![]() William asserts that he will sit where he pleases and Margaret supports him. ![]() ![]() When we see him next, he and Margaret are with Lennox says that he will not sit near William as he is not a man. ![]() However, when he brings up helping Harriet, Margaret reminds him that they still need to pay their debts to the Lennox son. Here we learn that he was never slave but born a free Englishman but vows to be an advocate for Harriet to his wife in order to help her children know the same freedom. When he is first shown in the episode we see him with Harriet, as she fears that her children are doomed to slavery. Beyond this, his story is told in small part and we get to know him as a character more than we get to know any of the other men in the series. In this episode we see the importance of William in the lives of the Wells women. William North: I haven’t included men in my recaps because they have largely been background characters reacting to the women in the story. To protect her daughter, Mama Wells has betrayed her oldest friend, fought with her husband, had him dispose of a body, and has turned into a Quigley-esque figure. With Quigley’s scouts still posted outside the Greek Street house, she calls Mags (whose very adapt to disposing of bodies - I need more of her story) to help and in the same take goes to Quigley and gives up Lacey. Knowing that Quigley will be unrelenting in her pursuit of Lacey, she makes the decision to save her daughter from murder and stops waiting for him to die. When Quigley shows up unannounced and certain that Lacey is there, Margaret struggles to keep the dying Sir George a secret. She lets him bleed out, or at least tries to. After Margaret rushes in to see Sir George stabbed, she makes the call to not send Kitty for the surgeon. But, when your daughter kills your other daughter’s patron, choices have to be made. Mags uses their vow to ask Margaret for help but receives silent agreement. While Mags is harboring Emily Lacy, Quigley remains in the dark of her whereabouts. We learn that the women escaped Quigley’s house and vowed to run boards where the women earn and keep their money and are not held captives. Margaret Wells: After paying to attempt to pay off her debt to Lennox we see Margaret talking with Mags. Neither will believe that Sir George did not hurt her and William takes Lucy away to console her. After the fighting William and Margaret rush up to help. As the scene looks to be a rape much like Charlotte’s Lucy stabs him. When he comes to take her, and spite Charlotte in the process, Lucy will not have sex with him. Instead of being forced to take Lord Fallon, Mama Wells is open to the possibility of letting Sir George (Charlotte’s patron) buy her instead. In the opening, we see that the other women in the house are frustrated that Lucy can’t take even one client, but Wells won’t hear it. In a way, I feel that this highlights her trouble with prostitution and is her outlet, but it is very off-putting and raising walls between me and the untouchable Lucy. But her constant antagonizing of the other women in the boarding house paints her as the perpetual brat, incapable of respecting the women in the job that she does not have the stomach to perform. In episode 6, I think we are supposed to feel for her, have empathy for her position. Lucy Wells: Again, it is made clear that whoring is not a job that Lucy is good at nor one that she wants - I said this last episode but it is still the focus of Lucy’s arc. This episode sets the stage for the next to and is vital to finally get a resolution to our characters and having them become grounded in themselves and their relationships. Charlotte has turmoil in her life but it will not be the same as Harriet’s and Daniel Marney may be a harlot but he will never endure the same things as William. But in episode 6 and Harlots general, the importance of women is highlighted by also including small discussions of race. In too many period drama, the writers and directors do not include characters of color in the main or supporting cast and excuse themselves by claiming “history.” When they are included, often there is no sense of the terrible struggle these characters would have endured. It is about mothers, in episode 6, but it is also an episode that perfectly highlights the fact that the show-runners could have ignored race, but, they chose not to ignore it. There are two main points to episode 6: The lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her children and what happens when the child in question isn’t important.
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