'Poldark' Recap: Season 5, Episode 4
Previously on Poldark: Ross and Demelza return to Cornwall with Ned and Kitty in tow, only to deal with a deadly mine accident, an unhinged George Warleggan who’s basically being tortured by his own family, and a crowd of rowdy townsfolk itching to overthrow the wealthy elites. Maybe y’all should have just stayed in London. For more details, you can read our recap of Episode 3 here.
Poldark has always been a show about politics and social issues, as Ross and friends have fought to make the world a better place not only for themselves but for the less fortunate who both work for and depend on them. Season 5 has really leaned into this, as Ross not only attempts to help his friend Ned avoid prison and/or death for giving away land to freed slaves in Honduras, but by showing us a whole lot of unhappy Cornwall residents being hungry, poor and itching to light something on fire to punish the rich.
Despite Demelza’s best efforts – she’s opened a school to teach miners’ children to read and hired Tess, the worst of the county agitators, to work for her because I guess she is a masochist – a general state of unrest still seems to be brewing among the lower classes. Tess, of course, is a big reason for this, as she spends most of her time urging her peers in the local taverns to recreate the French revolution, and joins forces with the evil Hansen to help cause a riot in the wake of the closing of the Warleggan mine and the recent accident that killed several people.
