Episode Title: “I Defy Thee to Forget”
Writer: Sara B. Cooper
Director: Ken Girotti
Previously on “Copper:”
Episode 2.03 “The Children of the Battlefield”
Corky (Tom Weston-Jones) has a habit of getting close to dangerous females, whether they’re mentally ill adulterers or orphaned children with a distaste for authority. Both Annie Reilly (Kiara Glasco) and Ellen Corcoran (Alex Paxton-Beesley) are killers, though in truth both are better described as victims of circumstance than murders. And by episode’s end, both may be out of Corky’s life after he leaves Ellen and Annie runs away. For how long remains to be seen.
With a cop killer on the loose in Five Points, both Captain Sullivan (Ron White) and General Donovan (Donal Logue) want justice for the murder of young Phinbar Byrnes. However, Corky’s attention is somewhat distracted by problems at home – between Annie and Ellen. The two seem to be getting on nicely until Ellen discovers the necklace Annie stole from Elizabeth Morehouse. While holding a knife, Ellen promises to teach Annie how to behave. And as we’ve come to expect, Annie goes right for the jugular, bringing up Maggie before she runs out the door.
But no matter where she goes in Five Points, Annie is unlikely to find sympathy. Corky’s fellow “coppers” are annoyed by the distraction the young girl presents and General Donovan questions Corky’s ability to stay focused on his job, Ellen thinks she’s a “tramp” and Elizabeth wants nothing to do with the child she once cared for. Of course, in Annie we can see Corky trying to make up for past mistakes. But at the same time, he’s done little to steer the troubled child in the right direction, other than hand her off to whoever’s available while he’s on the beat. Despite her young age, Annie does seem to understand Corky in ways others don’t and vice versa. But until he decides to take a more established role in her life, Annie will continue to burn bridges on Corky’s behalf.
And while we’re on the topic of “burned bridges,” Maguire (Kevin Ryan) and O’Rourke (Andrew Howard) seem confident the police won’t find out who killed young Byrnes. They even discuss the murder in detail around one of O’Rourke’s associates. And kicking the man when he questions O’Rourke proves to be a bad idea. It’s not long before he heads down to the precinct to let the police know that it was Maguire who killed Byrnes. With Maguire in custody, our attention turns to a potential new big bad with an anti-establishment attitude in counterfeiter Philomen Keating (Lee Tergesen of HBO’s prison drama, “Oz”). Both intelligent and insane, Keating looks like he’ll prove a real challenge for Five Points’ finest.
As for “Copper’s” supporting characters, Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid) decides to return home after a three-day bender only to find his new bride has left for Virginia. Wracked with guilt over her involvement in Kennedy’s plot, Elizabeth (Anastasia Griffith) decides to head south and rescue Sara Freeman’s mother from a plantation. At first, Matthew Freeman (Ato Essandoh) insists on going despite his wife’s protests, but Elizabeth demands the good doctor put his pride aside and let her go, both for herself and the Freemans.
And while Eva (Franka Potente) refuses to give up Morehouse’s activities to his wife when she comes looking for him, she finds it much harder to resist General Donovan’s request. With all of Five Points’ other bars and brothels shut down while the detectives hunt for Byrnes’ killer, Eva looks to profit. And it’s all a part of Donovan’s plan to partner up with the shrewd madam. Despite the boon to her business, Eva doesn’t seem too comfortable with the idea of working with the General. We’ve yet to find out what exactly his agenda is, but we’ve be given some very telling clues along the way. Donal Logue has been fun to watch in this role so far, but now that he’s saddled up to one of the city’s most colorful characters, the General is poised to take command of Five Points – both its heroes and its villains.
