Poldark season 3: Episode 3 recap and review
Poldark season 3 takes a pretty sharp turn in episode 3, including some questionable character decisions on the part of the writers.
Any episode that includes cuts to show how Dwight’s life in prison is going will pretty much by necessity be not the happiest episode of Poldark out there. Compound it with everything else that happens in episode 3 of season 3, though, even the happy beats, things just are pretty dour. Let’s break down our key takeaways.
Wait, what, Demelza?
It almost seems like Demelza’s opposition to Drake and Morwenna comes from absolutely nowhere in this episode. Even the scene with Morwenna and Demelza feels like it’s awkwardly tacked on to try and explain why she’s against her brother being happy.
There actually is a good reason for Demelza to want Morwenna and Drake broken up, though. It just requires you to think about it a bit. Pay close attention to the reasons she gives Morwenna and count how many times she says words like station.
Not all marriages between social classes end up like Demelza’s. In fact, Ross and Demelza are effectively a special case — and they’re not always in complete marital harmony anyway. But Ross has advantages Drake doesn’t, in the form of money and popularity. Drake has neither, and Morwenna comes from a gentler life.
Demelza’s not always a romantic, and she definitely isn’t one when it comes to class issues. A good portion of her character arcs always deal with her learning to navigate the social circles being married to Ross grants her access to. (More on the latest iteration of this in a bit.) She has the luxury of a husband with status. Morwenna would not.
It doesn’t mean we can’t root for Morwenna and Drake, though, and we definitely are after meeting Reverend Whitworth.
The word of the episode: Petulant
For all his talk of Geoffrey Charles being a brat, this episode basically shows George is not much better than a five-year-old. If he doesn’t get his way, he does needlessly cruel things to get back at the people he thinks wronged him.
Morwenna lets Geoffrey Charles see his family? Try and marry her off — at considerable expense (3,000 pounds is a rather sizable sum, even though George literally uses the phrase “money to burn” for a higher offer from Whitworth) to get her out of the picture.
Ross undercuts your attempts to make money from starving people? Close a still-profitable mine that used to belong to Ross and employs about 70 people.
Elizabeth says she doesn’t expect you to donate anything to a charitable drive set up by Caroline and Demelza? Donate more than everybody else.
At least George doesn’t pout. He whines a little, although he hides it in sneering, but we haven’t gotten to pouting stages yet. We probably will if this continues.
The other word of the episode: Power
The double-negotiation scene neatly underscores the concepts of social power, who has it, why they have it, and when they choose to deploy it. Demelza and Caroline have to wear some of their nicest articles of clothing, smile, politely manipulate money out of men and end up getting their way. They’re preying on egos for a charitable cause. Demelza’s comparison to “highwaymen” before she and Caroline set out on their adventure is apt. They gain entry to these rooms because of who they are, and they use manners to do what they came to do.
Meanwhile, Whitworth and George are on slightly more even terms, since they both want something from the other. In George’s case, it’s the social connection and getting rid of Morwenna. Whitworth, meanwhile, wants the money and Morwenna, since she’s so pretty. Whitworth ends up making his desires too obvious and gets less than what he wanted, thus “losing” the negotiation and a bit of power in George’s eyes.
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Property also plays a part in who has power. George uses it against Ross at the start of the episode, and Ross flips it around at the end of the episode to bookend it all and also prevent any trouble. George might own more mines and more houses, but what Ross owns is more than enough.
Poldark may have stumbled in quality in this episode, but it still made some salient points about themes we recognize. What’s your top takeaway from episode 3?