallen for another woman. She admits it is harder because she is such a good person and Fabrice finds that funny. They agree that husbands and wives fall in love with other people regularly before Linda says she has had two husbands and is considered a beauty in England. Linda begins feeling something she has never felt before after only five minutes of acquaintance. Later, Fabrice invites her into his apartment.

She admits she has made great mistakes, but she doesn’t want to slide down the hill altogether. Linda asks Fabrice to take her to the station. When she finds out she missed the last train to London, she wants to go to her apartment. Linda knew Fabrice was certain of the outcome and she was too. They continue hanging out that night and Linda tells her new friends a story. He doesn’t like her story, so he tells her about his beautiful grandmother who had many lovers. He tells Linda what he doesn’t like about her and she says it is a good thing she is going back to London tomorrow. Before long, the couple is in the motel room preparing to have intercourse. She began telling herself over and over that she would go back to London, but she stayed. In reality, she had no intention of returning. Fanny hurries home to Alfred (Shazad Latif) to tell him that Linda hasn’t come back.

Fabrice tells Linda that his women usually cry before revealing his name. He goes on to say that he is a rich duke and his fiancé died. Fabrice tells her that she was kinder and more correct than her. Their conversation turns to virtuous women. Later, Fanny talks to Alfred about Linda’s new relationship. Then, she gets a call from David telling her about Linda. We return to Linda who is busy trying on clothes for Fabrice to judge. He buys her everything. While the world was waiting for the war, it didn’t bother Linda in the least. She quickly moved into an apartment he paid for and waited for him to visit every day. One day, she returns home to find Fanny, Davey (John Heffernan), and Merlin (Andrew Scott) waiting on her. She learns that her mother and father still believe she is with the Christian. They laugh about Linda’s flat and how Fabrice is keeping her. She agrees to get Merlin a cup of tea before ringing her bell. She tells them about Duc de Sauveterre or Fabrice.

They know him and supposedly everyone else does too. Merlin explains he is one of the most wicked men in Europe. They continue poking fun at her until Merlin and Davey decide to leave. Linda quickly apologizes to Fanny for not calling and telling her everything was okay. Fanny says they need to get her home, but Linda admits she doesn’t want to be rescued. Linda believes all Englishmen are hopeless lovers. Fanny thought she was renouncing men forever before Linda says she has never felt anything like this before. Since Fabrice is going to be there soon, Linda wants to talk about it at lunch tomorrow and Fanny agrees to do that. When Fabrice enters, Linda tells him about her visitors. They talk about her family and the fact that her father caused his kids to run away. Linda pleads for him to keep her in Paris, but he admits she’ll have to go soon because the war is coming. He explains she will have to go when he tells her even if it doesn’t make sense.

Linda says she’ll go to her house in Chelsea and wait there for him no matter how long it takes. Next, Linda meets with the others and learns Davey and Merlin have hangovers. They overhear two older women talking about Fabrice’s woman Jacqueline who is still in England. Fanny sees that as the best reason to break it off with Fabrice, but Linda wants to forget it because she has never been happier. On the train, Davey tells Fanny that Merlin has the wrong pills for when the Germans come. Merlin admits Linda has finally fulfilled the promise of her youth. Fanny says she is living as a high-class prostitute. Merlin admits they can’t all have what she has with Alfred. When Fanny returns home, Alfred tells her that the baby missed her. She wonders if the baby misses him since he works all the time.

She complains about being overlooked at his intellectual dinner parties. She asks if he is happy. He responds this was the life she wanted when they got married, but she says it was the only option. She claims a woman can only choose to be happily married or unhappily married. When she says bolters at least get to see the world, he asks if she is losing her mind. Fabrice gives Linda a French bulldog she immediately calls plon-plon. After Fabrice gets a call, he returns and admits the thing he feared happened has happened. He insists they need to move quickly. Linda didn’t understand that she was leaving her happy life behind forever. Alfred gets dressed in his soldier gear and tells Fanny she won’t have to put up with his complaints about the pudding. She says the pudding might be better in France. Linda goes back to her house to wait on Fabrice like she said she would.

She waited for months but never heard anything. Fanny was barely in touch with her during this time. Eventually, Linda invited Fanny to come see her because she was desperate about Fabrice. He finally calls and asks if he can come see her because he is in a taxi nearby. Once they meet, he says he came on a private mission to tell her he loves her. He claims he didn’t say it before because he knew from the first moment their relationship was as real as the others were false. She believes religious people feel like this too. Fanny visits her and says everything is going to be all right. She goes on to say that men are useless and will never understand them. Fanny admits she thinks the war is a wonderful opportunity for women like them because they can move in, chat, and bathe together. She is surprised and upset when Fabrice enters and introduces himself. Before long, Fanny seems drunk and thrilled with Fabrice who she calls wonderful.

Fanny tells Linda how exciting her life is. Linda says someone should write a book about her and finish with a tremendously happy ending. Before long, Fanny imagines herself as Linda with Fabrice. She is awoken by the war sirens. Fabrice tells Linda they shall live together again and will stay together until he is 90. She tells him he wasn’t very faithful to Jacqueline. He admits he was faithful to her and it lasted five years, but he loves Linda a lot more. He leaves her moments later and she begins sobbing. Fanny and the others took refuge at Alconleigh without Linda. Uncle Matthew (Dominic West) and Sadie (Dolly Wells) are there to greet them. We see archival footage. Sadie encourages Fanny to search for Lina since everyone is worried about her. Linda wouldn’t leave to avoid missing Fabrice’s call if he calls again. Fanny visits them and talks to her daughter Moira about the dog Plon-Plon.

Fanny learns Moira is going to America and only came to say goodbye. Her father says they shouldn’t be fighting the Germans. Linda tells Moira she doesn’t approve of her running away from England. Linda insists she would prefer to stay, but Moira isn’t with the air raids. Linda gets upset, goes upstairs, and vomits. Linda believes Pixie and Tony are terrified so they’re using Moira to escape to America. Linda shows her a present Fabrice bought her. She wanted to give it to Moira, but she can’t bear giving away anything so beautiful. Fanny wonders why she is so mean to Moira. Linda says the baby won’t be anything like Moira. Linda claims the doctors were wrong when they told her she couldn’t have one. Fanny encourages her to come back to Alconleigh before revealing she and Louisa are having babies too.

Fanny warns her that she’ll be killed if she stays, but Linda isn’t worried about it yet. Linda locks her out and says she won’t let her in if she is going to try to make her leave. They cry before Linda admits she knew she would leave Tony at some point, so she was mean to Moira to prevent getting too fond of her. She insists she didn’t let Tony’s family anchor her. She says it is like their wings got clipped and everyone is surprised that you don’t know how to fly. Ultimately, Linda ends up going home alone to wait for the bombing to end. The bolter (Emily Mortimer) introduces everyone to Juan (Alvaro Cea Alvarez). She realizes he doesn’t know English and the others believe he is unhappy. When Juan seems upset, the bolter blames Sadie’s food and Davey piles on her.

When the phone rings, Fanny walks over to answer it and the sirens can behead. The screen goes white due to the bomb crashing down on them. When Fanny goes outside, she finds Linda sitting there with Plon-Plon. As they drive away, Linda tells Fanny not to feel sorry for her because she has had a few good months. They arrive at Alconleigh and find Matthew training the kids to fight off a German invasion. They go inside and learn that Davey has been talking to Juan with a Spanish dictionary and he is a cook. The conversation eventually turns to Linda’s time providing comforts for the French army. Linda goes outside with Louisa and they talk about husbands. Louisa believes Linda will forget about the baby when it is born. The bolter calls Fanny over and says nothing would make her tell Sadie about Linda. She also believes she would be good friends with Linda.

She goes on to say she thinks she was made for another planet and mistook the way. The bolter admits she is greedy but can’t understand why you must be with the person you met when you were 19. She encourages her daughter not to never be greedy because it will kill you just as painfully as being bad. When Fanny goes inside, she learns that Linda has received a letter from Fabrice, but she can’t decipher it. Fanny can’t understand it either. Nevertheless, Linda believes the phone will ring and he’ll be there one day. Linda asks why her mother keeps winking at her. Fanny wonders if it is that bad to be a bolter in the end. Linda admits she always thought Fanny was the most daring because she never ran away. She tells Fanny it is the bravest thing to stay put and Alconleigh isn’t home. When Linda leaves, Fanny finds a book among the laundry. She looks through their old pictures before Alfred enters.

She agrees to let him look at the diary she used to keep when she was young. Fanny admits she has a need to be seen as sympathetic, but she is a selfish person with selfish thoughts and desires. He asks if she wants to have an affair. She says no, but it is hard when she is jealous of the others. Fanny admits she is very pleased that he isn’t dead before they begin having sex. As spring arrives, the women wait for their babies to be born. Linda admits she would’ve never run away and met Fabrice if he’d went to school and became clever. She thinks Fanny should write the stories with the happy endings. Fanny agrees to take care of Plon-Plon. At dinner, Matthew says he has an announcement to make about the German invasion. He wants Davey to blow up Juan’s store cupboard in the event of his death. Davey doesn’t seem eager to blow up Aladdin though. He speaks badly of foreigners before Linda takes up for them.

She admits her father is right and they need to do everything to stop the Germans. She asks him how to blow up Aladdin. During the excitement, there are signs that the babies are coming. Both babies were born on the 28th of May. Both were boys. The doctors were right about Linda since the birth killed her, but Fanny believes she died happily. A light went out and things were never the same at Alconleigh. Fanny returns with both babies before Lord Merlin takes Plon-Plon. At the same time as Linda’s death, Fabrice was caught by the Gestapo and shot. He was a hero to the resistance. Fanny adopted little Fabrice with the consent of Christian his legal father. She admits she might love him more than her own. The bolter says the lives of women like her and Linda aren’t so fun when they get older. Fanny thinks Linda would’ve been happy with Fabrice since he was the love of her life. Her mother says one always thinks that.

 

The Pursuit Of Love Review

Ultimately, The Pursuit of Love had some great moments. Some were sad and others humorous. Nevertheless, it is hard to be totally satisfied with the series because it lost its way at too many points and I found myself getting bored with it. During the last episode, it felt like the pace was sped up significantly, so it made things a bit confusing.

It wasn’t bad but it never left a lasting impact. I never felt any deep connection with any of the main characters including Fanny and Linda. It almost pulled it off at the very end, but it still wasn’t as effective as it could’ve been. The Pursuit Of Love is likely going to be forgotten very quickly since there are so many great shows on right now.

The finale was a bit emotional but I think it could’ve been much better. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. Previous recaps of The Pursuit of Love can be found on Reel Mockery here.