If Harlots has a prevailing aesthetic, it’s chaos.
It’s a show obsessed with the workings of power—how it behooves those who have the most of it to keep everyone else fighting for the scraps, and what that battle royale looks like. With no real protections, you’re only as powerful as your biggest patron, and you’re only as safe as your secrets. That’s a setup for relentless stakes, and the show’s initial mob-drama architecture gave way to a frantic intensity that’s churned through so much plot one is honestly at a loss to comb through it. (The debtors’-prison switcheroo that leads to a drugged tag-team stabbing of the show’s biggest villain was somehow only the second or third most compelling subplot of the finale. Just the finale.)
The result can be staggeringly fun. The show teems with actors having the time of their lives roaring out one another’s full names, city streets with a triple-cross around every corner, a gleefully anachronistic score, and poisonously vibrant costumes. Though the show glosses over plenty about sex work, none of that veneer is romance; there’s love to be had elsewhere, but overall the sex work on Harlots carries the same emotional investment and rush-hour toil as an opening shift at Starbucks. And though the primary relationships are familial, the show includes any and all definitions of the word. You don’t stand a chance without a little found family at your back, and seeing chaos turn into triumph, even for a moment, makes the scramble worth watching.
Still, even a show that feels like a narrative free-for-all can deliver a shocker. This season, it was Charlotte Wells.
It’s hardly the first time a character has vanished from Harlots; this is a London from which people routinely disappear. Some die: farewell, Kitty. Some make sense: Marie-Louise was a delight but hardly pivotal. Some have reason, up to a point: Prince Rasselas is wisely hiding from the Marquess of Blayne, though with a major molly-house plot his absence seems pointed. Other absences, regardless of offscreen logistics, leave a gap. (The Scanwells, Violet, and Josiah Hunt vanished from Harlots so wholesale they were apparently erased from the entire space-time continuum. Not a soul in this London remembers them now.)
Charlotte was a central character, clinging to a moral compass long after Margaret Wells had given it up in trade for the promise of a future, and able to inspire loyalty in everyone around her. But she was also doomed; according to producer and co-creator Moira Buffini, Jessica Brown Findlay had signed another project before a third season was greenlit. Planning an exit for a character like that is tricky, even before Margaret Wells (shuttled off to America in secret last season) took up the Miraculous Disappearance/Reappearance square of Narrative Funhouse Bingo and narrowed the remaining options. And enough time was given to Charlotte’s growing connections and obligations in London–the house in Greek Street, Isabella, Lucy–that she could outmaneuver the Pincher brothers just by going through her Rolodex. Her dream of America seemed very far away, even when she spoke of it at the boxing match; it makes a certain sense that the only way she’d leave her girls now was in a coffin.
However, that looming farewell made for a wobbly front half of the season. Buffini may have said “We didn’t want a malicious murder at the hands of some two-dimensional psycho,” but pimp and inexplicable hookup Isaac Pincher couldn’t be any better described. It didn’t help that Charlotte and Isabella were touted in promo posts as a fully-fledged romantic couple; though their actual scenes suggested something harder to define, by killing off Charlotte, Harlots was approaching a bury-your-gays horizon that can be tough to navigate. (Nudging a grieving Nancy toward Isabella as if to secure some lesbian attraction onscreen…did not help.)
But in the same episode where Isabella held a touching sendoff for Charlotte Wells—and those near and dear to her buckled under their grief—Lydia Quigley placidly watched Mrs. May choke to death on a fish bone. It was a grim beat that foregrounded how easy death is, a nihilistic twist of the knife to underscore the show’s darkest impulses; if a loss left you feeling that nothing mattered any more, then you might as well kill your stepmom and start over.
And sure enough, in the wake of Charlotte’s death, the show went for broke.
In the end, the setup for her death may have been more painful than her actual departure. Charlotte’s relationship with Isaac Pincher seemed so out of character it feels like we lost her before we actually lost her. And some of the new arrivals never quite came into focus. Kate, even with her rise under the tutelage of Lydia Quigley, isn’t as interesting as she could be. (Her place in the season improves after her moral compass and work skills align, and she wrings a little oblige out of her new noblesse.) And the molly-house crew don’t really get enough time to be interesting amid the quota of plot they have to move.
But Charlotte’s death (and Margaret’s farewell after a truly wretched visit home) left some room. William North—the only reliable man in England—may have benefited most from the extra space, but in the vacuum left behind by The Vanishing Wellses, Nancy Birch got to grieve what she’d lost, and tertiary characters like Anne Pettifer and Cherry got a bit to do. Even Fanny, so reliable as to be overlooked, got some beats in Greek Street while everyone else in London raced back and forth threatening to kill each other.
And those small moments are all to the good; the thing that prevents the over-the-top moments from dragging the show off the rails is the relationships that feel lived-in. By now Will North is as much a partner to Nancy Birch as Margaret Wells, not because of any romance, but because of the shorthand that comes from long acquaintance. (Ditto Will North and Harriet, whose crush on him has mellowed into a more nuanced understanding.) There’s even a certain intimacy with one’s enemies, enough that when Mrs. Harvey blithely notes Lydia Quigley doesn’t worry her, it’s startling to realize someone in London doesn’t know how Lydia Quigley works.
This familiarity does some particularly heavy lifting for characters whose pragmatism makes them hard to predict. Lydia Quigley, of course; though she has the occasional agonizing pang of conscience, she’s under no illusions about what it takes to hold on to your fishbone inheritance. One powerful man is enough to ruin you. (The glorious bitterness of Lesley Manville perking out “I help men. That is my calling in life” through clenched teeth feels as close to a thesis statement as Harlots can get.) But Emily Lacey has always been one of the most consistently precarious characters, and watching her struggle into legitimate business only to get mired in an abusive relationship made for genuine suspense. No one ever knows if Emily Lacey’s going to show up until the chips are down, including Emily Lacey.
But the least suspenseful pairing of the season might be the most fun. Lucy Wells has been adrift since the beginning, and her liaison last season with London’s biggest edgelord cemented her separation from the girls. She still found affection in the family circlet, but she wasn’t one of them—not a bawd, and trying not to be a harlot, either. Mythologically speaking, she was pretty much fated to end up parallel with Lydia Quigley somehow, purely as the Last Surviving Wells. But there’s a tragic camaraderie in their mutual burnout disdain: for men, for the order of things, for Kate, for each other. Lucy Wells might be the only person Lydia Quigley can trust; after everyone who ever professed to love her has left, someone who will help her stab a man and doesn’t much care about all the drugging beforehand is the best she can do. She’s a pragmatist; this is close enough to redemption for her.
The finale has all the trappings of a series wrap; enemies dead, Fanny running the house, a sympathetic lawman or two, Nancy Birch and Will North trying to move on, Emily Lacey wriggling out of another impossibly tight spot, and Lucy and Lydia toasting each other from what might be the drugged carafe, because why not.
Some moments that were meant to feel triumphant didn’t quite. (I enjoy a case study of a powerful man punishing a scapegoat to avoid systemic change as much as the next person, but Blayne’s royal comeuppance reads a bit like Stuart Knox’s unwavering support—better than the alternative, but not really earned, either.) And it’s an almost aggressively upbeat ending, as if to make up for the death in its center. But Charlotte didn’t feel forgotten (certainly her memory burned more brightly than any other characters who vanished this season). And the grim glee with which the show powered on with old friends, new alliances, strange bedfellows, and second chances is the most Harlots thing it could do.
Stray observations
- It’s impossible to say enough good things about the costumes, in terms of historical accuracy and storytelling. Charlotte’s wardrobe went positively queenly once she was in charge of Greek Street, Emily Lacey spent the season in a cacophony of nouveau-respectable gowns, and Fanny got a power-suit equivalent of her sunny yellow in time for her promotion. They’re a visual glossary—women rent their dresses from their bawds, and the economics of beauty are everywhere. Lucy’s menswear carries such an erotic charge to the men who see it because of what’s missing as much as what’s there; Harriet and her girls deliberately trade in “exotic” details to highlight their brand. And none of this sacrifices the practicalities of clothing-as-wardrobe. (Two great examples here and here.)
- This show’s great at surprising you with minor characters realizing that a little help at the right time counts as heroism. In the first season, the brand-new Widow Howard keep’s Charlotte’s head on her shoulders; this season, Lady Letson finds Will North at a crucial moment with information about Harriet’s kidnapping. Turns out even the furniture can do something about injustice.
- Most phonetically satisfying line of the season, based on the relish with which it was delivered: a tie between “You’re like a powdered wasp” and “Before you come at me like a cat in a sack”.
- Honestly, the whole cast attacks the dialogue on this show with gusto. Harlots simultaneously demands grounded characterization and total over-the-top bullshit, and nearly everyone has threaded that needle, which seems worthy of note.
- Given some “series wrap” posts from actors, we’ll assume this is it. That might be just as well—as much as I’d love to find out where Will North’s burgeoning career as a statesman/vigilante could go, another season without the two Wells women might just highlight how much they’d be missed. But when this show was firing, it was hilarious, stressful, impeccably dressed, and full of the righteous anger of fighting alongside the people you love against seemingly-impossible odds. And every time you say someone’s full name unnecessarily, you’re keeping the spirit alive.
28 Comments
I really like this show. But one comment in the first season made me laugh and cringe at the same time. It may have been true in those days, but not in modern times for some time. Charlotte was talking to Sir George’s wife, and the wife mentioned that he was spending her money to keep Charlotte. Charlotte promptly replies something like: “Marriage is cruel thief.” I had to laugh because it is absolutely true for many reasons. Marriage steals from men so deftly is should be classified as a fucking sport. I know that families had to pay a ‘dowry’ to the man to marry off their daughters back in certain times, but the way marriage unjustly redistributes a man’s possessions TODAY is asinine. Marriage steals from men so deftly is should be classified as a fucking sport. It may well have been true in the Harlots time period (I don’t know if the practice was actually still used in the real world at the time or not), but TODAY, marriage is the cruelest cut to a man besides actually being cut. It didn’t make me want to stop watching – it was only one line, and it was true enough – and among the terrible man hating stuff on TV, this was a good show.If it gets cancelled after this, at least I can say I enjoyed it well enough.
/scribbles in “Wo-” before men/man. Fixed that for you. You’re welcome. Misogyny much?
Marriage steals from men so deftly is should be classified as a fucking sport. Uh, it was made explicitly clear that the reason both women were lamenting this situation is because Sir George’s WIFE was the one with the money. She came from wealth but because she was a woman she could not inherit. Sir George was literally spending HIS WIFE’S FAMILY’S MONEY to pay for his affair with Charlotte.
LOL thanks for that post, I was beginning to wonder if I’d watched the episode completely wrong by his description.
I didn’t describe the episode, I mentioned one line that I thought was funny. Learn the difference, please. And you listening to that commenter means you didn’t read my comment, either.
Um, if you bother to learn to read properly, then you’d see that I said EXACTLY THAT! It wasn’t about her not being able to inherit, so you are wrong. It was about her money being HIS property because she was married to him. It’s called a ‘dowry’, like I mentioned clearly in my post. Stop being so damn offended about a critique that you don’t bother to read it and make yourself a liar.
You are correct in that the quote in the show refers to marriage being a cruel thief because it took her inheritance and gave it to her husband but killahmcgillah is also correct in that marriage essentially barred her from control over her own inheritance. The purpose of a dowry – a woman’s inheritance paid at the time of marriage – is to support the woman and her children in case of widowhood or a crappy husband. In the case of her death, the dowry often goes back to the family, not to the husband. However, England practiced coverture at the time the show is set, which allowed a husband to absorb his wife’s legal rights and obligations, including her dowry/inheritance. A married woman, unlike a single woman, couldn’t own property, get an education against her husband’s wishes, keep her salary (it went to her husband), or use her family’s money freely.
Marriage was indeed a cruel thief to women in 18th c. England (the time and place that Harlots takes place).
Actually, first, it is not a “dowry” as a “dowry” is money paid to marry and typically it goes to the brides family and not the groom. Second, it was not a “dowry” it was that woman were not allowed to own land or inherit money, they had to marry a man and have the property and money put in his name. Third, the wife did not have any access to it, her name was not on the deed, she was not allowed to go to the bank and withdraw money. Sadly, she could only access what her husband takes out and physically gives to her. So her comment was that her husband was literally using the money that her family worked hard for and that was rightfully HERS to pay for HIS prostitute. So, in conclusion, your comment was confusing. Also, men today are only getting their money taken if they divorce or have to pay child support. Traditionally, women never got their money unless they married a man, in which they still did not get it as their husband kept it all and probably spent it on prostitutes or girlfriends. P.S. I am sorry you had such a horrible experience with marriage that you see marriage as “deftly stealing from men” my Husband and I have a completely different marriage than that as we both have access to all funds, have a mutual respect where we consult the other during purchases, and we are happy to spend money on each other and out future together.
So, you misread my comment and said the exact same thing I said, and try to use it to prove me wrong? You are the one that is confused. I SAID that he was using her money to keep (keep means pay for, btw) Charlotte. I SAID she had no access to it. You claim to know all of this, but you purposefully read my comment wrong to write your novel on your ignorant and incorrect assumption that I was saying something you didn’t want to hear.
Don’t be silly, phayroent wasn’t talking about Harlots—he was just spouting some unrelated MRA nonsense.
Sorry you got hosed in the divorce, buddy.
Not sorry that you are too stupid to get a free education and learn what words mean. Just impressed with the dedication.
Found the MRA!
Next time, treat your spouse better.
So happy you got to review and post this! I’ve felt so off kilter this season, and it really does feel like a series finale. Usually the breakneck pace during Seasons 1 and 2 feels exhilarating, but I think that it felt rudderless, though I agree on that I was thrilled in so many of the conclusions and resolutions, though Blayne’s royal dismissal felt very “Deus ex Prince.” I think that Maggie and Charlotte really anchored the show in prior seasons, and I just felt the floundering not only in the characters, but in the execution of this season.The more I think on it, the more I feel like that scene with Lydia and Lucy at the end was pretty downbeat and grim- survivors in an empty house, remote and inhuman as the statues flanking them. Heck, I feel like Lydia stabbing Blayne felt like the first time she most have actually flight back against a man in her entire existence, mirroring Lucy and Howard. Given the ending montage, it’s significant Lucy’s last scene isn’t with Pa and her family, adoptive and otherwise. I can’t imagine where they’d go next, I hate myself for hoping this is the end.
I hate myself for hoping this is the end.
So agreed. I’d love to have more, but without Charlotte or Margaret? Just doesn’t work. Lucy isn’t complex or likable enough to anchor the series, and while I’d love to spend more time with the characters, I’m pretty done with the Quigley-Wells Wars.
Geeze only a passing mention about characters being kidnapped for enslavement.
I don’t know, maybe I’m a wimp? I had to stop watching this show after the first season. Sexual violence, child molestation, STDs, poison, disease, filth, deceit, murder and endless tits on parade… it began to feel like 4am on a Saturday night in Los Angeles. No thanks.
No offense, but it sounds like you are one! The show shows things that REALLY HAPPEN in the real world! Do you live in a bubble? Life is not a fairytale! Children in todays world, they sadly get molested everyday! People get murdered everyday! And STDs exist! If you want happy endings I’d stick with disney shows and movies. England back in that time was a lot like the show. Stuff like that happens everyday all over the world, is my point.
Stuff like that happens everyday all over the world, is my point. You are absolutely right! But “sexual violence, child molestation, STDs, poison, disease, filth, deceit, murder and endless tits” are not the themes I yearn for when I am returned to my bomb shelter and just want to sip a warm bowl of stray dog stew, relax, and be entertained by flickering images on multiple screens.Give me comedies instead!!!!ps: you didn’t need to create a new kinja burner to insult me. I can take it!
idk, you’re the one who asked. Why comment on the finale if you just didn’t watch the show? (And what does that image you posted have to do with anything?)
idk, is the image you chose supposed to be illustrative of stuff that’s too much for you? If so, probably a wimp. But the good news is you are 1000% entitled to not watch a show you don’t want to watch!
I completely understand. One hint on watching this show is, if you have a particular hard time with watching or hearing violence, is to mute it. Glance up on occasion to see if it’s over and then turn the volume back up. Also watch one episode and then go to something more palatable. I love this show. I completely understand that it’s a super hard watch. I had to mute when something (no spoilers) happened to a character in season 2.If you try this and it doesn’t happen to work for you, no shame in just reading a review or wiki.And just in my opinion, I don’t think you are a wimp. You are just a person who has their own thresholds and that is fine.
Excellent suggestions, and thank you. I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones nightly (yes, I’m late to the party as I just got the HBO addon to Hulu) and will be doing exactly as you’ve recommended during the ultra-violent scenes. Afterward I watch an episode of Parks & Recreation – and laugh for 23 minutes. It’s the only way I can manage to get to sleep afterward!
Endless tit parade? Are we watching the same show? I haven’t seen one naked boobie since season 1. And up until episode 4 of this season, I’m not even complaining. Story makes up for it.
I love this show so tremendously—but this season really highlighted its biggest weakness, which is that it RELENTLESSLY falls back on “very secret conversation happens behind slightly-open door” and “Lydia Quigley teleports to wherever secret conversations are happening.” It was bad enough that Quigley overheard Knox and Croft talking about bringing down Blayne—but then the ONE time a man puts his hand on Croft in public, in Croft’s entire life, Quigley just happens to be walking by? Worth it though to see Quigley finally, FINALLY turn against Blayne, after he’d proven over and over he would never protect her.
I don’t think there’ll be a Season 4, but if so Lord Leadsom will die in it, because that’s the show’s pattern: one villain dies, but it’s revealed there’s an even bigger villain, who dies the next season. Sir George—> Lord Fallon—>Marquess of Blayne—>Lord Leadsom.
I haven’t seen the tweets, but in the UK, a season is referred to as a series. If that’s any consolation.
I don’t know you but I think that missing the opportunity of “Lidia Quigley and Lucy Wells Best Frenemies and Partners in Crime” would be a shame. Who would let pass the change of such a backstabbing fest? It would be like Spy vs Spy In Powered Wigs!
I want season 4. Now.
Absolutely agree again with this overview of the season finale. I’m used to main characters dieing but Charlotte pff.. I was looking forward to see what youngsters would get into but then the old generation (ie.Wells) came back.. Single handedly sabotaging a deal, indirectly getting Charlotte killed, gets Isaac killed, makes her daughter lose her house and then buzzes off again to USA. Luckily it gets a bit better towards the end. Thoroughly enjoyed this show! Even though it went from game of thrones style nudity to prudeness.