Jerome Flynn is absolutely fantastic in this. Initially you think of him as Reid's muscle as well as his side kick but as the series progresses then layers are revealed, and the episode that co-stars Iain Glenn is fantastic.
Yes, Jerome Flynn's character (Sergeant Drake) is def more nuanced than you'd think to begin with, but Adam Rothenberg plays the most interesting multifaceted character on Ripper Street in my opinion!
Ripper Street is up against Last Tango in Halifax, Scott and Bailey and Silk at the BAFTAs tonight, it deserves to win in my opinion.
I only saw a bit of this when it was aired. I intended to catch up on iplayer...and just never got round to it; but I have now watched the whole series. I anticipated that it would appeal to my love of things victorian, and I enjoyed the first few eps, although I wasn't gripped by it. There were elements which I liked, the stories were good and the characters were engaging, but it was a bit slow and I found some of the dialogue quite clunky - I like the use of time appropriate language, but at times it didn't quite flow. The thing which most appealed as a series thread was the mystery of the relationship between Captain Jackson and Susan. But then episode 6 happened and it all picked up! Haha - I'm so shallow!...the line "my name is Homer Jackson. And I'm all flesh and blood" made me laugh with glee. I'm such a sucker for the bad boy with a good heart. lol! And then all the other characters' stories suddenly got interesting too. Why did they wait so long? I'm doubley looking forward to the next series now!
I love how it doesn't glamourize victorian London. I also love the vibe of it, it has texture, both in the storylines and the characters. I must confess I do always end up feeling conflicted when watching anything about violence to women. There are some powerful/empowered women in the series though which is always good to see.
Yeah, i agree with you, there are some empowered women in there, there's Long Susan and Rose and Emily are both becoming empowered in their own rights too, Rose with wanting to better herself and leave her old life of prostitution behind (i wonder whether she truly will though) and Emily opening the shelter. Emily is very quiet and ladylike but i have a feeling that during the new series we will see added strength from her, for all she's quiet and reserved, she's not a weak person, i think coping with losing a child as she has, has made her stronger.
The violence against women angle is more due to the particular time where Ripper Street is set - just after the furore of the Jack the Ripper killings - as anything else; it is an easy plot line to return to for both the criminals and the police (with the ongoing relationship between Reid and Abberline).
I do agree that most of the women portrayed with any depth are empowered; again, considering that there were still so many laws regulating what women could and couldn't do, to see Susan and also Deborah (who runs the orphanage) effectively running their own businesses - even if one is a brothel - is brilliant.
As an aside, if anyone is interested in that kind of thing, I would heartily recommend the Jack the Ripper walk, run by London Walks. My sister, brother-in-law and I did it a few years ago and it was great.
Ok then...so who has watched Ripper Street series 1 in preparation for series 2?
what did you think? favourite characters? eps? storylines?
I have been thinking about the female roles, as i said before the violence to women in RP is hard to stomach and there is a misogyny which is a reflection of the times. but there are strong female characters too! I am thinking of the storyline for episode 7 'A Man Of My Company' which exposed that misogyny. And 3 of the main female characters are strong women, Long Susan (Myanna Buring) is noone's little woman, more an extremely canny character, self sufficient both in business and in her looking out for herself, Emily Reid (Amanda Hale) who is very clear she deserves the same rights to pursue a career that is important to her as her husband, Deborah Goren (Lucy Cohu) is interesting, rather than being 'the dependent mistress' she is an independent woman and that element of her storyline helped avoid the danger of women being polarised in the chaste (Emily Reid)/working girl (Rose and Longs Susan's establishment) dichotomy. Long Susan's relationship with Jackson is far from conventional too.
Anyway i am just rambling now.. feel free to disagree!
Deborah Goren is truly independent. She expected nothing from her relationship with Reid except companionship. And I love how she thinks nothing of, that it should be natural even, for her to have her own friendship with Emily! How she'd respond should Emily ever know about her and Reid is another thing. Meanwhile Emily lives the most traditional lives of these women, respectable, married, who works diligently for charity. Yet she doesn't consider Reid her lord and master. She does what she needs and wants to do. Strangely, I'm not sure if I do consider Long Susan strong and independent. Tough, yes, but she's trapped with Jackson. It's like they fell in lust and now they're stuck with each other. Canny, certainly. Instead of becoming a hooker, or staying one, she at least became a madam. But she's still done what many women in a desperate bind do, and that's fall into prostitution. I see her more of making the best of a bad situation. She's hardly living the life she dreamed.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
yes exactly, you put that far better UJ. I responded to Deborah with a kind of admiration for that. Same with Emily. I see your point about long Susan but much of her situation is still shrouded in mystery there is an ambiguity about her relationship with Jackson and how she ended up doing what she does. she is the most complex of the female characters for me, and i like that - maybe she is both - she is definitely no shrinking violet and I don't see her as desperate, but on deeper levels there feels like there could be much that is unresolved and unhappy. Of course what would make it truly more equal would be if she could also have as many lovers as she wanted..maybe she does...or perhaps more accurately have as many sexual desires, but again that inequality in RS may be a reflection of the times.
sigh..Damien is not playing the new male prostitute in Long Susan's establishment so that is one option out of the window!
Lol. You never know. Work related matters could take young Albert to Long Susan's.
I'll keep an eye out during season two to see if anything makes me think differently of Long Susan. She and Jackson were mysterious, but once we learned their story ... Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
I love the way Ripper Street slowly unravelled characters' stories..but only just giving enough info so more remains to be discovered. Long Susan, Jackson, Reid and Bennett Drake - now there is an interesting story.
Just finished my re-watch a couple of days ago.....and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time - which is always a good sign.
Must admit that I was a bit surprised by the focus on violence towards women - it struck me as being pretty violent full stop! But I do agree that it was full of strong, engaging female characters. Totally put Susan in the strong and independant catagory - there was no suggestion that she was ever a prostitute herself, and an establishment like hers would've afforded comfort, independant means and security for the women who worked there...a much better life than many women, children, or men come to that matter, enjoyed in those times!
The Jackson/Susan relationship intrigue was the first hook for me....otherwise I found the first few episodes a little slow. But I agree, domino - the unravelling of all of the characters' backstories was done beautifully and by the end of the series I was ready to sign up for the second even if Damien hadn't been in the cast...
I didn't really notice an excessive amount of violence towards women. It's a crime show. Violence towards women is a staple unfortunately. I think the show highlighted it with lingering shots on naked female corpses, so in that respect the show is more exploitative.
Susan may be better to work for than a male pimp, but she's still exploiting them. Life's made her hard. She's not into charity. She's a tough cookie but she's does what she has to to survive. That's why I don't see her as being really independent.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
Don't watch this video if you don't want to see the man behind the curtain, because this does expose the magic ricks at work, big time! but it might be fair to say this post production video of VFX on Ripper Street has blown my mind! I had no idea there would be so much!
So this is how they transform the present day Dublin streets into Victorian London?
Just watched the last four episodes all in one sitting--I was very sucked in! The mystery of Captain Jackson was cool - he's a great gallant bad boy. Some of the writing seemed a bit lazy (as soon as I saw Hobbs I was like, "He's so, so dead!" and I called the episode when it would happen, right when it started with him getting praise from Reid), but the actors (wow, Jerome Flynn!) , the great photography, and the overall arc pulled me in.
Re treatment of women: I did get sick of Rose being a kind of dimwitted, hapless damsel in distress. Even Deborah Goren is sort of a wise Earth mama there to rescue Reid and spout deep thoughts. Why does she sleep with him? I liked her in spite of myself. Susan is the only well drawn female character IMO, and I liked the twist about where she came from.
Is Swift supposed to be American? Does Susan not have an American accent because she's in hiding? That confused me.
Jerome Flynn is on some sort of roll. After all that Soldier Soldier business and that singing nonsense (with MacNair of all people!) he's suddenly back as Bronn and Drake!
I wouldn't call Rose dimwitted. She has her dreams in a time when opportunities are scarce and has picked a path she believes will get her there. For that time and place, she's making canny, if cold and manipulating, decisions. At best, she might be delusional, as anyone who wanders onto the X Factor stage. Is she really hapless, or is playing hapless part of her shtick? I'm really going to have to see if I can find the time to watch Ripper Street again.
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"Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realise you're wrong."
@Kat my thoughts exactly- with this level of VFX, post production will be even longer?
@RosemaryW totally! all credit to the team who actually bring the whole thing to life!
@fleem warmest welcomes, great to see you here at the forum
Agree, RP is beautifully shot, (or as we just learned, also post produced!)
Lol, I had not seen Deborah Goren's character that way, but you are right, she is somehow the archetypal earth mother - but for me there is enough fire in her character to make her a woman of more than receptivity, the storyline in 'A Man Of My Company' shows her as not solely a domestic, helping, non opinionated woman. My view is she sleeps with Reid because she has the hots for him, there was an attraction from the moment they met!
I wondered about the Swift/ Susan accent too - but was happy enough to leave some mysteries remaining, maybe it will be unravelled further in the next series?
Yes, I really hope Rose is less of a victim in the next series, but also agree with you UJ there is more to Rose, she is another character with more than one dimension. on the one hand there is an innocence and naievety on the other she is worldly wise before her years - her episode with the lonely hearts and her relationship with Drake exemplified both of these for me..
Jerome Flynn is brill and another cast member from Game Of Thrones!
Recently had a conversation about how much post production was done on Ripper Street....and the general consensus was - 'not a lot'. lol! I guess we were wrong. I agree - it just goes to show how well it's done....
