Eliza Scarlet is stubborn—she’s in her own head more often than not, and in order for her to finally get out of that space and look onward, she needs to (temporarily) lose William. (Hey Siri, play “You’re Losing Me” by Taylor Swift.) She needs someone to call her out, and she also needs to understand the colossal implication of going about things without her person by her side. The one she annoys, banters with, picks on, breaks apart, and loves. She knows his significance deep down, but she needs to really understand it. And thus, it makes complete sense that the writers chose this route with William’s love declaration in Miss Scarlet and The Duke’s “The Diamond Feather.” It makes complete sense that William and Eliza must go there separate ways before they come together as a couple.
It’s straightforward. It’s sincere. It’s vulnerable. It’s real. William loves Eliza with every fiber of his being, but he cannot stand to be around her and not be with her. His words aren’t poetic or spoken through sparkling metaphors that could potentially mislead someone—they’re simple and to the point. These two are a special case in romantic matters because, in a myriad of ways, they’re both wrong. William can’t expect Eliza to stop working, even if he spends every minute of that time worrying about her safety. Though she is more than capable of taking care of herself, he can do something about it by being by her side to protect her when threats start to rise. And Eliza needs to understand that she can’t continue jumping head first without rationalizing the outcomes. This leads to a beautiful (maybe foreign) notion called compromise—and, more importantly, communication.
What we have with William’s confession in Miss Scarlet and The Duke’s “The Diamond Feather” is a hefty start. It’s William putting every ounce of his feelings on the line, throwing the ball entirely in her court, making it abundantly clear that something has to change because his feelings are too overwhelming to keep concealed any longer.
In these moments between William and Eliza, we also see a crystallized view of his love becoming a reality when he leans forward to kiss her, keeping his eyes closed even after they part ways because he can’t face reality immediately. He inches forward and takes another leap, like he did years ago when he was trying to comfort her, but this time—it’s to comfort himself, too. He needs to remind himself of what it could be like if he continues to hold on while he’s away while simultaneously ensuring that she feels every bit of his emotions, too.
He also promises that this isn’t a permanent goodbye by uttering the words for now because he’s not a man who gives up easily. Arabella didn’t have to tell him that Eliza is a stubborn woman for him to know—he knows. He knows who he’s fighting for and why. Ivy might’ve instigated that it’s time he confesses, but William has been on the precipice up of it all season long, tiredly exclaiming she’s beautiful, heart eyes on full display, no strength left in him to stay subtle and maintain his cool. It’s how his expression softens earlier in the episode when her hand touches his on the sofa or when the idea of resuming their dinners becomes an actuality he could look forward to again. William Wellington has been telling Eliza Scarlet he loves her every single day without even needing the three little words to cement his feelings. He’s been showing it through all his movements, the silent conversations he’s begging to have when his eyes linger on hers for beats longer than they should. His declaration that he’ll never be okay with her life being threatened is another example.
They have many of (if not all) their most important conversations in the same dimly lit drawing room—a place that represents a home for both, in more ways than one. This residence is William’s home as much as it’s Eliza’s, and if it’s not foreshadowing the future, then I don’t know what is because it could’ve happened anywhere else—the office for crying out loud, which is also integral, but it’s not a home. It’s a place of work, despite how important it is to both of them. The way she looks back as the camera pans out toward the street and his carriage drives away—it’s a quintessential, angsty romantic moment. (And very similar to one we also adore in North & South.)
William and Eliza are each other’s lodestone—magnetized particles who’ll find each other, and Miss Scarlet and The Duke Season 4 proves as much consistently, from the moment they reunite to the millisecond they part ways. There’s no denying the feelings they both harbor for one another, and there’s no way to come together without unloading the crosses they both carry. William is ready to have significant conversations necessary to be in a relationship officially, but Eliza needs to be without him to understand that a career can’t be your entire world. It’s possible to have both. It’s okay to leave work back at the station when you come, and in fact, it’s imperative too—a healthy work-life balance is necessary no matter what period we’re living in.
She knows what it’s like to fear losing him, (as she experienced while he was comatose in the hospital), checking in on him day and night, but when he’s awake, she’s right back into her own head. She’s back to chasing the next case. This way, she could understand that William willingly walked away because he couldn’t hold on any longer to how things were going. There’s also something to be said about how she loves him, too. Of course, she does. We have evidence of this throughout Season 3, especially in how she also loses herself in the fake proposal. Eliza doesn’t like playing any man’s wife, but it’s effortless with William.
Kate Phillips does something so fascinating with the line delivery of “You love me, and yet you’re leaving”; she sounds small and confused for a beat—entirely unlike herself. And then the facial expression she dons when he leaves paints everything clear as day: this will be one of the hardest things she’ll ever face. However, for a beat, Eliza will be Eliza—she’ll push through. She’ll deny and deflect, and in the same way that Ivy needed to knock some sense into William, she’ll have to do the same for Eliza.
But finally, this way, William and Eliza could see that life without the other would be monotonous and muted—the light they both constantly turn to being farther away will allow them to understand just how tightly they need to hold on when they’re together again.
Miss Scarlet and The Duke Season 4 is now streaming on PBS.