As the episode begins, Lydia (Lesley Manville) and Kate (Daisy Head) escape from Isabella’s house. Lydia is worried they’ll think she did it. Emily Lacey (Holli Dempsey) watches them flee. Hal (Ash Hunter) leaves with Isaac (Alfie Allen). Margaret (Samantha Morton) and Lucy (Eloise Smyth) find out about Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay). Charlotte is carried to a bed. Margaret encourages her to full through. William (Danny Sapani) sends Jack (Alex Sawyer) after Justice Stuart Knox. Hal and his brother are worried that they’ll blame them. Hal promises Lacey that he had nothing to do with Charlotte’s death. She blames Isaac.

She intends to blame everything on Lydia. He tells her to tell them what she saw. When Lydia makes it home, Mrs. May (Anna Calder-Marshall) forces her to sleep with a man. Will prevents the servants from cleaning up the blood. He wants the justice to see it. He speaks with Harriet (Pippa Bennett-Warner). She agrees to break the news to Jacob (Jordan A. Nash). Jonas speaks with William about Margaret. The justice doesn’t want to be disturbed. Jack convinces Stuart (Jack Greenlees) to investigate the crime. Isaac breaks into the brothel and steals Charlotte’s dress.

He runs into Fanny (Bronwyn James). She threatens to scream. He tells her to do it before leaving on his own. Lord Leadsom visits Harriet. He isn’t happy about being sent away by Jack. He changes his attitude when he learns about Charlotte’s troubles. Harriet agrees to meet with him that night. After he leaves, Harriet enters the room with Rani and Jacob. She tries to break the news to him. We learn that Anne Pettifer (Ellie Heydon) is pregnant. The Marquess of Blayne (Julian Rhind-Tutt) just wants her to shut up and push it out already. Fredo (Aidan Cheng) spends time with Croft.

Croft has become concerned that they could be caught. He says he is going to pay Fredo and Lucy from now on. Jonas and William speak about the kids. William makes it clear that he and Margaret were never married. Emily Lacey manages to spread the word about Lydia but Nancy (Kate Fleetwood) isn’t buying it. Lucy tells everyone about her sister sleeping with Isaac and Fanny tells them about her run-in with him. Jonas encourages Margaret to leave but she refuses. Emily runs into Isaac in the street. She takes Charlotte’s dress from him and encourages him to use some common sense. Stuart arrives and checks out the body. He begins questioning the group about what happened.

Stuart agrees to bring the culprits to justice but only if they’re able to provide him with enough evidence. The key suspects are Lydia Quigley, Hal, and Isaac. Lydia tells Kate that she is bereft over the passing of Charlotte despite their past problems. Isabella (Liv Tyler) convinces the group that they should let the public come and see Charlotte’s body as a memorial of sorts. Lacey tells Hal about his brother going insane. Elizabeth gets a visit from Mrs. May who wants her money. Elizabeth agrees to let her look through the books. Justice Stuart visits Lydia but he ends up leaving without making an arrest. Before he goes, he tries to convince Kate that staying with Lydia would be bad for her.

Margaret puts together a plan to get in touch with Emily Lacey. Lucy returns home with William. They run into Elizabeth and May who are still going through the books. William is concerned that Lucy is now in a business relationship with Mrs. May. Elizabeth tries to put their mind at ease by telling them that everything will be okay. Meanwhile, Hal and Isaac get into an argument. Isaac says that this isn’t his fault. Their argument calms down quickly when Emily enters and tells them that the justice is downstairs. The brothers are questioned but they’re not charged with any crime thanks to Lacey giving them alibis. Lydia and Kate run into the Marquess. Again, he tries to buy Kate.

He manages to strike a deal with Lydia after telling her that he wants Kate for Prince Henry. Meanwhile, Emily Lacey plans to use her gunsmith friend to convince Jonas to offer the deal to Hal once again. Fanny runs into Emily and tries to convince her to leave Hal. Emily Lacey isn’t willing to listen to her. As instructed by Emily, Rosamund (Kirsty J. Curtis) seduces Isaac. Margaret and William share a kiss after Margaret says she would never leave him. Isaac forces Rosamund to put on Charlotte’s jacket before telling her he loves her. The public begins arriving to see Charlotte’s body. Kate is passed over to the Marquess before being taken to Prince Henry. Mrs. May steals the money from Lydia.

Emily and Chadwick come through with the deal from Jonas. However, Chadwick wants nothing else to do with Emily, Hal or Isaac. Lydia visits Charlotte’s body but is forced to leave very quickly. Kate meets with Prince Henry. They do not get along together at well and Kate ends up insulting him and leaving. Mrs. May chokes on a fish bone. Lydia doesn’t do anything to help her. Isabella visits her brother and his new baby. Anne made it through the birth just fine although the Marquess jokes about it. Anne comes down and Isabella asks to hold the baby. When her brother hands the baby over, she lets Anne hold it for a bit.

Elizabeth visits May only to find out that she is dead. Elizabeth sees this as an opportunity to escape her debt but Lydia intends to use it against her. Lydia searches the house and finds the evidence she needs. Kate returns and tells Lydia what happens. Lydia is just happy that she finally has something to use to her advantage. The girls try to bury Charlotte’s body. Margaret doesn’t want to leave the body in the ground but she has no choice. Isaac tries to visit the grave. Lydia gets rid of May’s body and runs into Cherry (Francesca Mills). Isaac watches from a distance as Emily Lacey meets up with Margaret. Emily tries to convince Margaret that Hal and Isaac were with her all night long. In fact, she blames Margaret for the death.

Emily tries to convince everyone that Lydia was responsible for Charlotte’s death and Lucy seems to believe it. Isaac overhears the entire conversation. Isaac tracks down Emily a short time later and asks her about Margaret. Emily admits it to Hal and his brother. Hal is only worried about having an alibi. Hal tries to blame everything on everyone else. Hal calms him down and says that they’ll make their fortune now. Cherry tries to obtain a job with Lydia. Lydia isn’t interested in selling her out but she does have a job for her. Lydia explains that she wants Cherry to teach Kate in the art of profanity. Cherry likes the idea and begins helping Kate immediately. Elizabeth is introduced to Margaret.

Nancy invites Jonas inside but he doesn’t want to go in. He says that he will be leaving in two days and he says Margaret should go with him. Nancy agrees with that. Stuart tries to get Emily to admit that she lied to him. He threatens that her lies are going to fall apart pretty soon. Stuart spots Kate and calls her bad names for taking on the harlot life. She tells him that her fate is what she makes him. Cherry encourages Kate to sleep with the justice since she needs practice. Lydia goes to Lucy and Elizabeth. She wants them to know that she owns a part of the business now.

 

Harlots Review

I think this season of Harlots started out great. The first three episodes were interesting and entertaining. This one was a step back. I understand what they’re trying to do. However, the episode felt sluggish and slow. Now that Charlotte is gone, Lucy and her mother will try to pick up the pieces. I am eager to move past this episode and see where things go from here. Catch up with previous recaps of Harlots right now!