Nolefan

Yes, Arabella doted on William—she made time for him & asked about his day (was emotionally available) unlike Eliza, who totally forgot about their monthly dinner dates & as pointed out in episodes in S2 vented about her day/struggles but often shut William down when talking about his frustrations at work. I totally disagree about Arabella giving up her career at the restaurant for William. Her mother said that she would have supported Arabella, but instead Arabella went through the humiliation of asking for a loan to keep her restaurant afloat. Arabella was shown as someone who very much cared about appearances so this was a big thing for her to do. There was absolutely nothing showing Arabella was going to become a traditional wife if she married William. If the show wanted to establish this, then it should’ve had William go for a traditional Victorian housewife type character. It did not—instead having William go for a character with similar ambitions & character traits as Eliza. As Stuart Martin said, William is attracted to independent-spirited women, which I think shows that a Eliza & William relationship of equals is possible. Totally agree the will-they, won’t they needs to end. The show is just treading water when it comes to Eliza—there’s been no growth in Eliza’s character on a personal level. Eliza is almost 30 years old, yet is a teenager when it comes to her personal life. It is really becoming cringy at this point & starting to make it impossible for me to take her seriously in her professional life. It’s past time for her to have an adult relationship with William.

The showrunner totally confuses me when she says that Arabella would cook and that she’s a great cook. That definitely wasn’t shown onscreen—her chef did all the cooking. Also, she says William desperately wanted things to work with Arabella, yet onscreen it was shown that he forgets about their dinner dates & when he was with Arabella he constantly talked about Eliza. There was absolutely nothing shown onscreen that Arabella intended to give up running her business. If the showrunner intended to convey these things, she utterly failed in my opinion. The actor who portrays William, Stuart Martin, said in the PBS podcast that William was attracted to Arabella because of her independent spirit—like Eliza—but Eliza just wasn’t emotionally available like Arabella. So his views of his character seem to conflict with the showrunner’s idea that William wants a traditional Victorian wife. Personally, I saw things the way Stuart Martin did.

Before the promotion offer to Glasgow become a “forced” offer, William was given the option to take the promotion, which he immediately ran to Eliza to discuss & where it was revealed that he’d had multiple offers through the years for promotions outside of London & that he’d agonized w/Eliza about whether he should take them & he always turned them down (Eliza actually sorta made fun of him & acted like she knew that his decision would be to stay in London & was oblivious to the fact that the reason he always chose to stay was her). I think Arabella was the first time William didn’t make her his #1 priority in his life & this is what hurt Eliza most. But personally, I think Eliza’s been incredibly selfish—she’s expects to be his #1 but William is just “one of” the many men in her life. To me, she has a pattern of expecting everyone else to make her first & support her—William, Ivy, Moses, and now Nash (her ultimate doormat) & gives little to nothing in return. I like the William character b/c he’s the lone person who stands up to her & expects more from her. But, I guess the end of episode 6 shows that no matter what, she’s got William, too.

William is a major catch!! He’s an incredibly handsome, respected Detective Inspector. The most unrealistic thing about all this Arabella stuff is that this seems to be the first time Eliza has witnessed a woman hit on William in front of her after all these years of knowing him. Wasn’t it shown in S2 that William’s stuck around London (rejecting out of town promotions) solely because he wanted to remain with Eliza, thinking he might have chance with her? While I felt sorry for Eliza standing there with her cake, there’s been numerous times Eliza’s been oblivious to William’s feelings about her. Maybe she needs to feel what it’s like when William doesn’t drop everything & make her #1 for a change.

Sorry, but this episode was just a snooze fest for me. Feel like the show runners are trying to create/force some chemistry between Eliza & Nash. The out of nowhere story about Nash’s brother just felt really contrived to produce some sympathy for a character that’s been really sleazy up until this point. Wondering why the show runner feels the need to suddenly do a 180 with the character? Makes me really wonder when William is missing from the entire episode. Are they trying to replace William with Nash? Hope not, because this episode just shows how Eliza & Nash don’t have anything close to the electric chemistry of Eliza & William. It’s Miss Scarlet & The Duke not Miss Scarlet & Patrick.

I am confused as to why everyone seems to think that William wants a traditional Victorian wife after he courted Arabella? I think it was shown that Arabella is actually very similar to Eliza—both women own & run a struggling business that they refuse to give up. Arabella was even shown as refusing to give up her financially strapped business & have her rich mother support her. William knew this yet still courted her. William never told Arabella she’d have to give up work to be with him and there was proof in the show that Arabella wasn’t going to willingly give up her work. Also, Arabella was not cooking—she had a staff cooking for her—and William was perfectly fine with it. Henry had Ivy (& Kitty). So William seems to be in a position to employ a maid/cook if he was married. So, why would Eliza be expected to cook & clean? The only difference between Eliza & Arabella was that Arabella made time in her busy schedule for William, which Eliza did not—hence Arabella’s observation about Eliza will never been emotionally available to William. So, I disagree with everyone who thinks William would not accept Eliza working if they were married & him wanting a wife who stays home to cook and clean. Everything about William’s relationship with Arabella definitely showed this is not true. And William’s working relationship with Eliza has certainly grown where he treats Eliza as an equal.

I was confused by the case too. It seems like the police (& Duke) did NOT flub the “missing person” investigation because the sister/daughter agreed to give up the child & there was no indication that the sister/daughter was being held against her will—she just didn’t tell her sister/mother where she was. The shooting didn’t happen until after Eliza got involved & it wasn’t the sister/daughter who was killed, it was the shop girl.

I have a feeling that Fitzroy is going to wind up working for Eliza’s detective agency sometime in the future—calling it now.

Sooo happy this show is back!! Really enjoyed the episode!! Though the sunny outdoor scenes seemed a little off the me—didn’t feel like London for some reason. About died with the Eliza and William hand touch—so HOT. But Eliza’s statement about them only being “old friends”? Don’t know what to make of that. William looked a little hurt by the statement. Relieved that the chemistry is still there. Not liking Fitzroy or William’s new boss—both seem like trouble. Love that the show has expanded on the Moses character. I really like his relationship with Eliza and there is just some “it” factor about him that makes his character really enjoyable. Now to the last scene, which totally tore my heart out. Such great acting. Kinda felt like Eliza confronting William about her “no master/independence” was out of left field. Prior to that William had asked her about her loyalty (like you would expect from a close friend) to him but I didn’t see it as demanding or having an “I’m a man & I’m in charge” vibe to it. Don’t know why Eliza felt the need to lecture him right when he basically walked thru the door and as a “condition” for her going to dinner with him🤷‍♀️ Also sort of got the feeling that William didn’t cancel the dinner in advance—just that he got pissy at that point & said it to one up her. Felt like William just took Eliza’s statement the wrong way because he was in a really bad mood after being undermined by his boss with the “rehiring” of the totally incompetent Fitzroy. I feel like both Eliza & William are very stubborn but obviously love each other. I was screaming for them to open the door. While I am fine with some angst in their relationship, I hope this dance doesn’t drag on too long.

Thank you!! I actually think Eliza moving to a smaller, less expensive house would make a lot of sense. I know she feels connected to her current house because of her history there, but it seems like a colossal waste of money for her to maintain something so big when it is only her and Ivy. I would think that it would be relatively easy to recreate Henry’s and William’s offices as they are one room. It appears that the street is a set. They probably can use old film footage of the street and to show Henry’s office and Scotland Yard from the outside. There are probably new sets in Serbia to have other “blocks” of London. The article said there would be more adventure. I am guessing this means more going to other locations (like the abandoned prison from S1), so maybe it is not that critical to have the locations from Dublin anymore.

Just saw an article from Good Housekeeping on Twitter— a recent interview with Kate Phillips. It said that S2 would begin filming this fall in Serbia. S1 was filmed in Dublin, Ireland. Guess a lot of the characters will be getting new digs. There was also some interesting info on other aspects of S2. Sorry, I am not savvy enough to know how to insert the link to the article here.

Glad you started watching!! The show creator, Rachael New, stated that Eliza is 26 and William is 29. Personally, I think she does want William. I just think (1) she is a lot better at hiding her feelings than he is (and I think she has not even admitted to herself/realized just how attracted she is to him, hence all the arguing she does with him all the time) and (2) it is a much more complicated situation for her because she has to choose between having a career or having a man due to the time period.

After rewatching the show a second time — okay, a tenth time (I really need a S2) — I suddenly had a new take on the scene between Eliza and William at Henry’s gravesite — that maybe there is another level to their conversion that shows where they are at with each other in their relationship. What sparked my fresh take on the scene was Kate Phillips’ latest interview with Masterpiece. She stated that one of the things she liked about William’s character is his capacity to love. When William attempted to comfort Eliza by telling her about Henry’s love for Eliza’s mother — and how the time from her death only made Henry hurt more — and that Eliza should think about how her parents were now reunited, I said to myself, “Wow, that is really an emotionally sensitive thing to say,” and William’s choice of how to view the situation was, well, incredibly romantic. It seems to me that William “understood” the pain Henry felt, and I wonder if it is because William knows the pain of unrequited love himself because has been secretly carrying a torch for Eliza since around the time he kissed her (and was rejected by her), which was also mentioned in this episode. And as for Eliza, her response was interesting, too — now she is all alone. I think Eliza is suffering from some underlying abandonment issues due to her mother’s early death and Henry maybe “checking out” on her with his drinking, gambling, and unexpected death. I was wondering if this is one of the things driving her fierce need for independence— she doesn’t want to have to rely on anyone — insert William here— because she is afraid it will just end in more heartbreak for her.

Totally agree!! I also thought it was interesting that William stated that he wanted them to go to dinner now because they might get into another fight about something totally irrelevant that would cause them to postpone. He said “postpone,” not “cancel.” And Eliza didn’t fight him on this at all. They *both* know that this thing between them is inevitable.

I think William has been in love with Eliza since they were teenagers. I would like a flashback to Henry and a young William where Henry realizes that young horndog William may be sniffing around his daughter. And this could be the impetus for Henry making it William’s duty to protect Eliza.