20 thoughts on “Poldark Season 2 Stream of Consciousness: Rape, Finale, & Season 3 Teaser

  1. I read the other blog about the hats with great interest – I had not realised they were so anachronistic, I have to admit, but you are definitely right in that there are relatively few examples to be documented. However, there are enough that I wouldn’t immediately think “ANACHRONISM!” if I saw one – although with caveats. There was a style of hat towards the end of the 18th century that did have ribbon ties pulling the brim down, called a witch’s hat or gipsy hat, or a Pamela hat. I was interested to see this portrait of an older woman wearing one of those hats, although maybe she is a very smart older woman..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henrietta_Marchant_Liston_%28Mrs._Robert_Liston%29._by_Gilbert_Stuart,_1800.jpg

    I have just realised that her hat is amost an exact copy of this “gipsy” from Heideloff’s of 1794! (albeit no feathers and bigger brim….)
    http://regencyfashion.org/heid/ND6-1794.html

    The caption does specify a handkerchief to tie on the hat, although it does look like Mrs Liston is wearing ribbons. The majority of bergere/shepherdess hats I see do have ties attached to the crown though, if they have ties at all.

    There’s another instance here from the 1780s/90s – looks like a Chemise a la Reine dress! – again, handkerchief/scarf rather than ribbons.

    http://clermontstatehistoricsite.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-livingstons-and-their-fabulous-hats.html

    Interesting – thanks for making me look more closely at this style of hat and think more about it.

  2. I quit watching after Ross cheated on Demelza. She is my favorite character and did not deserve that. Totally turned off by Ross now. Not watching anymore.

    1. Mari, you should consider reading the books! The entire situation has a broader context and you will find that certain other characters are not perfect, either.

  3. GEOFFREY CHARLES. WHO THE FUCK USES BOTH FIRST AND MIDDLE NAMES FOR THEIR CHILD?

    A lot of Southerners have been doing this for years, regardless of class. It must be a habit that the British may have passsed down.

    I quit watching after Ross cheated on Demelza. She is my favorite character and did not deserve that. Totally turned off by Ross now. Not watching anymore.

    There are serious consequences that stemmed from Ross’ rape of Elizabeth . . . right up to the last novel, which is set over a quarter-of-a-century later.

    What did you think of the rape scene?

    The BBC should have followed Graham’s novel a lot closer. Then again, the BBC didn’t handle the rape very well back in the 1970s.

    As for the two new boys on the block . . . eh, too pretty looking. The costumes? Eh.

    1. Double names were used by the upper crust. Look at Marie Antoinette, her mother Maria Theresa, her husband Louis Auguste, son Louis Charles…

        1. I think Francis’s dad was named Geoffrey, so maybe it’s a way of distinguishing the child from the grandfather?

  4. I’ll bet the new female character is Elizabeth’s cousin Morwenna, who comes to be G.C.’s governess. I’m also betting that the well-dressed new male character is a truly despicable rich parson and that the working-class lad is Demelza’s adorable younger brother Drake. Trouble ensues dot dot dot

    Apropos of female characters, does anyone else think the actress who plays Verity would make a perfect Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in a “Gone With the Wind” remake?

  5. Possible spoiler!

    P.S. Either a despicable parson or possibly the guy who seriously tempts a certain important female character.

  6. Different Mari, who did watch through Episode 10. :) The editing in the US was skillful. We got maybe one moment of “I’m not sure” and then a whole lot of “Come and get it!” Elizabeth is… unreliable to me given her past vacillations re: Ross and love. The editing gives her agency enough that we believe she’s out for one last fling before she marries. Too bad it also renders her too ignorant to realize the other potential consequences.

  7. I’m getting a little cranky about the fact that we’re well into the 1790s by season 3 of Poldark, yet everyone still looks stuck in older gowns. I get that the relative poverty of even the rich in this series is a case in point (not to mention the studio’s wardrobe budget), but in the books Caroline is starting to sport Regency gowns. One is not enough. Here’s to hoping there is more of what I call real Regency garb at some point in this series.

    1. Interesting! I was assuming we were still in the late 1780s — looks like I’ll have to do some more comparing-with-real-fashion-history posts for the next season!

  8. Season Two was set between 1790 and 1793, not the 1780s.

    Season Three should be set between 1794 and 1795 or 1796.

    Apropos of female characters, does anyone else think the actress who plays Verity would make a perfect Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in a “Gone With the Wind” remake?

    A remake of “Gone With the Wind”? Oh dear. I don’t like that. A remake would have to change the tone of the story in its portrayal of the slaves and other blacks, attitudes towards women, and the lower classes for it to work in the early 21st century.

  9. I just wanted to say that I haven’t watched this series, but some of the “discussion” that I’ve seen online relating to the rape scene has been deeply annoying. It seems that BBC producers and others involved with the series didn’t want to risk “tarnishing” Ross Poldark’s image. Clearly, they must not have succeeded in this goal, but they certainly tried. Winston Graham’s son claimed that the rape in the books is actually “consensual sex” (apparently because Elizabeth has “mixed emotions” afterwards???), Aidan Turner said it “seems consensual” (ugh…), and I hear that the BBC filmmakers shot the scene, and those that follow, in such a way as to cloud the issue of Elizabeth’s consent. Seriously, people — either show the assault or don’t, but you can’t have it both ways and pretend that a rape is consensual.

    On the subject of costumes, some look pretty decent, but nearly all of the characters still seem to be at least five to ten years behind fashion trends.

  10. Why do I keep seeing this peculiar combination, an 18th Century tricorn hat and 19th Century sideburns, on Poldark and other characters?

  11. I haven’t seen Series 3 yet, but I’m on the waiting list at the NY Public Library for the DVD (I don’t have cable nor any way to stream at home, so I borrow DVDs from the library). I did, however, watch the entire original ’75 and ’77 series (also borrowed DVDs), so I’d say the young woman with the “stupid hat” is probably Emma Tregirls, the love interest of Demelza’s younger brother Sam. In the original, Emma was played by Trudie Styler (yep, Mrs. Sting) with very fluffy curly dark brown hair (worn down!). I don’t know if that was a wig or her own hair but it looked too… “coifed” for the period and her character, even though it was worn down. Google the names Emma Tregirls and Trudie Styler, to see images of it. Drake Carne, D’s other brother was played in ’77 by Kevin McNally who is now famous for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise but I loved him as mean Mr. Bryant on Downton Abbey (in real life, he’s married to Phyllis Logan AKA Mrs. Hughes on Downton). Also, the actress who played Morwenna in the original then played john Nettles’ wife in Midsomer Murders, so it’s fitting that Nettles had a part on Poldark, too!

    1. Oops, I just read your “half-hearted review” of Series 3, and see now that the chick with the bad hat is Morwenna. Hmm. Her look is rather dull and doesn’t strike me as right for either Morwenna or Emma.

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