I intend to restart my Doctor Who marathon after Timegate, and will publish my review of The Mind of Evil on Monday, May 27th.
In the meantime, I've decided to honor the promise I made with myself on this blog's very first posting, which is that I would review other British and BBC shows besides Doctor Who. I haven't done that up to this point, but with my Doctor Who viewing on hiatus for a week, I might as well offer a few reviews of other British and BBC shows rather than simply shuttering the blog for a week.
First show up for review is the first season of the BBC America original series Copper.
Created by Tom Fontana and Will Rokos
Written by Will Rokos, Tom Fontana, Frank Pugliese, Kyle Bradstreet, Brandt Englestein, Kevin Dieboldt and Sara Cooper
Directed by Jeff Woolnough, Clark Johnson, Larysa Kondracki and Ken Girotti
Produced by Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana
Main Cast-
Kevin Corcoran aka "Corky" - Tom Weston-Jones
Robert Morehouse - Kyle Schmid
Matthew Freeman - Ato Essandoh
Elizabeth Haverford - Anastasia Griffith
Eva Heissan - Franka Potente
Andrew O'Brien - Dylan Taylor
Francis Maguire - Kevin Ryan
Annie Reilly - Kiara Glasco
Police Captain Sullivan - Ron White
Review-
Unlike my Doctor Who reviews, rather than offering a detailed plot synopsis I intend to simply offer a more general overview of the plot details, along with my review of the series (or season) in question.
Copper takes place in 1864 in New York City. Kevin Corcoran or "Corky" as he's known, is a police detective (also known as a Copper) who recently come home from the Civil War. Corky is on the lookout for his missing wife, and the killer of his young daughter.
Corky's fellow compatriots on the force include Francis Maguire and Andrew O'Brien, and Captain Sullivan is his commanding officer.
Corky's beat is the Five Points neighborhood, which during the 1860's was mostly full of various immigrant groups. Copper doesn't shy away from some of ugliness of the era, depicting much of meanness and racial hatred that simmered underneath the surface.
Corky is a bit unusual in that he has friends in both high and low places. In high society, he's a friend of Robert Morehouse, a Fifth Avenue businessman with whom Corky bonded during his time with the Army. In addition, Corky also makes the acquaintance of Elizabeth Haverford, a well-to-do widow.
Corky is also quite unusual in that he's friends with and is known for using the services of Matthew Freeman, an African-American doctor. At the time, the Irish (and indeed, most white people) didn't mix with black and the racial hostility is depicted in a very realistic fashion in the show. Corky is also friends and is acquainted with Eva Heissan, who runs a brothel and Annie, a ten-year old prostitute whose sister Kate was killed in the series premiere.
What makes Copper so fascinating, at least to me, is that it's quite unlike anything else on American television. The ugliness of the time is in full view, and a man like Corky is quite unusual. Everyone on the show has some sort of agenda, and double-dealings are quite common. However, Copper does have a sense of justice. For example, Kate's killer is led into a trap by Corky and her sister Annie, which feels a great deal like frontier justice in many ways but it probably quite true to the time.
Indeed, the tactics that Corky uses to interrogate witnesses and suspects would never happens nowadays. But in the ugly world of 1860's New York that Copper is set in, these interrogation techniques feel authentic and simply fit the world of the show.
Several revelations about Corky's wife, and a shock ending about who exactly killed his daughter are a great set-up for the second season, which is due to start on June 23rd of this year.
I'll admit that I was a bit hesitant about the idea of BBC America doing their own shows, especially since there are so many great British television shows out there that BBC America could import and show. However, Copper is produced very much in the British style, with a small group of writers and directors and a short season that helps keep the episode quality high, no filler episodes here. Besides, I'd rather BBC America do original episodes rather than air more repeats of Kitchen Nightmares and Top Gear (mind you, I do like Top Gear but how many times can one watch the same episodes over and over again!)
