Harlots (S2:E3-4) Raging and Conspiring in the Pleasure Gardens

by Nathaniel R

Episode 3 
Official Synopsis: "Margaret must focus on business but a visit to the Pleasure Gardens leads to an unexpected confrontation. Charlotte tries to secure a powerful ally and gain Margaret's approval, while Lucy falls under Fallon's spell."
Minor Characters Rising: Noah Webster (Eric Kofi-Abrefa)... the tavern Mr. North frequents and Emily & Charlie's new brothel offer intriguing new possibilities for the show.
Our Take:What an episode! Every character is in play, and all of them are brought together under one roof (not literally - it's the first episode that takes place mostly outdoors!). On the surface it's all eye candy, flirtations, and the business of "pleasure". But the complicated and dangerously flimsy interior construction is built from personal intrigue and conflicted emotions and it might not be able to withstand all these dangerous games...

There be consequences to come.  A

Episode 4 
Official Synopsis: "With the doors to Golden Square barred by the authorities, Lydia must try every trick in the book to get back on top. Can Margaret and Nancy secure the witnesses they need before she once more gains powerful protectors?"
Minor Characters Rising: Limehouse Nell (Sheila Atim) and Cherry Dorrington (Francesca Mills) join Emily's house and also consider double-crossing her for extra coin. 
Our Take: On the one hand this episode is exciting. On the other, it seems to have left an entire episode on the cutting room floor before it began. There are a lot of strange character leaps as if crucial scenes were missing between the two episodes. Why are Margaret and Charlotte suddenly on speaking terms again? Why did the trust we saw building between Charlotte and Lydia suddenly erode without any known or obvious betrayal? Why does Lady Isabella (Liv Tyler) immediately double back on her proclamation that she'll never let Lydia near her social circles lest she be ostracized? It's all juicy drama but sloppy and rushed, as if the show is writing itself into corners too quickly. Speaking of sloppy, why is Charlotte, previously so devious and careful being so free with information about her plan to doom Lydia? B 

Some tips from the coin purse before we go...

10 pence for figuring out what to do with the men
The answer to keep the men interesting is to surround them with women on every side and make their fraternal power hierarchies clear as well.  

two bob for Lucy & Fallon's S&M relationship
So they've finally pulled the thread between Lucy's vague heart to heart with Nancy (who specializes in being a dominatrix) to her current situation with Lord Fallon with their constant harassment of each other and threats of violence as foreplay.  

two bobs and a sixpence for the slow reconciliation
Mr. North and Maggie's breakup felt way too sudden but the getting back together (if that's where we're going) has been much more interesting with lots of tip-toeing, pointed silence, and the like.

also two bobs for Maggie's boobs
Do these costumes hurt Samantha Morton because her ample bosom is a visual effect that this show loves to deploy and she always looks like she can't be contained by her clothing.  

a half crown for Lydia's laughter
I love this brief scene between her and Charlotte as they bound over insulting Mrs. May. Speaking of... 

a crown for the greedy grotesquerie of Mrs May
She's clearly sell anything for coin... and act like she's doing the person she's fleecing a favor. Anna Calder-Marshall is excellent in this role which is sadly only one episode long. 

2 pounds for the production designer
Loved everything about the Pleasure Gardens, especially these little "box seats" or dioramas of the various parties. 

2 pounds for Cherry
Francesca Mills is a treasure, selling each and every brief appearance on the show thus far with flair, wit, and a disturbing amorality under that cute face. She deserved getting these big scenes to work with after how memorable she's been with itty bitty backgrounded lines.

five pounds and a half crown for comic sex scenes that advance the narrative
The best of which recently is Lydia and the Judge. If Season 1 was the Maggie Show Season 2 has definitely been the Lydia & Charlotte show. The best thing about this awesome sequence from Lydia's surprise about "ripe" fruit to her giddly laughter that felt both fake and real simultaneously, is the way it advanced the narrative when the younger pious judge walked in to arrest Lydia only to realize that his boss was sleeping with her and the "clean up the streets" didn't refer to the high class brothel, just the lower ones. It's always about economics on this show!

8 pounds for Lady Isabella and Charlotte's frequent strolls to talk business
It's basic like those hallway business talks in Aaron Sorkin shows only slower, with more cleavage, and the business is destroying Lydia Quigley 

20 guineas for "is there something else you want?"
Oooh. I was NOT expecting a sudden sapphic reveal between these two but the degree to which it makes Lady Isabella uncomfortable (she neither reciprocates nor rejects) was a moment of real electricity. 

100 guineas for Maggie vs Lydia, the knockout.
Just when you think Harlots couldn't get any better they give you a little old school Dynasty action, only it's Alexis vs Krystal vs Alexis.