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Poldark Season 2 Episodes
Season 2 Episode Guide
13 Episodes 1977 - 1977
Episode 1
Episode #2.1
Sun, Jun 4, 197852 mins
Warleggan takes advantage of the fact that Ross's ninety-eight year old Aunt Agatha has money problems to take over her house,Penrice,installing his family,sacking her staff and barring visitors,keeping her a virtual prisoner.He refuses entry to Ross. Elizabeth falls downstairs whilst pregnant but gives birth to a son,Valentine,during a lunar eclipse. Agatha prophesies bad fortune to any child born under a 'dark moon'. Demelza's younger brothers Sam and Drake come to Namparra to find work and set up a cell for their Methodist faith following their father's death. Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna is employed as a governess at Penrice and Drake falls for her after she warns him of the keepers when she finds him trespassing in the grounds. Caroline learns that Dwight is missing after his ship is wrecked in a sea battle.
Episode 2
Episode #2.2
Sun, Jun 11, 197853 mins
Warleggan over-reacts when he sees that the Methodists have taken over the church. Although Francis had given the villagers a lease for its use he forces a reluctant Elizabeth into revoking it.Ross,after Demelza's entreaties,somewhat unenthusiastically allows the Carnes to build their own meeting house on his land. Drake and Morwenna find themselves falling for each other and meeting in secret,helped by Elizabeth's son,Geoffrey,who,unaware of the family feud,acts as go-between. Warleggan,however,decides that Morwenna should marry widowed vicar Osborne Whitworth who has two little girls and ignores Elizabeth's view that the marriage should be to a man Morwenna loves. Having been approached by two fugitive French royalists,hoping to raise cash to fund opposition to Bonaparte,Ross learns that Dwight is a prisoner in Fort Baton and,leaving a pregnant Demelza, sails to France to rescue him. He is arrested as a royalist and saved from a firing squad by Scottish merchant Alexander Craig
Episode 3
Episode #2.3
52 mins
Ross returns from France for the birth of his daughter Cowance and,whilst the Warleggans are away,tries to persuade Aunt Agatha to move to Namparra but she plans to have her hundredth birthday party first. Morwenna is introduced to the Reverend Whitworth,whom Warleggan bribes and bullies into proposing marriage to her. Drake finds out from Geoffrey and is seen secretly meeting Morwenna,who is resigned to her fate.Geoffrey has given Drake a bible as a present and Warleggan uses this to frame the young man for theft. Ross,however,coerces him into dropping charges on pain of exposing Morwenna's affair,which would harm the marriage of convenience. He then prepares with the party of French Royalists to sail to France and rescue Dwight and the other prisoners.
Episode 4
Episode #2.4
53 mins
Ross sets out with his rescue party and launches a nocturnal attack on the fort,freeing Dwight and naval lieutenant Armitage. However the French Royalists are killed and Drake is injured saving Ross's life. On return to Cornwall Ross makes it clear to his young brother-in-law that he will do all that he can to encourage his courtship of Morwenna. Unfortunately for Drake Demelza announces that Morwenna married Whitworth the previous week. Aunt Agatha prepares for her hundredth birthday, sending invitations to the Poldarks but,despite Elizabeth's view that there should be reconciliation,Warleggan makes it clear that Ross will never set foot in his house.
Episode 5
Episode #2.5
53 mins
Aunt Agatha's prophesy seems to be confirmed as Valentine is a sickly child,suffering from rickets and needing painful treatment. However Elizabeth,backed by Dwight,sees that the course of his discomfort is the treatment itself which she replaces with maternal love,improving the child's quality of life. Warleggan discovers that Aunt Agatha is two years short of a hundred and cancels her party. She counters by suggesting that Valentine is not his child. He shakes her violently and she dies but she has planted the seeds of doubt in his mind. As a reward for saving him Ross sets Drake up as a blacksmith whilst Morwenna,miserable at being duped into a loveless marriage,is pleased when her fifteen-year-old cousin Rowella arrives as her companion.Caroline and Dwight marry. Lieutenant Hugh Armitage is among the guests and Caroline notices that he is smitten by Demelza whilst his uncle,Sir Francis Basset,suggests that Ross stands for parliament.
Episode 6
Episode #2.6
52 mins
After a difficult lying-in,Morwenna gives birth to a son. On doctor's advice Whitworth is told to refrain from sex with her for her health's sake but,fuelled by lustful thoughts of Rowella,takes his wife by force before turning his attentions to her - not unwilling - little sister. Drake sets up his forge,helped by Sam,who attracts saucy local girl Emily. Drake is visited by Geoffrey who acts as go-between with Morwenna. Ross declines to stand for Parliament but Warleggan puts himself forward and is elected as the local M.P. with a majority of one. He is still obsessed with Valentine's parentage,discovering that ,at the time of conception,Ross visited Elizabeth. Hugh Armitage shows no signs of letting up in his attentions to Demelza.
Episode 7
Episode #2.7
52 mins
By chance Ross meets Elizabeth in the churchyard where she tells him that Warleggan is obsessive as to Valentine's paternity and admits she knows not who the father is. Their meeting is observed by Jud,who tells Demelza. Ross,however,is equally suspicious of Demelza's friendship with Hugh and,although she claims there is nothing to be jealous of,is happy to read the love poem he sent her after Ross has gone out. Rowella is pregnant by Whitworth and,to avoid telling Morwenna,they invite young librarian Arthur,who is fond of Rowella,to the house and suggest he marries her.However he wants a bigger dowry than Whitworth can afford and Morwenna overhears their argument. Warleggan has Geoffrey observed and discovers he is seeing Drake, Consequently he gets his gamekeeper Sid Rowse to destroy the forge and beat the youngster up,leaving him for dead.
Episode 8
Episode #2.8
52 mins
Emma,now much fonder of Sam than the vile Rowse,to whom she is supposedly promised,finds Drake and takes him to his brother. Later Drake goes to see Elizabeth,who believes his accusations and tells Warleggan that she will leave him unless he stops the harassment,which she sees as a means of hitting at Ross. Emma's father arranges a wrestling match between Sam and Rowse,which,against expectation,is won by Rowse. Emma is dismayed and asks Demelza for her help in winning Sam's affection. Rowella blackmails Whitworth into giving her five hundred pounds to marry Arthur Solway and later has the last laugh when she tells Whitworth that she was never pregnant. Morwenna,aware of the affair,tells her husband she will kill their son if he attempts sex with her ever again. As a military volunteer Ross is called upon to arrest starving food rioters,which he does with great reluctance. Hugh is discharged from the Navy for failing eye-sight and,in Ross's absence,takes Demelza to the beach,where they kiss. Warleggan is dropped as the local member of parliament and Ross is invited to stand instead. In writing his reply to the invitation he finds the poem Hugh sent Demelza.
Episode 9
Episode #2.9
53 mins
Ross beats Warleggan by one vote to become the new member of parliament on the same night that Hugh Armitage dies. Whilst Warleggan seeks to buy himself a borough Ross is still wounded by the memory of Hugh's poem and is cold to Demelza but she persuades him that she has always loved him. Dwight also reassures him though the doctor feels guilty as Caroline has given birth to a daughter with a heart defect and he holds himself responsible for the disability. Wheal Maiden mine floods and Sam is declared a hero for rescuing other miners but he is saddened when Emma gives him a letter to say she is marrying another man as she feels he is too good for her. Demelza tries to match-make Drake with her maid Mary Ann whilst Whitworth unsuccessfully attempts to have Morwenna declared insane for her refusal to have sex with him. The Warleggans are cheered at the news that Pascoe's bank,in which Ross 's money is tied up,may be about to go broke.
Episode 10
Episode #2.10
52 mins
Dwight's daughter dies of an infection and Caroline leaves to spend a month in London. Warleggan throws a party to launch his political career and Ross sneaks in to see Elizabeth. He meets arrogant fellow M.P. Monk Adderley who nevertheless does not give him away to Warleggan. Whitworth continues to visit Rowella for paid sex but her husband Arthur finds out and challenges the vicar as he is riding home. His horse rears and he is dragged to his death. Drake,engaged to Mary Ann Tamblyn,goes to comfort Morwenna but she behaves strangely,saying that she is contaminated and sends him away. Mary Ann's drunken father in the meantime,told that the wedding is off,burns down Drake's forge.
Episode 11
Episode #2.11
52 mins
Briefly suspected of causing Whitworth's death,Drake disappears but is brought home by Sam. Due to Pearce's unwise speculation advice Pascoe's bank is in danger of folding and an anonymous letter,clearly the work of rival banker Warleggan panics clients into withdrawing all their cash. Ross avoids its ruin by persuading Sir Francis Basset to take the bank over,making Ross one of its partners. Ross takes Demelza to London where he meets Warleggan at a function and accuses him of writing the anonymous letter. Adderley visits Demelza and attempts to seduce her but she rejects him and tells Ross. As a result Ross agrees to take on Adderley in a duel.
Episode 12
Episode #2.12
53 mins
The duel takes place and Ross kills Adderley. As duels are illegal Warleggan is anxious to prove that Ross was involved so that he might be prosecuted,to the dismay of Elizabeth,who is pregnant again. Geoffrey visits and notes that Valentine looks just like Ross so Elizabeth asks her doctor to induce a premature birth,similar to Valentine's,to convince her husband that he fathered both children.Caroline attempts to persuade Demelza that Ross fought the duel out of love for her and,after Demelza has returned to Cornwall,wisely reasons with Ross that the duel took place because he was still smarting over Hugh. She assures him that Demelza is quite guileless. As Drake rebuilds his forge Morwenna comes to see him to apologize for her rudeness at their last meeting. However she turns down his marriage proposal,explaining that her bitter experience with Whitworth has put her off remarriage for good.
Episode 13
Episode #2.13
56 mins
Ross returns from London and clears up all matters with Demelza,leading to a full reconciliation. Along with Dwight and Caroline they attend the wedding of Morwenna and Drake,whose devotion has finally won over his bride. Warleggan is in line for a knighthood but is still consumed with jealousy over Valentine and finally admits to Elizabeth he believed Aunt Agatha's dying words and feels that she blighted their marriage. His fears seem to be allayed when Elizabeth gives birth to a daughter,Ursula. The baby is healthy but Elizabeth dies of gangrene,caused by the potion she took to induce the early birth.Warleggan,alone with his late wife's coffin curses Agatha Poldark.