Copper season 2 episode 10 review: The Fine Ould Irish Gintleman

This review contains spoilers.

2.10 The Fine Ould Irish Gintleman

All of Copper’s recent episodes have been a little bit AD; they jump from one character and plot point to another without a clear unifying theme. This week, we’ve got sleazy Donovan shutting down Eva’s Paradise, Hattie learning the truth about her sons, Corcoran launching an investigation against sleazy Donovan, Elizabeth spiraling further into addiction, sleazy Donovan plotting the death of Theresa…. Okay, maybe sleazy Donovan is this week’s theme. The packed episode flies by, but it makes you wonder what it’s building up toward for the season conclusion. (I suppose it will involve sleazy Donovan.) 

Some good news: somebody’s finally doing something about Donovan and his much-hinted-at depravity. Corcoran thinks Donovan is Bartlett’s murderer, and he’s not afraid to confront even Tammany Hall. It’s the age-old “underdog takes on corrupt bigwig” story, and it works here. By this point, viewers are dying for somebody, preferably Corky, to fix the messed-up world they’ve been watching. Donovan makes a great villain, and is more fun to watch than he was early in the season. His sleaziness appears to be in direct correlation to his interesting-ness. 

My poor television took a lot of abuse today. I yelled at it twice during this episode, and it wasn’t even the TV’s fault. The first time, it was Corky’s. He tells Hattie how great he thinks it is that she can be so kind to an Irishman when the Irish lynched her sons. That’s an awful sweet thing to say, but nobody on Copper is that noble. Sara had told Hattie that the boys drowned, trying to protect her mother and end the cycle of hate. Now that the truth is out, Hattie, who was just beginning to see the good in Five Points, cannot stay in the city that killed her sons. It’s truly sad that Corcoran mistakes ignorance for goodness and, in trying to show appreciation for that goodness, brings on hatred and sorrow. But when the rage dies down, Hattie does show a bit of nobility in forgiving Sara for her lie. 

The second time I showered my TV in wanton verbal abuse was also the fault of Corcoran, along with Francis and O’Brien. They realize that Donovan is going to kill Theresa Trembley, make a mad dash to save her—and go to the wrong place. That’s an “Aargh!” moment if there ever was one.    

Francis, ever the Casanova, makes a turnaround from his thug-for-hire ways when Donovan asks him to kill Theresa (because killing sexy ladies who have the hots for you is way more evil than killing random dudes, of course). He reports Donovan’s underhanded activities, including murder, to Corcoran and O’Brien. It seems the three of them will be working together again. Is Francis deserving of forgiveness, though? They are unified by a cause, nothing more. 

Elizabeth’s state grows progressively worse. The servant James finds the usually proper lady lying naked on the floor, and once she’s recovered she heads off to get high in a room full of Asian guys with opium pipes. 

Eva talks with a half-crazy woman on death row who claims not to fear death, but goes to her hanging begging to be saved. The haunting scene invokes fear for Eva, since Donovan clearly has it in for her. 

Morehouse tells Freeman he cannot get his paper published, and Freeman retorts with a scathing accusation of selfishness on Morehouse’s part. Later, the man whose shop window Freeman smashed with a brick last week comes calling – with several other guys backing him up, the coward – and Freeman is going to have to fight. 

In other news: Donovan is poised to win the aqueduct bid and disenfranchise many citizens in the process, Freeman discovers that Ramsey was suffocated, and Corky discovers that lying rich people can really Git-R-Done. 

I wasn’t sure whether next week was the last episode of the season, so I posted the question to my Tumblr and was lucky enough to get an answer from Copper writer Kevin Deiboldt. Very cool. And good news, too: there are three more episodes left in the season. Not a bad way to finish off the summer! 

Read Kylie’s review of the previous episode, Think Gently Of The Erring, here.

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