Harlots season 3 episode 7 review: Finding the new normal

As Harlots season 3 continues, we all have to consider the question: What does this show look like now, without the Wells women?

Much of Harlots season 3 has been about change and transition. New characters have arrived as existing favorites have been shuffled around by fortune, re-launching their lives in new places. But we’ve also lost several favorites, two of which formed the narrative center around which the show had previously revolved for two years.

With the death of Charlotte and the departure of Margaret, the idea of the Wells family as the center of the show is virtually no more.

Sure, Lucy Wells is still a major character, but she’s never clung as tightly to the identity of her name and family business as either her sister or her mother. From a character perspective, she’s actually better off, as she finally gets the chance to figure out what her life looks like on her own terms. (And if that means she rekindles her mother’s lifelong feud with Lydia, then at least it’s for her own reasons.)

As a result, much of Harlots at the moment appears to be about finding the show a new center, and re-balancing its stories in different and exciting ways.

Lydia, naturally, remains an active force in the narrative, as the show questions whether she is truly capable of change or of feeling remorse for her previous actions. Her overall treatment of Kate since their horrific time in Bedlam Hospital – as well as the fact that she let Margaret go, rather than allow the police to arrest her – indicates that may be true. But, this episode also shows us a Lydia willing to have Lucy thrown in debtors’ prison to protect her secrets, so maybe a leopard doesn’t really change its spots that much after all.

Yet, her fear of Lord Blaine appears extremely real, and though her own safety is still clearly priority number one for Lydia, it seems as though Kate’s might actually be right up there with it. Her genuine attempts to secure a successful position for her adopted daughter, as well as her blatant warnings about the dangers of Blaine are proof of that. But the real question remains – if it comes to it, would she put Kate’s welfare over her own?

As for Kate, Harlots does seem rather keen to make her into something of a Charlotte replacement figure. Her character, of course, is quite different in its specifics, but the generally, she’s feisty, conflicted about the sort of person she wants to be and ambitious as all get out.

It feels more than a little familiar.

“I don’t need a rescuer. I am the rescuer,” Kate intones at one point to her sort-of but not really boyfriend the justice, and it almost seems like it could mostly be true.

She’s certainly survived enough – getting disowned by her family, a stint in Bedlam, a rude introduction into the life of a harlot and, well, Lydia, who despite how well she might mean towards her, is always something of a trial.

If she’s more interesting as Lydia’s conflicted protégé – as it’s obvious she does truly care about the older woman even if she’s more than a little afraid of her too – than the prince’s consort, that’s maybe a sign that this show has always written messy female relationships much more interestingly than anything involving a man.

Elsewhere, Emily Lacey is either a genius or an idiot, depending on how likely you think the prospect of Hal Pincher “accidentally” murdering her some day might be. Sure, Hal knows the truth about Isaac’s death now, and seems to be taking it oddly well, or, at least, is blaming himself more than her for the fact that it happened. But even as we watch him swear his eternal devotion to her, it’s easy to see that something’s still very, very wrong.

Emily herself seems to see this, as she’s no longer behaving so much like a woman desperately in love with her boyfriend and excited about their future together, but rather like someone who’s humoring a man so he doesn’t kill her. Her tone and body language seem stiff and scared whenever she’s around him, and even though she insists she knows he won’t hurt her…well, it’s rather sounding less true every time she says it.

Plus, Hal’s suddenly decided to become the pimp his dead brother always wanted to be, taking over local brothels – i.e. Harriet’s – under the guise of “protection” and then selling them out to the highest investor. He starts pushing the idea that the brothels would be better managed under the control of some outside (male, obviously) investors instead of by bawds who care for the girls’ well being. He even offers to sell a stake in Harriet’s brother to the same man who has stalked and abused her and is very likely behind the whole “sending her boyfriend off into forced bondage on his Jamaica plantation” thing. Hal is becoming a monster.

Maybe the truth is, he always was one. He’s just stopped bothering to hide it now. He feels as though he has nothing to lose without Isaac and, though he insists repeatedly that Emily means the world to him, she’s never going to be able to fill the void he left behind. So now Hal appears to be making himself over into an even worse version of Isaac, and everyone – including Emily herself – is paying the price for it on some level or other. Does this all go bad eventually?

This season would seem to suggest that’s more likely than not.

New episodes of Harlots stream Wednesdays on Hulu.