Previously: Harlots Season 1 Review
by Nathaniel R
Jessica Brown Findlay, the jewel of "Harlots"
Season 2 kicked off with two disruptive episodes back-to-back, throwing previous power hierarchies into disarray. A relentless new Justice throws the once powerful Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) into prison which sets off several plotlines including a new brothel run by Quigley's son Charles (Dougie McMeeken) and Emily Wells (Holli Dempsey). The show is moving with such speed that it's difficult to keep up with these working women. But we shall try since we want everyone watching this show to ensure a third season! The actressing is even more involving the second time around with new cast members, new alliances, and the masterstroke of adding the undersung Liv Tyler to the cast.
A quick review of the first two episodes before the fourth hits tonight so we'll have to have another post soon on episodes 3 and 4. It's so tough to keep up with these working girls and the 'culls' who can't get enough of them...
Lesley Manville stars in "Harlots"
Episode 1 Official Synopsis: "When an unyielding new Justice makes a surprise arrest, Margaret and Nancy must race to find witnesses to give evidence against Lydia Quigley. Could this finally be their chance to get Lydia to pay for her crimes?"
Major New Characters: Justice Hunt (Sebastian Armesto) and Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam (Liv Tyler)
Our Take: Season 2 gets off to a curiously loud start (at least emotionally) with lots of shouting and much chaos to set up new plotlines. That said some of the relationships and characterizations are beginning to deepen. And the two new principal characters are amazing additions B+
Episode 2 Official Synopsis: "While Charlotte struggles with horribly divided loyalties, the community gathers to share its grief. Tempers flare and the women rally against the injustice of the judiciary, with devastating consequences for Nancy."
Our Take: While Season 1 was more instantly and crudely pleasurable Season 2 is filled with rage with the women lashing out at each other, their circumstances, and in this case, the new Justice. B+
Emptying the Coin Purse.
Here are some tips we'd like to leave to favorite actors or pieces of the show these past two episodes...
a farthing for pink villains.
I'm not sure Lord Fallon and his minions are a great Big Bad but I love that they're buried in pinks, lavenders, and blushed cheeks.
a bob and ten pence for Lydia's fright wig
One assumes there were multiple versions of this one wig but the more of a beating it takes, the more memorable it becomes. That one wig could bring such bitter comedy and pathos! Well, the woman underneath helps, surely.
"whatya doin'?"
another bob and ten pence for this line reading
As Lydia is unravelling so is Margaret. Samantha Morton's Margaret is usually so forceful that the plaintive bewildered quality of this simple question when her man is leaving her, is a welcome rug pull for the series. The writers appeared to be unsure of what to do with Mr North (Danny Sapani) on the first season but this break-up has really solved the problem, suddenly allowing major delineation of his relationships to multiple characters and suddenly defining his role in the whorehouse by the vacuum of his absence.
two-bobs, a sixpence, and a ha'penny for the pious comedy of Florence Scanwell
That line about purifying the bawd's stew with prayers was killer as was the shot of Florence and her daughter turning to the camera from prayer when the Justice enters their room in Margaret's house, assuming he'll find a whore and her cull in the act.
a half-crown to the "raven and swan" sideswipe
A tetchy satisfying and very brief exchange between Lydia Quigly and Mr North, one of whom sort of wants to parent Charlotte and thinks nothing of a racist put-down. Instead it's she who loses the banter battle, with an insult that hits too close to home.
another half-crown for this pathetic comic duo
In a way, Quigley's son Charlie and her most hated former employee Emily might be viewed as the Thénardiers of Harlots, to use a Les Miz reference. But they aren't yet very good at their exploitive greedy pursuits without Quigley's bank. They're good comedy, though.
a crown to this beautiful scene between Kitty and Fanny
"She uses us Fanny" / "I used to pretend she was my mum" - Devastating and kind simultaneously.
You're looking well, Pa
3 pounds for this line-reading and the mutual smile.
The relationship between Charlotte and her chosen father Mr North was previously barely even acknowledged let alone fleshed out with tenderness, humor, and sharp acting.
I'm more and more convinced that Jessica Brown Findlay is best-in-show in Harlots -- quite a feat considering that Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville are in the cast -- with a truly multi-faceted portrayal that shifts with each scene partner, painting these amazing portraits of complicated individual relationships... usually with a lot of baggage but always cohesive to Charlotte's particulars.
JUST TAKE THE WHOLE COIN PURSE
Both episodes are blessed with tremendous emotionally raw confrontations between mothers and their children. Margaret's confusion and pain "You've freed the devil" about what she sees as her daughter's disloyalty and Quigley's apocalyptic fury and disowning of her son after his bald-faced betrayal were amazing setpieces, with each character in the room fully entangled in the drama, and the actresses giving furiously authentic deep dives into the compromised souls of these bawds and the ultimate fragility of their carefully constructed lives.
In short (too late) I love this show.