Poldark Review

Warning. This review contains mild spoilers. Read at your own risk if you did not watch last night’s episode of Poldark.

The thrill and the danger of a beloved television show returning for a new season is that it must equally expand both character and narrative while keeping the same elements that hooked the audience during the previous season or seasons.

Last night, the third series of Poldark premiered on PBS.

The third series picks up a few months after the second series. Ross (Aidan Turner) and Demelza’s (Eleanor Tomlinson) marriage is both happy and stable. While all seems well in Nampara, the opposite can be said at Trenwith. Elizabeth Warleggan (Heida Reed) is pregnant and near her due date, but she is unsure if the child’s father is Ross or her husband, George (Jack Farthing). As per the previous seasons, there continues to be no love lost between Ross and George.

Meanwhile, there are new characters. Elizabeth’s son by her first husband, Geoffrey Charles (Harry Marcus) is becoming a young man who is feeling stifled under the control of his mother and stepfather. Morwenna Chynoweth, one of Elizabeth’s cousins (Ellise Chappell) is brought in as Geoffrey’s governess. When Demelza’s younger brothers Sam (Tom York) and Drake (Harry Richardson) join Ross and Demelza at Nampara, they bring trouble and a bit of excitement to their sister’s house.

I have not read beyond the 4th book, (which coincides with the ending of the last series), but I have a feeling that this will be a good season. It has the drama, the romance and roller coaster ride the fanbase is eagerly looking forward to.

I recommend it.

Poldark airs on PBS at 9PM on Sundays.

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Poldark Character Review: Dr. Dwight Enys

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about Poldark, both the books and the television series. Read at your own risk.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In this series of weekly blog posts, I will examine character using Winston Graham’s series of novels, Poldark and the subsequent television series to explore how writers can create fully dimensional, human characters that audiences and readers can relate to.

In the previous posts, I wrote about the title character, Ross Poldark , his wife, Demelza, Ross’s cousin, Francis, Francis’s wife, Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s second husband, George Warleggan and Ross’s cousin, Verity Blamey. Today’s post will focus on Ross’s best friend, Dr. Dwight Enys.

In any good story, the hero or heroine needs another character to create an emotional balance.  It could be a romantic partner or it could be a close friend. In the world of Poldark, the character of Dr. Dwight Enys creates that balance. Dwight is the Oscar to Ross’s Felix. A doctor by profession, he could have easily chosen to practice among the well heeled ton of London or Bath. Instead he chose to live and work in Cornwall, an area where the majority of the residents are far from wealthy. Where Ross is temperamental and impulsive,  Dwight is practical and level headed. A generous soul, Dwight is known to treat patients for free who unable to pay. But no one is perfect, not even Dwight.

His affair with a miners wife that ended tragically  in both book 2 and series 1 allowed the specter of guilt and doubt to enter his life. That guilt and doubt plagued him until he met Caroline Penvenen, the heiress who he would later marry. Torn between his job and his heart in book 4 and series 2, Dwight nearly walks away from Caroline.

 

The thing that strikes me about Dwight is that in a universe where characters are temperamental, emotional and dramatic, Dwight is the opposite. He creates a balance that allows the characters on the other side of the emotional spectrum to be out there emotionally while he remains calm and collected.

To sum it up: There has to be a balance on the emotional spectrum when it comes to characters. For every Marianne Dashwood, there has to be an Elinor Dashwood. While one character rages on and explodes, the other is sitting there quietly, responding with a cool and level head. In the world of Poldark, Ross is Marianne and Dwight is Elinor. Without that contrast, the reader may find the characters to be monotone, predictable and the book unreadable. The worst thing a writer wants to hear is the p word. It has sounded the death knell for the many books that have been returned to the library or the bookstore unfinished and un-liked.