My spouse and I have long been fans of the Poldark novels by Winston Graham, and of the 1970's TV series. We absolutely loved seasons 1-4 of this new adaptation. The scripts were faithful (in most particulars) to the books, and everything about the production was excellent: casting, directing, acting, music, locations, sets, costumes...everything! After a season or two, we had high hopes that this series would continue through adaptations of all 12 novels, the last 4 of which have never been filmed. After Season 4...well, we could not have been more disappointed with Season 5. I don't see how this season's opening title sequence can still carry the subheading "based on the novels by Winston Graham." The story line is completely off the books and off the rails. Characters act in ways that Winston Graham's creations would never have behaved. Much of the plot is implausible. There are far too many villains: a huge percentage of the screen time is spent with despicable people plotting and carrying out nefarious deeds; this quickly loses entertainment value and becomes tiresome. The last few minutes of the last episode are spent in a mad scramble to turn everything around and catch everything up to a point from which the rest of the novels could actually have proceeded. This whole season is completely ludicrous and unenjoyable to watch. If those responsible for this series weren't going to continue adapting the novels, they should have stopped at the end of Season 4.
