And Ross Poldark has lost. He lost the girl he left behind. He lost his father. He lost a functioning piece of property, that while not the best in the rugged seaside county of Cornwall, is certainly the most picturesque, especially on horseback. Conwall is definitely on my list to visit. 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' started this, and 'Poldark' of course is in color. Gorgeous color. The spy novelist write John le Carre lives in Cornwall. Maybe I can stop by.
Ross's military career is quickly covered in an opening flashback. He knocks the crap out of some American rebels who ambush his outdoor card game, but then is left for dead after taking a hefty rifle butt to the head, leaving a rugged scar on the left side of his head that resembles the Cornwall coast itself.
He is sneeringly referred to as a wastrel and a thief by the unit's British officer, who quickly takes a musket ball in the back and ruins a decent deck of cards with his spilled blood. His attitude makes you hate the snobby British right off the bat. Poldark himself doesn't seem like them, but when he arrives home after two years spent, we guess convalescing and being promoted to captain, he certainly acts like the lord of the manor, ordering his departed father's servants about harshly.
The class system lives, so there is of course a little 'Downton Abbey' here, but in a far more rural setting. There's lots of hay, rusty farm equipment and animals to deal with.
There will of course be a love interest, but not the snipe who agreed to marry his cousin Francis. No, there's a Pygmalion character in a flour sack, Demelza, who you know will morph into something other than a hungry wretch who would eat with her hands. And since she looks vaguely like Cate Blanchett, you know she's going to be the THE ONE.
Other characters fill out the cast. There's Aunt Agatha, whose name seems to be close to the agony she is. Her hair is piled high and she looks like June Carter on a very bad day. She's married to Ross's uncle, his father's brother, Charles. The tribute at the end of the first episode's credits tells us the actor who plays Charles, Warren Clarke, died in real life, so expect that to play into the plot as we progress.
Watch enough of these British productions, and you start to see the same actor playing different parts. It shows the true versatility of a British actor.
The most notable of these is Philip Davis who plays a former servant/caretaker of Ross's father, who Ross now gets to boss around. The character Jud Paynter is married to a frightful woman, Trudy. Jud is stooped over and has bad teeth, as you might expect, but he's loyal.
The actor Philip Davis has been spotted as a Detective Sergeant in 'Whitechapel' and a lunatic cab driver in a Benedict Cumberbatch 'Sherlock' episode. Bravo Mr. Davis.
So, there you have the beginning of another British export. It is doubtful it will gain the following of 'Downton' Abbey', but it will take us to the American holiday, Labor Day.
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