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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

S03.E08: Season 3, Episode 8

nodorothyparker

By nodorothyparker
in Harlots [V]

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PinkRibbons

PinkRibbons

There's something kind of perfect about Lydia ending up with Lucy. They're both kinda nuts in an evil way (with a side of genuinely kind, although Lydia's so very twisted now) and ambitious. I really thought when Lydia drugged Lucy that she had actually poisoned both drinks to do a murder-suicide; that the show would give us an ending of all the Wells women lost. Which is actually an enormous bummer, so yay for teaming up to kill Blayne and then laughing it up. I so hope we get renewed because I have got to know what those two are going to do now. Lucy wouldn't set up a rivalry with Greek Street, I wouldn't think, and it seems Lydia's lost her taste for the most cutthroat aspects of her former operation. Maybe they will do tailoring. Or start the molly house back up, with Lydia collecting her secrets again. I bet Bess (Emma? Elizabeth?) is out of Fleet as soon as Lucy, Fredo and Will can get the money together.

I love Cherry as a pimp, she's perfect for it. But there definitely felt like a scene was cut, because why would she sell out Lucy in the hopes of seeing Charles again only to state pretty much right after that Charles wasn't ever coming back? She must have had some hell of an epiphany or maybe even some word from him in the interim.

Good for Emily Lacey, finally getting what she's worked for. To me Hal was the far more interesting Pincher brother. I could believe him being genuinely in love and having a kind side, but also a dark streak that would have ended things badly for Emily. I did honestly believe she was choosing him over Greek Street and couldn't quite blame her since she's burned so many bridges with the Wells girls house. I didn't like her giving Hal yet another chance after he locked her in (I think she would have told him about the living hell of being locked up in Golden Square), but I could understand why she did it. But selling him to the navy and keeping the tavern? Nice.

Losing Charlotte was very hard this year, but I can't say there was a decline in quality this season. Knowing that JBF wanted out sort of softened the blow for me, and the fallout from her death was genuinely interesting, especially for Nancy and Lucy.

Early in the season I was thinking of Lady Leadsom as "lady stick-up-her-ass", but she shook that off when she visited Harriet. She's pretty awesome, since helping free Harriet and the others would do pretty much nothing for her personally. I feel like the scene with Nance walking into Lady Isabella's house was meant to be a second try at the meeting that opened the season; except this time the upper-class ladies may have been more willing to listen.

Lady Isabella is most likely monstrously rich now, even more than before. I assume Blayne's bastard can't inherit his title. I can see Anne being set up in the country like she discussed with Lady Isabella.

My biggest complaint of this season was the complete erasure of Amelia, Hunt, Mrs. Scanwell and Violet. Even a few words about their whereabouts would have been enough. I liked the new justice -- he seemed like a more mature Hunt; actually caring about the law but with a less naive perspective -- but his romance with Kate didn't do much for me. I feel like Kate in general was saved in her storyline by having a good actress and good writing. I don't really need to see any more of her. I assume when the prince changes ladies she'll go back to the justice and be happy (though I can see him trying to get her out of his house as a story in a possible 4th season).

This season feels less closed than last, what with the notion of Lydia and Lucy cohabiting just sitting there waiting to be expanded on. I hope that open-endedness is a sign that the showrunners have some confidence in renewal.

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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

If this is a series finale, its not a bad ending, although I would love to have more. Most all of the people who deserve some kind of happy ending gets a happy ending, and we get some kind of sense of closure for a lot of characters, or at least a feeling that things are looking  up for them. Most importantly, nasty piece of crap Blayne is finally dead! Stabbed by Lydia and Lucy while they laughed their asses off! 

Losing Charlotte really sucks still, and I still dont like that they killed her off (even though the actress wanted to leave) or the way that they did it, but the fact that the show didn't completely just fall apart is pretty impressive.

5 hours ago, PinkRibbons said:

My biggest complaint of this season was the complete erasure of Amelia, Hunt, Mrs. Scanwell and Violet.

Yeah that was a real issue for me as well. I kept waiting for someone to mention where they went, even just a sentence or two, but it was like they never existed, and that was really disappointing. Especially Violet and and Scamwells, they were a big part of the show for awhile, its just bizarre that no one even mentioned them, even when they probably should have or it would have made sense to. If they wanted to drop them to focus on new   characters, that sucks because I liked those characters, but fine whatever, but give them some kind of ending at least! We also never found out what happened to George after he ran off to get away from prison, so there are still plot threads to pick up for another season. 

I loved that Fredo and his new boyfriend were decorating his moms room in prison! I guess she gets a prison executive suit.

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chaifan

chaifan

Great episode!  It was a great season finale, and if it ends up being the series finale it works well, too.  But I really hope we get another season (or 2 or 3) out of this show. 

I'm so glad that Blayne is dead.  Even more happy that he was shamed by the Prince, in front of the women, before he met his demise.  I can't figure out, though, if Lydia had always planned on killing him, drugged Lucy purposely so he would be distracted by the "bait", or if Lydia saw an opportunity and took it spontaneously.  I want to think that even she couldn't be that evil towards Lucy, and it was all planned.  But I'm not 100% sure of that, because she could have used any girl as bait. 

I thought the whole bit with Knox letting Fredo and his lover go because they were "just boys" was rather unbelievable.  Children were not at all immune from very harsh punishments for committing crimes at that time - they would get flogged in public, could have a hand or finger cut off for stealing bread, etc.  And Fredo is not a child, even by today's standards.  I couldn't find the actor's age, but I would place the character around 20 or so.  I mean, I'm glad they were let go, but it just wasn't very believable for me since they were caught "in the act" and there was someone with Knox when they opened the door. 

Not sure that I like Lucy and Lydia together in business again.  That will not work out well.  I hope they put every penny towards getting Elizabeth out of debtor's jail as soon as possible.  Oh, and speaking of, how exactly did both Lucy and Elizabeth end up with a private cell, with a window no less?  I mean, it made for a cute 18th century "Queer Eye" segment at the end, but a bit of a stretch.

And this is really shallow of me, but I was sort of hoping that Nancy would have gotten a little makeover for that last scene where she joins Lady Fitz.  I didn't want her dolled up, but new outfit, new hat, maybe possibly comb her hair?  If we have a season 4, I'd love a scene where Nancy has to go "under cover" and put on a full dress and wig. 

But, overall, a nice wrap up.  I didn't miss Margaret at all.

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rollacoaster

rollacoaster

Lydia and Lucy stabbing Blayne was one of the most satisfying things I have EVER seen. 

Knox was a great addition the the cast. I love his whole blase' attitude towards Blayne's death. 

Like everyone, I wonder what happened to Violet, the Scanwells, and Justice Hunt. 

Everyone seemed to have found a form of agency and empowerment and justice. I raise my glass to the Bad Bitches and Good Men of Harlots! 

I love this show so much! I do so hope there will be a 4th season. 

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Jynnan tonnix

Jynnan tonnix

I still can't deal with the fact that this show only has eight episodes per season! I watch little enough TV to start with, and two of the four shows I regularly watch have already been done with their seasons until January. Now Harlots goes to join them. I need something new to binge watch, but have not found anything which particularly appeals to me offhand. I'm sure there would be some if I had the ambition to give them a chance, but I just don't. So I watch old episodes of a couple of 80's/90's sitcoms and those newly remastered videos of the original Star Trek (I'm nothing if not eclectic)

This season (and/or overall) finale was just masterful! Even halfway through I was thinking there were going to be cliffhangers, which I at least found interesting in that they would have given the impression that the show was getting renewed. But the way everything was resolved was not only completely satisfactory if it turned out that this was, indeed, IT, but still left so many avenues open for further intrigue if it were to continue. Just beautifully done!

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CrystalBlue

CrystalBlue

It should be illegal for Harlots to have only eight episodes comprising one season, and it must be renewed for a S4!

There are still so many stories to tell.

I especially enjoyed Blayne's demise and Lydia and Lucy having a laugh, only to be essentially excused for such by Knox.  I also liked that Knox was more interested in gaining a good tailor than prosecuting two men for loving each other.

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chaifan

chaifan

18 hours ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

I still can't deal with the fact that this show only has eight episodes per season! I watch little enough TV to start with, and two of the four shows I regularly watch have already been done with their seasons until January. Now Harlots goes to join them. I need something new to binge watch, but have not found anything which particularly appeals to me offhand. I'm sure there would be some if I had the ambition to give them a chance, but I just don't. So I watch old episodes of a couple of 80's/90's sitcoms and those newly remastered videos of the original Star Trek (I'm nothing if not eclectic)

If you have Hulu & BBC America, I highly recommend Killing Eve.  Season 1 (available on Hulu) is better, but season 2 (on BBC America) is still pretty good.

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kieyra

kieyra

What a fantastic finale. It was nice to see everyone get a win. 

Lucy and Lydia makes sense to me, and was also bizarrely satisfying. I think that if this was a series finale, they didn’t want to kill Lydia, but they wanted us to know that Lucy was set up to oppose her/dethrone her. 

I would almost be okay with the show ending now, because it got to end on an up note. I don’t want to see everyone plunged into even more misery, with even more vile versions of Hal and Blayne. And they’d have to up the stakes somehow. Don’t get me wrong, I’d watch a less intense, soapier version, because I’d watch this cast do anything in these costumes, but I don’t think they would go that route. And I don’t think they want to double down on figuring out the next rapey big bad serial killer. 

I hope to see all these performers again soon. There really wasn’t a dud in the bunch, aside from Knox’s loopy accent.

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ElizaD

ElizaD

Season 2's finale also felt like a potential series ending and Harlots was still renewed a month later, but now that they've lost Margaret and Charlotte, the endings in this finale do seem even more definitive than in 2x08. It's a shame, because I loved where everyone ended up and would be thrilled to see all the plots continue.

When episode 5 had that Fallon/Lucy "I'm a Spartan too" voiceover, I thought it was a pretty strange choice just as a reaction to fencing and actually wondered whether it was meant to establish some kind of otherwise absent foreshadowing to Lucy proving herself a Spartan again by killing Fallon, but I hesitated to predict it because Lucy hadn't really been involved in this season's Fallon plot. I realised it was indeed going to happen when Lydia drugged her after all those scenes in which she'd been increasingly liking/sorta-protecting Lucy even while backstabbing her: since this show has been too well-written to do a last minute Jaime Lannister to Lydia's redemption arc, I got to spend the next minutes thrilled that Blayne was about to be murdered by an old bawd and a little harlot. Probably the most satisfying ending he could have gotten.

If the series is indeed over, it seems that Lydia's overall story will have been about her search for the daughter she wished she'd had back in season 1. She hurt Margaret too badly for it to ever be her, and since Charlotte also suffered so much as a result of Margaret's traumas she could never truly choose Lydia. Kate was a fresh start at a time when Lydia was re-examining the cruelties she had accepted since childhood, but she also came from a relatively privileged background and could not truly comprehend Lydia's life: in the end they were simply incompatible despite parting with affection. But for Lucy, it seems the timing was perfect. She doesn't have Margaret and Charlotte's history with pre-Bedlam Lydia, so her interactions essentially start with the new and improved version at a time when Margaret and Charlotte are both no longer around. Unlike Kate, she grew up poor and doesn't have any illusions left. Lucy is also the kind of colder and more ambitious person who's a better match for Lydia: Margaret and Charlotte both have stronger consciences and will do reckless things even for strangers if it's the right thing, but while Lucy loves her family and doesn't actively seek to hurt others she's still more detached and self-centred than the other Wells women.

I would love a season 4 with Lucy/Lydia as frenemies who scheme to raise Golden Square ever higher and Fanny/Nancy/Cherry running Greek Street as a warmer kind of house while Emily adjusts to being a businesswoman. But if this is the end, I can say that despite a few wobbles Harlots has been a truly enjoyable show to watch.

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abbyzenn

abbyzenn

Finally finished watching the season.  I'll admit I hesitated to watch after Charlotte's death and I still think the show is missing something without her.

I think they wrapped up things pretty well - the show could come back for another season since there were "new beginnings" (Emily running her business, the friendship/budding romance between Will and Elizabeth, Lydia & Lucy as business partners for example) but if not there wasn't really anything left hanging.

One thing this show has really excelled on was the production values.  The costumes were gorgeous.  I loved seeing a whole different side to what we usually get in historical shows - the grit and grime as well as the fabulous wealthy homes.  Great job by the set designers.

Glad that Blayne was killed - what a slimy character.  The only other thing I've seen him in is a wonderful mystery series called Heat of the Sun which I highly recommend.  In that show he's a completely different character - morally upstanding policeman.

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Scarlett45

Scarlett45

On 8/28/2019 at 6:15 PM, PinkRibbons said:

There's something kind of perfect about Lydia ending up with Lucy. They're both kinda nuts in an evil way (with a side of genuinely kind, although Lydia's so very twisted now) and ambitious. I really thought when Lydia drugged Lucy that she had actually poisoned both drinks to do a murder-suicide; that the show would give us an ending of all the Wells women lost. Which is actually an enormous bummer, so yay for teaming up to kill Blayne and then laughing it up. I so hope we get renewed because I have got to know what those two are going to do now. Lucy wouldn't set up a rivalry with Greek Street, I wouldn't think, and it seems Lydia's lost her taste for the most cutthroat aspects of her former operation. Maybe they will do tailoring. Or start the molly house back up, with Lydia collecting her secrets again. I bet Bess (Emma? Elizabeth?) is out of Fleet as soon as Lucy, Fredo and Will can get the money together.

I love Cherry as a pimp, she's perfect for it. But there definitely felt like a scene was cut, because why would she sell out Lucy in the hopes of seeing Charles again only to state pretty much right after that Charles wasn't ever coming back? She must have had some hell of an epiphany or maybe even some word from him in the interim.

Good for Emily Lacey, finally getting what she's worked for. To me Hal was the far more interesting Pincher brother. I could believe him being genuinely in love and having a kind side, but also a dark streak that would have ended things badly for Emily. I did honestly believe she was choosing him over Greek Street and couldn't quite blame her since she's burned so many bridges with the Wells girls house. I didn't like her giving Hal yet another chance after he locked her in (I think she would have told him about the living hell of being locked up in Golden Square), but I could understand why she did it. But selling him to the navy and keeping the tavern? Nice.

Losing Charlotte was very hard this year, but I can't say there was a decline in quality this season. Knowing that JBF wanted out sort of softened the blow for me, and the fallout from her death was genuinely interesting, especially for Nancy and Lucy.

Early in the season I was thinking of Lady Leadsom as "lady stick-up-her-ass", but she shook that off when she visited Harriet. She's pretty awesome, since helping free Harriet and the others would do pretty much nothing for her personally. I feel like the scene with Nance walking into Lady Isabella's house was meant to be a second try at the meeting that opened the season; except this time the upper-class ladies may have been more willing to listen.

Lady Isabella is most likely monstrously rich now, even more than before. I assume Blayne's bastard can't inherit his title. I can see Anne being set up in the country like she discussed with Lady Isabella.

My biggest complaint of this season was the complete erasure of Amelia, Hunt, Mrs. Scanwell and Violet. Even a few words about their whereabouts would have been enough. I liked the new justice -- he seemed like a more mature Hunt; actually caring about the law but with a less naive perspective -- but his romance with Kate didn't do much for me. I feel like Kate in general was saved in her storyline by having a good actress and good writing. I don't really need to see any more of her. I assume when the prince changes ladies she'll go back to the justice and be happy (though I can see him trying to get her out of his house as a story in a possible 4th season).

This season feels less closed than last, what with the notion of Lydia and Lucy cohabiting just sitting there waiting to be expanded on. I hope that open-endedness is a sign that the showrunners have some confidence in renewal.

I agree with all of this. I also think once Elizabeth gets out of debtor’s jail (and she will, Lucy will pay the debt), there are more stories to explore with her and Will. I can see Kate being dropped just like Amelia and co from last season, but I did enjoy the actress. She was a very interesting character- not raised in sex work but learning it “on the job” and being influenced by her Provençal up bringing. If she plays her cards right she can buy herself a nice house or something once the Prince is done with her- but she may stay his mistress for quite awhile. 

The navy was too good for Hal. He was dead to me when he tried to sell Harriet into slavery. What a piece of shit. Emily did the right thing though- Greek street was gone for her, the Tavern was her best shot at her own thing. 

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aradia22

aradia22

Weird. Why did Hal wait until she woke up to say nice things? Emily would have realized she was locked in eventually. She's not an idiot. It's not a con that works past her trying to open the door.

Even if we're buying that Isaac loved Charlotte (which JESUS CHRIST NO HE FUCKING DIDN'T) he still pulled a gun on them. He pointed it at each of the women. Nancy shooting him prevented him from killing one of them. I do not feel bad that Isaac is dead. No one should feel bad. Why are people feeling bad? UGH, the Pinchers ruined this season.

Does even the Prince's house have no security? Why does no one have a house with security???

I DO NOT CARE about Sophia and her terrible husband. Go away.

WHAT??? Now I'm supposed to care about Fredo and guy whose name I can't remember? Did this show forget how to develop relationships or are there just too many characters this season?

Thank God that guy only cut Anne's face. But also, her face is her fortune. God, Blayne's a dick. Why won't someone shoot him? We have so many other dead bodies but not Blayne???

I guess we're supposed to believe Lydia is genuinely growing a conscience? She still seems pretty awful when it suits her.

Lady Leadsom has proven to be useful this season. She's playing the role I would have wanted from a house maid/servant. The role that Cherry often plays. Of facilitating the plot and spreading information. Unfortunately the writers have still been sloppy about people making leaps of logic. 

LOL. Nancy's comments while Hal was doing his best Stanley Kowalski were cracking me up.

I love the scene with Isabella talking to the prince. It shows how unfortunately it can sometimes take someone very credible of a similar status/class before men will believe all the other women. That's why it's important for the women who have the most power and influence to speak.

OK, Lydia stabbing Blayne was... fine. But Lucy stabbing him a second time and then Lydia getting in another blow made me CACKLE. Worth the wait. That was fun. I watched it many times.

I'm so glad that Emily didn't actually choose to stay with Hal. With the series ending here, it would have been a terrible ending for her character.

If there had been a season 4 I would have been interested in Fanny's house and the Lucy Wells/Lydia Quigley murder house. But Bet/Elizabeth/Emma feels like a plotline that should be dropped. Like the Scanwells, it's interesting but there's no time to develop it. I feel like the molly house only served as minor plot inconvenience with blackmails and such. It lacked the pathos of storylines in the first 2 seasons. Isabella's scandal house and Emily Lacey's tavern could pop up now and again but shouldn't actually get their own side plots. That is, unless they wanted to develop the Isabella/Nancy romance. I would watch that.

I'm thankful that this is the kind of show that doesn't end seasons on ridiculous cliffhangers. They left themselves open for another season. But I'm content with this as the way the show ends. There are no loose ends that I care deeply about. It doesn't feel like anything major was left unresolved.

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aradia22

aradia22

Quote

I'm so glad that Blayne is dead.  Even more happy that he was shamed by the Prince, in front of the women, before he met his demise.  I can't figure out, though, if Lydia had always planned on killing him, drugged Lucy purposely so he would be distracted by the "bait", or if Lydia saw an opportunity and took it spontaneously.  I want to think that even she couldn't be that evil towards Lucy, and it was all planned.  But I'm not 100% sure of that, because she could have used any girl as bait. 

I don't think it could have been planned that Lucy would help Lydia. She would have been taking a huge risk by drugging Lucy if she expected her to help. We clearly saw that Blayne didn't go down with the first stabbing. If Lucy had still been incapacitated, Blayne would have killed Lydia. I do think it's highly likely that Lydia planned to kill Blayne and didn't think through whether one stab would be good enough. Because people don't usually carry around knives that big. She got lucky that Lucy woke up enough to help her finish the job. I do think it's possible that Lydia made up her mind to kill Blayne somewhere between drugging Lucy and inviting him over. 

Quote

I thought the whole bit with Knox letting Fredo and his lover go because they were "just boys" was rather unbelievable.  

I put this down to sloppy writing. I get that Knox is supposed to be more casual about meting out justice, especially for laws he doesn't believe in, but I also think the writers took a lot of shortcuts this season. Everyone just scurries out of trouble (except for Blayne the Big Bad and the actors who weren't going to return after this season even if the show had been renewed). Compare this to season 1 and 2 when there were stakes and so much pathos because it felt like there were real barriers and real danger. 

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Roseanna

Roseanna

On 8/29/2019 at 2:15 AM, PinkRibbons said:

Lady Isabella is most likely monstrously rich now, even more than before. I assume Blayne's bastard can't inherit his title.

Not a title, but Blayne could have done a testament for his bastard about his fortune that it's entailed. The entailed part goes to the nearest male relative with the title.  

 

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Roseanna

Roseanna

On 8/29/2019 at 2:15 AM, PinkRibbons said:

T liked the new justice -- he seemed like a more mature Hunt; actually caring about the law but with a less naive perspective -- but his romance with Kate didn't do much for me. I feel like Kate in general was saved in her storyline by having a good actress and good writing. I don't really need to see any more of her. I assume when the prince changes ladies she'll go back to the justice and be happy (though I can see him trying to get her out of his house as a story in a possible 4th season).

Why would the Prince abandon Kate? He may have new sexual partners (and eventually a wife), but if he has any sense, he knows that nobody can be such a honest friend as Kate. She continues to have power because of it.

Even if the relationship with the prince ends, why would Kate go back to the judge? She is much better off as a independent woman of means.

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