Mr. Darcy, Bronn and a hard-drinking American doctor
walk into a bar
come together at a train wreck…
I’ve not seen the first two seasons of Ripper Street; so I view and review season three’s episode without any knowledge of what happened previously – but obviously there are hard feelings and unfinished business between the trio.
Spoilers below – continue to read with that in mind.
Review and recap of Ripper Street Whitechapel Terminus
DI Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) is working on a manual database, meticulously recording every bit of data he can collect on known criminals. Captain Homer Jackson M.D. (Adam Rothenberg) is frequenting bars and bedding Mimi Morton. And, rounding out the triumvirate, Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn), recently promoted to Detective Inspector in order to take over DI Reid position in Whitechapel.
The three are reunited when, catastrophically, two trains collide in the Whitechapel station. DI Drake is one of the lucky passengers to survive. DI Reid and the rest of the department are first responders – attending to the injured as best they can. Captain Jackson also arrives on the scene, receiving a terse reception from Reid. Jackson instructs the officers on triage – those who will survive, those who will die without their help, and those who will die in spite of their help.
The deadly train wreck was an unintended consequence of a train heist. A mysterious employer seeks out individual men based on their experience – one man called “Railways” is a former railroad worker disabled by an on the job injury who is now unemployed and uncompensated by the railroad. Another man “Guns,” is responsible for, you guessed it, the guns. The half dozen members of the crew don’t know who their employer is, simply that they will each earn £500 for completing the job.
Gregory Enright a.k.a. “Railways” is more than adept at maneuvering the switches and diverting the train the crew is looking to rob. However, what he didn’t know was that the normal routes have been changed due to repair work, and the train diverted for the robbery is now on a crash course with a rerouted train.
The mysterious employer and caper mastermind is none other than Ronald Capshaw. The stolen prize is $350,000 bearer bonds. In spite of their loan sharking, Obsidian could use more funding. This heist ensures that Obsidian will be funded for the next ten years. The staggering death count of 55 is more than enough to dampen Long Susan’s enthusiasm over the score. She tosses one of the bonds into the fire, asking Capshaw, “will this bring a life back?” She tosses another bond into the fire. Capshaw stops her from going further, doing the math on Obsidian’s funding.
DI Reid’s strategies pay benefits. It turns out Mr. Cree was approached by the mystery employer for the train heist, but turned him down because he didn’t seem right. Further question yields the detail that employer “polished his shoes too bright” something Cree noticed, “when there’s this much shit in the street.”
Later on, Susan Hart introduces Mr. Capshaw to DI Reid. Reid immediately notices Capshaw’s highly polished shoes. Rushing back to the police station, presumably to see if Cree can identify Capshaw as the employer – but Cree is dead, stabbed in the neck in his cell.
Archive folders from Ripper Street:
“Oi this ain’t coppering!”
Jackson is a cross between Gil Grissom and Jimmy McNulty.
Love how Reid is completely engrossed reading a book on fingerprints.
“How I am now alone with my vices.”
Drake is easily recognized as Game of Thrones sell sword Bronn, but did you recognize Clive Russell as CI Fred Abberline. Russell played Caitlin Stark’s uncle Blackfish Tully.
Characters and cast of Ripper Street Whitechapel Terminus:
DI Edmund Reid – Matthew Macfadyen (Anna Karenina, Death at a Funeral, The Three Muskateers, Frost/Nixon, The Pillars of the Earth, Pride and Prejudice)
DI Bennet Drake – Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones, Badger, Soldier Soldier, Between the Lines)
Captain Homer Jackson – Adam Rothenberg (Mad Money, The Immigrant, Tennessee, Welcome to Purgatory, The Divide)
Long Susan – MyAnna Buring (The Descent, Kill List, Downton Abbey, The Twilight Sage Breaking Dawn – Part 1, Banished)
Rose Erskine – Charlene McKenna (Breakfast on Pluto, Raw, A.D. The Bible Continues, The Tiger’s Tail)
Mimi Morton – Lydia Wilson (About Time, Never Let Me Go, The Making of a Lady)
Sgt. Donald Artherton – David Wilmot (Calvary, King Arthur, Anna Karenina, The Tudors)
CI Fred Abberline – Clive Russell (Sherlock Holmes, Game of Thrones, The 13th Warrior, Mary Queen of Scots, Coronation Street)
Dr. Amelia Frayn – Louise Brealy (Casualty, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Sherlock)
Ronald Capshaw – John Heffernan (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, Sons of Liberty)
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