Harlots season 3 episode 5 review: Death doesn’t discriminate

The fallout from Charlotte’s death continues on Harlots, as Margaret seeks justice, the Pincher brothers spiral, and Emily Lacey is stuck in between.

Loss affects people in strange ways, and grief can often be of our most powerful motivators. A fact which has never been more true than on this week’s Harlots, in which the ongoing fallout from Charlotte’s death results in another murder, a betrayal and a life-changing lie.

Given the star-quality of Alfie Allen’s casting – he’s a Game of Thrones alum, after all – it’s somewhat surprising that Isaac Pincher’s short life in London only spanned five episodes. But, to some extent, his character has never really existed beyond being a foil for Charlotte, and without her, it’s hard to imagine what any sort of story trajectory for him might be.

Honestly, we probably should have guessed he wasn’t long for this world when he starting making other sex workers sleep with him while wearing a dead woman’s clothes.

Still, there’s something unfortunate about his sudden death, if only because it feels as though there’s still so much unfinished business between the brothers concerning Charlotte’s murder. (And the fact that, you know, Hal is responsible for it and has been fine with letting Emily both assume and tell others Isaac was at fault.)

Yet, the death of Isaac Pincher is another example of Harlots taking the tropes we know and turning them inside out. Isaac’s murder is shocking, sudden, and will serve to fuel story for many of the series’ women. This is, of course, what usually happens to women on shows like this – it’s what we were all afraid Charlotte’s death would be reduced to: A fridging.

Now, Nancy, Margaret and Emily Lacey are all bound together in their secret. Nancy, who’s already struggling with loss and grief and the burdens that this past year has asked her to bear, has killed someone, who may or may not have deserved to die. Margaret has justice for her daughter, or so she thinks, but that just means she’s going to have to face the mess she’s made of the rest of her life, with two homes and two husbands she seems disinclined to choose between.

And Emily Lacey, well. Emily Lacey has maybe just become one of the most interesting women on this show. She has always existed, as a character, in the shadow of Charlotte and Lucy, chasing the lives and success and family they had. She’s tried everything to secure her own future, from a relationship with Charles Quigley to running her own house as a bawd to working for and sleeping with Hal Pincher.

She’s lied and betrayed and scrambled the entire way, but even though we basically expect her to be untrustworthy at this point, it’s especially difficult to get over her cruelty and selfishness in the wake of Charlotte’s murder. She provides an alibi for the men she suspects killed her former friend, agrees to take a bribe from a man she believes to be a murderer and plans flee to France without telling the man she supposedly loves anything about it. In short: Emily Lacey is a straight up mess.

She’s also a survivor, though, and in a world like Harlots that’s certainly an admirable quality. Sometimes, surviving isn’t pretty, though, and Emily’s certainly a great example of that – she’s so hard to like as a character, sometimes, but you have to respect the strength of her will, and her dedication to always, always putting herself first. After all, who else is going to do that if she doesn’t?

Now, Emily is trapped on multiple levels – in a relationship with a man she may care about but clearly doesn’t entirely trust, running a business with him and ostensibly building a future together, all while she knows the truth about his brother’s death. (Including who killed him, and her own involvement in bringing his murder about.) This feels simultaneously like a step up and backward for her – as a tavern mistress she’ll finally achieve a degree of financial security and safety, which is something she’s long sought. But at what cost? And is that even something that matters to her?

Emily’s behavior has already impacted her relationships with many former friends and allies – see Kitty’s response when she shows up at Greek Street looking for help. It’s the obvious downside to being solely motivated by your own personal gain. This is concerning primarily because at some point Hal is probably going to figure out her role in what happened to Isaac, and her plan to run off to France. What will happen to Emily then?

Speaking of running off to foreign countries, Harlots is also going to have to make a decision about what to do with Margaret Wells sooner, rather than later. With the departure of Jessica Brown Findlay, it makes sense that the show wants to hang on to Samantha Morton, who is a great actress and whose character is an extremely compelling one. But even if we handwave the idea that it’s this easy to acquire a pardon for a dead woman that’s also somehow still in effect should that woman suddenly turn out to be very much alive, how will her character fit back into the story?

After all, the world of Harlots has changed fairly significantly since she was sent to America, as evidenced by the fact that so many stories happening in which she has no significant role to play. Even her rivalry with Lydia, rekindled to such great effect in this episode, feels a bit…staler than it once did.

Lydia has her new, messy relationship with Kate, after all, as well as her position as co-owner of Lucy’s molly house. She doesn’t really need to throw barbs at Margaret anymore to give her something to do. Can we say the same for Margaret? Surely, part of any arc will involve her properly grieving her eldest daughter and accounting for her behavior in that relationship, but, what else?

New episodes of Harlots stream Wednesdays on Hulu.