'Poldark' Recap: Season 5, Episode 3

Previously on Poldark: There’s a lot of political conspiracy going on, but whether any of us actually care about it remains to be seen. Ross’ old military captain Ned Despard is still trying to prove who named him as a traitor to the crown for giving away land in Honduras, although why we’re trying to pretend it was anyone other than sketchy Mr. Hansen is unclear. Elsewhere, George is seeing visions of his dead wife Elizabeth and Demelza hired local girl Tess Trigidden to help around Nampara, but the girl is pretty much prepping to Single White Female her. Need more details? Our recap of Episode 2 is here.

Now that they’re safely back home, Ross and Demelza are flirting and happy again, full of the joy that comes from being away from London and its  “strange ways” that apparently only become problematic when one of them screws something up. Anyway, their carefree attitude is how you know immediately that a bunch of stuff is about to go real wrong, particularly when Demelza literally says something about how peaceful and perfect everything is in Cornwall. Oh, girl. It’s like you’ve never even watched this show.

Ross gets a secret letter from Bannantine, which not only announces his death – in true if you’re reading this something has happened to me fashion – but encourages Ross to dump Ned before he and his family get their lives ruined as well. This is probably the advice I’d give Poldark writ large, if I’m honest, because Ned is not only still around, he’s still annoying as heck. But, at least his presence is mitigated by the fact that this episode has about five other stories going on, so it’s all a bit more bearable.