Episode Title: “The Fine Ould Irish Gentleman”
Writer: Kyle Bradstreet
Director: Larysa Kondracki
Previously on “Copper:”
Episode 2.09 “Think Gently of the Erring”
The jig is up and the secrets are out in Five Points leading some to switch sides and some to get out of town, altogether.
With a number of bodies left in his wake, it was just a matter of time before Corky (Tom Weston-Jones) and the reluctant O’Brien (Dylan Taylor) figured out what General Donovan (Donal Logue) is up to. But it’s Maguire’s (Kevin Ryan) weakness for the ladies that gives Corky the confirmation he needs to go after the politically ambitious Donovan. Unfortunately, it appears the truth came out too late for Teresa Trembley.
Maguire’s not above getting down and dirty when the job calls for it, but his affection for Teresa gets in the way of his latest assignment from the General: to kill her. As Donovan points out, Maguire doesn’t discriminate when it comes to murder and the General is not afraid to apply some leverage if Maguire refuses to do the deed. It leaves the embattled detective with two choices: watch another woman he cares for die, at his own hands no less, or turn on the General.
Though there isn’t much substance to Maguire and Teresa’s relationship, it provides enough motivation for his betrayal of the General. And when he’s not burying men alive or covering them in gasoline, Maguire can be a hopeless romantic. Listening to him tell Teresa about his first love back in Ireland, it’s a bit cliché, but it does add some interesting layers to his character.
While Corky tries to build a case against the General, the women of “Copper” engage in various degrees of histrionics. Corky stops by the Freeman home and inadvertently tells Hattie (Alfre Woodard) that her sons were lynched, not drowned as Sara claimed. Hattie storms over to Matthew’s practice and slaps Sara (Tessa Thompson) when she tries to explain herself. Though she later comes to understand why her daughter and son-in-law kept the horrible truth from her, Hattie’s had enough of Five Points and considers taking a new friend up on his offer to work in the Finger Lakes.
If we really have seen the last of Hattie, it’s kind of puzzling why her character was introduced in the first place. If anything, Hattie’s distaste for city life only serves to show how far her once timid daughter has come. Despite her plans to leave Five Points, I have a feeling Hattie will be causing at least a couple more headaches for Matthew and Sara.
Over at the Morehouse home, Elizabeth (Anastasia Griffith) is fiending for the white stuff as she tears through the house, looking for opium. With her stash depleted, she goes to a Chinatown opium den for her fix. Robert (Kyle Schmid) doesn’t seem terribly concerned, as he’s preoccupied with his father, Norbert’s dealing with General Donovan, who plans to uproot Five Points’ residents to build his aqueduct. Though his character doesn’t do much more than antagonize Robert, Norbert (Geordie Johnson) makes a good point in this episode; Robert needs to pick a side already. He can’t be both a humanitarian and a successful businessman in the world in which he lives. We see this conflict of interest manifest when Robert is unable to get Matthew’s tract on the well water published. Matthew (Ato Essandoh) also has some wisdom for his friend and army comrade. Though he was a Major in the war, Freeman finds it disturbing how powerless Robert is now.
As Corky and Donovan scramble to find and/or destroy the evidence in the murder of Alderman Bartlett and his son, Eva (Franka Potente) finds herself powerless as the gallows looms. Donovan sends a lawyer over to see her, but he won’t represent Eva unless she sells the Paradise to cover his fees. It’s a sentence almost as bad as death for the savvy businesswoman who has put her life into Five Points’ most popular saloon. But after Maguire tells Corky and O’Brien what Donovan’s been up to, the suspense surrounding Eva’s fate is lessened some. Donovan might not hang, but he’ll be looking to get farther away from Five Points than Hattie if the detectives get their way.
