Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, prevent Horace the Pug from barking with a juicy bone … for Sindy Doll’s lovely baby has died. Oh, cruel fate and cruel Poldark! Seriously, I wept most of the way through this. What is the BBC thinking? I require counselling. Judas and Mary, t’ain’t right. Too much drama! What an episode. After complaining that last week not that much happened, this week all the things happened.
If the dying baby weren’t enough, then everyone nearly died in the flood and then Sam had his heart broken. And then there was a funeral with a tiny casket. “I am a hard woman and I can fend for myself. Demelza does not understand restraint and dignity. I fear Demelza would cry. And that would undo us all.” Well, I have cried enough for a thousand Demelzas and it do feel to me like the end of the world. And just when I thought I had finished crying, I saw Dr Enys’ face as his Sindy Doll was carried away to London.
There were some fantastic performances in this episode and it was all incredibly moving. I’m not sure I’ve cried so much at anything since Sybil died in Downton Abbey (before it became unforgivably awful: see six years of my life in series blogs.) But I wondered if the pacing was a bit strange. The grief scenes with Sindy Doll and Dr Enys were so affecting that it was hard to concentrate on anything afterwards. It made sense that Caroline would want to get away to London and, of course, Evil George must continue his plotting regardless of anything. But somehow it all seemed a bit too swift, as if the plot must drive everything instead of the characters and the emotions.
Before the extraordinarily beautiful scenes between Sindy Doll and Dr Enys (well done, Gabriella Wilde and Luke Norris), a lot of things happened. Dr Enys had to perform extremely elaborate mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Ross had to rescue a man who was virtually drowned. Some more random things happened in connection with Pascoe’s Bank. (It’s a slow burner, this aspect of the storyline … yawn.) And the pig’s-tail-buttocked vicar tried and failed to get Morwenna committed to an asylum. This was always doomed to failure as it’s a well-known mark of great wisdom and advanced sanity to refuse conjugal relations with a pig’s-tail-buttocked vicar.
Evil George seemed to melt away into the background amid all the excitement and his genius line about Demelza was almost lost to posterity. Luckily, I have recorded it: “So thanks to the intervention of that impudent kitchen troll, I must now spend a fortune in order to regain my place in Parliament.” Things are not looking good for Ross’s political career: the mine is clearly imperilled, Evil George is possibly cleaning out his bank account and the good Cap’n is being forced to compromise on his ideals.
But this week for me was all about Sindy Doll and Dr Enys. Will her posh way of grieving like a stoic get in the way of them actually having a relationship? Will he lose himself in finding more gammy legs to cure? Or can Horace the Pug find a way to bring them back together? I do hope this storyline will be given proper attention, instead of being sacrificed for all kinds of tedious comings and goings about Pascoe’s Bank. Be brave, Sindy Doll! Don’t make Dr Enys grieve into his pillow alone.
Pewter tankard award for bonkers brilliance as supporting actor
I raise a glass of London’s finest salon-served champagne aloft to Sindy Doll herself, Caroline Penvenen, AKA Gabriella Wilde, always a fine addition to this cast but who particularly excelled herself this week. Wilde brings a lovely comic sensibility to this role and manages to combine restrained emotion with a believable portrayal of a complex figure. Caroline could easily be a snob or a caricature. Instead, she’s one of the most enjoyable characters in Poldark. Top Sindy Doll fact: Gabriella Wilde was cast after a long search for the perfect Caroline for series two. Shortly after she took the role, it emerged that she was pregnant with her second child. Cue Horace the Pug, who could be held on her lap to hide the emerging baby bump.
Classic Poldark lines
“For I am a wild, brazen girl. And you are a preacher.” I could never understand where Emma had gone. Tahiti, was it? Anyway, well done, Ned, even if you will never have her heart. Poor Sam.
“It is my belief that if a husband cannot win his wife by loving kindness and sympathy, then he deserves to go without her.” Well said, that man!
“’Tis not in me to speak of drinking and gambling and women.” Oh, Drake, you are so boring, really.
“Of course you realise our association is purely temporary. You are a vile, acquisitive harlot and I can’t think how I came to be ensnared by you.” Come on, vicar, you know it was her tootsies what did enslave you.
Regulation reverse sexism bare chest moment
No bare chest this week because of too much tragedy and drama. But a blindfold Methodist preacher on the beach does it for me every time.
Next week
Bad times in Saul for Dr Enys. Sindy Doll loses herself in the madness of crazy Olde London Towne. Ross seeks justice in Parliament. And Demelza is left to fend for herself. I had better get in some Kleenex supplies.
