‘Poldark’ Recap, Season 2, Episode 8: Talk About A Highland Fling

Hey gang? How are we doing? Just checking in because last week’s Poldark was a little rough for some of us. Poldark, Season 2, Episode 8, however, does a really good job of dealing with the real emotional fallout of Ross Poldark’s literal dickery. Namely, we discover that Demelza is coping with her heartbreak the old fashioned way: by living in her bed and refusing to do her chores. This is actually a masterstroke on her part because it quickly becomes apparent that she has been the one quietly keeping the household running while the servants loaf around. Demelza also gets to give Ross a speech that tears him a new one: “Tis not my pride that is wounded, Ross. It is my pride in you.”

Ouch. This hurts our fallen hero right where it stings the most: his ego.

George “the Groomzilla” Warleggan has hastened to put together a lavish spectacle of a wedding. Unwin the Unworthy, Ray Penvenven, the Pointer Sisters, Flippery McCool of Highgarden? All are invited! The one person who hasn’t been told of this immense wedding for the ages? Elizabeth. She politely asks George for a postponement (because she is hoping Ross will divorce Demelza posthaste and marry her). Groomzilla seems to know something’s up and says, “Yeah, sure, I’ll delay the Great Gatsby of Cornish weddings, but only if you confirm that we will get married in a month.”

Back at Trenwith, the old amazing hag of an aunt is certain that Ross is going to divorce Demelza and make an honest woman of Elizabeth. She also makes it clear that she’s been shipping them since the 1760s. Elizabeth, therefore, waits by the window for hours for Ross to come and declare his intentions. The moment finally arrives. The tension mounts in the room as she expects her beloved. The door opens and it’s… Verity. Elizabeth faints like a real gentlewoman of the 1780s would.

In the middle of all this, Ross gets a note from a friend he once bailed out of debtor’s prison. I can’t remember which one. I feel like all of Ross’s friends wind up in debtor’s prison and Ross himself has been in debt fifteen million times. The long and short of it? His friend was able to invest in a highly profitable business because of Ross’s help. He gives Ross a bunch of money, which Ross invests back into the mine. Things are looking up for Ross Poldark in his professional life just as his marriage is in shambles. This is just like the thing Stanley Tucci warned Anne Hathaway about in The Devil Wears Prada: the worse your personal life is, the better your job is going.

Speaking of the wreckage that is the Poldarks’ marriage, a fuming Demelza decides she is going to have a night on the town. She goes to Sir Hugh’s for a massive house party. She’s going to down wine by the tiny crystal glass and dress up like a fancy French lady and put a heart on her boob! She’s completely unaccompanied and every miscreant in town is trying to get into her pantalooms. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Demelza has three major threats at this party: Sir Hugh himself, George Warleggan’s Dickensian villain of a friend, and that flirty Scottish soldier who has been barking up her tree all season. Demelza seems most charmed by the latter and I understood the appeal up to and until he started with the cheesy pick up lines. She allows him two awkward kisses in the garden and then, with a voice full of hesitation and regret, invites him to her room.

We know where this is going because we know Demelza. She eventually listens to her conscience and rejects him. It would be easy to blame the girl for leading him on, but in Demelza’s defense, I, too, have worn a low cut dress at a party and flirted up a storm just to feel like a human again after a heartbreak. And then, I, too, have had to wiggle out of an awkward embrace and then walk home with my shoes off and mascara smudged. Certain human experiences are sadly universal.

Oh, but you know what’s super gross? After she rejects Captain MacNeil, both the Dickensian bro and Sir Hugh try to sneak into her room. The two men meet outside her chamber and flip a coin over who gets to sexually assault her. Demelza literally climbs out of her window (!!!) to escape this misogynistic nonsense. Demelza forever.
The next morning, Ross finally rides past Trenwith. This is the moment where he could finally declare his intentions, but something tugs at Ross and he decides not to go to Elizabeth. It’s a good thing because he sees a despondent Demelza flirting with the idea of walking into the sea. The two fight and while Demelza remains unsatisfied with her cad of a husband, it’s clear that the emotionally stunted Ross is still in love with Demelza. He knows he lusts for Elizabeth, but can’t guarantee it will last. At least, that’s the vibe I got. It’s very difficult for me to understand what Ross is feeling because he’s not entirely sure what he’s feeling.

After she sees Ross reject her, Elizabeth gives a great, frustrated monologue about how Ross has really screwed her over, literally and figuratively. She lists all the ways and times he’s done her wrong. She knows what she has to do: revenge marry George.

I love a good revenge wedding in the spring, don’t you?
A lot happens in the last few minutes of the episode. George and Elizabeth hang out in London with Caroline, who is still pining over Dwight. Ross and his pals hit pay dirt in the mine, ensuring they will finally be able to breathe easily. Demelza is still upset. However, the most chilling part is what happens at the end. George, in a final stroke of villainy, decides that he wants to live at the ancestral Poldark home, Trenwith. Ross looks on in stunned fury as Elizabeth takes her husbands arm and ushers him in.

[Watch Poldark Season 2, Episode 8 on PBS]