Poldark season 3 episode 8 review: Ross – Elizabeth’s moment; Whitworth’s cruelty

Moving into Poldark season 3 episode 8, there was an absolute feeling of sorry. How could there not be? This past episode Agatha died, she didn’t get a proper burial, and we had to watch Whitworth and George Warleggan compete for the title of world’s most terrible human. Also, Ross was pushing Demelza away and in turn, pushing her closer to Hugh Armitage in the process.

While in the opening minutes we saw Ross proclaiming that he would do everything that he could to get Agatha a headstone, the focus shifted quickly to George demanding information from Dwight regarding baby Valentine’s birth and if Agatha’s proclamation of it could be true. Poor Dwight also had to transition over to dealing with Whitworth after the fact — Morwenna is extremely pregnant, but the nature of their relationship was taking its toll. Her condition ended up becoming a key part of this hour.

Morwenna went into labor a bit later in the episode, and as Dwight arrived on the scene, he made it clear that his main concern was making sure that she was okay. That’s pretty valuable, given that Whitworth seems to be more than fine having his wife die. The problem? Well, Morwenna’s sister caught him praying some terrible things outside. Morwenna welcomed a baby boy, but life did not get a whole lot better after the fact. Whitworth continued to abuse her sexually, and there was a genuine fear for her life as he could not care less for how she recovered.

Would there be a way for someone to help her? Whitworth wasn’t listening to Dwight, and Morwenna had little to cling to other than her memories of Drake. The biggest person we feared for tonight was Rowella, given that if the “Reverend” couldn’t sleep with his wife, he would try to sleep with someone else. After he went into her room, all of a sudden, he started to feel unwell. What in the world was going on here? We wondered if she had poisoned him, but that wasn’t quite the case given that we see him still alive in the previews for next week. Still we do wonder if she does have a larger plan.

Remember Ross’ political debate?

Well, it’s clearly starting to look as though he should’ve made the decision to run for office, given that George is now getting even more power. The good news? He will relocate part-time in London, so that means less face time with Ross. The bad news? Well, he’s going to have to have even more influence on the people living in Cornwall.

George did not take too kindly to the thought of Ross asking about Agatha’s gravestone in front of many of his colleagues, and eventually, this led to a testy conversation.

Later in the episode, Ross eventually trailed over to Trenwith to continue his quest for a gravestone, and this led to one of the first Ross/Elizabeth conversations in a long time. This is when the two finally put everything together when it comes to what Agatha told George. They had a heart to heart about their pasts, Ross’ decision to abandon Elizabeth after their night together and Valentine’s birth, and also what Elizabeth’s wishes truly are at this point.

Here’s Ross’ suggestion: Give him another child. Seriously? The only thing worse than that was Ross’ apparent suggestion that he help with this. (Ugh, why can’t Ross let this go?)

Will Demelza have an affair?

Throughout the episode, there were certainly some fears regarding whether or not we would end up seeing Hugh Armitage charm Demelza into some sort of romantic relationship. After what Ross did with Elizabeth earlier, we were certainly fine with telling her to get away from his hot mess.

The show totally psyched us out with Ross’ whole “I love her” montage, where he opens up to Demelza about what happened and credits her for changing his perception of love. That was just a dream in his head, and he hasn’t actually opened up to his wife at all. Instead, he went off to talk politics while Hugh, who is getting set to leave Cornwall, decided to have a conversation with his wife. Hugh laid his cards on the table, but Demelza wasn’t so happy to receive them. She did sing to him a song about love and departing later … so there’s that. He wins a song and very little else.

At the conclusion of the episode, Demelza did reveal to Ross that she did have feelings for Hugh and almost wanted to be someone else for a day.

Sam’s “romance”

We haven’t gotten all that much of Sam Carne this season save for his interactions with brother Drake and his sister. He’s a virtuous and caring man, and tonight, he learned that just because he lives his life a certain way doesn’t mean that other people should do the same thing. It’s not right for everyone, and he ended up getting turned down on a marriage proposal.

Overall Take

This episode was certainly dramatic, and by the end of the episode, nothing short of shocking with how so many relationships are now on the brink. Once again, tremendous drama. Grade: A-.

What lies ahead on Poldark?

If you head over to the link here, you can get some additional news and insight when it comes to the series and what’s ahead. (Photo: BBC.)