How to fix “Miss Scarlet and the Duke,” PBS’ Victorian detective series that’s lost its way

Ansu Kabia as Moses and Kate Phillips as Eliza Scarlet in “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” (Courtesy of Element 8 Entertainment and MASTERPIECE / Sergej Radovic)

Eliza’s career as a private detective and her desire to be taken as seriously as any man in her position would be is one of the show’s main throughlines. But it’s also become a crutch for the writers, an excuse for hitting the brakes on Eliza’s burgeoning relationship with William.

While it might be more appropriate for the time period, from a 2023 perspective — which is from where we all must view this story — it’s become tiresome. It’s also laughable that Eliza must choose between personal happiness and professional success in the wake of the introduction of Arabella, a woman (albeit a widow) running a successful business while also engaging in a courtship with William. This relationship no doubt was meant to show that the latter would also support Eliza’s career ambitions (though we’d seen plenty of evidence of this before Arabella entered the picture).

The Season 3 cliffhanger of Nash offering Eliza the opportunity to become his company’s chief investigator in London while he sets up the Paris office hints at some major changes in Season 4, and while it seems somewhat unlikely that Eliza is going to give up her own practice at this point, something has to change.