Harlots Season 3 recap: Is Charlotte going to retaliate against the Pinchers?

The latest season of the Hulu Original Harlots debuted this past week and Season Three is already off to a fiery start. Keep reading for our thoughts on the series premiere.

Harlots is finally back on Hulu and the bawds are already in hot water thanks to some new foes. It’s been a year since Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton) was transported to America, and Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) is running the house with great success. She’s even working with Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam (Liv Tyler) to convince the noblewomen to help the women of the street.

While those endeavors seem doomed from the start, Charlotte also has to deal with new competition now that the Pincher brothers are in town. Isaac Pincher manages to pull one over on Charlotte by charming himself into her house (and, briefly, her bed). That is before he reveals himself to be a pimp who wants to take a significant portion of Charlotte and the girls profits.

With her livelihood at risk and her girls in danger, Charlotte makes it her mission to put Isaac back in his place. It’s clear that Isaac has severely underestimated Charlotte. He’s not expecting her to show up with her girls in tow and the law following soon after.

Isaac’s brother Hal (Ash Hunter), warns him that directly attacking the Wells house is the wrong move; it’s smarter to work their way up to a house as popular as Charlotte’s. However, even after Isaac is released from jail, he continues to provoke Charlotte into action.

Charlotte marches to the Pincher’s pub yet again with her girls, but she also gathers all of the harlots she can find along the way. She tells Isaac that now that all of them know what his plans are, it won’t be so easy to take over. It’s an embarrassing show for him, especially since Charlotte is involving his girls in it as well. Isaac takes it as well as could be expected and decides to hit Charlotte where it hurts: she can’t run a bawdy house if there’s no house, to begin with.

With the Well’s house aflame, it’s hard to say whether they’ll be able to save it, but we’ll likely find out in the next episode. From the trailer, it seems as though Charlotte is spending a fair bit of time in Lady Fitz’s house. Perhaps they’ve rekindled their brief romance if it ever ended. But that doesn’t take into account all the girls that would be displaced if the house was destroyed, and what Margaret will say when she reappears. Hopefully, we’ll learn more in the next episode.

While Charlotte is dealing with the Pinchers, her old foe Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) remains locked up in the Bedlam Asylum. It’s no question that Lydia doesn’t deserve our sympathy for the myriad of atrocities she’s committed. However, seeing the conditions of the asylum and how badly the women were treated there is definitely hard to watch. She does gain an ally, though with the introduction of Miss Kate Bottomley (Daisy Head), who was committed by her family for fornication. It’s clear that Lydia is planning complete revenge on Charlotte and Lady Fitz; perhaps a partnership with Miss Bottomley will be her means to an end.

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After Lucy (Eloise Smythe) spent the majority of season 2 being manipulated by Lord Fallon, she’s taking control of her fate in season three. She tells Nancy (Kate Fleetwood) that she doesn’t have what it takes to be a harlot anymore; she’d rather run her own house instead. With the money she has saved up, she decides to throw her hat in the ring during the auction for Golden Square.

At the auction, she begins to bid against Elizabeth Harvey and her son Fredo (played by newcomers Angela Griffin and Aiden Cheng). When they both get outbid, Elizabeth suggests they go in together to buy Golden Square, and Lucy agrees.

With both of their fortunes combined, Elizabeth and Lucy can purchase Golden Square. However, Lucy doesn’t expect what Elizabeth is planning for the brothel; a molly house to rival all others. Despite the dangers of running a molly house, Lucy is all for this new endeavor. But Elizabeth isn’t exactly being upfront with Lucy about her intentions.

What are your thoughts on the latest season of Harlots so far? Any hopes for episode two? Let us know in the comments below.

Harlots Season Three continues with new episodes added every Wednesday. For more on Harlots and everything Hulu related, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Page @HuluWatcherFS or the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.

(Source: Hulu)