Vanity Fair episode 4 review

Hurrah! Well done Amelia! Finally we get the long-awaited gnashing of teeth, a pulling of hair and some glass-shattering anger.

'False friend, and false wife', Amelia shrieks at her flirtiest friend, the double-crossing Mrs Crawley – Becky Sharp (as was). Marvellous! It's always delightful watching people finally snap.

We've endured three episodes of sweet, simpering Amelia (Claudia Jessie) begging for scraps of affection from George Osbourne (Charlie Rowe) her abysmally selfish fiancé – now husband. That was followed by episode four, and a further hour watching the new Becky Crawley flirt and flatter her way up the ranks and into the heart of Mr Osbourne.

Amelia spent the hour watching glumly from the sidelines as Becky danced in a revolving wardrobe of sexy dresses, made eyes at Amelia's husband and is seen delicately removing cigars and placing them in Osbourne's opening mouth. A reckoning was due.

Becky Crawley got hers courtesy of Amelia in the best scene of ITV's period adaptation so far. And the idiotic George Osborne (Charlie Rowe) looks very much like he's about to get his, thanks to Napoleon.

Vanity Fair, ITV

Transported from London to a glittering army barracks, our cast of hopeless protagonists arrived in Belgium to boozy parties, theatre dates and giant bouquets of flowers being meaningfully pressed into the hands of officer's wives. If you're finding it hard to believe that this is how war was once conducted, don't worry, so are our protagonists, some of whom forget entirely that they're expected to fight and die for king and country.

As Napoleon marches on Brussels, shots can be heard bellowing out from behind the pretty medieval streets. Does Becky care? It's so hard to tell. We watch her, dry eyed, being needlessly told not to cry by her husband – who would perhaps be unsurprised to hear her asking what the noise of the cannons is just a few moments later. It's gunfire, darling. And your husband being quite possibly blown to smithereens.

Fun, fantasy and flirtation is called to a close, as the war begins. Everyone's true colours are on display. Becky is heartless, Osbourne is selfish, Dobbin is a darling, and it's great to see that underneath her goodness Amelia has a bit of backbone. A bit.