aired its penultimate episode of season 2 this evening, but the drama is nowhere near finished.
Last week’s episode saw the announcement of the shock death of Mr (Tony Gardner), amid continuing political tensions, as well as the mystery to be solved of who is trying to ruin Ann Walker () and Anne Lister’s (Suranne Jones) life as each other’s companions.
Tensions between Walker and her family continued to grow, as they have been all season, with Aunt Ann Walker (Stephanie Cole) admitting to taking her niece out of her will.
Fans also saw her struggle with the realisation she may never be able to have children of her own if she stays in her union with Lister, which she resolved to continue at the end of episode six.
This week’s instalment played host to even more family drama, with Walker’s sister Elizabeth Sutherland (Katherine Kelly) caught in the middle between her husband Captain Sutherland (Derek Riddell) and her younger sibling, as the battle to finalise the division of their estate continued.
Meanwhile, Lister caught her footman Matthew (Leo Flanagan) and Eugenie (Albane Courtois) in the act, with the French servant revealing her intentions to marry her lover in order to remain at Shibden Hall.
But how does this set things up for next week’s finale? We take a recap of tonight’s episode below.
Lister digs herself into further financial trouble
Determined to go ahead with her grand plans for a hotel and casino, the entrepreneur looks to borrow yet more money to make it all happen.
But she spots further potential when she’s introduced to planner Mr Harper, who’s already built a whole street in York, sharing: ‘It’s not cheap, I wouldn’t want to build a cheap hotel, but the return will reflect the quality of the investment.’
She requests yet more money to make her ideas possible – but could she actually end up losing lots more in the process?
Wedding bells for Matthew?
After thinking they were being spied on, Lister and Walker go to investigate, only to find Matthew and Eugenie at it, thinking they were safely hidden in the woods.
When summoned by their boss, Eugenie had a proposition, saying: ‘ If I marry Matthew, will you keep me on until I can get on his farm? His father promised him a farm. But when it’s free – which he expects to be soon – he says Matthew can have it. Then we can get married.’
‘If I would to leave, would you let Eugenie keep her job?’ he asked, but Lister appeared to be having none of it.
While it’s not certain how romance has blossomed between the pair and whether it’ll last, could there be a cute finale wedding in store?
Captain Sutherland gets nasty
Despite not sharing the screen, tensions between Captain Sutherland and his sister-in-law have continued to build throughout the season, reaching their peak tonight.
While Walker believes he’s been trying to undermine her, and lie to her about information, Sutherland has been telling his wife Elizabeth the opposite.
Tonight’s episode saw things finally seem to come to a head, as after receiving yet more correspondence, it became clear Sutherland realised he was finally being caught out.
In an angered response, after discovering papers of his were at Shibden Hall, he concluded by writing: ‘As our properties and ms listers join I cannot help expressing my complete upset the titles have been at Shibden Hall which I should have decidedly objected to if I had known, what is going on, I do not know.’
But will the division of the estate actually end up going ahead? We’re not so sure.
Lister and Walker aren’t out of the woods just yet
Fans will remember in episode two when youngsters Eliza and Henry caught the couple kissing in secret at Crow Nest, having hidden in the Japanese Room for fear of being told off themselves.
But while in a lesson given by Ms Lister at Sunday school, Eliza told her classmate: ‘Me and Henry Hardcastle once saw her snogging Ms Walker.’
Will the pair’s romance come out in the finale?
Is Mariana plotting something?
Marianna was notably absent this week after episode six alluded she was the one sending mysterious letters to Walker, including details of Lister’s colourful past.
But with her nowhere to be seen in episode seven, it could mean she’s up to something sneaky, that we don’t yet know about.
We saw Lister previously fail to tell the truth to her wife about her one-night stand with her ex when she went to visit Lawton Hall, but with just one episode left, could Mariana have it in her sights to cause the relationship to crumble for good?
Gentleman Jack concludes on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
