Poldark Season 2 Episode 3: The Hat-Off

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Half the fun of watching Poldark is checking out the fabulous haberdashery. Who had the best headgear for episode 3 of season 2?

In lieu of posting our usual three questions for the next episode of Poldark, we’ve decided instead to replace it this week with a hat-off. To be slightly more clear, we’ll take a look at some of the major headgear of the episode, judge the hats, and talk a bit about what the hat might say about its wearer’s state of mind.

As the gentlemen effectively own one hat apiece, we have not invited them to this hat-off. Instead, we’ll take a look at all four ladies of Poldark.

First up: Elizabeth.

Screengrab via the BBC.

This is the hat Elizabeth sports when she goes to visit George Warleggan early on in the episode. We’ve seen it previously, but here, it takes on a new meaning. She’s showing off her feathers and wearing a hat similar to his nigh-ubiquitous black one. (Also, check out that bow. And that hair. And everything, basically.) In other words, she’s trying to present an image she thinks he might like, even down to matching headgear, the couple shirts of the 1790s.

(It is also the hat she wears when she meets Demelza in the woods.)

Not to be outdone in the wearing of black hats to go talk to men is Caroline Penvenen.

Miss Penvenen, your (first) hat, please.

Screengrab Image via BBC

Caroline also wears this hat when she meets with Dwight earlier in the episode, by the way. Similarly to Elizabeth’s, it’s black, but unsurprisingly, because this is Caroline, it’s fussier. She has ribbons in the front, feathers in the back, which sounds way too much like a description of “business in the front, party in the back”.

I’m sure the angle at which she wears her hat is also meant to signify something, but that massive hairdo is too distracting. We can’t decipher what.

Let’s step back a little to look at Verity and Demelza.

Demelza’s Adventuring Hat returns. Image is a screengrab via PBS.

This is when Demelza and Verity meet in town, and Francis awkwardly tips his hat to them before walking away because it is not yet time for the Family Reunion. Notably, this is the return of what I have dubbed Demelza’s Adventuring Hat, because she’s usually getting up to something when she actually bothers to wear a hat.

Unlike Verity’s, the Adventuring Hat does not have much in the way of decoration. It is a cap that Gets Things Done.

Since Verity does not have huge hair like her sister-in-law or Caroline, her hat seems almost too big for her head, though we dig the color and the pop of white afforded by the feather. Good show, Verity, but the Adventuring Hat is still great.

However, Caroline has seen this comment about hats being too large and would like to contribute.

Miss Penvenen, your (second) hat, please.

Image is a screengrab via PBS.

That’s right: Caroline has a hat so large that she has to hold onto it, lest it go flying and smack either George or Dwight in the face. We wouldn’t be upset if it hit George, really. Anyway, because she doesn’t need to do any flirting, it isn’t dark at all. Instead, it’ll protect her face from the non-existent sun, because she’s about to travel back to London.

She even holds onto it when the carriage isn’t actually moving before she awkwardly drives away from Dwight.

That is some serious commitment to a large hat, which we commend. However, we have one last set of hats to judge.

Mistresses Poldark and Mistress Blamey?

Image is a screengrab via PBS.

Elizabeth deploys a flat, jaunty hat of her own in blue for the re-opening of Wheal Grace. We note here that her expression towards Demelza appears to be a mix of polite confusion at Demelza’s going for the drink and some “yeah, I have an Adventuring Hat of my own now.”

Unfortunately, Elizabeth, the title of Adventuring Hat is not given, it is earned.

Image is a screengrab via PBS.

And there is Verity’s own flat, jaunty hat of doing things. We note it’s the most neutrally-colored of the three hats, and while it’s flatter like Elizabeth’s, it’s also got actual curves to it like Demelza’s. To wit, here’s another look at Demelza’s Adventuring Hat:

Image is a screengrab via PBS.

One of the powers of the Adventuring Hat is to make any and all side-eye twice as powerful and/or funny. Peep the decorations on Verity’s and Demelza’s hats as well. While Elizabeth has very flat decorations, both of the other ladies’ hats have actual shape and volume to them. In other words, while Verity might be neutral territory color-wise, her hat design tells a very different story.

Just in terms of contributions to overall look, Elizabeth’s flirting-with-George hat and Demelza’s Adventure Hat probably take the top scores of the week, but we have a soft spot for the latter, so we’re perhaps a little biased.

Next: Agents of SHIELD Recap: 'Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire'

Who had your top Poldark hat of the week?

Poldark airs Sundays on PBS as part of its Masterpiece program.