Season Finale Review: Copper, S1 Ep 10 – “A Vast and Fiendish Plot”

Air date: Sunday, October 21, 2012, 10/9C on BBC America

Rating: ★★★★★

Corky tries to prevent NYC from burning down

Ten episodes of Copper just aren’t enough, even with a season finale rife with insane struggles and traitors.  The good news is, Copper has been renewed for a second season. Hallelujah!  The bad news is, we have to wait until summer 2013. But what a wait it will be!

Is it any wonder Corky (Tom Weston-Jones) is in a downward spiral and Maguire’s (Kevin Ryan) life hangs in the balance? Both men are struggling with their demons. For Corky, everything he’s learned about his wife Ellen (Alex Paxton-Beesley) while he was at war (twice, I might add) is too much for him. In his anguish, he reaches out blindly for support, any support, but it’s the wrong thing–a very bad, no good, dangerous thing. (And no, it’s not Eva (Franka Potente), ha!) My Corky is heading down a dark road, a road called hell. The question is, will Ellen have the strength to bring him back? Or will it be Eva, or even Annie (Kiara Glasco), who rescues him?

The scene where Corky walks out on the street after facing Maguire in the burning hotel is such a powerful one that speaks to his utter loneliness. There are no words; only a simple stepping out, with the camera panning out and shadows darkening as his figure fades in the night.

Morehouse confronts his father

What would you do if you found out your father was a traitor? Morehouse (Kyle Schmid) struggles with this very question, and comes to a quick decision about what he wants to do with Norbert (Geordie Johnson). It rather surprised me that he’d be willing for his father to be relocated to another state to begin a new life. I guess for the Morehouse family, blood isn’t thicker than water.

When Elizabeth (Anastasia Griffith) helps Kennedy (Aaron Poole) carry out his plot, I was shocked. He may not have told her all of his plans but what was she thinking, even considering helping out this slime ball, particularly without Morehouse’s knowledge? I thought she and Morehouse were on the same side. Did Kennedy bribe her in some way, as he did with Norbert? This remains to be seen. It could be as simple as Kennedy playing her for a fool, even though we know she’s nobody’s fool.

Eva advises Annie to live a life on the straight

Eva redeems herself in this episode. Knowing she can’t compete with Ellen, she’s truthful when Ellen asks her whether Corky was happy when she was gone. Watching her in the scene with Annie, where she tells Annie she has a chance to make a good life, away from being a prostitute, was wonderful. Potente imbues Eva with a determined strength; she’s a woman who really cares for Annie as if she were her mother. But she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and seeing how Annie constantly tries to seduce Corky, tells her to cut it out. Just like a mother would. Seeing her say goodbye to Corky was a little wistful and sad.

Sara (Tessa Thompson) is having a tough pregnancy despite having Matthew (Ato Essandoh) to watch over her. But he struggles with caring for Sara while attending to his doctorly duties. I think Matthew has plenty of guilt when he finds out she’s taken some sort of miracle cure for her morning sickness. It’s a guilt many working parents can empathize with. I’m worried he’ll be sent to jail, or worse, because he attacks the white purveyor of this medicine. (Because Sara’s brothers were lynched, this is a real concern for them.) I know the writers strive for authenticity, but if they do away with either Matthew or Sara, it will be easy for me to stop watching Copper. After all, this is not Law & Order, where the writers kill off main characters.

Matthew discovers his unconscious wife after she takes a suspicious medicine

What do you think season two will bring? I’m hoping the Freemans have a healthy baby, Corky and Maguire repair their friendship, and Annie abandons a life of prostitution and trains to become a housekeeper. But, knowing the world contained within Copper, this probably won’t happen. Because of that, I’m prepared for anything. Just don’t kill off either Freeman!

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Follow the actors on Twitter: Kevin Corcoran @tomwestonjones, Det. Maguire @KevinRyanII, Matthew Freeman @AtoEssandoh, Robert Morehouse @iamkyleschmid, and Elizabeth Haverford @AnastasiaGLive

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