Episode 1 -Putting out fires
It
can be difficult for a first episode to cover all bases and please everyone.
Especially one that for the first time does not cover a book from the book saga
that the series has previously adapted. Then to dare to introduce new
characters and a change of scenery and tone from the country bumpkin vibes of
the Cornish landscape to the politically charged hobbled streets of London, is
a risk. There is a lot to be achieved in just 60 minutes and I think that this
first episode did well to set the tone and merit my investment.
As the Poldarks face the turn of the century and Ross having already begun to
spend more time in London in series 4, Series 5 takes off from there. Whilst
Ross initially endeavours to settle down, we are immediately thrust into his
new story line with his old army superior and now political prisoner on a charge
of treason 'Ned Despard' . Ned appeals to Ross for help to free him from prison.
As an Irish man with a strong Irish accent he has a forceful presence from his
very first scene and sends his black ex-slave wife Kitty Despard from London to
Nampara to make this appeal. Reading this through Ross realises that the task requires him to take on the Government, the
crown, the empire and the slave trade all in one hit. Naturally he is up for
this and Demelza with little choice gives her blessing to her renegade husband
and sends him on his way whilst she remains at Nampara.
The
show's screenwriter Debbie Horsefield does well so far to tie these real life historical
figures of Ned and Kitty Despard into Ross's purpose for the series and to his journey
to becoming a government agent. In real life Ned was indeed an Irish soldier who served with the British army. He later rose to the position of superintendent but became a revolutionary and ended up being arrested and executed for high treason for plotting uprising. He was suspected of attempting to assassinate King George III and came to is end in 1803. So we can presume he will definitely bring the drama for Poldark series five. Real life Kitty was indeed a slave from the Caribbean who married Ned and went on to become a prison campaigner protesting her husband's poor treatment in prison. A couple to be reckoned with then!
Though we have always known Ross to be a man of action,
all of a sudden he has the super sonic hearing and senses to enable him to sniff
out an imminent assassination attempt on the then King George III while at a theatre
in London where him and his crew are set to watch a play in the King's company.
Ross finds himself in the right spot to foil the likely death of the king by
gun shot. This episode therefore hands us Debbie Horsefield's vision of the
back story for Ross being expedited from regular smegular MP to James Bondesque
government spy as documented in the later Poldark books but without the detail
of how this came to be. Because after Ross manages to redirect the gun fire
miraculously with no one hurt in the process he is suddenly swooped upon by what seems to be
another government agent who happened to be lurking in the area. Clearly one that must
be second rate having failed to foil the assassination attempt himself. Indeed
Intrigue about the web being woven is only enhanced by the fact that Ross has
been watched from a distance up onto this point and after. He is taken to see a
head honcho Mr William Wickham in a private area of the theatre for a chat with
no tea on offer. It transpires that this is another true historical figure.
Wickham was a British civil servant and politician who founded the British
foreign secret service during the French revolution. Seemingly impressed by
Ross's performance here he offers Ross (who we must remember definitely is a
fictional character) 'covert work' for
the crown. It is not long afterwards that a reluctant Ross accepts the role with the
release of his friend Ned Despard clearly being part of the bargain. So by the
end of the episode Ross has completed his intended mission to help his friend but
ends up with a new covert one for Her Majesty's Service. If that was not enough
Ned suggests that he now has political scores to settle and Ross needs to join
him on this too.
It's
evident from Ross's shenanigans that we are all set for a season of Ross having
a fair bit on his plate and this playing perfectly to his spirit of adventure
and my interest for where this will lead to. It's an exciting beginning.
Demelza
While
Ross is in London becoming a government spy Demelza is not left at home to
twiddle her fingers. She encounters some unnecessary hostility when Ross invites her
to manage a difficult situation when workers laid off from the local mine appeal to her for work as manager of the Poldark mines. Unable to offer
this, one of the workers, Tess Trigidden directs her saltiness about her
unemployment at Demelza. Seeing her as a wife of a gentleman who has forgotten her own true humble beginnings when moving from a have-not to a have, Demelza seeks to
appease her with a promise of work and later rather tactlessly dresses up in
her finest green velvet outerwear and hat to offer her work in Nampara as a
farm hand.
Despite book Demelza being known for good perceptive awareness here she
shows a poor exercise of judgment given the obvious hostility that Tess
continues to exude towards her and it is not long that we have interspersing
scenes of Ross's attempts to put out gunfire directed at the king in London and
Demelza attempting to put out a fire spread from a fire bomb thrown into a passage
way of Nampara as she slept in bed with Jeremy, Clowance (and the world's oldest
dog Garrick). Although Demelza impresses with some quick kick ass survival
skills in not only getting the children out safely but also to putting out the
fire, she too easily parks her suspicions as to the culprit when Tess give a
weak denial of blame. It was frustrating to watch Demelza further demonstrates even
more poor judgment by later deciding to leave with the children for London in
order to join Ross. At a time when there was unrest with the houses of fellow
gentle folk being targeted for arson and vandalism her belief that this was a
good time to leave Nampara was more than a tad optimistic and dismissive. More
so by leaving her incompetent maid Prudie who was patronisingly appeased with the title 'Queen
of Nampara' and the untrustworthy Tess to manage Nampara by themselves. Thus
giving Tess free reign to possibly reek further havoc and blow Nampara up if she so wished before
the Poldark's returned.
George
The awkward humour in this is that George in his right mind would surely be horrified to realise that he had mistaken his wife from the gentry class for his lowly scullery maid. Especially after all the stick he has given Ross about marrying his scullery maid, Demelza. We can only hope that he will not be insisting that a petrified Betty should join him in his marital bed in the next episode.
As anticipated
in the article where we looked ahead at what to expect from series 5, in this
episode we already see a strained relationship between George and his putative
son Valentine. Valentine is forced to go to Truro when he did not wish to, he is
shouted at instead of comforted by George when he finds a picture of his mother
and in another scene George barely notices him when he's expected to warmly
send him off to bed. 
The poor but rather cute looking boy is spotted by Caroline and Demelza at his mother's grave and is clearly privately mourning her with no love or consolation from his father. So far this story line has been opened up carefully and it will be interesting to see how this progresses and shapes the dysfunctional Valentine he comes to be as a young adult..
Drake
and Morwenna
But this is only episode one and she of course is not ready yet. We must expect this to be their storyline as the series progresses. Especially as the insight from the later books and therefore on the list of things to expect from this series is that they will have a child together. Therefore this will definitely require some carnal activities to take place soon. That is unless the child is to be conceived by immaculate conception.
In a separate story line for Dwight, he conveniently is able to join Ross on his trip to London and with Geoffrey Charles too, who equally is conveniently able to join. Dwight has business there joining the Royal College of surgeons and also trying unsuccessfully to get Ross to steer clear of Ned whom he clearly thinks is bad news. We have been forewarned that there will be some tension in the Dwight-Ross bromance and clearly these are the rumblings.
New
Characters
Demelza & Kitty
Ned, as Dwight warns
Ross is a live wire and this is obvious and conveyed through a handful of non
verbal scenes of him jumping around air boxing in his prison cell as if he is
run by Duracell batteries, punching his fist into the wal and injuring himself, angrily
throwing his dire meal of soup against the wall and his stance upon his release
with those famous last words that this is 'just the beginning' of their mission.
A
portion of Romelza please
"Nothing in my life has meaning without you. No matter what the future brings or what may come between us, that you can rely on."
Overall
I
give this episode 4 out of 5 stars. Whilst it was choppy and fast paced and I
therefore had to watch it twice to be confident of the detail in the storyline,
I felt that there was an air of excitement and the series was starting as it
means to go on, by building a story that would be dynamic and keep us on our toes. The
new characters have already made their mark and set up what they are about as
well as providing a segway for our much loved characters to get to the business
of giving action packed drama. Indeed this is a change from the
slower paced, lighter and more locally based stories of the previous seasons but I suppose that since the end of season four marked the turn of the century, it is now time for a Poldark that has literally moved into the 1800s and is
giving us something a little different. Within reason!
My only gripe with the episode was the basis upon which Tess was introduced to us. Her nonsensical and silly misdirected malice towards Demelza makes her a character I struggle to have any understanding or sympathy for in respect of her motivations. I am resentful that she is the tool who seems to paralyse Demelza's usual common sense and have her making some poor judgment calls.
Favorite scene
1. Demelza
in girl power mode putting out the Nampara fire (I always love Kick ass
Demelza)
2.
Demelza and Kitty connect as former kitchen maids (A new friendship is formed)
3.
George acts like his uncle is the one losing it when he dismissively insists
that Elizabeth is sitting right before them at the dinner table
Favorite lines
1.
George to Geoffrey Charles upon hearing his plans to join the Army "I wish him a speedy bullet."
(No love lost there!)
2.
Of Elizabeth - Caroline "She did not
deserve her fate." Demelza "Nor
did her children." (The irony
of a self inflicted fate)
3. George
about his impending knighthood "Naturally
on does not seek such honour." (No you just pay for it -didn't you
George?- for his lack of self awareness)
4.
Ross to Demelza "Nothing in my life
has meaning without you. No matter what the future brings or what may come
between us, that you can rely on." (For the romance of this sweet
sentiment but also its foreboding.)
Man/Woman/Person of the match episode
George
steals this episode from the off as he is as we have not seen him before;
losing his mind with grief yet with the restraint, poise and control that we
have typically seen from him in his right mind.
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