Should You Cultivate An Interest In Poldark?

What Is This Thing?

Ross Poldark left his life as a landed gentleman in Cornwall to serve in the British Army during the American War Of Independence, since his options were either do that or serve a prison term for smuggling. When he returns home after two years, he finds out that his father's died and left him the family's crappy farm and crappier coal mines, and that his not-quite-fiancée Elizabeth is about to marry his cousin Francis. Should he stay in Cornwall and try to make a go of his father's former properties, all the while seething at Elizabeth for her faithlessness, or should he accept his Uncle Charles's offer to go away to study some other profession (which coincidentally would also move Ross away from Francis and Elizabeth's brand-new, maybe-not-super-solid marriage)?

When Is It On?

Sundays at 9 PM on PBS.

Why Was It Made Now?

Because not even the dumb makeup of the Hobbit movies could contain the foxiness of Aidan Turner, and some very smart individual decided it was time to get him into a project where he could bestubbledly yearn on a weekly basis?

What's Its Pedigree?

Based on a book series by Winston Groom, Poldark has already made it to British TV before, in a mid-'70s series of the same name (featuring Judy "Bitchy Neighbour From Mad About You" Geeson). This one stars the aforementioned Turner, formerly of the British Being Human and Desperate Romantics, in the title role. Veteran character actors Philip Davis (Notes On A Scandal, The Town) and Warren Clarke (A Clockwork Orange) are also on hand, as Ross's mostly useless tenant and Uncle Charles, respectively. Everyone else in front of and behind the camera is probably supes famous in Britain but they're new to me.

...And?

I know I mentioned above that Aidan Turner is hot as shit but I feel like it bears repeating? Hot as a Redcoat!

Hot chewing out his shiftless tenants!

SUPER-hot holding it together manfully as his beloved marries another dude!

Hot doing manual labour!

Hot breaking up a dogfight!

Somehow even hot while in desperate need of Frizz-Ease!

Playing a character who's trying to rebuild his life against long odds, while heartbroken, only adds to this guy's already considerable appeal, and that's BEFORE he takes in Demelza, an abused girl who just loves her pup and doesn't want him forced into a Market Day dogfight. So Ross is indirectly responsible for this, too.

You know how yesterday I said the guys on The Astronaut Wives Club should have been cuter? This one guy is as hot as all those disappointing Astronaut Wives astronauts are dumpy.

...But?

Aidan Turner is so hot that said hotness almost papers over some of the more boring aspects of this first episode. My mind kept wandering so much that when it came to the scene where Charles offers Ross the chance to take up another career -- which, as you know from Jane Austen novels, would be either "law" or "the church" -- I had to watch it four times because I kept missing exactly what the bribe was. Maybe part of why I was so confused is that by then it's been established that Charles's holdings aren't doing so hot either, which is why I didn't immediately comprehend that Charles could even be in a position to try to strike such a bargain with Ross? How broke are these people, really? Charles says Ross's tenants are starving: are they? It's difficult to gauge exactly how dire Ross's situation is. I mean, he can't get credit from one creditable bank, but then these other bankers have their hairy eye on him all the time, reminding him that he's a gentleman, so is it the kind of thing where he just has to ask the right person to prop him up and it'll be fine because of his class?

Back to Ross's hotness for a second: I get that (a) Elizabeth sincerely thought Ross was dead before she took up with Francis, and (b) there are social pressures on her not to break the engagement even upon Ross's return. But here are her two suitors.

Girl, come on. And not only does Francis have the look of a milquetoast pantywaist, he totally is one: when he falls into a water-filled pit in Ross's mine and splashes around for a while because he can't swim, it looks for a moment like Ross is going to let him drown, and you kind of hope he does.

I also made the mistake of reading a little bit today about where the story goes for Ross and Demelza, and while I won't spoil it, I will say I don't care for it.

...So?

I'll probably watch at least one more because I'm shallow. Beyond that, I'm not so sure how much interest I have in watching Ross figure out how to use a scythe or whatever.

OH, GODDAMMIT.