In the Penultimate Episode of 'Miss Scarlet & The Duke' Season 4, We All Miss William

It probably shouldn't be all that surprising that the penultimate episode of Miss Scarlet & The Duke Season 4 is kind of a letdown. After all, last week's installment, "The Diamond Feather," was one of the series' best episodes to date, not for the least of which reason is that it essentially gave William and Eliza shippers the moment we've been waiting literal years to see. William finally said, out loud, that he loved her. They kissed. And...then he left for a year's special posting in America, rocking the very foundation upon which the bulk of this show has been based.

So...what now, you may be asking yourself. Unfortunately, as far as "The Calling" goes, not a whole lot. It's a strange choice in the wake of the show's biggest bombshell to date, one that makes the hour feel strangely stagnant and rudderless. Eliza's suddenly seething that William's gone, though the show's not super clear about whether she's angry she's being forced to face her own feelings after all this time, annoyed that he dumped a love confession on her before peacing out to the other side of the ocean, or if she's somehow afraid of rocking the status quo between them. Many of us were likely hoping that in the aftermath of William's declaration, we might finally get a bit more emotional honesty from Eliza, or at least a clearer idea about how she felt about his confession. Instead, she spends the bulk of the hour sulking childishly, and taking out her emotional constipation on everyone around her.

Perhaps Miss Scarlet is saving Eliza's version of the tortured reflections we saw from William last week for the season finale, since it certainly appears everyone else in her life is fully aware of why she's spiraling so badly. But it's more than a little concerning when we're rapidly running out of narrative road in which to fit a great many necessary emotional moments.