Poldark - series 5

What the hell happened?

First time ever:  NO spoiler alerts!  LOL

It seemed to take forever to get here, but season five is officially over here in the states.  I purposely stayed away from my favorite fan sites because I did not want any spoilers, so I had no idea what to expect.   While there were some nice affectionate scenes between Ross and Demelza, overall the whole series left me feeling somewhat cheated...…  cheated of a GOOD story. 

I  hated the whole first few episodes with Morwenna sneaking around trying to spend time with her son.  I did not like the whole Jamaica thing.  I did not like the hinting that Dr. Ennis would be interested in Kitty.  The only thing I did like was watching Jack Farthing do his best work as crazy George!!  Don't get me wrong - I still loved seeing Aidan on my screen and the rest of gang from the other four seasons, but it wasn't enough to make me want to add the DVD to my collection.

To sum it up, I believe Debbie Horsfield did a pretty good job on the screenplay for the first four seasons, but as a storyteller, she clearly is not up to snuff.  Almost everything about her script was plain old bad writing.  Poor Winston, no doubt, is rolling in his grave. 

Poldark -Season 4 revisited

I have been wanting to post on season 4 for quite awhile, however, I like to watch a second time before I put my thoughts out there.  I was finally able to purchase the blueray and have enjoyed catching all the things I missed first time around.  With season five airing overseas soon, I figure this little recap will just in time! As usual, there was a lot that happens, but I hope I get the gist of it all, not necessarily in order.

We open with our hero rising up out of the sea like a mythical god, wearing only his breeches, his beautiful chest heaving as he reflects on Demelza and Hugh and what he imagines them doing!  (You will remember last season ended with Demelza returning from her tryst with Hugh and telling Ross to ask her no questions)  His reverie is interrupted as his wife and children join him on the beach.

Ooh-la-la

Demelza remarks she saw him swimming away to which Ross responds "I'm still here" with a painful look in his eyes.  Demelza, looking into said eyes says "As am I".

Meanwhile, back at Trenwith, George and Lizzy are getting along fine since she swore on the bible that Valentine was his son and threatened to leave him; Hugh is still writing poetry to Demelza; Zacky Martin's boy, Jago arrives only to find out grain (that the starving people need) is being shipped off to Lisbon.

Jago Martin is pissed that the grain is not going to the people at home who need it and takes off to the docks to see what he can do about it.  Sam and Drake follow him to try and stop him from doing anything stupid, which of course, they fail to do.  Jago and others start rioting and the Carne boys try to stop him.  A merchant is killed.  Unfortunately, Tom Harry is there to witness things and runs off to tell George what he saw.  Naturally George sees a great opportunity to put the screws to Ross, so he rats on them.  Ross has the unhappy duty of arresting them but assures them it will be fine and he will do what he can.  (Seriously? when is it ever fine where court is concerned? lol )

As expected, things don't go well.  George sneakily moves the trial time up so Ross isn't there. Several men are pardoned, some are transported, and poor Jago, Drake, and Sam are sentenced to be hanged!  Ross tries to help, all the while making sure Demelza knows nothing about what is going on.  In the end, however, it is Jago who insists Sam and Drake are innocent and after an impassioned plea from Ross, they are released.  Jago is not so lucky and hangs for the crime of murder.  Zacky is inconsolable at the loss of his son.

On a high note, Dr. Ennis finds out he will be a father!! He's so happy, which is short-lived, as shortly after his little girl is born, he realizes little Sarah has a heart problem and will not live very long.  He keeps it to himself for awhile, but eventually tells Ross.

Hugh is supposed to run for Parliament, but his failing health prevents him from doing that.  Ross is convinced to stand in his stead and much to the chagrin of George, wins!  He is still worried that Demelza is seeing him as a second choice (as if...) to Hugh and thinks a little time and distance will help.  Hugh does not survived his illness and Demelza is crushed, though her true abiding love is for Ross, Hugh had a special place in her heart.

Morwenna is still miserable and is forced back into bed with the odious Ozzie, who we all know is a  disgusting toe-sucking monster.  At the same time, he hooks up with her sister again.  He eventually gets caught in the act by Rowena's husband and pays the ultimate price for his philandering!  But not before a dying man confesses he lost a great deal of money investing for Pascoe's bank.  He tells George, who then hatches a plan to bring down the bank, which also leaves Ross and Demelza with no savings.  Such a bastard.

Drake is still in love with Morwenna, but has been pushed into marrying sweet Rosina.  He finds out Ozzie is dead and breaks off the engagement only to find out Morwenna will not have him!  She is pregnant.  He is heartbroken yet again.  Rosina's family gets back at Drake for dumping Rosina and burns down his business.  Morwenna loses the baby and goes to Drake to tell him why she rejected him.  He sees hope that they will be together after all.

Ross does a lot of speechifying in London and tries his best to rally support to help the poor.  He returns home to face a flooding disaster in the mine. While he is home, Dwight and Caroline's little baby, Sarah gets sick and dies.  Everyone is heartbroken.  Ross stupidly asks Demelza if her extreme reaction to Sarah's death is not somewhat because of Hugh's. He can be so dumb sometimes.  Anyway, it was a reminder of losing Julia, not Hugh and it really hurt her that he could think that. Caroline decides to move to London to try and recover and does not want Dwight to go with her.  Ross goes back to Parliament.  While in London, He spends some time with Caroline and Geoffrey Charles and meets Monk Adderly, a new character to hate!  Worse than George, as bad as Ozzie, he oils he way around looking to make trouble.

Ross has a nice talk with Caroline, urging her to let herself grieve, talking her into coming back with him when he returns home.  They get back and learn about the bank failing.  Ross does what he can to try to save Pascoe.  Ross returns to London, this time with Demelza and Dwight and Caroline.

It was a delight to see Ross and Demelza cavorting and kissing in the bedroom, effectively putting the past behind them.  Naturally, these happy things don't last.  Demelza is a bit overwhelmed by life in London society and not sure how to act when she and Ross go to a ball put on by the Warleggans. Creepy Capt. Adderly makes a bet with George he can get into Demelza's knickers and goes after her full speed ahead.  Demelza is not sure how to handle his advances and Ross doesn't step in and tell him to get lost, even though he is clearly jealous.  He has an altercation with Monk at parliament, who responds with a request to settle the insult with a duel.  Against Dwight's advice, he agrees and ends up killing Capt. Asshat, while getting wounded himself.  Punishment for dueling is hanging, but before he dies, Monk says he injured himself which lets Ross of the hook (even though everyone knows the truth, there is no proof).  Demelza is so upset about the whole thing, she goes home, leaving a note for Ross to find when he wakes.

When Ross gets home, they have a heartfelt conversation which helps to further heal their relationship.  Caroline and Dwight also work things out.  However, things are not so good at Trenwith.  Geoffrey Charles remarks about how much Valentine looks like Uncle Ross.... OH-OH - George does not take this very well.  Elizabeth, desperate to convince him Valentine is indeed his, goes to the apothecary to get something that will bring on premature birth.  She eventually takes the drug and has a baby girl.  This makes George believe that Val is his son.  Shortly after the birth, Elizabeth becomes very ill and painfully dies!!  George is devastated as is Ross.  There is a beautiful yet heartbreaking scene with Ross overlooking the sea and remembering Elizabeth when they were first in love.

Ross tells Demelza he at last realizes how she felt when Huge died.  She tells him, it's not the same, as their relationships with these other people were very different.  She also assures him that while Hugh had a piece of her heart, Ross is the only one who ever owned it.!!   

The series ends with a very happy Morwenna and Drake leaving the church a married couple.  

I'm sure I missed a few things, some of the nuances that are important to the story, but this is what stood out the most in my mind.  What will season 5 bring us?  I'm so looking forward to it and I hope it's fabulous.  

If I have to have an addiction, it might as well be a Poldark one!

Those who know me know I've been Poldarked big time.  I'm not alone in this - there's hundreds of others out there. I know because I'm in their Facebook group!  I've watched it about six times now, maybe seven and I'm still not tired of it.  What I really need is to talk about it but I'm pretty sure my friends and family would only hear blah blah Poldark blah blah blah Ross blah blah Demelza blah blah blah and quickly find a way to extricate themselves.  So I'm gonna talk about it here.  Go get your coffee and put your feet up. lol

This would be a good time to say SPOILER ALERT !!  If you haven't seen it yet and really want to, stop now unless you don't care, then read on. :-)

First of all, I think it's one of the best small screen productions I have ever seen.  Yes I love Downton and Call the Midwife and still love, love, love Lonesome Dove.  So what makes Poldark stand out?  Is it the great story...the fantastic performances by everyone... the fantastic costuming...the outstanding cinematography...the gorgeous sound track?  Ok, so you already know I say it's all those things and more!

Let's start with the story.  Winston Graham wrote several books set in Cornwall featuring the Poldarks.  I have only read the first one, mostly because I can't really afford to buy them and the libraries around here are only starting to get them.  However, I did enjoy reading the first in the series.  Basically our hero, Ross Poldark, comes home from the war in America to find his father is dead, his home in ruins, and his lady love is engaged to his cousin.  Gives new meaning to a run of bad luck, eh?  The story focuses on him rebuilding his life and learning to live without Elizabeth, the girl he was supposed to marry.  Debbie Horsfield did a fine job in creating a script that keeps the heart of the story, though, as usual, has changes from the book.  There are many memorable scenes due not only to her script, but also to the incredible performances of the cast.

Speaking of the cast.... wowzers!  Clearly a home run.  Here's my thoughts on the cast and the characters they play:

Aidan Tuner is our hero Ross Poldark - he breathes life into this character in a way that has made thousands of viewers all over the world fall in love with him!  He is so good at what he does, so believable, we all want a Ross in our lives.  His smouldering good looks are the icing on the cake, to say the least.

Ross is honest, kindhearted, concerned about friends and family, and over-all a good guy.  He has a temper to be sure, but only towards that which deserves it.  He makes mistakes, sometimes misjudges, but will admit it if he's wrong.  He's in love with two women - Elizabeth, who marries his cousin, and Demelza, a common girl who he hires to work for him and eventually marries.  I love every scene that he has with Demelza. I love how even a simple hold of her hand speaks volumes of how he feels about her, even though it took awhile to realize it.  I think his biggest mistake was in not telling the George the truth of about his uncle drowning and him not being able to do anything to save him.  Instead he says 'why would I want to' and that doesn't sit well with George at all, who then proceeds to get back at him.

Favorite Ross scenes - when Demelza sings at the Christmas party, when baby Julia dies in his arms, when he and Dr. Ennis take baby Julia to be buried, when he tells Elizabeth that Delmelza is the love of his life, (I actually cheered the first time I watched it), and especially when he has to tell Demelza their little girl has died - he can't even say the words!  It is the most moving scene and is so authentic. I know that feeling too well.  It's been 15 years since I lost my dear daughter and I still can't say the 'd' word.  Aidan is so unbelievably good in that scene, as is his co-star, Eleanor. It's truly heartbreaking to watch.

Eleanor Tomlinson is our heroine Demelza.  Eleanor is so pretty and does an awesome job portraying a spunky teenager who runs away, with her dog Garrick, from a miserable home life.  Ross saves her and Garrick from a dog fight and decides to hire her as a kitchen maid.  She's a hard worker and over time, falls wholeheartedly in love with Ross. She goes through quite a transformation from a gawky, dirty urchin to a lovely young woman,  however, Ross is still in love with Elizabeth and she doesn't quite know what to do until one night an opportunity comes along to seduce him and she does.  It's a great scene that I never get tired of watching! 

Favorite Demelza scenes - when she's in the meadow, playing with Garrick, dancing at Jim and Jinny's wedding, her first kiss, I love that she keeps her eyes open!, when she needs help unlacing the gown and what follows ;-), taking lessons from Verity, singing at the Christmas party, learning her baby has died, riding out to the sea with Ross to say goodbye to Julia.  Eleanor has a lovely, clear voice and I'm hoping she does more singing in season 2.

Heida Reed is Elizabeth - prim and proper and so well-played you can't imagine anyone else doing it.  Elizabeth is Ross' first love.  She feels the same and hopes they can marry when he returns from America - things don't go as planned and when Ross is believed dead, she agrees to marry his cousin Francis.  I found myself wondering 'what if' with Elizabeth.  What if she had married Ross?  Would she have been happy living in his little house, would she have rolled up her sleeves and helped with the yard work, the cooking, the washing? or would Ross make sure she had servants to help her, someone other than Prudy and Judd?  What if she had challenged Francis over his affair with Margaret instead of ignoring it?  Maybe she was happy he wasn't bugging her for sex?

Favorite Elizabeth scenes - when she's walking around smiling and cooing to baby Geoffry Charles, when she goes to the mine closing and says Francis feels sorry for himself, and when she is grateful for Demelza coming over to help them when they are sick.

Kyle Soller is Francis - Kyle plays a wonderful Francis easily going from smiling sweet cousin to jealous vindictive cousin in a heartbeat.  Francis is such a wimp.  It's hard to like him.  I play 'what if' with him too.  What if Elizabeth didn't spurn him in the bedroom, would he have turned to Margaret? Francis is basically a spoiled boy in a man's body.  I was surprised he actually called out Capt. Blamey the way he did.  He allows George to manipulate him and is too stupid to realize he's trying to get Elizabeth away from him.  Poor Francis.  It will be interesting to see what happens to him.

Favorite Francis scenes -  when he chides Elizabeth at the Christmas party and at the Christening too (he's such a prick about it lol), when he stares out to sea after his father dies, when he offers a comforting hand to Ross at Julia's burial, showing he's not always an ass.

Ruby Bentall is Verity - Ruby is so wonderful in this role.  I loved her in Lark Rise to Candleford and so pleased to see her versatility in portraying Ross' cousin Verity.  Poor Verity is treated more like a house slave than a daughter/sister.  I was happy when she found the courage to follow her heart and hope to see she's still happy with Captain Blamey in season 2.

Favorite Verity scenes - when Ross takes off and leaves her alone with Demelza when she visits them after their wedding, when she teaches Demelza how to be a lady, the look on her face when Demelza tells her she pleases Ross in bed, the look on her face when Ross admits he might like to have both Elizabeth and Demelza as his wife, the shot of her watching Blamey ride off after shooting Francis, back to camera, you could still feel her devastation.

I'm already in the running for the longest post ever so I'll just add a quick thought or two about our antagonists, Cary and George Warleggon.

Pip Torrens plays the horrible, heartless, son-of-a-sea-serpent, Cary Warleggon to perfection, else why would I hate him so?  I have only four words regarding him:  someone PLEASE kill him!!!!  lol

Jack Farthing plays George Warleggon - like the rest of the players, he does a fine job playing Ross' chief adversary.  I find George to be a complex character.  He's not entirely evil like his Uncle Cary, but he certainly is his protégé - a sort of dick-in-training.  He is from humble beginnings and has made his way in the world, not without stepping on a lot of lives along the way.  He is deliberately trying to ruin Francis in hopes of winning Elizabeth from him.  He is truly horrified at the death of Julia and can't bring himself to drink the congratulatory drink Uncle Evil pours for him at the news.  I think he would have been less likely to go after Ross, if he hadn't been so rude about the death of his cousin, but then perhaps he would anyway.  I think, like Scrooge, George has the possibility of redeeming himself in some way.  Let's see if that happens!

One last thing - the shots of the wildflowers, the sea, and my favorite, the ladies looking out to sea for the pilchards are so amazing I wish I could kiss the camera person!  That and the heart-achingly beautiful sound track make this production one to be proud of by all who made it happen and one to treasure for a long time to come.

As always, your comments are welcomed, encouraged, even if you don't agree, only PLEASE no spoilers for next season!!!