Poldark: Episode 1.4

April 24, 2021 5:52 PM - Season 1, Episode 4

Wheal Leisure is producing nothing but nearly worthless iron ore, Demelza tries to adjust to her new social status as her marriage to Ross becomes generally known, and Ross and Demelza are invited to Trenwith for Christmas.
posted by orange swan (1 comment total)

Demelza does have a lot to learn. It was amusing to see her curtsy to Ross's second in command at the mine. She's finally learned to curtsy, but now that she's Ross's wife she's not supposed to curtsy to him, and then Ross tries to cover for it by yanking her away. And how she has to train herself not to call Ross "sir", or not to flying tackle one of the servants for helping himself to a wheel of cheese. It's painful to see Demelza refusing even to go to a family funeral, feeling that she won't be welcome or at ease there.

Thankfully she has Verity, and Verity is more than willing and well able to teach her everything she needs to know: how to dance, how to set a table, when to have tea, what to wear. Verity really is the best of the Poldarks -- so kind and sensible and good-tempered. And, of course, Demelza's beauty also will help smooth the way for her.

I think Ross's comment to Demelza that he doesn't expect her to sit and crochet all day (or something to that effect) was slightly anachronistic. Crochet doesn't seem to have existed much before the 19th century. It would not have been so widely practiced that Ross would have been aware of it in the 1780s, at any rate. Another such goof is there is a portrait of someone in an Empire-waisted dress at Trenwith, though that style of dress didn't come into fashion until ten years after this episode took place.

It was nice to see Ross and Demelza easing into marriage. Things are clearly going well for them at night, whatever awkwardness might ensue in the daytime.

In other news, Francis is still acting like a complete ass. And the Warleggans are cartoonishly grasping and conniving.
posted by orange swan at 6:45 PM on April 24, 2021