TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - A Stronger Loving World

I would apologise at the lateness of this review of Ripper Street, ‘A Stronger Loving World’, but to be honest it’s taken me this long to get my head around the different broken fragments of the episode.

Racial tension began as the order of the day, when a Church is torched, leading to widespread blame of the Jewish community. A subsequent attack on a synagogue as well as some crafty pamphlet font comparison work (as you do) leads H division to investigate the possibility that both attacks were carried out by the same party. Rose (Charlene McKenna), after the discovery that Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) can no longer financially support her, left brothel for slightly less green pastures, which consisted largely of her drinking gin alone in a public house. Befriended by a mysterious cult-like group, Rose finds herself in an oddly luxuriously decorated abandoned building, with food and a roof over her head for as long as she needs it. Only the pages of religious doctrine littered about, as well as all the references to ‘Father’ suggest that anything sinister is afoot – but are the cult too good to be true? Meanwhile, Bella Drake (Gillian Saker), wife of Bennett (Jerome Flynn) mysteriously disappeared, only to return a day later with her strange long lost Uncle, Gabriel Cain, played be a gloriously Captain Hook-like be-bearded Paul Kaye. It’s up to Bennett and Rose to figure out what’s going on, conveniently bringing together the (vague) threads of the storyline in the process because, of course, they are were all connected.

In another vastly confusing episode, Paul Kaye was able to really stand out as the sinister cult leader, creating an artificial family of followers all of whom, naturally, adore him. He looked every inch the part (the inches, of course, being the beard) and was wholly believable as a man capable of manipulating not only poor innocent Bella but an entire group of people into a deluded suicide pact at his behest. Second only to this performance was that of Jerome Flynn, who was heart-breaking as the distraught newlywed who finds his happiness disappearing in front of his eyes almost as quickly as it materialised in the first place. It was just a shame that, having been so, er, shortlived, (bit of a spoiler there, I apologise), the happiness itself, in the form of Bella, didn’t quite pack the emotional punch it could have had she been a more established character. Again with Ripper Street, the detective’s wives are little more than expendable plot devices, doomed to further the action with graceful deaths and emotional breakdowns, but never to add anything to it. In a stunning act of self-awareness, however, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) seemed to begin to realise this here, giving Bennett all the time he needed to mend his broken personal life. I couldn’t help but wish that this had been the focus of the storyline instead, but alas no such luck, especially with the homeless Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) drunkenly stumbling about the place like a dodgy Jack Sparrow impersonator.

With such a potentially interesting start, we were once again sent spinning off into a wild vortex of a tangent with this episode. As has so often been the case with Series 2 of this show, the episode we ended up with was completely different from the one we signed up for at the start of the show, to the detriment of any themes established in the first quarter of the episode. Present as ever was The Scene, in which all the confusing madness is explained, although here this served more to frustrate than inform.

I really hope it can get enough of a grip on one single narrative thread to make the final episodes work. With the recent announcement of the cancellation of Series 3, it would be cheering if the show could go out with more of a confident bang than a perplexed whimper.

Jen 

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Threads of Silk and Gold

I hate to begin a review on a pun (this is a lie) but during Ripper Street Episode 5, ‘Threads of Silk and Gold’ I have to say I found said thread, in terms of the plot at least, rather difficult to get a hold of.

The episode began with a pair of young lovers, specifically a pair of young telegram messenger boys, discussing their plans to run away together- away from a society which does not accept them. Soon, however, we find ourselves in a case of mistaken identity, as another telegram boy is killed in one of the lovers’ places. Upon further, well inspection I suppose, of the victim, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and his team discover, through some potentially grisly post mortem examination from Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) that this boy, and presumably several of the others, were selling themselves to business men for a bit of money on the side. And so the plot thickens, leading our trio to the doors of the men who used the services of the telegram boys, particularly as one likely client, or companion as he seemed to prefer to think of himself, is now also dead. Reid and his men must consider the business affairs surrounding the situation in order to surmise what may be happening, leading them to the characteristically shady world of Whitechapel’s banking system. Presumably not a banking system much more reputable than the UK banking system of today.

There was much potential here. The social context of homosexual relationships in Victorian London, in a time when to love a member of your own sex was a harshly punished crime, was an interesting one to choose, particularly after the equally weighty themed ‘Become Man’. The show’s basis in contextual fact had a human face here, especially as the issue seemingly so troubled Captain Serious himself, our humble leader, Inspector Reid. Sadly, as is so often the case with Ripper Street, and I do tire of banging on about it (believe me) it felt like a wasted opportunity. There was no real spark to the episode (well there was, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with main plot – more on this shortly), nothing to incite the passionate response this issue so sorely deserved. It was left to Jerome Flynn’s thoughtful, respectful silence in the presence of the bereaved boy, towards the end of the episode, to convey all the sympathy and respect the episode just didn’t quite manage by itself. Don’t get me wrong, he did it rather well, we just needed more than one look from him and several moments of sympathetic blustering from his boss to feel that this had been executed efficiently.

 

Meanwhile, the loyal and trustworthy Reid was having problems of his own. Since it was revealed to the audience that his wife, Emily, has now been institutionalised due to her prolonged and ultimately delayed grief over the death of their daughter, not to mention the ‘false hope’ and betrayal from her husband, Reid has, in a staggering event of chronological convenience, been, well, flirting, frankly, with ‘Become Man’ MP Jane Cobden (Leanne Best). Much as the analytical nerd in my enjoyed the fact that the character featured in two episodes which make sense as a pair, particularly in terms of sexuality and character development, appearing the second to bring this theme to fruition, the whole thing just didn’t feel very Reid-like. Whilst he did have an affair in Series One, he was at least a tiny bit traumatised by guilt over that one, whereas now by contrast it seems that 30 seconds worth of dialogue about his poor (forgotten!) wife is the only license he needs to play tonsil tennis with another dark haired beauty. Given that the man struggles to make any decision with pondering it later over whisky with Bennett, seemingly wracked by something akin to guilt (although that may just be the earnestness again), this rapid emotional rebound just didn’t sit right with me.

On though, to the spark of the episode I mentioned earlier. Out of nowhere, almost at the end of the episode, after The Scene where all is revealed very quickly in hushed voices against an overly loud musical backdrop, came a scene the like of which I dare say we have not seen in Ripper Street before. Packing a huge, not to mention unexpected, emotional punch, came the seeming demise of the marriage between Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) and Jackson. Having discovered that he has gambled away what was left of her money in a misguided attempt to help her, Susan doesn’t rant, doesn’t rail, doesn’t throw a heavy household object at his head as we’ve seen her do before and like he expects, even asks her to, but simply, quietly, tells him to ‘get out’. Following on from her new found opinions and strength of character from Become Man, an episode I now definitely consider to definitely be the episode’s pair (if such decisions are indeed made at Ripper Street towers), this was a fascinating development.

In fact, ladies and gentlemen, I think that moment is a likely contender for the accolade I’ve just made up – moment of the series so far. It’s just a shame the rest of it was such a tangled mess of telegram uniforms, actors with confusingly similar haircuts and a devastating lack of thread – silk and gold or otherwise.

Ripper Street is next on Monday night, 9pm BBC One.

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Become Man

This week’s episode of Ripper Street took a departure from the norm somewhat. The norm being the side-lining of the show’s female characters in favour of some dubious plotlines and questionable (at best) dialogue.

Become Man, however, saw Long (Tall) Susan (MyAnna Buring) take centre stage. The episode kicked off with her and her husband/partner/housemate/hanger on (nobody’s quite sure) Homer Hackson (Adam Rothenberg) taking a trip to  a local music hall where Series One regular and former prostitute Rose (Charlene McKenna) has taken a job  as a waitress in an attempt to make it as an actress. They’re scarcely there ten minutes when a powerful councillor is abducted by what Detective Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) remarkably quickly deduces to be a gang of women. It isn’t long until one of Susan’s customers is also abducted, with Susan herself being taken too. Jackson shows concern for her for a change, and the team tear across London trying to identify the women’s vengeful and in so doing locate their hide out.

Walter de Souza, the first to be abducted, turns out to have made a stand against the potential election of Jane Cobden, a real life Liberal politician, played here with aplomb by Leanne Best.  This forms the team’s first lead, and with it they identify a running theme as to the chosen abductees. Largely carried out by women angry at their treatment by men, specifically due to their mistreatment and lack of compensation from matchbox factory owners uncaring about their phosphorous poisoning, the episode allows some interesting questions to be raised about revenge, justice and the means by which to gain it. The subsequent return of Susan to Reid and the gang (a less breezy version of Kool and the Gang) also allows her to be used as bait by the men, adding to this idea of female worth in a male world. To that end, it is no surprise that she begins to sympathise with the women, developing an understanding with and empathy for Raine (Neve McIntosh) an actress usually found dressed as a reptile in Doctor Who.

It is this understanding which causes Susan’s loyalties to be questioned for good, and we can’t help but feel as an audience that if the Three Musketeers hadn’t swooped in (well, stumbled in behind  hefty and inaccurate battering ram) and rescued her at the last minute, she might just have stayed. This subplot gave a fascinating new dynamic to what at times can be a spectacularly dull show, as Jackson stepped up to the plate and behaved like he cared about someone other than himself, Myanna Buring had more than three lines, and was allowed not only to do more than pout, but to raise some real life serious points! Radical, I know. Rose’s return didn’t serve much of a purpose, I suspect perhaps the female focus of the episode meant that they simply had to get as many actors with breasts into shot at once as was humanly possible. Even her scenes with Bella (Gillian Saker), a woman who technically is her love rival, didn’t lead to anything at all, and the storyline was quickly dropped. Although to be fair, that’s pretty standard behaviour from a Ripper Street episode. (Don’t even get me started on the Joseph Merrick cameo).

This was a surprisingly enjoyable hour of viewing. It wasn’t perfect, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but it was certainly making strides in the right direction. If they can keep this up, they might just, just be on to something with this series.

Time, and you don’t have much of it left to wait, will tell.

Ripper Street is next on tomorrow night, BBC 1, 9pm.

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Am I Not Monstrous?

After the untimely demise of Sergeant Linklater in ‘Pure as the Driven’, this week’s episode of Ripper Street, ‘Am I Not Monstrous?’ didn’t see life in Victorian Whitechapel get any easier or more appealing. A young woman turns up at a local hospital, seemingly having been living rough for some time. She’s heavily pregnant, in fact, she’s in labour, and gives birth to a son shortly afterwards. All would seem to be well, however, this is Ripper Street, so naturally a few hours later she is brutally murdered by being pushed down some stairs, with the killer disappearing into the night with the new born. The autopsy later reveals that the victim had an unusual physical deformity, leading the trail to a circus freak show. 

 The child’s father turns out to be the son of a famous eugenics doctor, causing the Inspector Reid (Matthew MacFadyen) and his team to muse upon abnormality, and leading to another, somewhat inevitable, cameo from Joseph Merrick, ‘The Elephant Man’, played here by Joseph Drake.

A few of the issues brushed under the carpet in the rather rushed feeling Episode One were re-addressed here, namely, WHERE THE HELL HAS REID’S WIFE GONE AND WHY DOES NOBODY SEEM TO CARE THAT SHE HAS TOTALLY VANISHED? Apparently she suffered some form of psychiatric episode after the end of Series one, after Reid gave her ‘false hope’ that their missing daughter may yet be alive. However given that it took twenty minutes locked in an iron cell with nosy ex mental health specialist Dr. Crabbe (Anton Lesser) for Reid to reveal even that much, we’re probably best not holding our collective breath for any more juicy, and frankly useful, morsels of information to be divulged anytime soon. This episode also saw the return of Long Susan (MyAnna Buring), or Long-Tall Susan as I’m calling her this week, in a little more depth, as her and Captain Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) had a good ol’ barney about the proprietor of Susan’s establishment, the slimy, sleezy Silas Duggan (Frank Harper).

There were some interesting aspects to the overall arc of the story, namely in the idea of eugenics, and also those of shame, being an outsider and accepting who you are. Unfortunately these were dealt with in every bit as clumsy a manner as we have by now come to expect from Ripper Street, using overly antiquated language in over complex scenes. There were some truly moving moments in the portrayal of Jospeh Merrick’s day to day life, however, particularly his being followed by the braying mob and subsequently passionately defended by H Division new kid on the block DC Flight (Damien Molony). Joseph Mawle continues to give an arrogantly sinister performance as Detective Inspector Shine, albeit a performance entirely devoid of any apparent enunciation. The production values, set design and connection between a smaller story and a wider societal context were as ambitious as ever, again as ever, with some elements achieved better than others.

Ripper Street, for me at least, continues to be overwhelmingly frustrating to watch. All the elements are there, and it has the potential to be an effective, well delivered, poignant and downright cool drama. It’s just a shame that, at the moment, anyway, it just isn’t quite managing it.

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Pure As The Driven

Owing to the fact that Becky now has far better things to do than take the whatsit out of a show we’ve grown to detest week on week (actually that’s not strictly true, she’s now reviewing it in a much more serious manner over on Den of Geek) I’m afraid you’re stuck with me and my jokes about corsets for the time being, as we enter Series 2 of BBC Period Crime Drama, Ripper Street.

Admin aside, let’s crack on with the episode.

‘Pure as the Driven’, opened with a spot of traditional Ripper Street grit, as a Limehouse detective by the name of Maurice Linklater is thrown from a window and impaled on a nearby railing. I sincerely hope that nobody was eating their dinner at that point. It transpires that the house belongs to a mysterious yet beautiful (aren’t they always?) lady by the name of Blush Pang, of Chinese origin. Who is she? What was Linklater doing there? How on earth did he end up with his leg attached to the business end of an ornamental fence? Inspector Reid (Matthew McFadyen), Sergeant Drake (Jerome Flynn) and Homer Jackson, “the American” surgeon (Adam Rothenberg) set out to investigate, uncovering a shady drugs plot in the process. Meanwhile, brawls break out down at H division for seemingly no apparent reason and Long Susan (Myanna Buring) has run into a few issues with her landlord.

Just another day in Whitechapel, then.

The dynamic between the three principals was pleasingly well established from the off, with Reid touchingly referring to Jackson as “my American”, whilst pulling once of his earnest faces, Drake hanging off Reid’s every word whilst looking tough, and Jackson making sarcastic comments at every possible opportunity and generally behaving somewhat recklessly. Other than that, though, there really wasn’t much of an ‘in’ for new viewers. The overall arc of the plot was clear enough, predictable even, but, as has all too often been the case with Ripper Street, individual scenes were over-complicated, hard to follow and at times downright inaudible- whether you were a new viewer or otherwise. It was apparent whereabouts it was going, it was just the journey there that was utterly incomprehensible.

To find a positive point upon which to hang one’s bowler hat, the sets were as stunning as ever, with the jerky violin music making up the score only adding to the sense of atmosphere. As always, there’s a real sense of place to the London of Ripper Street, echoed well in Reid’s passionate protectiveness of his patch. Joseph Mawle was also fantastic as the authentic seeming Inspector Jebediah Shine, Reid’s be-bearded district neighbour and delightfully evil villain. Unfortunately though, the show as a whole tried a little too hard to appear authentically Victorian. Again. The endless corsetry (from 15 minutes in, if anybody is interested) walking hand in hand with the undercurrent of grubby prostitution, the mucky streets and murky taverns are, again as always,  a little too carefully put together, a little too obvious for any of it to feel real. And that’s without me even mentioning the ridiculously over done dialogue, and the apparently random, gratuitous appearances of John Merrick, The Elephant Man, in case you hadn’t 100% spotted the endless Victoriana, and still thought there was a chance you might be watching Downton.

Some of the enjoyable parts of Series One were present in this Series Two opener, the chemistry of H division, the sets and camera work as well as the overall whodunit aspects in particular. Despite that though, it veered between attempting to be Game of Thrones with some added saucy scenes (perhaps the presence of Jerome Flynn caused some confusion?) and trying to out-gore fellow local crime drama Whitechapel, which shares Ripper Street’s postcode if not century. The cast can’t be faulted, especially if they speak up a bit, and the episode felt rounded, even ending on a tense note to cajole us (I could certainly use the encouragement) into tuning in next week.

It was just the bits in between that were the problem, and unfortunately those bits accounted for far too large a chunk for the hour long show to be much in the way of an enjoyable experience. And without that, what is really the point?

Jen

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TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Tournament of Shadows

This week's pseudo-historical tickbox is the dock workers strike of 1889, giving us a chance to see our intrepid bowler-hatted heroes take on the British government, Russian spies and Jewish anarchists. There's lots of fighting The Man this week, whether that's the anarchist revolutionaries railing against an unfair system or Reid fighting against his superiors or Special Branch. 

Once again, we don't actually go into any of the interesting stuff like the rise of Communism or the working conditions that the dockers faced, the impact of massive Jewish immigration or the anti-Semitism that permeated the culture. No, instead we get far-flung conspiracy theories of shady government operatives and corrupt double agents. 

There's also a really hamfisted attempt to cram some Marxist language in there with words like 'commodity' thrown around, just to add some legitimacy to the historical setting. That, however, is not enough. It's like E.L. James going on about a 'subconscious' and then trying to claim Fifty Shades of Grey is an elegant psychoanalytic reading of sado-masochism. A couple of references does not relevant context make. 

I find it difficult to watch something that has such little care for its context other than as a dramatic device. It feels like lazy writing, something which I feel this series has been guilty of right from calling it Ripper Street to entice viewers in and then having pretty much bugger all to do with Jack the Ripper. It's lazy and insulting to its audience.

Tournament of Shadows also sees a weird genre mash-up this week whereby we seem to have entered into a weird espionage thriller that mashes the terrorism fears of our modern society with the usual period drama. It's completely bonkers. I'm not saying historical accuracy is a must for either of these points, but at least try and make it relevant to the time period you've chosen to set it in.

It's still all very well-performed and I've even warmed to Adam Rothenburg's Captain Jackson, despite him very much fulfilling the token 'rogue cop' role. Matthew MacFadyen again deals well with the dark and tortured side of his character, although I wasn't quite sure what making out with the widow was all about. His pleading scene with his wife, however, was one of the only times I've felt emotionally moved by what I've seen onscreen, so points for that. Also, how many times does poor Jerome Flynn get whacked in the face in this series? I'm sure every episode has seen his cheek or forehead get split, or his eye blackened. He must be aching to get back to Westeros.

But I still maintain that this is just a distinctly ordinary police procedural, that just happens to be in fancy dress.

- Becky

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