Back in England during the Peace of 1814, Sharpe is thrust into a violent dispute between Yorkshire workers and their penny-pinching paymasters, all while trying to recover the money stolen by his adulterous wife and her lover.
Tropes that appear in this episode:
- Affably Evil: Sir Willoughby Parfitt.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Subverted. The villain is not an aristocrat, but a monied commoner who compares himself directly to Sharpe as a man from humble beginnings who rose to prominence on his own merit.
- Big Bad: Sir Willoughby Parfitt.
- Big Damn Heroes: Lord Percy at the end.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: George Wickham is the latest in a long line of classist, smug, childish, arrogant, lecherous, incompetent aristocrats who clash with our boy Richard... but to give the devil his due, he's a very good duellist, cleanly getting the better of Sharpe in their first fight.
- The Dragon: Wickham to Parfitt.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Parfitt is enraged by George's murder of innocents, doubly so when he learns that it was pointless since the rabble-rouser he actually wanted dead escaped anyway. He also tries to rein his adjutant in when the latter gets drunk and acts inappropriately towards Jane at dinner.
- Also applies to Rossendale's more moral actions in this episode, for a given value of "evil" anyway.
- Evil Former Friend: Subverted with Sharpe's childhood friend Matthew, who ends up being much more heroic than the picture painted of him suggests.
- The Fighting Narcissist: Wickham.
- Hidden Depths: John Rossendale is given a kinder portrayal in this episode. For all his flaws and mistakes, he does have a sense of honour and chivalry, and he comes out looking downright heroic in his conflict with Wickham.
- Honour Before Reason: One way in which Sharpe and Rossendale are shown to be similar in this episode.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Delightfully averted. Lord Percy shows up to the scene of a bloodied Sharpe – reputedly maverick – holding Wickham at swordpoint, the bodies of Percy's butchered workers laying dead all around them. He sees straight through Wickham's attempt to attribute the killings to Sharpe and gives the major his leave to kill the lying wretch.
- It Amused Me: The likely motivation behind everything and anything Lady Anne does in this episode.
- Karma Houdini: Parfitt's punishment is to write a letter to London exonerating Sharpe for Wickham's crimes. He readily agrees to this and bows out with no further consequences, although Lord Stanwyck does suggest he'll be ruined now his villainy has been exposed. It's not that egregious, since he was firmly in Affably Evil territory and Even Evil Has Standards applies somewhat.
- Long-Lost Relative: Sharpe and his childhood friend-turned-enemy Matthew are revealed to be brothers.
- Love Makes You Evil: Rossendale refuses to believe Sharpe guilty of the peasant massacre and is angry at the accusation; he also expresses regret that his own actions led to the major's present misfortune. But to keep Jane, he says he'd do it all again.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The rabble-rouser Matt Truman is Sharpe's half-brother.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Rossendale is outraged at Wickham's crass, disrespectful, and lecherous behaviour towards Jane, and furiously prepares to duel him. Jane, who would rather reap the rewards of their dealings with him and leave without making another enemy, points out that she left Sharpe for the same sort of myopic bravado.
- Oop North: This episode, uniquely, is set in Sharpe's native Yorkshire.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jane Gibbons gives a nasty one to Sharpe:Is that clear enough to you? You will never have the chance. You're right, there is no war, so they don't need you. They'll be glad to be rid of you. You're a relic. An embarrassment. Worse. You're an animal. All you can do is kill. John doesn't have to have a sword in his hand to be a man. I thank God for the day he saved me from you. He's a hundred times the man you ever were. He knows how to talk. He knows how to live. And he knows how to love. Your mother was a whore. You were born in the gutter. And that is where you still belong.
- Sentenced to Down Under: Sharpe is threatened with being shipped to Australia if he doesn't accept his assignment in Yorkshire.
- Shout-Out: George Wickham shares a name with a character from Pride and Prejudice, who is also a military officer and an antagonist.
- Smug Smiler: Wickham. Even when Sharpe denies him a clean death and decides to see him hang, all he can do is smirk.
- Villainous Friendship: Parfitt and Wickham aren't above ribbing each other, and the former will give the latter an earful when needed, but they clearly enjoy one another's company and are privately shown to be very close.
