Poldark Season One: How Does It Match Up To The Books?

Episode 2

The second episode largely works as a set-up for later events. We’ve already met the primary players, now we must learn more about the conflicts that will drive the remainder of the season. This episode contains the majority of the “filler” time of Demelza’s servitude, a time in the novels when we see her growing up from twelve to seventeen.

Again we see Ross’s encounters with the miners and their friendship, contrasted with the opulence of the Warleggans. The BBC series does an excellent job of showing their inner machinations, keeping them in the forefront as villains responsible for the majority of Cornwall’s ills. It’s a connection that can merely be guessed at in the novels in most cases, but sets them up well for later episodes as a contrast to Ross. They, who rose high from nothing, against Ross, who regularly descends. He may have the moral high ground, but he regularly meets nothing but misfortune.

We’ll encounter Charles Poldark a few times, too. He’s a man we barely get to know in the novels before he keels over from gout. Here, he looks to be in better health generally until his heart attack in Episode 3, and largely spends his screen time establishing a weirdly encouraging relationship with Ross. You get the sense that that he’s…almost cheering for Ross? At the very least, he’s amused by the reckless antics of his nephew, and inclined to sympathy. Oh, and he knows Francis is a total prick.

The ball mid-episode is an interesting affair. I feel as though we don’t get to know Verity nearly as well in the BBC series as we do in the novels. In text, we come to love her dearly by the time she falls for Captain Blamey, but here it seems like she’s only there to fill a role: Woman Oppressed By Men She Is Related To. While vital to the story, I wish we got to hear more from Verity about her thoughts and ideas. Instead, the first season is mostly a Demelza/Elizabeth-fest. And every woman spoken of based on her attachment to nearby dudes.

Speaking of women being attached to men, where the heck was Ruth Teague at this ball? She didn’t get scorned nearly hard enough by Ross to warrant the crap she gives him later.

Next: Episode 3