I thought we could begin a discussion topic for thoughts on Flight in Ripper Street series 2, let's keep the possibly more spoiler-y speculations in here rather than in other news related topics!
So......
What are you hopes, fears and speculations for Detective Flight in the new series of Ripper Street?
I copied over the thread of spoilery thoughts that rubyrosettared and I have been exchanging over to here just so we can continue the discussion here. This seems a more fitting place.
rubyrosettared wrote:
I buy the BBC History magazine, history being a passion of mine (and it comes in handy for research purposes at times too) and this month there is an article about how in the early 1880's, Irish republicans launched a bombing campaign in London, using dynamite. The Home Office introduced a new detective department known as the Special Irish Branch and they worked at identifying who the bombers why etc. If the dates hadn't too early (between 1881-85 apparently) i would've wondered whether this pertained to Flight's 'secrets' but i think he's too young to be part of this, to look at him, he looks to be too young with that (lovely) baby face. Unless the writers do a time fiddling thing of course ;)
whimsyfox wrote:
Ruby, thanks for that little tidbit of info. Well, they are very good at incorporating historical facts in this show, I wouldn't put it past them to explore this and have that the reason they brought in an Irishman. Though not sure if they would fiddle with dates. I don't think they have so far. But if they were using this angle, I could see his very lovely baby face as being part of it. The article said he had secrets and I found this wording interesting:
Spoiler
But Flight is to prove himself not only worthy of Reid’s respect; but also unworthy of the kind of innocence that drew such affection to Hobbs.
So...
Spoiler
'unworthy of the kind of innocence'... perhaps that's part and parcel, that he looks younger than he is or claims to be? Perhaps he could have been part of the bombings as a teenage boy/young man. The actor playing Hobbs is young, barely in his 20's and I'm assuming Hobbs was supposed to be that young. Damien looks very young but he's almost 30. So maybe Flight is supposed to be as well. Anyway, all just wanderings of my mind...
rubyrosettared wrote:
I'm going to put the next bit in spoiler tags...click at your own peril.
Spoiler
An interview with Matthew Macfadyen has surfaced, quite spoilery but he mentions Fenian Terrorism. This is the Irish Republicans i mentioned in an earlier post and i could be jumping to conclusions but i'm wondering whether, as Whimsy has already alluded to, that young Flight had Fenian connections as a younger man. The bombing campaign in London was 1881-85 so i suppose that is plausible. Perhaps we see some of his old Fenian cohorts make a reappearance in a later episode? I can't wait to find out
whimsyfox wrote:
oooh, Lisa I mentioned in the other topic but good sleuthing! and I'm sure you caught this:
Spoiler
Mathew MacFadyen said "There’s Fenian terrorism too - there were a lot of bombings. There is an episode that deals with that."
The photo of Damien sitting next to that girl has this caption: A scene from RIPPER STREET – Episode Four: ‘Dynamite and a Woman’
Maybe they show some flashbacks and that's why he's dressed more roguish? Or he goes under cover to infiltrate his hold cohorts? or to meet that woman?
Whatever it turns out to be I'm hoping this means plenty of Flight!
rubyrosettared wrote:
Spoiler
ooh now that is interesting! Perhaps she's connected to the Fenian cause, a former love he left behind- he could've been undercover and they had a relationship? Or that could just be my fic brain on overdrive! I hadn't noticed the episode title until you mentioned it.
rubyrosettared wrote:
Whimsy, further to your last post
Spoiler
The Irish Republicans that committed the London Terror bombings between 1881-85 were known as 'dynamitards' after the recent discovery of dynamite. So the title of episode four could play on that.
-- Edited by whimsyfox on Tuesday 22nd of October 2013 07:51:45 AM
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
Ruby, the more we speculate the more I am convinced we're on the money. How sad is it that I'm most excited about the possibility of a whole episode possibly being Flight-centric? And what exactly his involvement in that group was/is.
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
What intrigues me is why he joined up in the first place. The synopsis we've seen has made it kinda clear that Irishmen were unusual in the Met, unsurprisingly given the history of the Irish nation and British rule (it's probably still frowned upon now!), so why did he feel like he wanted to join up...and then make the leap to CID?
The bruise on his face - get the feeling that's our introduction to Flight - is exciting to find out about as well. Could it just be the 'Irish connection' or is something more sinister in his home life at play? I certainly get the feeling that he's trying to better himself, have a better life than his parents do, trying to be a gentleman.
Ruby - do articles in the BBC History mag usually have relevence to programmes which are being aired (...or is that a stupid question?)
Kat - "The bruise on his face - get the feeling that's our introduction to Flight - is exciting to find out about as well". I reckon your're probably right - I doubt we'd have seen the pics if not....and yes. I was wondering whether it had to do with him being Irish - the Irish weren't very popular....especially in America......
whimsy: i'm starting to think that too. I'm thinking Flight has Fenian connections, whether it's himself or a close family member (a brother, his father perhaps?) but i'm thinking it's himself.
Prada: I read in the same article that to meet the 'Fenian Challenge', a new detective department was created at Scotland Yard and it was known as the 'Special Irish Branch', now i'm assuming it's just a name, i don't think the detectives within this branch were Irish but it also made me wonder about Flight.
Fifi: I think this was just a coincidence, i read the article before we found out Flight was to be Irish so a lightbulb went off inside of me regarding his being Irish and what his secrets could be.
JB: I've thought about his sin too. It could be just about anything i suppose.
Lot of print press about Ripper Street in tv guides and weekly magazines this week. Just fleeting mentions of Damien, one calling Flight 'c0cky' (wasn't sure whether the filter is in place...) and one picture, a similar one to the latest one in his grey top hat looking like the weight of the world is on his shoulders, but from a slightly different angle.
It is the look on his face when he said that line which got to me. He looked positively evil! This shows what a fantastic actor he is. One look is all it took.
And then the tremulous lip in the final scene between Flight and Evelyn - another "got me" moment!
-- Edited by Pearl24 on Wednesday 20th of November 2013 12:42:09 PM
@Pearl interesting that you thought Flight looked evil in his confession, I found his expression hard to read, ambiguous layered just like him as a character!
fab that we still haven't found out what he is confessing too, leaves plenty of room for the imagination to take Flight! (groan, very sorry, not)
calling himself a liar implies a deliberate deception of some kind.. it could of course be related to the happenings of episode 2 and poor Mr Merrick, maybe he realised he fell asleep, or saw something but because he fell asleep and it made him complicit and he wants to impress he kept quiet..or maybe as some people are saying he is in with Shine (I dont subscribe to that theory but perhaps Shine may yet use the info to his advantage and Flight will face a dilemma whether to reveal what happened or not?)
I don't think he'd consider himself a liar with regards to Merrick's death, more guilt I would have thought. I also couldn't quite correlate his confession with what happened with Evelyn, but maybe that's it and we're all overthinking it! Lol.
I don't think he's Shine's lackey, but I do believe we'll find something else major about him before the series has finished.
But if he knew what had actually happened and not revealed it then he is concealing a truth, which is lying (that's what I mean Kat!)
A spy for Shine you mean Glofigs? I wondered that in the second ep, but now we have seen more of his character, I am no sure either. Also wondered whether he was out undercover n H-Division to investigate their working methods or something something something...
How about..he frauded his way to his current position? or lied about his experience? maybe a tad too safe a storyline.... it has to be connected to his position though surely?
Maybe he's really a DS and, for some reason, is portraying himself as a DC. Maybe he's "Internal Affairs" and is spying on Reid etc on behalf of the Commissioner or something???
Or perhaps Abberline knows it and instigated it? I could imagine that he spends the weeks making himself indispensible to Reid, Jackson and Drake and then the reveal in the final episode, perhaps to the detriment of Reid and his job? Perhaps he's under the influence of Shine? It's all intriguing stuff. I have a feeling Flight isn't who he says he is.
ooh what if he really isn't who he says he is.... what if he has stolen Flight's identity and he is someone else entirely? or he had a twin brother who .....lol! well he is to competent a detective to not have policing experience so that theory doesn't hold. Fun to imagine though, and there are moments when he seems uncharacteristically naive for a copper of his reputed calibre?
I don't think his confession has anything to do with lying to Evelyn. 1) RS storylines have been chronological. His confession is at the beginning. 2) He was lying on the job. No matter how innocent or straigh-laced he might be, I find it difficult to believe that his deception under cover would make him feel that guilty that he had to confess. Plus at the end she knows and calls him on it. Seems he would only still feel guilty about it if it were still a deception. and 3) his character profile saying “Flight is a man of secrets; secrets at which the men of H Division could never even guess.”
I very much doubt anything about Merrick is going to come back. History has it that Merrick died simply from laying back to sleep and while we as an audience know "the truth", insofar as this show, I don't think the characters will.
I don't think he's Shine's lackey. His genuine concern for Merrick, his genuine desire to please Reid, his genuine emotion with Evelyn - unless Flight (the character) is THAT good at acting as Damien himself is... no. He's not a baddie.
It's possible Shine will or has used his knowledge of Flight falling asleep to bribe him into something, but still a far-fetched idea for the same reason - it would reveal Shine's involvement in Merrick's death & alter history.
I like the "internal affairs" theory more. However, even that one I'm not so sure. As far as police brutality, well Abberline himself beat up that IRB commander. If it weren't for that I would incline towards this.
I think its a lie about himself, about his past. The theories about him not being who he says he is are what I'm going with now. Flight isn't exactly an Irish name. And the look on his face when he was listening to those Irishmen singing - nostalgia? sadness? guilt? He's hiding something about himself, either his identity or his heritage or his abilities. Though even him just lying about his qualifications doesn't seem significant enough considering the "secrets they would never guess" bit.
One last thing, the Ripper Street account tweeted that last weeks episode "It's an all important piece in the jigsaw."
Since most of the rest of the storyline had to do with their isolated "case of the week", and only Flight's storyline seems to be what will carry through. Makes me even more to discover what he's hiding!
Discuss!
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
One last thing, the Ripper Street account tweeted that last weeks episode "It's an all important piece in the jigsaw."
Ohhhhh... I missed this! how exciting, I agree, Flight's story seems to be the main tension that carries through week to week, but there is also Long Susan and Jackson's situation with Silas Duggan and doubt that is the last we will see of Jedediah Shine. We also know from episode synopsis that Bella Drake has a visitor from her past soon...but none of these were referred to in last week's episode!
So i the jigsaw piece was Flight related.....would that be the confession? or something else?
Whimsy - I agree with absolutely everything you said!
It is possible that he may admit to falling asleep when guarding Merrick's room.....but I don't think they will play with history so far as for it to come out that Shine killed him. And if he was really working for Shine, why would he have bothered to pretend to fall asleep?
I think that his secret is something to do with his personal life too.....his character profile mentions him being "unworthy of the kind of innocence......"
I posted this on another thread, but moving it here to see what you all think...
Ok, I watched this episode three times and had a bit of an idea... I may be totally out in space here, but
I think Flight's secret may be that he's Abberline's bastard son.
Abberline brought him in to H Division. He suggested him for this undercover work and when Reid told him Abberline had work for him, he perked up. When Flight came back "rebuffed", Abberline made a comment about not being up for the work, he looked dejected.
In Flight's speech with Evelyn, he spoke about not having a family to guide you to be who you are. I also took his saying that his mother was taken by typhus and then his father by drink as his father fell into a bottle and abandoned the family. Or maybe he found out later that Abberline was his real father.
I think he's "eager to please", trying to prove himself to Abberline, not necessarily the H Division guys.
Am I reading things that aren't there?
Ok, thoughts??
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Three people can't have dinner together! That's barbaric!
I interpreted Abberline's enthusiasm about Flight to be because he was a good copper, it didn't cross my mind that it could be because of anything else, just him thinking fresh blood at H Division is what was needed.
I'm inclined to think the opposite, he wants to impress Reid & co, he wasn't particularly happy to see Abberline appear in last week's episode, but he is his superior and therefore must retain respect. I think Flight, so far, wants to fit in, wants to show his mettle but he is young and finding his feet. I also interpreted his want to impress Reid & co. to stem from a lack of a father's influence in his life. Perhaps he wants to gain Reid's approval in a similar manner to a son wanting approval from a father.
I can see where you're coming from and it would be interesting. Flight has confessed in a confessional that he is a liar. I'm wondering whether he's not who his colleagues at H Division think he is, whether he's a spy for Shine (and we just don't know it yet), for Abberline (regarding the accusations levelled at Reid at the start of the series, an early version of Internal Affairs) or something else completely. I don't think he is who he says he is but then again it could be down to something he did or was a part of/party to when he was a child. We don't really know enough about him at this point in time to speculate with any kind of certainty :)
I love your theory kimberfly it certainly gets the grey matter whirring! Hmm... I am not convinced that it would be a filial one but have entertained the possibility that there is a hidden connection between Flight and Abberline! (mentioned in previous posts in this topic).
I am beginning to wonder if the lie is his identity but not in any nefarious way.... where did her go after his parents died?
When re-watching episode 4 again last night, in the scene where he eats a sandwich brought to him by Evelyn he look famished and practically gobbles it down... may have been part of his under cover persona but... what if he is i don't know so used to being homeless that he still lives in the streets or something? or that he pimped himself to a rich woman who buys all his clothes and he doesn't really need the money... but wants to escape her clutches but can't? or ..... these are not rounded theories just that i began to see other possibilities, outside of the characters we know in Ripper Street, for his big secret!
to discover what he's hiding!
