Poldark, series 4 episode 7 review: this is the most entertaining Poldark of the series, by far
A rather more feverish picture of the gulf between urban and rural life was painted in epiode 6 of Poldark(BBC One). This was a spine-tingling episode that saw all of the principals gather in London for the first time, far from the bucolic idyll of Cornwall (where the hanging of innocent men might be commonplace but that’s as nothing, it seems, to the worries of escaping the unsolicited attentions of ruthless seducers).
Much of the episode focused on Ross’s (Aidan Turner) run in with his devil-incarnate fellow MP, Monk Adderley (Max Bennett) – a blackguard of the old school who made the pantomime villainy of Poldark’s other baddies look subtle by comparison. Even his coat buttons were made from the hair of men he’d killed in duels.
One glimpse of luscious Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) was enough to have Adderley seized by the kind of malign competitive lust not seen on screen since Dangerous Liaisons. He even wagered Ross’s arch-rival George Warleggan (Jack Farthing) that he’d conquer her – the cad! – and turned up in her chamber uninvited, only to be driven off dramatically.
The duel that ensued between Adderley and Poldark was surprisingly nail-biting. Even more affecting was, back in Cornwall, Morwenna’s (Ellise Chappell) confession to poor Drake (Harry Richardson) that she can no longer countenance the press of human flesh. Brilliantly done, too, was the breath-stopping moment when young Geoffrey Charles (Louis Davison) drew George’s attention to how his son Valentine was “the very spitting image of Uncle Ross” – audibly ripping open that festering family wound again.
By episode’s end, London’s enticements were well and truly exposed as bankrupt, and the series’ moral compasses Demelza and Dr Enys (Luke Norris) were hightailing it back to the rustic comforts of Cornwall.
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Together with last week’s upbeat episode, this has been by far the most entertaining run in a fourth series that, at times, had been less than fully engaging. It certainly raises hopes for a satisfyingly hectic series close.