The Luminaries is BBC's latest period drama, and while the series has nailed the gorgeous costumes and incredible scenery, there's one element of the show that viewers are seriously struggling with: the plot!
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The series is an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Eleanor Catton, and some viewers have admitted that they have been confused by how the show jumps back and forth to the past and present - and by the array of different characters and their involvement in the story. As such, we have put together a full explanation of the plot (after a lot of head-scratching and several tea breaks)! Enjoy...
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The story follows Anna Wetherall, a young women who travels to the island of Hokitika in the hopes of finding gold during the Gold Rush. After meeting Emery Staines on the way there and feeling an instant attraction, she is tricked into working for the mysterious Lydia Wells, who also tricks her into missing her meeting with Emery - separating the pair.
Anna becomes a prostitute and is addicted to opium. When she is reunited with Emery, the pair experience a supernatural moment due to being 'astral twins' AKA being born at the very same moment, and entirely swap their experiences. For example, while Anna was addicted to opium, it is now Emery who is addicted, and when Anna shoots herself in the chest, it is Emery who sustains the bullet wound. Anna can also read and write because Emery can, something she was unable to do beforehand.
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Meanwhile, Lydia is in an unhappy marriage with Crosbie Wells and is having an affair with her former lover, Francis Carver, who has recently been released from prison. Since Francis is unable to find work due to being a former convict, the pair hatch a plan for Francis to use the name of Crosbie Wells to do business.
After Crosbie strikes it rich by finding a huge amount of gold, the pair steal it from him and sew it into a series of gowns, which they then place on politician Lauderback's ship, making him in possession of stolen goods. They also discover that Lydia's husband Crosbie is the half brother of Lauderback, and Lydia also has an affair with him to blackmail him into signing over the deeds to the ship.
Anna eventually ends up with the gold-laden gowns, but is entirely unaware of what they contact. While she is passed out after having taken opium, Quee Long discovers the gold in her gowns and asks Emery Staines to bank it for him by claiming that it was found on his land.
However, Emery entered a partnership with Francis under false pretences, and after discovering the truth about him, he bought the land under the impression that neither of them would ever be able to find gold on the mine. As such, he refuses to bank the gold as he knows that Francis would get half and ditches it.
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Quee manages to finds all of the ditched gold on Emery's land and this time smelts it, carving the name of the gold mine, 'Aurora' on the bars. Emery is once again reluctant to bank the money as it Francis will receive half of the profit, and asks Crosbie Wells to hide it, finally explaining why Crosbie was found with thousands of pounds worth of gold in his cottage.
Francis, realising that his plan has failed, then murders Crosbie by forcing him to drink laudanum and shoots his friend, Te Rau Tauwhare, who survives the attack and kills him to avenge Crosbie. Meanwhile, Anna and Emery are reunited, and since he is aware that the truth behind their story would never be believed, he lives in court about what really happened - claiming that he was the one who stole Anna's purse, resulting in her exoneration while he spends nine months in prison.