Victoria season 2 episode 3 review: Is this the end for Lord Melbourne?
Did it work as planned? Well, not exactly … though it did turn out that there were some benefits for some of the locals in the trade. The question came more in the form of how much did it help beyond that. It did bring Victoria and Lord Melbourne back into the same room again, where Melbourne continued to do his best impression of a guy who really didn’t want to trifle with anything. He didn’t disclose to her the full extent of her sickness, and it was only later in the episode with Albert that he admitted once and for all that he was in poor shape.
With Albert, Melbourne was very much intent on reinforcing one key notion to the man: He doesn’t need to have a crown (even if he did get one over the course of the episode) for him to be a proper king. There are other ways in which he can rule, and make people feel as though they have a role to play in what could be the future of Britain. There are so many ways in which he can strike up causes and find tremendous ways in which to help in the city. That meant in part working to get higher pay for those in occupations of service.
Following this conversation, Albert was motivated … but also made the decision to tell Victoria truth about what was going on here. This caused her to bolt back over to see Melbourne once more. Did you really think that she would avoid doing that given their history? She brought him the gift of wind-up music. Let’s just say that Victoria is also all that good of a liar, either. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to for us to know that he was well aware of why she made this visit.
One other component to Victoria that should prove interesting in the future is that Emma is gone for a time. How will Victoria manage without her? Sometimes, it’s the simple things, and the people who are close to you, who you end up missing the most. This could also be true for Melbourne, as the visit the two parties shared could end up being the final one. One notable character we did lose was Dash (clearly one of the most heartbreaking moments of the season, no?), and you could easily see the parallels as she cried there between the dog and her potentially losing Melbourne soon after. (The closing seconds strongly indicate that Lord M is gone.)
Our overall take on Victoria season 2 episode 3
We do think that this is an episode that took a little while to get going, mostly because of the setup around the ball. Once it did, though, the story accelerated at tremendous pace in terms of Albert making plans and also paying a visit to Melbourne. In the closing minutes, you had a couple of different reasons to tear up over both Melbourne’s state and also the fate of Dash. Grade: A-.
What lies ahead on Victoria season 2 episode 4?
If you want to see our latest CarterMatt preview for this upcoming episode, be sure to head over to the link here! We will have more insight on the BBC series coming in due time. (Photo: ITV.)