Poldark - series 2

[snozzlemaid]

One week to go. Anyone else can't wait?
I've just started to rewatch the first series. Not sure if I'll get to watch it all again before next Sunday though.

Another huge Poldark fan of the books and first series . Enjoying this version so far but agree that far too much has been crammed into each episode . It is fragmented and changes scene too quickly . DH is struggling to keep up with the characters and individual storylines .
Beautifully shot though .
My main grievance is with whoever cast Caroline Penvenen.So wrong
One of my favourite characters and Judy Geeson I think in first series nailed it .
Any Poldark book lovers called their young children " grufflers" re Jud and prudies version ? . Common parlance now in my house ..

Yes yes yes. Judy Geeson was Caroline. She had the glint in her eye, the right tone of voice, the right look, the worst wig in tv history (series 2 wig was better) and there was a modicum of chemistry between her and Richard Morant. This Caroline is so...bleugh. So soggy and pointless.

Everyone should watch the 'oh ho ho' scene between Caroline, Dwight and Rosina Hoblyn in the first series.

hello everyone (and a wave to all the lassies of Lallybroch currently moonlighting as Mistresses of Nampara!).

Im with everyone else - season 2 is such a disappointment (although yesterday's episode was better, I thought). My main issue, however, is with the way they've made Ross's character completely absurd. You just have no clue what's driving him. I have read all the books (no spoilers, I promise), and the point of them is that he is not perfect, in fact he can be pretty dark at times. But in the series he's just moody and a gratuitous arse. We can intuit that he must be depressed, anxious and humiliated at his financial ruin, but we have to work bloody hard to make that connection - there is nothing in the plot or the dialogue that gives us an inside view into his feelings. His behaviour towards Demelza is just twattish - the "scullery maid" comment was glaringly out of character - Ross is critical of his wife in many ways but he never disrespects her.

I also cannot stand the way they are making Elizabeth into a lovely, gentle, kind creature. That is wrong not just because it's a departure from the books but because it makes the whole relationship structure of this story totally unbalanced. The point is that she is everything Demelza isn't - including more beautiful, more refined, more aloof and much needier.

The actress who plays her is literally made of wood and cotton wool, incapable of conveying any emotion. I get zero chemistry between her and Ross and there's no way anyone watching the series without having read the books could understand what the hell is going on between them.

I do love ET as Demelza though. She doesn't get much to work with - very little dialogue - but I find her presence on screen utterly magnetic. I get that Ross will always feel shit for being a shit to her - because deep down he knows she is a good, strong, moral person and he is lucky to have her (which btw, is also the case in the books - Ross is keenly aware that Demelza is his social inferior but recognises her moral superiority).

I'm Team Demelza all the way!

Hi aka

Agree with all you've said about Elizabeth (and everything else!). I think she's a terrible bit of miscasting. Her 'look' is too modern for a period piece like this and I don't know where they're going with the character.

I'm liking this series, but I'm not loving it. It's far too disjointed and I'm not getting a sense of any of the characters motivations.

Is nobody else disappointed in Ross? I think he even came across as a bit sleazy when flirting with Elizabeth.

Oh he was practically reptilian. Yuck. Not sexy at all.

Have started reading Jeremy Poldark for the first time. I'm already struck by a couple of good conversations that should have been included on TV. Am starting to suspect the script may be at fault more than I thought.

Yes to Ross being sleazy with Elizabeth! I'm having trouble understanding some of the characters motivations at the moment, but I honestly think it's the terrible writing.

Heat has given next Sunday's episode 5 stars so I'm hoping it's a good 'un (although they regularly give X Factor 5 stars so who knows). I wonder what the ratings have been like compared to last years.

Placemarking! Will be back when I have watched Sunday nights episode!

Agree with other posters. S2 is awful. Or the writing is awful. It's it's bitsy, jumping around with characters, makes it hard to follow. Ross is moody and unlikeable. His flirting with Elizabeth was cringeworthy. Yuk.
What a disappointment S2 is so far.

Fascinating thread. I'm too young to remember the original Poldark ( but did watch them ). It's such a shame that they seem to have gone for style over substance and now seem to be positively coasting based on AT's sex appeal. Hmmm we will see what the next few episodes bring....

They are not giving depth to the characters and making light of dramatic events, the attempted suicide of Francis for one.

Also agree with posters about the Elizabeth character, Demelza is supposed to be afraid of her, her hold over Ross and feel dreadfully inferior to her and this is just not coming across as this Elizabeth is too 'nice'.

Yes Elizabeth is being portrayed as being perfectly unobjectionable. Who could dislike her??

I've read all the books, loved the 'original' series, and think this one is not as good. Too rushed, too many modernisms -Demelza and Elizabeth would most definitely have had their hair up, too much obvious makeup as well, no way would Zacky Martin and the other miners refer to Poldark by his first name. Jud is not half as good as the original, and both Caroline an Ray Penvenen are wrong. George is not right looks wise.

If we object to the ladies' hair on grounds of historical accuracy, we should be complaining that Ross and Francis don't wear powdered wigs in society and that is a bridge too far for me!

The Demelza-Ross-Elizabefh is twisted and weird and difficult in the books because of the yin/yang nature of the two women. This is where the series falls flat imo, all the rest can be fixed - but they've not got the emotional core of the story right.

What a shame..

I look more like the grandson of a blacksmith than George does. At least Ralph Bates was dark and brooding with a convincing sneer. This chap is like a little public schoolboy who's had his ruler nicked.

I agree with everyone re the poor casting. I also think the characters are too two dimensional (Ross=good/George=bad etc) Ross has a dark side that we don't see at all and George is driven by a sense of inferiority that enrages him in all his dealings with Ross who he senses as being effortlessly superior to him, a feeling he grapples with and which motivates him throughout all the books. The actor in this series is just too refined and pretty looking to portray this struggle (and whoever said Ralph Bates nailed it, I couldn't agree more). They've also got this particularly wrong with Jud and Prudie who both in the books and in the original series were comical characters, in this one they are just unpleasant and you get no sense of the ridiculous that Winston Graham so beautifully portrayed in the books. Missing out the whole Dwight Ennis/ Keren Daniels story is a mistake too as it's an essential piece to understanding his character development. Style over substance definitely.

Agree Jud and Prudie are just unpleasant and hard to listen to.

Another bugbear (we may as well get all our negativity out in one go, hey?) Is that they have completely ignored the interesting dynamic between George and Elizabeth.

In the books she is a fine lady fallen upon hard times who is very proud and cut to the quick that Francis is so blunt and brief with her. And George when he visits always treats her like she used to be treated, as if she was something refined and special and perfect and she drinks it up like a woman dying of thirst.

Instead we get a Francis who is hard to live with but always giving her big sad cow eyes, and she is the angel who is just saddened by him. But now he's lovely again so shes delighted! Happy Days!

And George is just a bloke she knows who she thinks she can manipulate a bit cos he faaaaancies her.

Since (no spoilers) but we can guess that all these Ross/Francis/George/Elizabeth threads are going to keep entangling , it's not exactly laying much of a foundation.

Yes! And George holds back from crushing Francis because of Elizabeth but you get no sense of that. The original seemed to get the subtle nuances from the book but they're largely lost in the remake.

The actress who plays Demelza is ruining this for me. She tries to look anguished and despairing but she just looks like she's got trapped wind.

@squoosh

ludog They did the Dr Enys and Keren Daniels story in series 1.

You're right they did....how did I forget that?

ludog it was all done and dusted very quickly - also a long time since series 1.

What was Elizabeth doing tidying up the glasses - as if? I know she is now meant to be poor but they would still have some servants ( probably happy to work for a crust of bread and a place on a floor) FGS they had little boys and girls working in mines back then.

Where was the humour in Jud's resurrection? Should be a really memorable scene.

What has happened to Aidan Turner's acting? He is so wooden - is it the strain of maintaining an English accent? He needs to tap into a bit of Mitchell (who he played in Being Human)to show a bit of passion.

We gave up halfway through on Sunday but I watched the rest on my own last night on catch up - my mind drifted. Such a shame.

I can't stand the way the cast keep saying "Ross" and "Ross Poldark", as if we can't remember his name, very irritated by that, ( shades of Jack, Jack, jack etc..in Titanic ) Heidi Thomas would have been a much better choice as script writer imho.

Absolutely agree about Heidi Thomas but wouldn't want to take her away from call the midwife! 😱