#Mrs Scanwell

[incorrect-harlots]

Amelia, excited: I can't believe it. I'm going out with Violet! Whoo!

Mrs Scanwell, equally excited: Well, don't believe it, because I'm not letting you go. Whoo!

[moon-yean]

harlots + hugs

[booasaur]

There must be some good in you, to be missed so.

[cynicalrainbows]

Rewatching Season 1 of Harlots and how did I manage to forget the absolute heartbreak of watching the impromptu wake for Mary Cooper, the once-rising-star, now turned homeless syphilitic resident of Cheapside? 

Like the scene of Charlotte helping to prepare her old friends body, the ‘We should get some powder’ ‘No....let’s not cover up what life did to her’ exchange. The gravity as all the women have to look at the still-warm reminder of what their fate could be, and the absolutely amazing raw emotion on Margaret’s face when she confronts Mrs Scanwell, who is preaching that Mary has met her rightful punishment: ‘Mary Cooper reminds us of how brief our dance in the candlelight can be...and for those who damn us, let them be damned!’, and then the way they all sing over her body, and the very bawdy, rousing song is somehow made oddly tender too and then oh my god, Lucy putting the coins over her eyes (’My first harlots coins, Mary...’) 

It’s very beautiful and very sad, without being at all moralising or sentimental.

[calamity-bean]

favorite women meme

I was tagged by @thebeautifulsoup​ to list my top 10 women from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people! Adding gifs was not part of the requirements, but I love making posts long and unwieldy just so they can have pretty pictures. Thanks for the tag! <3

1. Amelia Scanwell (Harlots)

2. Anna Strong (Turn: Washington’s Spies)

3. Anne Bonny (Black Sails)

4. Arabella Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell)

5. Beverly Katz (Hannibal)

6. Gerri Kellman (Succession)

7. Nadja (What We Do in the Shadows)

8. Orla McCool (Derry Girls)

9. Sansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire)

10. Vanessa Ives (Penny Dreadful)

And I shall tag... @mercurygray​, @montmartre-parapluie​, @following-the-drum​, @justsomeghostofme​, @beau--brummell​, @marieduplessis​ aaaand that’s enough cause I’m bad at thinking of people to tag! Only if you want to, of course.

[mortuarybees]

mrs scanwell keel over and die

[avantegarda]

“Harlots” characters as iconic vines

Margaret Wells: “Bitch I hope the fuck you do, you’ll be a dead son of a bitch.”

Charlotte Wells: “This bitch empty, YEET.”

Lucy Wells: “Go back to sleep and starve.”

Will North: “I care about you. Here’s some pine cones on a stick.”

Sir George Howard: “Oh, fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this.”

Lydia Quigley: “Lipstick in my Valentino white bag???”

Charles Quigley: “I thought you were bae. Turns out you’re just fam.”

Nancy Birch: *pours 10 different kinds of soda into cup* “Fuck you.”

Emily Lacey: “Oh hi I didn’t see you there, I was too busy blocking out the haters.”

Mrs. Scanwell: “I want a church girl to go to church and read her bible.”

Amelia Scanwell: “Hi, I’m lesbian.” “I thought you were American?”

Violet: “I’m Jared, I’m 19, and I never fuckin learned how to read.”

Lord Fallon: “On all levels except physical, I am a wolf.”

Lady Isabella: “hey everybody today my brother pushed me so I’m starting a kickstarter to put him down”

Justice Hunt: “Is there anything better than pussy? Yes, a really good book.”

[festeringfae]

HE KISS HER FOREHEAD

THE KNOWING LOOK

GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I MISSED THEM SO BAD I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS SHOW

[always-la-belle-epoque]

harlots modern au:

emily lacey has a doormat on her stoop that say ‘cum again soon’ 

lydia quigley thinks it is tacky af and leaves a dead body on it to demonstrate her disapproval 

the wells women pretend they all hate but are secretly super jealous they didnt think of it first

nancy laughs every time she sees it and doesn’t try to hide her enjoyment because she likes how much it riles mags up

mrs scanwell keeps removing it

amelia scanwell keeps putting it back

pa patiently steps over it entirely on the rare occasion he is called upon to cross the threshold to deliver one of ma’s threats (and/or schemes)

lady fitz never sees it at all - she only has eyes for charlotte and her skirt is far too big

[diana-prince-s]

Harlots Thoughts

so I watched 3x01 at like 12:30 and I was just so psyched when I finished it because IT’S BACK, then I slept and thought about it for a little and here we are

spoilers ahead

•I’m not a huge fan of time jumps in any series and in any capacity, because I think there is a chance that a lot of necessary (and enjoyable) information is lost. Time jumps should be used appropriately (like not when you just left three to four storylines on pretty big cliff hangers).

•That said, Harlots did it and while I don’t think it was the right move, it was the move, so it’s up to the writers to make up for the lost year and give us the information -- and they didn’t.

•How did Charlotte’s house become the best one in London? When did William North leave, where is Jacob, and why don’t they have better protection than Nance (she’s formidable but come on, even Will has been taken down before)? How does Charlotte feel about Isabella, how does Isabella feel about Charlotte, and when did they make up? Did they make up? Where did all of Quigley’s girls go? Is Anne Pettifer with the Marquess of Blayne?

•On the subject of unanswered questions: Violet, Amelia, Hunt, and Mrs. Scanwell. Obviously one of the bigger cliffhangers, since Amelia was almost killed twice, Hunt was finally understanding the world of the poor and of harlotry and was going to do something about it, even as a former justice. Hunt was going to reengage his engagement to Amelia, and Amelia and Violet’s relationship was coming to a head. Also, Violet was about to be a spy.

•My theory is that the actors left. The writers wouldn’t have written an intertwined cliffhanger like that and then just write the characters out for lack of care. Also, they haven’t yet written the characters out, so it’s actually possible that they will show up in a later episode (which points to a serious flaw in this episode -- more on that later).

•Charlotte and Isabella: where are we? One of the many downfalls of a time jump, and this time jump in particular, is that we are missing an entire year of a story. The last interaction we had between Charlotte and Isabella was an angry and headstrong Isabella, finally empowered to take agency in her life, going off to get her daughter back from her brother (you know, after Charlotte wouldn’t take the situation seriously and gave Lydia an opening to take Sophia); Charlotte was overwhelmed by the death of her mother and heartbroken that Isabella refused to help her. Also, don’t forget that Isabella is the reason the women didn’t take down all the Spartans or get true justice for their fallen.

•Fast forward to one year later, and we get a total of one (1) Charlotte/Isabella scene that is supposed to fill in the gaps. I understand that the writers were trying to “show, don’t tell” this one, but they barely showed anything and told us absolutely nothing. The line about Charlotte not having any men in her bed, and the little (happy? hopeful?) look from Isabella is the only smidge of information that we received about the nature of their relationship. I can’t tell if they are lovers, just friends, or merely allies. 

•Of course, I had hoped that they’d made up and were lovers, but I think even then I’d be disappointed not having seen any of the process of making up. I’m disappointed no matter what they are, because we haven’t seen any interaction that would show us meaningful conversations over the last year (I also think in a year they would have already addressed what had happened -- a year is a super dramatic time jump).

•The scene with Isabella and Nancy was cute and was a bit more indicative of the relationship that Isabella has with Charlotte and with her house in general, but once again it doesn’t fit into the timeline of: a year after Charlotte and Isabella parted in a bad way, they are now tentative friends with obvious lingering chemistry but Charlotte still holds a grudge, but also Isabella goes to Greek Street often enough to be chummy with Nancy.

•I’m going to be honest, I’m shocked it’s taken this long for Sophia’s parentage to be questioned.

•I like the idea of Isabella pushing the boundaries of propriety and throwing out her reputation, but, once again, this seems like something that might have happened a long time ago, since Isabella spent a good number of weeks “conspiring with... harlots” in broad daylight and had already brought Charlotte and Lydia Quigley into her circles. I’m not sure why inviting Charlotte -- now a respected bawd rather than just a talented harlot -- to Isabella’s salon is that much more of a scandal now.

•I don’t understand the idea of Sophia running away, although I read someone’s theory that the servant she’s running away with was paid by Harcourt (props to whomever that was) so I guess that’s going to be neat. That just didn’t make sense to me.

•I’m interested to see where the Fanny/Charles storyline goes. I never really liked Charles, even when he worked with the women to throw Lydia in Bedlam, but to see him so low actually makes me very sad.

•They are doing really well with the Lydia storyline. I have always hated Lydia and I absolutely think she’s getting what she deserves, but every so often during the Bedlam scenes I caught myself pitying her, then I reminded myself how awful she was. That’s a really interesting and fun way to feel about a character, and I commend the writers for doing well with that.

•I love the idea of Lucy being a bawd, and I think it makes a lot of sense with her history of being afraid of men and having little desire to be a harlot. It’s weird to me that she’s this young and already a bawd, but I guess there isn’t like an age limit for bawds. Go Lucy.

•On to the men: I’m happy for Harlots’ continued presentation of  “every white straight male on our show is awful” because it’s true. However, I don’t find Alfie Allen (Isaac? Theon? What’s his name?) that interesting. He’s not particularly charming, he’s not particularly threatening, and he isn’t that witty. The rhyming and “poetic” dialogue isn’t... that good. He doesn’t have chemistry with Charlotte. Also, I feel like the entire pimp thing was brought about too quickly and resolved too quickly

•Charlotte has this incredible ability to think so quickly on her feet. She always seems to have a remedy for the fuckery she gets caught up in, because she’s really smart. However, I think that the pacing of the episode was just so bad. It took her two seconds to deal with the Pimp Problem and when it didn’t work, it took her another four seconds to get a better fix. The storyline just doesn’t challenge her.

I guess that’s all, so let me know if I forgot anything super important!

It looks like I’ll be writing fics from “the forgotten year”

[khaleesiofthegreatdairystate]

Harlots again! Better than last week!

What makes Harlots such a great show in my estimation is that it is genuinely suspenseful. You don’t know what’s going to happen moment to moment and the writing has the ability to surprise you.

Spoilers under the cut

Daddy is back! I cried when William embraced his two girls. He loves them so much. He’s such a great dad. He’s very scared about anything happening to his family, so he wants to stop Charlotte from taking some retribution because he watched it happen over and over again with Margaret. Of course Charlotte didn’t listen, though being too much like her mother.

I admit, I’m not much of a fan of Harriet. She’s been hypocritical towards Margaret and also a little too eager to chase after William when he was very obviously committed to Margaret in every way. But she does have good qualities and her story line has been one of the most interesting in the show.

I think it’s interesting that Emily stopped Hal from helping Isaac when William went after him. Who Emily is loyal to might become a question this season. Is she just with Hal because he was the best prospect on the horizon, or are there other reasons?

I did wonder what happened to Nell, thank you for telling me show. That’s one character’s fate kind of accounted for. Did Violet, Amelia, Mrs. Scanwell, and Rasselas snatched up, too?

The heist scene was great. This is exactly why I like this show so much because there was the real possibility that the ladies might have been caught. Not everything always works out for these characters. History has shown us that over and over. I’m so glad they pulled it off, though.

Lydia and Catherine’s take down of Doctor Swinton and escape was also brilliant. Another reason why this show is great is how it demonstrates how women on the show use their wits successfully to get one over on the men who abuse them. This was another example of that.

I don’t care too much about Sophie running away with a servant but Isabelle helping Charlotte get revenge on the Pinchers for arson was another satisfying moment. Charlotte’s relationship with Isabelle has been lopsided in the past. With Charlotte giving more to Isabelle than she gives back, but if Isabelle continues on this trajectory, she might become a worthy match for Charlotte in my estimation.

[tiny-librarian]

calltheturners reblogged your post:And the Harlots/Call the Midwife cast crossover...

I screeched when I saw Amelia!

I KNOW! First Mrs. Scanwell, Emily, then Fanny, now Amelia...who’s next???

[convenientalias]

6, 12, 27 for the femslash meme!

* = also interracial

** = also enemies to lovers

6. Interracial relationship

Sun Bak/Kala Dandekar (Sense8)

Lila Facchini/Kala Dandekar (Sense8) **

Kali Prasad/Nancy Wheeler (Stranger Things)

Mulan/Jasmine (Disney)

Cassie/Rachel (Animorphs)

12. Enemies/rivals to lovers

Carlotta/Christine (POTO)

Mei Lin/Chabi (Marco Polo)

Azula/Katara (ATLA) *

The Lady/Kate Sutton (The Perilous Gard)

Jabami Yumeko/Saotome Mary (Kakegurui)

27. A fandom/ship you discovered in 2018

Lady Caroline Howard/Charlotte Wells (Harlots)

Emma Pole/Arabella Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)

Barbara/Margerit (Alpennia)

Orsina/Aelia (Tales of Inthya) **

Amelia Scanwell/Violet Cross (Harlots) *

Thanks for the ask! There is nothing I love more than making a list.

[cynicalrainbows]

I’m not sure what my favourite thing about the end of Harlots Series 3, Episode 3, was.... Lydia Quigley accepting that starting the blood feud back up again was perhaps a terrible decision and deciding to start fresh with Kate? Margaret Wells realising the same thing and moving her family out to another city (after realising that moving back to the exact same house you always lived in and making zero attempts to the in the least bit subtle about is Not Wise for a woman who needs to go incognito? The fact that Fanny and Baby Kitty went with them (because they are family, after all)? Harriet’s continued success that will go on Forever? Amelia and Violet’s surprise appearance after returning to London after their long honeymoon (and the fact that Mrs Scanwell has finally come to accept their relationship after seeing how tender and loving they are)? Nancy finding love with the woman doctor who comes to treat Charlotte after her fall and continuing to be Lesbian Pirate Aunty to literally every single character? Cherry finding a nice boyfriend who has all the nice bits of Charles but none of the stupidity, dishonesty or treachery and living happily ever after? Isabella and Charlotte’s relationship maturing and growing as Isabella helps Charlotte through her recovery? 

There’s a lot to choose from, but I think I’d have to go with Harcourt being unexpectedly trampled by that escaped rhino from the London menagerie.

Really excellent and not at all controversial way to end the episode.

[calamity-bean]

“Oh — Miss Scanwell. I expect you’ve heard by now about Mrs. Quigley...”

[moon-yean]

harlots; 2x03

That was... a lot. I adored this episode?! Still collecting my thoughts. This show needs longer seasons man. But I’m happy it’s getting seasons at all.

Some scattered remarks:

We’re getting so many good interactions this season! William and Nancy, Nancy and Lucy, Lucy and Amelia, Amelia and Violet, Violet and Justice Hunt, Justice Hunt and Mrs. Scanwell, Mrs. Scanwell and Margaret... I feel like I’m playing Six Degrees of Separation lol The writers have done a really good job tracking all the characters and crossing their ways. It makes my brain feels scrambled after watching an ep but it’s very rewarding. (How good was the Nancy/Charlotte scene?! I’m not sure I was aware that Nancy knew what Charlotte is up to? Did we learn this earlier and I’m just very forgetful?)

Lady Isabella is a lesbian confirmed? Looked like it to me! In other words: YESSS!!!

But ewww @ Charlotte having to, eh, service her brother. That can’t end well, especially after Isabella made her promise to have nothing to do with him.

That wasn’t the Betsey mention I was looking for, yikes! But I guess we have our answer. Poor Betsey is no more. (At least that’s my understanding: that she’s dead. I bet most people who entered a pox house exited it with their feet first. That’s what people used to say about the early hospitals in the 18th century which is why only the poorest of poor went there who couldn’t afford to see a practitioner. Might as well have gone straight to the graveyard.)

I’m going to give Betsey’s beau the benefit of the doubt and say that it probably wasn’t HIM specifically who drove her there BUT him working through his, eh, grief in the way he did is also in extremely poor taste, so fuck him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Violet should’ve emptied the whole bowl of soup on him.

I don’t think I understood what the deal with Lady May and Lydia and her dad was. In fact, I don’t want to understand. Gives me the creeps.

How amazing was the scene where Charles went to visit them?! I was howling! “You’re grotesque!” aksdjfölkadjsf

This episode was really funny tbh, I was also howling during the Lucy/Fallon carriage ride. Like, the faces of the people they were passing by - priceless!

Mrs. Scanwell is so going to push Amelia to marry Justice Hunt y/y? After seeing someone else speculate that he might be gay, I now need them to beard for each other. I will accept no other scenario.

The scene where he went to inspect Margarete’s house was also fucking hilarious. But it was also poignant with the Nancy interaction. Ahhhh, so good.

Is William going to start running a fight club? I got some Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate vibes from that scene. So yes pls.

But it was also kinda sad, what with Jacob watching on. Poor boy can see his future unfold right there.