‘Poldark’ Recap: POLDARK TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF (And Got Closer To Demelza)

Previously on Poldark, Ross (Aidan Turner) tried to resurrect his father’s copper mine, Verity (Ruby Bentall) besmirched the family name by falling in love with Captain Blamey, and Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) snuck a peek at Ross while he went for a post-coital swim in the sea. This week, it’s only getting hotter!

Ross has reopened his father’s copper mine, Wheal Leisure. He does this with the weakest bell ring I’ve ever seen.

Still, the tiny tinkle of the chime brings all the peasants out to feast, drink, and look for copper in the unforgiving depths below. Ross is congratulated by all — especially a flirty Demelza. It’s enough to make some of Ross’s investors comment about how the two would be bonkers not to be boning.

Yes, Ross has done a grand thing, indeed. He’s given everyone work on lean times. Unfortunately, times are so tough that young Jim is up to no good. The kid’s poaching, and lying, and knocking girls up without marrying them. Ross thinks he can solve this by giving Jim a free house and then peer pressuring him into marrying his baby mama Jinny. Good job, Ross! This doesn’t have any potential for doom!

Back at the house, Jed and Prudie are embroiled in some drunken domestic violence disguised as comic relief. Prudie’s arm is sprained which means Demelza will have to cook for Ross. This is nerve-wracking for the girl. All she wants to do is to please and to bone this guy, and now she has to make an fancy English meat pie for him. UGH.

The moment of truth is fraught with deadly tension. It’s as though Ross Poldark isn’t just a hero; he’s the Gordon Ramsay of meat pie taste tests. Demelza expects the worst and Ross teases out his response. In the end, he loves it. The girl is relieved and lights up like a sparkler. Not only did she please her master, but she’s going to get to spend more time doing menial labor for him. Hurrah!

Jim and Jinny get married, and no joke, they do seem happy. The whole village comes out and dances around in circles. Ross just stands back and watches. Why? Because heroes don’t dance around in circles; they just keep marching forward towards their dreams. This gives the town vicar a chance to lecture him on marriage and fornication, but Ross isn’t listening. Instead, he’s trying not to notice how hot Demelza is when she’s dancing around in a circle.

Ross finally breaks and joins in the dance. And do you know something? He actually has fun.

Meanwhile, Ross’s first love, Elizabeth, has just given birth to a son named Geoffrey Charles Poldark. Naturally, the Poldarks are excited. Well, all of the Poldarks are happy except for Ross. This child proves that she’s moved on — or at least, that her uterus has. He reluctantly goes to pay his respects to the birth of the child and the death of all his adolescent wet dreams. I, however, want to back up and express how I was mildly horrified by Verity’s very sedated response to Elizabeth going into labor.

Yes, calmly ring a bell. A BABY IS COMING. I was also horrified when Uncle Charles Poldark collapsed in one of the most laughably over-the-top heart attacks ever caught on film.

Newlywed Jinny comes to Demelza and reveals that Jim is still poaching. She asks Demelza to appeal to Ross on their behalf. Demelza does so over a cute impromptu dinner for two. Ross declares that he will offer Jim a cool job on the farm. The problem is he’s too late. Jim gets caught poaching that very night and carted off to court. Ross Poldark will not stand for this. Ross Poldark will fight this social injustice that would hang a boy for feeding his family. Ross Poldark will take on the lions of the law and fight this — oh crap — who is he up against? Why it’s…the original Ross Poldark!

Yup, the angry judge who despises Ross is being played by Robin Ellis, the actor who played Ross in the original 1975 Poldark. If you’ve ever seen that version, you’ll know that Robin Ellis does not play, and so, Ross finds himself thwarted. He politely argues in Jim’s defense and the sickly kid gets two years in jail. Ross is disgusted by the fact that he could save Jim from the noose, but not from all punishment.
Things aren’t much better for Demelza. Her dad married some hyper-religious woman and since he’s found Jesus, he wants to reclaim his daughter. He tells her that he will take her away from Poldark and the rumors that they are boning. She is despondent. Those rumors are the closest she’s ever been to boning, and now it will all be over forever.

Demelza is like, “F*ck it. I’m going to do something for me.” So, she sneaks in Ross’s study and pulls out a gorgeous green silk gown she found when she was poking around earlier. She puts it on, which would be fine, except Ross returns home drunk with rage about Jim’s situation. He’s furious that she would be so presumptuous as to try on a dress that no one had worn for years. He doesn’t know that in her mind she’s already gone, so he fires her, and demands she takes off the dress. Of course, he does so in a kind of…uh…sexy way.

She cries and he immediately apologizes. Why? Because he’s Ross Poldark and he can’t bear to see a girl cry! He eases her anguish by finally kissing her.


But Ross Poldark’s moods are as unpredictable as the sea — or a Price Is Right wheel — he immediately regrets his indiscretion and orders Demelza to bed. Demelza, bold girl that she is, has other ideas. She comes to his room and explains that she needs his help taking off the dress. They know they are on the verge of boning, and still they can’t quite do it.

Ross says, “You know what people say of us?”
“Yes,” she replies in a sexy whisper.
“If we behave like this, it will be true.”
And then Demelza speaks for us all and answers, “Then let it be true.”

Demelza spends her morning lying around in a field of wildflowers thinking about how great orgasms are, while Ross decides to take this jolt of post-coital energy to become extra sexy. He takes off his shirt and takes a scythe to some overgrown greenery. It is the most brilliant scene ever written, produced, or directed for television.

Elizabeth ruins all this by riding across the field towards Nampara. Ross knows he must put his shirt back on to face her. Back at the house, the two former flames are enjoying a flirtatious discourse about copper mining and marriage, and then Demelza barges in with cornflowers. It’s as if the women can immediately sniff out the sexual tension in the room. Elizabeth decides to mean girl Demelza’s choice of flowers by pointing out that such wild, common flowers wilt as soon as they are plucked. Damn, Elizabeth! It’s like you can smell the sex on her and Poldark!

Demelza decides to leave Ross for good, and Ross isn’t happy about this. He chases after her and they have an argument about her expectations. It seems that she can’t go on being his servant after he’s boned her. Ross agrees that she can’t stay on as his servant — she should be his wife.
Hey now? What now? Are you sure about this, Ross? Well, since the episode ends on a cliffhanger at the altar, it seems he’s not sure about this.

We’ll have to wait a week to find out if Ross really did say, “I do,” but I’m hoping he did. But that could just be because I’m a thirsty, low-born red head with the social graces of a beetle.

[Watch Poldark on the PBS App]

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[Gifs by Jaclyn Kessel, copyright PBS]