Miss Scarlet & the Duke
When will William learn?
Eliza Scarlet is not going to let anyone or anything get in her way if there is
a case she wants to pursue. Not William. Not anyone.
The thing is, despite what he
says, I don’t think William would want her to be any other way.
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| Miss Scarlet & the Duke Season 2 Kate Phillips, Stuart Martin |
Eliza Scarlet: Private Detective
Private detective Eliza Scarlet
(Kate Phillips) is working hard to keep her private detective agency running.
She takes the cases no one else wants, including the police. In fact, it is a
case the police ignored that breaks up the start of a romantic relationship
between Eliza and Detective Inspector William “Duke” Wellington (Stuart
Martin).
The case is a missing person
case. William closed it without anyone truly looking into a young woman’s
disappearance. The woman’s sister learns the case has been closed, tells off
William, then hires Eliza to look into the matter.
Of course, Eliza solves the case.
One would think William would be happy for Eliza, but he is not. He feels
undermined that Eliza took on the case knowing he had closed it. Never mind the
fact he was wrong about his conclusion, Eliza was in the wrong, according to
William. Therefore, any romantic intentions must cease.
Eliza continues investigating
Losing William’s affections does
not stop Eliza from doing what she wants to do. She continues to investigate,
which means running into William from time to time. When they do, things
between them are tense.
On the second case of the season,
Eliza is asked by an insurance company to look for a missing Darwin
drawing. The missing drawing has also been declared stolen and reported to the
police, which brings in William. As the case goes on, Eliza discovers her
client is not exactly who she thinks he is.
William tries to protect Eliza
Eliza is in danger in the third
episode. Interestingly enough, it is William she is in danger of. He has been
ordered to charge her with theft at the city morgue.
Of course, Eliza is being framed,
and William knows that. The problem is, the head of the morgue is demanding
Eliza be charged. He is a man with a lot of disdain for the fact Eliza is a
female detective.
Eliza escapes arrest and, with
the help of her friend Moses (Ansu Kabia), goes into hiding. Moses then, along
with Eliza’s housekeeper, Ivy (Cathy Belton), works to clear Eliza’s name.
Another private detective enters the picture
In the fourth episode, Eliza
finds herself in competition with another private detective, Patrick Nash
(Felix Scott). He wants Eliza to work for him and she refuses. This sets Nash
off to prove he can solve Eliza’s case faster than she can. When will these men
ever learn?
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| Book Stack Kate Dorsey |
Eliza proves it pays to read
Eliza stumbles on a body with her
friend Hattie (Jessie Cave) in the fifth episode. The murder is staged as it appears
in a book Eliza loves. William has never read the book, or any of the other
books by the same author. As the clues to this mystery are in the books,
William must rely on Eliza a lot more than he would like.
At the same time, William is
struggling with a decision he must make. He has been offered a promotion, but
it would mean moving to Scotland. Eliza is certain William will not take the
job because he always turns down jobs that mean leaving London.
This observation upsets William.
He takes what she says about all his past turned-down opportunities the wrong
way and spends a long time pondering what his decision will be. It takes him
longer to come to a decision than it usually would, all because of what Eliza
said. Instead of getting bristly, maybe he should have truly listened to what
Eliza meant instead.
Nash takes a bullet for Eliza, by accident
Eliza’s life is in danger in the
final episode of the season. Nash has been shot. Through the investigation, it
is discovered that Eliza was the real target. It is a fact only discovered once
Nash himself asks Eliza to look into who shot him.
The police are also looking into
the incident. With William heading to Glasgow for his promotion, the young
Detective Fitzroy (Evan McCabe) is put in charge.
This lasts only until it is
understood that Eliza is in danger. At that point, William takes over. Because
when it comes to Eliza, he’s the one who must be in charge. He will also work
with anyone to keep her safe. Including Moses.
I say this because William and
Moses do not get along. They are definitely on different sides of the law. Yet,
when it comes to saving and protecting Eliza, all differences are put to the
side.
It’s not the same without Moses
There were a couple episodes this
season without Moses. In those episodes I missed him greatly. He is such a
great contrast to William. While William tries to stop Eliza from investigating
for his own sake, Moses only tries to stop her when he believes Eliza will
truly be in danger. When Eliza goes out to the dangerous places anyway, Moses
always shows up to help. I must say, no matter how hard he tries to prove
otherwise, Moses is actually a really sweet and caring man.
Eliza welcomes a new friend
There were a few new characters
this season. Most I have already mentioned.
One is Hattie Parker.
Hattie Parker is the cousin of
Eliza’s friend Rupert Parker (Andrew Gower). Rupert moved to Germany, and
Hattie has moved to London to stay with Rupert’s mother. A little quirky and
awkward, Hattie is perfectly happy to be unmarried. Her aunt, Mrs. Parker
(Helen Norton), disagrees.
Despite not actually liking
Eliza, Mrs. Parker hires Eliza to do background checks on all the potential
husbands. Determined Hattie should make her own decisions, Eliza makes sure to
find something wrong with each and every possible match.
Fitzroy is his own kind of detective
Another character introduced this
season is Detective Oliver Fitzroy.
Fitzroy’s father is the police
commissioner, and he is pushing his son to move through the detective ranks.
Fitzroy is not cut out to be a detective. At least not the way his father wants
him to be.
Fitzroy is an excellent
researcher. Once he gains the deductive knowledge, he will be very good at
putting clues together and figuring out who culprits are. He just will never be
the kind of detective who is good at chasing criminals, which is the kind of
detective his father wants him to be.
Personally, I really hope Fitzroy
and Hattie get together somehow. They’re both incredibly kind, awkward people.
They would be a good match.
Sadly, at the moment this does
not seem like it’s going to happen. But one never knows what will happen in the
future.
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| A Heart Set Free Kate Dorsey |
Ivy starts a relationship
Someone who does obtain a new
relationship is Eliza’s housekeeper, Ivy Woods. She becomes involved with
coroner Mr. Potts (Simon Ludders). Not technically a new character, Mr. Potts
takes on a new role in this season as Ivy’s love interest.
It all starts when Ivy visits Mr.
Potts, while pretending she is someone she isn’t, in order to save Eliza. Mr.
Potts finds out about the lie and confronts Ivy. In return, Ivy invites him to
have a meal with her. Their relationship grows from there.
The only hitch to this
relationship is Ivy is very loyal to Eliza, and Eliza drives Mr. Potts crazy.
He fully believes women should not be allowed in the morgue and upholds the ban
on women. Yet, every time Mr. Potts turns around, there is Eliza trying to get
inside the morgue, or has already snuck in.
A couple more introductions
Two more new characters are
William’s boss, Superintendent Monro (Ian Pirie), and Moses’s friend Clementine
(Laura Rollins). The head of the police department and a prostitute are not
going to have many scenes together, if any. Nor does William have any with
Clementine, and Eliza does not have any with Monro.
Most of what we see with Monro is
him butting heads with William. What we see with Clementine is Eliza trying to
work with her but having to outmaneuver her in the end. This creates only small
storylines for these characters, which makes me wonder if they will return in
future seasons.
What does the future hold for Eliza and William?
While it seems the long storyline
is about how Eliza and William are going to get together, I wonder if they
actually should. William always gets so aggravated with Eliza and takes cracks
at who she is. That is not a good basis for a romantic relationship. So, I’m
thinking, the question shouldn’t be how will these two get together, but should
they?
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