Years of Pain Come Crashing Down: The Other Bennet Sister Finale Delivers Mary Bennet’s Most Heartbreaking Moment Yet
Only Mary Bennet would interrupt a heartfelt apology by socking her Jane Austen-adjacent hero in the arm.
BritBox’s series The Other Bennet Sister comes to an end on Wednesday, June 24, and PEOPLE has an exclusive clip from the finale, showing Mary’s (Ella Bruccoleri) reunion with Mr. Hayward (Dónal Finn).
Hayward left suddenly after the rain-soaked drama on the mountains that left Mary ill.
Fully recovered and determined to put love aside, Mary encounters Hayward, who informs her that he’s been in Yorkshire this whole time. “What do you mean Yorkshire? You can’t just say Yorkshire as if Yorkshire is an entirely reasonable explanation for your very sudden and somewhat lengthy disappearance,” Mary says.
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Dónal Finn in ‘The Other Bennet Sister’.Britbox
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Hayward forges on, revealing that when Mr. Ryder (Laurie Davidson) pulled him aside on the mountain, the other man revealed he would be inheriting a fortune and intimated that he was going to propose to Mary. Hayward decided to step aside because he thought that was in Mary’s “best interests.”
This does not go over well with Mary, who rightly points out he had no right to decide what was best for her and promptly punches him in the arm.
“You and Mr. Ryder, between you, thought that you would just decide on my fate and I would just accept it?” she says, adding, “Like I’m a grateful cat?”
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‘The Other Bennet Sister’.BBC One
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Despite the hilarious twist Hayward’s apology takes, the pair appear poised to at long last get together, but in true The Other Bennet Sister fashion, Mary and Hayward’s big moment is laced with humor as well as emotion.
The series is based on Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, and finally shines the spotlight on the most under-appreciated Bennet sister from Pride & Prejudice.
Viewers have watched Mary come into her own as she moved away from her overbearing mother (Ruth Jones) and out of the shadow of her more poised sisters. In London, Mary came alive, finding not just two suitors but also a true sense of self.
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Ella Bruccoleri and Dónal Finn in ‘The Other Bennet Sister’.Britbox
In May, Bruccoleri spoke with The New York Times about stepping into the role of Mary. “God, I love her so much,” she told the outlet. “She’s not trying to be like other people.”
She added, “I relate to her a lot, and I see a lot of her in me. She just can’t be anything other than herself.”
The Other Bennet Sister concludes with its final episode Wednesday, June 24, on BritBox.
