Episode four of BBC America's Copper sees our heroic antihero Corcoran continuing to turn into the vigilante cop that will make this series crackle. He's now using his walking cane -- his broken leg is still mending -- as a weapon to beat information out of criminals, and honesty into clergy.
Sunday's "The Empty Locket" peeled another layer of the show back. Specifically, the further decaying of civility in the Five Points.
I haven't talked much about the actors on Copper because I have been more worried about getting plot points over to you, but it has to be said that these folks are doing interesting things with the material. Lead Tom Weston-Jones, who plays Corcoran initially came off as idealistic and sort of whiny, but as the Five Points began eating away at him, he has become more criminal than cop, which Jones pulls off well.
Dylan Taylor, who plays Corcoran and Maguire's large enforcer needs more to do. Whether that means cracking skulls or sabotage, I don't know. Kiara Glasco, who plays recovering child prostitute Annie, serves the role with the right amounts of innocence and ickiness.
This week widow Haverford was still seducing Corcoran, who is maybe two episodes from ripping her clothes off. Jasper is now moved in with the Freemans, but the arrival of Matthew's ex-boxer Uncle Marcus, who has designs on turning the large man-child into a prize fighter, will be a needless fly in the ointment. That will turn out well for the plot, especially when we see that Morehouse and Marcus have made a handshake agreement to fix the first fight.
Oh, and Freeman is the one who is bankrolling everything that Freeman has been doing -- the medical practice, the move to the 'burbs -- making the Freeman and Corcoran relationship even more unusual.
What Marcus calls natural ability on Jasper's part is more than likely fear and not knowing any better. Marcus' dreams of making enough money to go back to Africa -- Liberia actually -- push the point home that once Jasper falls down dead in the ring, he will be running for the docks.
Meanwhile I am still wondering why leaving Annie in the Haverford residence was supposed to be a good idea, seeing that the deceased Mr. Haverford was having sex with her, and had a part in her sister dying. The only thing I can think of is that it's penance on the part of the widow. Plus, it ensures that Corcoran will be a regular around the house. Annie acts in a way that the other characters don't understand. She floats above everyone in a sense.
I didn't know that Major Morehouse was an amputee until I saw his fake leg fly through the window of a tavern during a bar fight. Learn something new every Sunday night.
Dr. Freeman gets to show off more of the Mr. Wizard skills as he is able to recover words from a partially-burned letter for Corcoran. He now seems to be charging Corcoran for his services too.
Tanya Fischer, who plays redheaded prostitute Molly will be missed. After she handed the locket over to Corcoran last week, it was a given that Eva would be out for blood. Further mucking up the works was her and Maguire's engagement. In a moment of rage, Eva slashes Molly's throat in their bedroom at the brothel and it's written off as a suicide.
Wonder if Corcoran will see fit to investigate that one. Corcoran seems to be devolving away from the good soldier and family man he probably was before the show started and into an avenging pseudo-criminal in his own right. Batman without the toys. His beating of a crooked reverend inside a church was another fun height for the show.
Something big and bloody will need to happen during episode five to propel the show into the second half of the season. The Copper current season is only ten episodes long. Look for Molly's suicide to be investigated -- if there is any justice -- and for Maguire to go on a bender and a kill frenzy.
And Annie is just a bomb waiting to go off. I doubt she can get away from being a prostitute.
