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

Episode 3

Enjoy the beginning of Episode 3, because it’s about the happiest anyone’s going to be for awhile. Wheal Leisure opens, Jim marries Jinny, Elizabeth has her baby, and Ross and Demelza finally give in to fate, spend the night together, and end up wed by the end of the episode. In between, Ross fields rude commentary about his relationship with Demelza, Jim is shipped off to jail for poaching, Elizabeth and Francis experience marital turmoil, and Charles grows sick. It’s a busy episode!

Above all others, episode three illustrates the loss in rushing the story to Demelza and Ross’s marital bliss. The majority of their growth as a pair happens here, making it feel hasty and odd when the rumors finally prove true and the two end up in bed together. Dread hangs over the wedding celebration at the end of the episode–you get the impression that Ross only married her because he had to. Maybe he did! But we don’t get the tender transformation from the novels as their marriage progresses in Episode 4. Their happiness is surprising, but we move on.

I admit that I will miss Charles Poldark. The way he compares Francis to Ross fills in a neat narrative role, and simultaneously makes him a million times more likable on screen. Of course, it ends up killing any respect I might have had for poor Francis, who only grows more and more useless after Charles’ death. Ah well.

There are a lot of very good little snippets in this episode. Ross’s conversation with Drugan, complete with the hasty dismissal of Jim because the “hunt starts at nine.” Ross’s subsequent conversation with Demelza where he acknowledges he isn’t perfect for his tendency to see those around him as actual human beings more often than they. And, my favorite, a good moment for Verity early on when she catches Francis after a fight with Elizabeth. That last, “For which I have you to thank” is just killer.

Next: Episode 4