The 5th season of Poldark.
Seasons 1-4 are good, the last season though is disappointing. I feel that much of the complexity of character previously on the show was lost, as was the color and authenticity of the dialogue.
Some of the more colorful characters changed, and in my opinion, not for the better. The fervor seems to have fizzled out of the fire and brimstone Methodist Sam Carne. George has completely lost his shit. I was intrigued by his arc towards the last episode of season 4, but think they have gone overboard with this character now. The vision sequences I found cringey, and I just don't find this believable, and think a good villain has been ruined. The writing also makes my girl Demelza look stupid this time, instead of compassionate by swinging open her doors to likely danger. Geoffrey Charles looks like he's living clean life now overnight instead of gambling and drinking, the actor who played him also inexplicably changed again.
We stop seeing some characters I enjoyed like Judd and Verity, and not with good exits that contribute to the story in any way. They just seem to have had their storylines abandoned, which sucks.
I did not take to any of the new characters. I did not care about Geoffrey Charles' relationship with Cecily Hanson, and was bored listening to them. I hated Tess, and feel like I had seen this storyline before with Morweena's scheming sister back in season 3.
Edward Despard seems like a very interesting historical figure, but his plotline along with his platitude-reciting wife Kitty felt very forced into the story of Poldark, compared to some of the other real life persons we encounter like Francis Basset. They had not alluded to Ross having such a friend and mentor for 4 straight seasons. There's no groundwork laid for Ross to spend most of the season fighting for this character. He shows up out of thin air. This is unlike when Ross was trying to save his friend Ennys back in Season 3. In that storyline we had been with the good doctor since season 1, we knew about their past in the war together before the series started, but we also had spent significant time getting to know this character before his own peril began. He had played an important role in the series as the rational, calm foil to the fiery and impulsive Ross, we were with him watching him help others, and were with him when he needed help himself. Ned has not been humanized to that extent, just hearing about brave things he did off screen in exposition feels like exactly what it is, expository. He was a plot device, and never a flesh and blood character to me.
From what I understand the show's writer Debbie Horsfield made the choice to invent this plot because she had one season left (before she went on to new projects), and didn't think she could adapt the remaining 5 books in such a short span of time. There would have also been a challenge in dealing with a time lapse of 10 years between the 7th book, where the 4th season ends, and the 8 the book, which is where the 5th season would have begun had they followed the novel. So the solution was to write a prequel about what Ross and co could have been doing in the interval before the books began, but I think that was a mistake, and feel it would have been better to just continue to follow the books The series falls apart without the writing of Winston Graham there anymore to serve as a buffer, and plays out more like a Poldark fanfiction. I have bought Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4, but sadly won't be buying 5 It's a shame, the series was almost perfect. I wish my beloved series had ended on a stronger final note, or gone on hiatus, and returned when it could have gotten the ending it deserved.
