Trouble is brewing off the coast of Cornwall despite Ross Poldark’s best efforts to play the respectable country squire.
Warning: this review contains spoilers!
Ross Poldark has always had a penchant for trouble. From indulging in riots and smuggling to being hauled up in front of the magistrates, his record for good decision-making is patchy at best. But with the newly-reformed Ross (Aidan Turner) staying remarkably civil for much of episodes one and two – save for the occasional relapse into ‘enigmatic lurking’ – trouble isn’t now just impatiently nipping at his heels, it’s practically chasing him down the beach with a stick.
“T’int right, t’int proper,” yells the ghost of Poldarkian despair
There’s a christening on the cards for Valentine Warleggan, which heralds the return of Ross’ cousin and long-suffering ally Verity Poldark (Ruby Bentall). Once resigned to the role of spinster, Verity found a longed-for family life last season, and seemed positively radiant when disembarking her carriage. Ross has put brothers-in-law Sam and Drake to work down the mines, or at least he’s tried to, if they’ll ever not be trying to convert Cornwall’s great unwashed. Still, they seem content in their labours for the moment, and Demelza is pleased to have them around. Indeed, even young Geoffrey Charles looked happy as he shared a giggle with governess Morwenna, though the increasingly cold Elizabeth remained aloof. Cheeriest of all was the blossoming romance between Morwenna and Drake, which was established in typical historical drama fashion with some lingering gazes last week. Before the hour was over, Drake had wooed her with wildflowers, a bracelet and a holy wish-granting well (essentially eighteenth-century Cornwall’s answer to inviting the bae round for Netflix and chill.
“T’int right, t’int proper,” yells the ghost of Poldarkian despair, naturally conjuring up some shipwrecks off the French coast to endanger the honourable, but ever-unlucky, Dwight Enys (Luke Norris) and Captain Blamey (Verity’s husband, but honestly I can’t even remember what he looks like) in response to the slightest hint of happiness. After some requisite hand-wringing, it was time for the crack investigators of Poldark to split up and seek out details of the seamen’s fate. Ross tidied up his hair and accompanied the squad to a busy society party, but couldn’t resist turning to his smuggling contacts, too. Thus, the slippery slope back into roguish ways got its claws into a man who, just scenes before he launched himself across to post-revolutionary France, had murmured “Peace… yes. I like the sound of that.” Poldark never was the most subtle of scripts.
if you are following a Poldark drinking game, you would have been sozzled after this
It was worth it, though, for the sight of Demelza, Caroline and Verity rocking up resolutely to a grand house in their best dresses like a mystery-solving Destiny’s Child. And to see the soaring splendour of Tehidy House (real-life Leigh Court, Somerset), make even George Warleggan realise Trenwith is the aristocratic equivalent of a garden shed. Ross was wise enough to know he’s the last person who should be judging character when he turned down the family seat as magistrate, but as it means Treacherous George got the job instead, he may soon wish he’d reconsidered. At one point they venomously slow-mo passed each other at the party and I thought there’d be a punch-up. George spent as much of the episode as he could looking smug enough to warrant a slap (probably from the still-seething Aunt Agatha). More of Verity would be a welcome addition to a season that looks set to simmer with tumult.
Meanwhile, if you are following a Poldark drinking game, you would have been sozzled after this, as another Joss Agnew-directed episode threw in plenty of clifftop galloping, mournful sea-gazing, a man with a hook for a hand (yes, really), and not one, not two, but three shirtless scenes (Ross shirtless in bed, Drake washing in the river, Sam and Drake being dunked in the ocean). It’s a sign of how far Poldark has come, however, that Ross stood out most when standing upright and assured in a magnificent dark coat, still averse to strict social confines, but not quite the ragged wanderer anymore. At least, that is, until he threw himself onto a boat, leaving his pregnant wife behind, for a madcap rescue mission. Dodgy decision-making still intact here, then.
