Cheating can
break relationships… and wives
As you might recall, the
Warleggans were on an evil mission to take down Carnmore. They were finally
able to discover the name of one of the secret shareholders: MR. TRESSIDER. So
George pays him a visit and politely threatens to withdraw his loans unless he
severs his relationship with the smelting company. Basically, George was
harassing, creating artificial monopolies and probably about to benefit from
insider trading… and no-one is the wiser. Man, it was much easier to be a white
collar criminal back in the day! [corporate espionage was also easier, instead
of hacking you just had to follow people around].
Nevertheless – in a shocking turn
of events – George does something other than ruin lives. He decides to mix it
up a bit and help someone. The lucky recipients of his benevolence are Francis
and Elizabeth [emphasis on Elizabeth]. George offers them money to make up for
the assets his cousin Matthew Swanson took playing cheating on cards. Elizabeth and
Francis are obviously overjoyed. I am not sure what George’s agenda was here.
Was he actually concerned about righting a wrong? I doubt it. Was he paving the
way for his later scheme… or was he just trying to impress Elizabeth [with whom
he appears to be in love]. Maybe all of the above.
In the meantime, Demelza has been
acting as a carrier pigeon for Verity and Captain Blamey. They have continued
their love affair and, finally, Verity decides to elope with him. Francis
concludes that it was Ross’s doing because… well because Francis loves to blame
Ross for everything that is wrong in his life [and the world]. George picks
this precise moment for another visit to Trenwith and his stay quickly turns
into a “Let’s hate Ross” party. George takes advantage of Francis’s enraged
state and manipulates him until he willingly names all the Carnmore
shareholders. That was a very literal way to “break” a marriage.
Verity is not
the only woman involved in a scandal, FLIRTY KEREN is giving people something
to talk about too. Word of her wandering eyes reaches Mark and he starts to
question his wife’s loyalty. Mark’s jealousy is completely justified because
Keren has been throwing herself at Dr. Dwight for quite some time [since 2 minutes after she married Mark to be precise]. Dwight was trying to do the right thing for a while, but her
advances are finally so aggressive that he can’t reject her any longer. Mark
finds out about the affair and confronts Keren. They argue and in a moment of
rage Mark kills Keren by accident.
When Ross
learns about Mark’s actions, he is determined to help him. Ross still feels
guilty about what happened to Jim Carter and he doesn’t want another one of his
employees to perish in prison [although - in all fairness - poaching not as bad
as killing your wife]. So he decides to help Mark escape, almost getting
arrested himself in the process.
The day after,
Carnmore shareholders call an extraordinary meeting. Turns out that the
Warleggans recalled all of their loans. So not only they are not in a position
to invest… they are all about to be bankrupt. When Ross returns home, Demelza
confesses that she was the one who helped Verity. Ross doesn’t take the news
well at all. Demelza doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She only wanted to
help two people who loved each.
Ross explains that Verity + Blamey = Unhappy Francis = Warleggans 1 Poldarks 0 = Ruin
Demelza feels
awful for causing an economic downturn and dividing the family. She begs Ross
for forgiveness and the best he can do is promise that he would try. Aw…
OK… so I get
it. Her actions had consequences, but she had good intentions! Plus I’d argue
that Francis colluding with George was more about their general jealousy and
dislike for Ross than whatever happened with Verity. I think even if Demelza
had nothing to do with it, Francis would have still assumed Ross did… so it is
unfair to put all the blame on her. It is more about Ross “doing what he wants”
and “saying what he thinks” [which I love about him, but Francis and George don’t].
OK… so I get it. Her actions had consequences, but she had good intentions!
ReplyDeleteWhy do people think that good intentions excuse everything?