Investigations into the brutal slaying of a Telegraph Boy lift the lid on a vice racket run from the offices of the GPO.
The telegraph ledger leads Reid to the heart of the one of the city’s most august financial institutions, Barings Bank.
It is a trail that will reveal blackmail, looming economic disaster, financial corruption - the great passions shaped in men by both love and gold, and passions that are starkly shaped in Captain Jackson’s life as he seeks ever more perilous means of ridding himself and Long Susan of the suffocating debt they owe the moneylender, Silas Duggan.
It's not unusual for a character to be totally absent from the episode following one that they've featured heavily in - it's been pointed out that Susan wasn't in this weeks at all - so it's great to see Damien is in the cast list.......even if he's only in the background (although I obviously hope that he will be more in the foreground....)
Agree, domino - it'll be interesting to see if they treat him with any more....respect - and also whether he goes back to his previous cockiness.
I'm not really expecting to see much of Damien in this week's episode, given last week's was Flight-centric. We didn't see Long Susan or Rose at all in 'Dynamite' after their previous character centric episode. It will be interesting nonetheless to see whether there is indeed a thaw in relations between Reid and Flight, especially.
I suspect Flight will be in the background in tonight's episode, but at least he is in it...and has been for all eps since his introduction which is more than can be said for many of the other non main 3 leads cast.
Also looking forward to seeing if there is yet another fab costume, Flight does have the best wardrobe, does he not?
This has been my fave non Flight episode so far.I like it when "Gay" characters are not portrayed as effeminate stereotype! especially in period drama's.I wished that Flight had been more involved in the story , maybe he could have come to Vincent's aid in the alley chase scene & spoke similar words as in Merricks episode! & in a deep secret part of me i had been hoping that Flight's "Sin" or "Sins" were of a homoerotic nature! Not so secret now!
-- Edited by J-Baptiste on Tuesday 26th of November 2013 02:51:50 AM
Starting to worry a bit that i won't be able to see the episode live, and if not, i won't get to see it til Tuesday night at the absolute latest (stupid home improvements....grrrr!)
I had issues with my streaming, so maybe that was it, but I actually was a bit disappointed in this week's episode. Not enough Flight, obvs, but apart from a few rousing speeches it really didn't grip me like the last couple.
I do love that look Flight gave Reid. Back to desk duty/research!
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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
I'm being shallow. Just not very enthused about this episode. I just read Cult TV's review of this one, and their link to last week's review and they thought last week's was lackluster whereas I feel the opposite. I think part of it is no continuity from last week. Everyone is assuming Flight's confession at the beginning of the episode has to do with his lies undercover, but I don't and I want them to get on with revealing his secrets. It feels there should also have been some mention/acknowledgement about his undercover work from Reid also, but none.
They need more on the main characters in general - there was quite a bit on Jackson & Susan at least. Next week is Drake & Bella. I hope that one includes more Flight. And I can't believe I'm even wishing there were more Shine! I don't like it when series go off on guest characters so much.
I don't think I'm making much sense. Just put it down to a weird mood...
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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
It was good as an individual episode, but it could almost have been a one off police drama....and I'm starting to feel a bit impatient for the Ripper Street characters stories to move along. As I've said before, I ended up feeling the same thing in the first series - as a series it didn't really get going until over half way through - and, bearing in mind that next week is a Drake/Bella story - that's ep 6 - and we know we've still got the Jackson/Susan/Duggan thing to go.....and we're expecting some sort of showdown with Shine (not to mention the hope that there will be some more Flight revelations!) it feels like there's an awful lot to pack into the last few eps. But these are the arcs which should hold the series together, and so far they don't feel prominent enough to give it any real continuity.
Having said that, as an individual ep it was really good, gripping and shocking.....and it was nice to get a bit of Fred Best background - although I did feel the 'rousing speeches' were maybe a bit too......didactic and didn't really seem very natural. Not enough Flight, obviously....but we were kind of expecting that.....
And I agree - the look Flight gave Reid when he told him to get him a cab was excellent! Damien really doesn't need dialogue, or to be very prominent to be noticed, does he? Lol! Poor Flight....it really doesn't look like all his hard work last week impressed Reid very much!
@whimsy I share your frustration with this episode regarding flight! his disappearance from that moment on in the episode was odd, perhaps we are to assume he was give lesser duties than being part of the on scene investigations as he was at the beginning of the ep, due somehow to the occurrence in the pub which was not his fault and did result in an arrest of sorts. Or maybe..... He got so fed up with Reid's treatment of him he got in that cab and left!!! ( part of me wishes he did but NOT because we need to see him again!)
But overall I thought the episode itself was brilliantly written and performed with the major storyline being far more gripping than say the supposed main storyline for the main characters of last weeks ep (the electricity war which was completely outshone by. Flight undercover )
@fifi you are very welcome for screen caps, when I was making them I realised that Flight was actually quite prominent in the beginning quarter of the ep and central to the main investigation! and as I said on twitter.... There may have been a lack of flight in this ep but there was no lack of flight effect!!
I know what you both mean about the storyline moving along.. For Flight especially at this point intrigue is tipping over into frustration...but there were some pretty major movements in a few of the mani characters storylines last night, Reid and Jane Cobden and presumably his attitude towards his marriage, the beginning of what looks set to be a major thing for drake and Bella, and is this the end for Jackson and Long Susan? But perhaps for me the best character development was Fred Best - his chartacter has up until now been a pretty one dimensional one, not any more!
@j-b I am totally with you on this, despite it being hard to stomach the blatant prejudice of the times that I guess they had to show, Reid's progressive attitude was refreshing and the love story was heartbreaking. I also had a wish to some how see Flight wrapped up in this, in any way you'd care to interpret!
Don't forget to vote in the POLL at the top of the thread everyone!!
I do agree that it was great to get some Fred Best backstory....but I despair a bit about the possiblitly of it developing any further. If I'm honest, I'm not engaged by the Reid/Cobden story at all.....I really don't care if they get it together or not! And, although we saw some Jackson/Susan........ OK, we know that Jackson's met his match in Duggan, and that they're even worse off....but - I don't know......it didn't feel to move on at all. Even when Susan told him to leave at the end it felt a bit as if it's all happened before. Somehow it was far more powerful when she told him to leave her alone when she was in the bath at the end of ep2.
I was expecting this episode to be Flight-light considering last week's episode was Flight-centric so i wasn't overly disappointed at the lack of Flight in this week's episode.
I really enjoyed the episode, the telegram boys rent boy blackmail plot, i read about the scandal that was alluded to in the episode (Cleveland Street, it was rumoured the then Prince of Wales (Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria, also one of the names touted as being Jack the Ripper too, was connected and his connection to the place was covered up) I liked how the relationship between the boys was portrayed, the genuine love portrayed between them. It was treated sordidly and there were no stereotypes that we know of today. That ending made me jump and listening to the episode through ear phones, it was very...three dimensional, hearing Stone choke on his own blood (as did poor Vincent(?)) was disturbing but effective.
I thought Matthew McFadyen was exceptionally good this week, especially the scene with Jane Cobden at the end, it was sweet, humble, a bit awkward but utterly believable and heartfelt. A lovely scene.
Next week's episode looks intriguing.
(Oh and i won this week's Twitter caption competition run by Ed Bruce of VFX...just a little bit thrilled by it :) )
I ended up having to watch the episode in three parts as work got in the way (how rude!), but I enjoyed it once again. I liked the storyline and the juxtaposition between the two young boys in love with each other and the rentboy aspect of it - what a great way to hide them amongst the telegraph messengers.
The violence was very overt this week, you couldn't really get away from the blood and gore, which was interesting and I wondered whether it was a nod to the criticisms of the last series and the violence against women.
Yes, the sudden disappearance of Flight after 25 minutes was a bit strange. Even to have had him lurking in the background would have made more sense, although the moments he was on screen were good; I did like his blatant watching of Fred and Vincent in the pub...and noone ever complains when he gets out his handcuffs *ahem*.