Episode Title: “Aileen Aroon”
Writer: Kyle Bradstreet
Director: Larysa Kondracki
Previously on “Copper:”
Episode 2.01 “Home, Sweet Home”
Sex, drugs and dirty deals rule Five Points in this week’s episode of “Copper,” as everyone turns to at least one of the three to deal with the struggles of life in the rough-and-tumble city.
With a potential serial killer on the loose, General Donovan (Donal Logue) puts pressure on Corky (Tom Weston-Jones) to find the man kidnapping and murdering young men in Five Points. Meanwhile at home, Ellen (Alex Paxton-Beesley) angrily accuses Corky of disposing of their late daughter, Maggie’s belongings. Corky’s grown increasingly cold towards the wife he so tirelessly searched for. And we can’t really blame him, especially after Dr. Freeman (Ato Essandoh) tells Ellen that Corky was nearly executed after he went AWOL from the Union Army to find her.
Corky keeps up his monosyllabic brooding for most of the episode until the end, when he confesses to Ellen that he got rid of Maggie’s things because he felt he needed to take some sort of action to move forward. Corky, then admits that he doesn’t know where they are in their relationship or the mourning process for Maggie. It’s nice to see Corky open up here and admit some vulnerability. Now it’s a matter of figuring out if he and Ellen can get through this crisis together or if they’ll only bring each other down in the end.
Also experiencing martial woes are Dr. Freeman and his wife, Sara (Tessa Thompson). Freeman decides to take over his mentor’s practice in Five Points, against Sara’s wishes. Still traumatized by what her family’s been through, Sara asks Frederick Douglas, whom Elizabeth Haverford invited to speak at her home, for guidance. The abolitionist leader urges Sara to evolve and embrace freedom. She does this by showing up at her husband’s Five Points office and getting naked. OK, she also says some stuff about wanting to help Matthew help people but it’s hard not to be distracted from all that by a sex scene that feels a little out of place here.
At the same time, we see Corky and Ellen attempt to make love, but Corky’s not feeling it and instead chooses to go out and get high – at least that’s what it looks like. Also getting high on the regular is Elizabeth Haverford (Anastasia Griffith) and her fiancé, Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid) thinks it’s the opium and booze that’s got her so down. Wait until he finds out she gave all her money to traitor, Robert Cobb Kennedy in exchange for some lucrative cotton contracts.
Elizabeth remains one of the more interesting characters on the show, mostly due to her moral ambiguity. On the one hand, she aided the enemy and handed over Annie to her abusive “husband,” Mr. Riley. But then we see her sticking up for Sara when she clashes with the seamstress and inviting her to Frederick Douglas’ reception. Now Elizabeth is agonizing over her deal with Kennedy and her marriage to the man who wants to “see him hang,” Morehouse. This could mark a turning point for the wealthy widow. Will she come clean to her fiancé or get in deeper with Kennedy?
While Elizabeth is racked with guilt over her crimes, Maguire (Kevin Ryan) embraces a life of crime by joining a counterfeiting gang and shoving a lit cigar up a shop owner’s nose when he refuses to pay up. Once Corky’s apprehended the McGrath boy’s killer, Maguire should keep him pretty busy.
With the killer still out there, General Donovan also demonstrates his ability to play dirty when he blackmails a newspaperman who plans to run a story on the murders. It’s still too early to tell what Donovan’s really all about, but Donal Logue’s lively portrayal of the Irish General is a nice counterbalance to Corky’s dour demeanor.
For all his efforts, like forcing young Phinbar to pose as an orphaned teen in need of a drink at local watering holes, Corky comes up short when the killer runs off in the middle of a bar fight. Though he’s confident he’ll catch his man, Maguire’s violent presence in Five Points could prove a distraction for Corky. That and his broken marriage, disturbed adopted daughter and drug habit could put the city’s best detective off his game. And as we see in this episode, there’s at least a few people hoping for exactly that.
