Well, forget what I said about last season. Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) is a big idiot and far too stubborn for his own good.
He does go on trial for pirating, but is miraclously found not guilty, though that doesn't stop him from further crimes including allowing illegal storage of goods on his cove, despite Demelza's (Eleanor Tomlinson's) pleas of the contrary. He opens up a new mine which also nearly bankrupts him though it does strike riches toward the end of the season, but it comes at a cost. Francis (Kyle Soller) is actually one of my favorite characters this season shockingly. He nearly succeeds in killing himself in the season opener but doesn't and then embraces life. He grows a pair and tells off the evil weasel-faced George Warleggen (Jack Farthing) in a great scene. But his growth comes at a cost. He learns more about mining. Unfortunately, he still cannot swim so he drowns tragically, leaving Elizabeth (Heida Reed) penniless and without means of earning money. And Ross is right, Demelza is resourceful while Elizabeth was trained to be a lady, so her needs might be more than his wife's, but that doesn't mean he should abandon his beloved.
Ross is neglectful of his wife and even goes as far as proclaiming that he doesn't want another child as losing Julia nearly killed him. Too bad she's already pregnant, though their son is born healthy and still alive at the end of the season.
It isn't until Elizabeth decides to accept George's proposal and Ross is livid. He's in bad form as the mine just collasped, killing two of his workers so he goes over to the ancient Poldark estate and basically rapes Elizabeth. Though apparently in the book, it was rape, BBC declared that now it was going to be consensual and I kept thinking that there was nothing consensual about that. Earlier in the season, when Elizabeth did declare that she still loved Ross while also loving her husband, she might have been willing, but not now. And then the version shown in England was even worse, leaving the gray area away, it was rape, plain and simple. And Demelza knew what he was up to. When Ross returns home, doing the walk of shame, she smacks him so hard, he falls to the ground, in an epic moment for all womenkind. She even tries to cheat on him, though she can't bring herself to follow through. Ross does apologize and state that he no longer has any feelings for Elizabeth and in the season finale, things are finally better between, but the damage has been done, my favorite couple, the one I shipped so hard in season one is ruined beyond my wildest dreams.
Fortunately, there was another couple I did ship this season and I have high hopes for them. Dr. Dwight Enys (Luke Norris) and the wealthy heiress Caroline Penvenen (Gabriella Wilde) love each other, but her uncle is against the match and Dwight is too dedicated to his patients. But in the end, love wins. And I can't live in a world where it doesn't.
In the end, Elizabeth is pregnant, believing the baby to be George's while her aunt Agatha (Caroline Blakiston), a great character, tells her that the baby would come early. Agatha also has all the great lines, calling George the devil which completely applies. And though George may love Elizabeth he is also cruel in sneaky way including wishing to send the child with too many names to a great school, just so Elizabeth won't have to divide her attention between the two of them. Things will get interesting in the next season.
As for my favorite character, Verity (Ruby Bentall), she finally has the baby she longed for and things are better with her step-children and her family, though her aunt misses her greatly. Still, she deserves better scenes as she is too good of an actress to be wasted like that.
While I may have had big time problems with the direction the main character took, going off the deep end, the acting is still top-notch and the sets truly take you back to a place far away and long ago, with excellent camera work and editing. I just wish Ross was still a character I could admire. Grade: B+
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