Poldark: The Complete Fourth Season

This latest season of the BBC’s period-dress soap opera is based on The Angry Tide—the seventh of Winston Graham’s novels about brooding hero Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner)—which covers the last years of the 18th century while also emphasizing the two major plot threads that have dominated from the start. One is Poldark’s endless battle with conniving George Warleggan (Jack Farthing), who has married Ross’s erstwhile intended, Elizabeth (Heida Reed): George suspects his child with Elizabeth is not actually his. The other centers on the domestic difficulties of Ross and his wife, Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), where infidelities—real and imagined—sporadically rock the marriage. This season sees the action moving for a time to London, where both Ross and George become MPs representing opposing views, and there are numerous deaths (by hanging, accident, violence, and illness), including those of some major characters. Economic distress continues to plague Cornwall as Warleggan schemes to profit from the misery and Poldark tries to defend the downtrodden, while secondary characters—especially friends and relatives of the Poldarks—experience both triumphs and tragedies. Poldark has always felt like a period version of Dallas or Dynasty, and it trades as shamelessly as ever on Turner’s physique. But it’s also an addictive guilty pleasure. Compiling all eight episodes from the 2018 fourth season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. Recommended. (F. Swietek)