‘Poldark’ Recap, Episode 3: Grace & Scurvy

Good morrow, my gentle recap readers. You may be wondering why I didn’t cover last week’s episode of Poldark. The truth is that I was fighting back my own form of the putrid throat. The good news is I have recovered! The bad news is now you will never know my thoughts on Dwight Enys removing a literal bone from Caroline’s throat. Alas, for shame, let’s get on with Poldark, Season 2, Episode 3…
As always, things are looking bad for Ross and Demelza. They are on the brink of financial collapse and George Warleggan is conspiring against them. Both take a different approach to solving their problems: Demelza, heavily pregnant with what looks like a globe of the world, is sneaking into a rickety rowboat to go fishing for food, while Ross is skirting the law by letting “free traders” from the black market use their little cove for pirating in exchange for 200 pounds and some salt. Neither approves of either one’s choices.

I guess this is what they mean when they say the romance really dies when you get married. Ross and Demelza used to be the hottest thing on this show and now they’re literally fighting over salt and cod.

If Ross and Demelza aren’t producing sparks of hot, lusty action, then Dwight and Caroline sure are. These two pretty people gave us the sexiest storyline about scurvy in the history of television. That’s right: scurvy! The poor folks all have it and Dwight needs to procure fresh produce to cure it.

Enter Caroline. Oh, how I love this hot bitch. She swans about like a British Marie Antoinette and spouts off some really bratty political views, but she’s actually a welcome feminist force on the show. Hear me out! While all the other female characters hem and haw about their husbands’ wishes, Caroline is a free agent. She is an heiress and she is willing to even complain about her lack of independent means. She also is the one pursuing Dwight. Her “throat examinations” are a piece of solid gold game.

What happens when Dwight makes it clear that he disagrees with her truly snotty social views? She uses her income to gift him (and the scurvies) fresh oranges. At the end of the episode, Caroline leaves town — and Unwin – in the dust. Before she takes London by storm, she gives Dwight the kind of farewell that makes it clear that she intends to come back and mount him like a stallion. Ride on, Caroline! Ride on!

Okay, can we talk about this Dickensian villain for a moment? He is creepy. That’s all I wanted to say.

He’s also borderline useless to the plot because as soon as he becomes George Warleggan’s proxy on the copper mining board, he’s out. Ross concocts a desperate plan to partner with Francis to revitalize Wheal Grace. The theory is that there’s a secret passage through that mine to a copper cache. Of course, Warleggan catches wind of this and picks this time to reveal the depths of Francis’s treachery. Naturally, fisticuffs followed.

And then Warleggan busted out a move that I literally saw on Fear the Walking Dead a few weeks ago. Stay in your lane, Warleggan! Leave the zombie-killing, eye socket-scooping moves for AMC! I came here for dainty fisticuffs and that’s what I want to get!

In the end, Ross has a dilemma. For once, he decides to take the high road. He forgives Francis and they move the fuck on…you know, like adults should.

Family forgiveness is a big theme in this episode. We see Ross forgive Francis, Francis forgive Captain Blamey, and Blamey’s kids get over themselves to embrace Verity. Even Ross and Demelza get to list all their grievances to one another in a very dramatic way. Yes, I do think the proper time to confess everything you hate about your spouse is when one is going into labor in a rowboat.

Oh, yes! Demelza, hungry for more food (because she’s pregnant and a human), sneaks out to go fishing and goes into labor. As soon as Ross finds out, he storms the beach and strips down in the most rakish of ways.

He plucks Demelza from the sea like she is some sort of nymph in a fairy tale and the two argue all the way home. It’s the sexiest thing they’ve given us since that soft core scene in the season premiere and really only the optics are sexy. Demelza safely gives brith to a baby boy whose name we don’t know, but I googled it and it’s Jeremy. At least it’s not Unwin, you know?

However, what it all comes back to is a concept of Grace. Ross and Francis are pulling their scant resources together to reopen the decrepit mine Wheal Grace. We discover in a cutesy twist that the mine was named for Ross’s mother, but it stands as a lesson for the Poldark clan. That is to say that once these pigheaded, selfishly-stubborn folks can forgive each other, they can work together and prosper.
Well, we’ll see…
George Warleggan is in a fighting mood, after all. Things won’t be too easy for the Poldarks….

[Watch Season 2 of Poldark on PBS]
[Watch Season 1 of Poldark on Prime Video]