TV REVIEW: Ripper Street - Our Betrayal Part 1

‘Our Betrayal, Part 1’, was by enlarge the Ripper Street episode we’ve been waiting for all series. With a strong character focus and a reasonably simple plot, free from overly flowery language and crowded narrative arcs, it was actually rather enjoyable to watch. And just as I was beginning to doubt I would ever type those words.

The tortured and bereaved Sergeant Drake (Jerome Flynn) having not been seen since the death of his wife six months ago, Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and young Flight (Damien Molony) have been left to run H division without him. Despite Bennett never having seemed to play too vital a role in proceedings before, it seems that in his absence this is easier said than done. A jewellery conman is on the run, and it is left to Flight to find him. However, when the search takes him into the territory of Inspector Shine, played by Joseph Mawle with as effective a sly menace as ever, we are presented with a man who, at best, has divided loyalties, and at worst, is a traitor and a mole in the camp of the hand that feeds him.  Meanwhile, life gets even trickier for Jackson (Adam Rothenberg). Still living with Reid, having been kicked out by Lazy Susan – sorry, Long Susan (MyAnna Buring), it is understandably awkward when his trouble-making long lost brother turns up from South Africa sporting a rather large uncut diamond.

This diamond however, at least in Jackson’s eager eyes, could be the very thing to save Long Susan and her brothel from the slimy clutches of Silas Duggan (Frank Harper). Things haven’t improved much in that department since last week’s episode,  with Duggan moving into a room in, as he puts it, ‘his house’. His bargain to Susan remains on the table (thankfully that’s all he puts on the table) – namely that he will lift all debts should she agree to spend just ‘one night of pleasure’ with him. Yum. He has made it clear, too, that he wants no one but her. Susan is understandably concerned about this, as unlike poor former employee Rose (Charlene McKenna), who has been wandering Whitechapel in search of Drake for months, Susan knows ‘what it is like to lie with the man she loves’, and is anxious about selling her body –despite having built a career overseeing dozens of girls doing that very thing.

Despite the obvious hypocrisies of her position, however, the storyline is a moving one. In fact it’s been one of the better storylines of the series, as well as one of the most underused. Her final resolution on the matter is little short of heart-breaking, particularly as she has always been one of a very small number of women in the show with any kind of independence or freedom. To watch that being slowly eroded does not make for easy viewing. Her relationship with her estranged husband underpins it all of course, although again we’re left unsure whether their marriage is indeed broken beyond retribution. Set alongside the relationship between Rose and her beloved Bennet, we’re left wondering if there is any hope in Whitechapel at all for wives, husbands and would be lovers. Never fear though, Inspector Reid is on the case, with amorous feelings of his own… I don’t really want to discuss that any further as I found it more than a little awkward.

Moving on, then, to new boy Flight, who in all honesty as had plot device sewn into his waistcoat since he first stepped on the screen, particularly as he has been perpetually  picked up and dropped like a yo-yo depending on what else has been happening in the episode. To that end, his involvement in the betrayal was one of a few elements to the episode which did not feel wholly believable. There needed to have been at least a couple of signs along the way that he was not to be trusted, and, unless I nodded off for half the series, which admittedly is quite likely, there have been none. Also feeling unbelievable were the series of co-incidences which brought Bennet back to H division. Epic as the moment of his prodigal return felt, it was all just a little, or a lot, too convenient. I also found it rather amusing that it had seemingly  taken Rose six months to notice that Jackson was no longer living at the brothel, but in the grand scheme of all things Ripper Street that’s probably by the by.

Fingers crossed this momentum can be kept up for tomorrow night’s finale- that way I might even depart the series with a couple of positive things to say.

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: Downton Abbey - Episodes Three and Four

This post contains major spoilers - please don't read if you haven't seen the episodes yet.

Dear reader, I've been really struggling to put down my thoughts on Downton's third episode. It was an episode that started out well enough. A country party was taking place at the Abbey; there was gambling, light flirting and a world famous singer came to stay in the form of cameoing Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. And then the episode came to a close with one of the most shocking scenes in the show's history as Anna was raped by Nigel Harman's Mr Green.

Suddenly, the rest of the episode fell away. It didn't matter that Mary was flirting with another man in the wake of Matthew's death. It didn't matter that Evil Edna was about to seduce a rather drunk Branson. It didn't matter that one of the most famous opera singers in the world was appearing on a Sunday evening period drama. Because Anna (one of the most beloved characters with frequently the darkest storylines) was raped.

Downton Abbey is no stranger to dark moments, the most recent of which saw Matthew apparently fly headlong from a car to his death. Before that, there was his paralysis after his service in the Great War or Sybil's untimely death after the birth of her child. William died slowly and in great pain after an explosion in the trenches. A returning soldier committed suicide. I could go on really because, despite the fact that Downton's most common association in the minds of the public is one of comfort, it is important to remember that there has been a dark streak in the series right from the beginning which began with the sinking of the Titanic. 

However, in all of these moments, however conveniently placed they might have been, they all felt essential to the developing plot. At no point did I ever think that Sybil dying was a shock tactic; it wasn't. It was a timely reminder of the historical period when medical knowledge wasn't what it is now. It has also proved essential in the development of Branson's character and his ongoing discomfort in a world in which customs and traditions are simply alien to him. 

In contrast, the rape scene felt cheaply constructed to exhibit the exact shocked reaction that it was clearly intended to do. The otherwise genteel proceedings in the rest of the episode was wrenched apart with the shocking violence of the scene. The deliberate combination of the operatic singing and Anna's screams as the scene's soundtrack was emotionally manipulative and frankly insulting to the viewer. Joanne Froggat's performance was, it must be said, outstanding and just as heartwrenching as it should have been. But the key to this scene was the development from it in the next episode.

Downton Abbey is one of the most-watched shows on television and this was a real opportunity to explore the issue of rape sensitively in a historical context that is removed enough from our own to allow for reflection. Instead, Fellowes has given us the most simplistic view of rape he possibly could; Green is your stereotypical 'bad' man who no-one knows, attacks Anna out of the blue and scarpers before there are any repercussions. To put it simply, and in awful terminology, this is a traditional rape where a man leaps out of the metaphorical bushes and forces himself on some poor unsuspecting victim. Rape is a far more complex issue and to not even delve into that, but to present it in such a base and simple way, is a terrible decision.

The fourth episode in the series' run may not have had quite the same shocking scene in one place, but the horrific treatment of female characters just kept on coming. Now I understand that this is taking place in a historical context and must therefore be considered as such, but really, so much was wrong with this episode that I don't even really know where to start.

Probably best to continue with the aftermath of Anna's rape. Anna is internalising the blame for the rape and Mrs Hughes tries to convince her to go to the police, but Anna refuses on the grounds that she is saving Bates. She's forced to sit next to Green at breakfast and does nothing to tell the truth of the situation to anyone. We're clearly being set up for the big dramatic fallout scene, a narrative development that will do nothing to silence the protests against this particular storyline. It's so frustratingly simple and doing absolutely nothing to challenge or explore. Anna is punishing herself. Nobody is punishing Green.

Elsewhere, there were plenty of secretive affairs going on all over the place that were of the morally questionable variety. Ivy and Jimmy were finally revealed to be kissing and Daisy started accusing Ivy of giving herself up all too easily. Nothing to Jimmy. Rose was seen dancing with the band leader of the jazz club, Jack, and admonished slightly for her forthright behaviour. Nothing to Jack. Edith finally has a dalliance with Gregson and returns to Aunt Rosamund's early in the morning who promptly rages at Edith for being so wayward. Nothing to Gregson. Then Mrs Hughes rains down fury upon Evil Edna who, after sleeping with Branson, is claiming she is pregnant in order to trap him into marriage. Branson gets a bit of an earful, nothing major.

It is this last narrative development that is definitely the most problematic. Granted, Branson is recognised as being at fault, though the blame is laid entirely at the feet of Evil Edna. Evil Edna is about as pantomimey a female villain as we'll get on Downton, but following on from the rape, her scene with Mrs Hughes was woefully insensitive. Not only does she embody the myths around women who exploit their sexuality to entrap men, but she is again another frustratingly simple character. There's not even an attempt to provide motive. Mrs Hughes was patronising and forceful, literally threatened to imprison Edna, hold her down and strip her naked to prove that she wasn't pregnant. Seriously Mr Fellowes? Did no one at any point during this process think that that might not be the best way in which to phrase this? 

Downton Abbey has carved a reputation for comforting Sunday night television that allows a cathartic cry once again at the untimely demise of a beloved character in amongst endless witticisms and fretting about dinner jackets. In these past two episodes though, there has been nothing comforting about it.

This is the last time I call for any madcap plot twists.

- Becky

You can read Becky's review of the second episode here.

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TV REVIEW- Ripper Street - A Man of My Company

Pumicing my feet. Painting my toe-nails. Tidying my room. These are just a few of the lovely things I managed to accomplish whilst watching last week’s Ripper Street, all of which proved an infinitely more valuable use of my time than the programme itself.

On the distinct off chance that any of you do still actually care, here’s a brief summary of the episode’s events. ‘A Man of my Company’ finally cleared up for us the mystery surrounding Long Susan, or Sporadically-Thrown-Into-An-Episode-Every-Now-And-Again-As-A-Token-Feisty-Female-Character-And-An-Attempt-To-Elicit-Something-Resembling-Intrigue Susan, as I like to call her, and Captain Jackson. I know, hurrah indeed. I won’t give it away here for those of you yet to watch it on iplayer, but it’s a humdinger! (It’s not). Meanwhile, the murder of a shipping engineer set to transform the fortunes of his company, before his premature death, obviously, keeps the ever-eager Detective Reid and his trusty sidekick Bennet busy, neither batting an eyelid when Jackson acts even more oddly than usual, almost literally morphing into Captain Jack Sparrow before our very eyes. There’s an interesting storyline afoot with the deceased engineer’s wife, played by the wonderful Shauna Macdonald, also of previous Spooks fame, although as has become the all too frequent case with Ripper Street it’s never really enough to hang your hat on.

Again, we’re thrown random references to the elusive Pinkertons, again without any real explanation as to WHO ON EARTH THEY ACTUALLY ARE. I’d like to know, really I would. (Although I admit I could have missed that when rummaging around my dressing table for a nail file). For me, half the fun of period dramas is the easy, uncomplicated glimpse into the characters’ social context and contemporary issues. History with an emphasis on the story part, I suppose. Ripper Street, however, seems to only get so far with this before losing faith in the intelligence of its Sunday night audience and chucking us back in the direction of Really-Not-In-It-Very-Much-Apart-From-As-A-Useful-Hanger-For-Some-Lovely-Dresses Susan. Don’t get me wrong, as an actress I’ve grown rather fond of MyAnna Buring, I just wish they’d give her a bit more to do. Credit where credit’s due, though- there are some lovely set pieces, and the production values remain high as ever. The final showdown between Jackson and his Pinkerton pals is well shot and well scripted, with his London loyalty throughout actually coming across as quite touching in a show that gives rather a bleak outlook on the morality of the nation’s capital, save for the godlike Reid, of course.

What the show is missing, and missing in a big way, are its overall character and narrative arcs. They are there, after all, we’ve seen them! They’ve been like shadows in the corner of your eye when you’re half asleep – but they’ve been there! They’re the alarming scars peeking out from under Matthew Macfadyen’s shirt, Detective Abberline’s teeny tiny obsession with catching the Ripper, or indeed anyone who could possibly have spoken to/seen/brushed past the Ripper once in the street after an evening of one too many ales. Reid’s wife, Emily, even, picked up for an episode or two and then dropped as quickly as that orphanage keeper lady Reid kissed that one time and then never mentioned again, ever, could even contribute to something in the way of an overall plot, if they’d only use her. Indeed, Jerome Flynn’s Bennet Drake is the only character to really show any signs of development, and even that storyline is only given airtime of approximately twelve seconds.

There’s so much there to work with, I’ve said that all along. It’s just that it seems to be perpetually abandoned in favour of a nice shot of some cobbles or YET ANOTHER be-corseted prostitute. Which would be appropriate, welcome, even, if the show itself made even the slightest nod to its namesake, which since the first episode, it has resolutely avoided.

This being my last turn at reviewing Ripper Street, I will not be covering next week’s episode. However from the preview, it appears that maybe, just maybe, Reid and Abberline are going to have another crack at catching Jack. Or something. And maybe, just maybe, all those mysterious little plot threads that have so far only been snatched at like wispy bits of Victorian cobweb will actually be wrapped up, and we’ll all feel delightfully satisfied that we invested so much of our time and energy in this show.

It will be up to my esteemed co-editor to tell you whether or not that has been the case, but I really, really hope it is. Although I suppose I could always use the hour to read a book or do some stretches if not.

Jen

Ripper Street is next on tonight, BBC 1, 9pm.

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