With the number of marriages made and contemplated in the opening chapters of what is after all a love story, it's a bit unnerving to see what a low success rate romance has had so far:

Anne's parents. They were in love, it should have been perfect, but Lady Elliot found marriage a lot less fulfilling that she'd expected.

Sir Walter & Lady Russell. Everyone expected them to marry but would have been angry with LR if they had. We just see it as a sign of LR's intelligence.

Sir Walter & Several Unreasonable Applications. I can't shake the image of SW telling Darcy that his admiration and regard for Georgiana have overcome every rational objection to Darcy's not having a baronetcy...

Elizabeth & William Elliot. Good to see Elizabeth and her father treated the way they treat others for a change. Not that it did them any good in the sense of making them rethink their assumptions. Elizabeth really should have had a backup plan.

William Elliot & Miss Whatshername. Seems to be purely mercenary, but there's only the Elliots' interpretation of rumour for that. For all we know the couple were madly in love, but we're not counting on it.

Anne & Frederick Wentworth. Finally, a relationship we can root for. The perfect couple, and the only two people so far who were genuinely in love and could have been happy. We just know the rest of the book is going to be about these two.

Anne & Charles Musgrove. He couldn't compare to Frederick Wentworth but otherwise he seems perfect and he was a chance to get out of her father's house. Yet Anne didn't even bother to ask LR's opinion this time. What would contemporary readers think? Would they admire her constancy to FW's memory or condemn her for not making the practical choice?

Mary & Charles Musgrove. Imagine knowing you were your husband's second choice after your sister turned him down. Looking forward to seeing this pair together next week.

Mr & Mrs Clay. What a loaded word "unprosperous" is! We don't like Mrs Clay at all, but she's a good reminder of what happened to a woman when her husband died and left her with children but no money.

Mrs Clay & Sir Walter. Watch out for the entail, William.