One Last Thing: Miss Scarlet and The Duke
[More] thoughts on the slow burn.
I wrote about the slow burn and my question by the end: when do you just give up hope on it and embrace whatever it is.
While it may have been precipitated by what SVU did to Benson/Stabler fans back in January, it was also a question I had while covering Miss Scarlet and The Duke.
The last two seasons of Miss Scarlet and The Duke have become prime examples that have reinforced these questions in my head.
For those unfamiliar with the Masterpiece mystery series, Miss Scarlet and The Duke follows Eliza Scarlet, a young woman during the Victorian era whose ambitions of following in her father’s footsteps as a private detective take his mantle in the aftermath of his murder.
Within Eliza’s inner circle are her usual conspirators and allies; Ivy, her parlor maid and the closest thing to a mother figure she has now; Moses, boxer and partner in [sometimes] crime; and William “The Duke” Wellington, Scotland Yard Detective Inspector, and longtime friend.
From the moment we see Eliza and William in a scene, it’s clear that something is there. Of course, initially, it feels like just a run-of-the-mill rapport between friends who have known each other since childhood [who may have been each other’s first kiss]. Possibly]. But as the first season ends, another kind of tension comes into play.
That good ol’ unresolved sexual tension begins to mix in with their genuine care and concern for each other, especially when either is in danger. [See: Season 1 Episodes 6 & 7.]
Season 2 substantially raised the relationship stakes in the premiere and continued to build on that tension throughout the season, giving fans some fantastic – if angsty – close calls.
The premiere, “Pandora’s Box,” certainly allows them to cross that line. But they soon find out what they want out of their lives in terms of their careers, and personal relationships still don’t mesh.
Eliza wants a partner, a flourishing private detective agency, while choosing her own cases, to be seen as an equal in any relationship. William wants someone who will support his professional goals while falling into some of the more Victorian notions of what a relationship entails.
This isn’t a small plot contrivance to keep them apart. These are good reasons to have them continue to grow as individuals and then re-evaluate what they want from their relationship and whether they can give it to each other.
This conflict was a great arc for Eliza and William throughout the show’s sophomore season, leading to another finale where fans still find the pair moving closer.
But things feel different upon the show’s return for the third season.
Season 3 puts distance between Eliza and William for most of the season, opting to explore different investigative dynamics that – though incredibly fun – avoid the relationship-shaped elephant in the plot.
While “The Jewel of the North” opts for making the barriers to their relationship one of the central questions for the upcoming fourth season, it feels like we might very well be headed for another season with these feelings lingering but no absolute resolve.
It keeps the pair in the same place they were at the premiere.
Granted, their inaction is noted by those close to them and maybe even puts them in a position to begin making the big decisions to move forward.
Moses’s advice to Eliza about wanting multiple things and deciding on one is not even remotely subtle—and potentially troubling in Eliza’s world when it comes to her desire for a career and seeming growing desire for a relationship.
And don’t even get me started on Arabella’s blunt approach to getting William to realize that Eliza will never willingly choose him and what he wants over her ambitions of becoming a successful private detective.
I guess I’ll have to wait and see how much weight those words are given on Miss Scarlet and The Duke Season four, which will hopefully not involve nonsense triangles.
Please.
Thank you for reading the (delayed) ramblings of a TV fan on an over-discussed topic!
- B