A Five Item Wishlist for 'Poldark' Season 2

The second season of popular period drama Poldark is almost upon us, so it’s time to start getting ready dive back in to a world that’s positively bursting with tricorner hats, beautiful Cornish countryside, and smoldering romantic heroes (hello there, Aidan Turner).

Season 2 will pick up right where the first season of Poldark left off, which means that Ross Poldark has been arrested for murder, Demelza is still mourning the loss of their child, Elizabeth is fending off the advances of creepy George Warleggan, and Francis is still the worst person in the world. Oh, and the Poldark family mine is broke.

There’s a lot to cover in the new episodes, so let’s narrow it down to a few broader topics that Poldark really should make a point to get in to in Season 2.

Let’s Give Elizabeth Some Agency. Elizabeth spent a large part of Poldark’s first season getting treated like an object. Her sole purpose seemed to be to give Ross someone to sort of pine over (maybe) and to get stuck being treated pretty terribly by her awful husband. Among other things, Francis: constantly belittles her, snaps at her, accuses her of being unfaithful, gambles away their life savings, ruins her socially, and is generally all around awful. It’s okay if you were sort of maybe rooting for Elizabeth to get a divorce.

Despite all this crap, Elizabeth refuses to turn to self pity and toward the end of the season seemed to finally be evolving into a much stronger character – brave and resolute in her circumstances, and willing to admit her own mistakes. (Especially where Demelza is concerned.)

Now, who knows where the romantic plot of Season 2 will take us – hush, y’all book readers and/or orig – but while Ross seems largely happy with Demelza, his thing for Elizabeth has never really gone away that I can tell. Plus she has that whole other subplot going on where Vile George Wargleggan has also admitted that he’s into her, romantically speaking. But no matter what happens with all that, it would be nice to see Elizabeth get something to do on her own terms. What that would look like – whether it’s Elizabeth pulling her family through their financial crisis, helping Verity reunite with everyone after her marriage or even becoming friends with Demelza outside of Ross, I don’t know. But Elizabeth seems like a great character that really deserves more than she’s gotten. 

 Can Francis Be Less Awful? Francis Poldark sucks. Full stop. He spent virtually the entire first season whining endlessly, on topics ranging from familial betrayaaaaaaaal and how no one respects him. He’s terrible to his sister, and frequently accuses his wife of being interested in another man. (She probably is, but that’s not the point.) He’s grossly obsessed with living up to his father,consorts with prostitutes and has a gambling problem, as evidenced by the fact that he actually loses the bulk of his family’s fortune in a card game and has to close their mine. I think he also manages to give the Warleggans a bunch of Ross’ personal information that made him almost lose his mine too? (Francis has so many failings sometimes I can’t keep them all straight.)

Anyway, Season 2 really needs to do something about Francis, and by “do something”, I mean at least try to make him more likeable. It’s hard to be very sympathetic towards a character that keeps not only actively sabotaging his own happiness and fortunes, but is also a complete nightmare while he does it. There’s just so little to like about Francis that it’s hard to root for him, or care when something terrible happens to him or do anything except sort of laugh at him when he inevitably does something dumb again.

It’s unfortunate, because Kyle Soller is a very appealing actor. So here’s hoping they find Francis a better balance this year. It’s hard to be invested in a romantic quandrangle when you actively dislike a fourth of it. (Plus, Ross and Francis are family. It would really help if they acted like it more often than not.) 

Make the Mining Stop. I don’t know about you guys, but thanks to Poldark Season 1, I know now more than I ever expected (or even vaguely wanted) to know about the process of mining for copper on the Cornish coast.  

Things I care about even less than mining? The behind-the-scenes going on of a smelting company. Can y’all just give us the broad brush strokes of this in Season 2? Surely we can just have some convenient plot exposition of why the villagers are suddenly poor, which mine opened or closed and whether Ross and Francis are currently working together to save the family business.

I know, I know, the mining thing is a totally accurate and very relevant thing, given that the series is set in Cornwall. But, subplots featuring smelting companies at war with each other are the televisual equivalent of Xanax. I can only take so much. If we must have more mine drama - and since Wheal Leisure is broke, it seems rather unavoidable that a main plot point this year is going to be Ross trying to revive it (with or without the help of Francis). But can we at least streamline it? Historical accuracy is pretty great and all, but most viewers don't need such granular mine-related details. 

Give Demelza Some Flaws! In Season 1, Demelza Poldark is basically perfect. She’s kind and friendly to literally everyone. She’s an amazing seamstress and economist. She risks herself and her family’s health to nurse the cousins that treat her like dirt. She loves Ross even when he acts like a huge jerk, and seems willing to forgive him anything. (The scene last season when she is basically on her knees begging him to forgive her for helping Verity see her boyfriend was the most uncomfortable example of this trend.) She’s down with the town villagers, and kind to Ross’ ex Elizabeth, and just, basically everything that is perfect and good.

Don’t get me wrong – I actually like Demelza quite a bit. Eleanor Tomlinson is extremely charming as an actress, and even though the character seems tooth-rottingly sweet and good at times, she’s still compelling. What I want to see in Season 2 is a more well-rounded Demelza. Look at what being nice has gotten her. She’s a woman who knows her own mind, let’s see her go after something for herself. Let her be angry. That would be so great to watch. 

More Aunt Poldark! During Season 1’s bleakest and least interesting moments, Ross’ crazy old aunt has been a shining ray of hilarity and awesomeness. While her primary role appears to be randomly making insane-sounding pronouncements and/or snarking aggressively at her own family, there’s always hope that she might get to do more in Season 2.

Or, at least, it seems likely that we’d all be perfectly fine with just letting her aggressively snark at her own family on a more regular basis.

These are just suggestions to get us started with Poldark’s second season, in the broadest strokes possible.  The first season definitely had some (horrifically) dull bits, but on the whole was a sort of swoony, overly dramatic fun that we don’t get on television very often these days, except in period dramas. So, yes, let’s enjoy it (even while we hope Francis stop being the absolute worst).

What do you want to see in Poldark Season 2? Leave your thoughts in the comments.