S03.E03: Ashes & Diamonds

[weyrbunny]

3.3 - Ashes and Diamonds

 

Series 3’s slightly longer run times have been put to good use, I think. Conversations are unhurried in ep. 3 like never before, and there are a wealth of character moments to appreciate. (This oughta be Flynn’s BAFTA reel.) The dialogue did seem clichéd and repetitive in places, unfortunately. The restating and overstating of the show’s many death themes really stuck out. I suppose this fits with pensive and reflective characters trying to recover from Reid’s actions. Using that many clichés, though—it added unoriginality to an episode where the case-of-the-week was already predictable.

 

Actually, my suspicion is that the psychic case was only there so Drake could eventually say “…hope is made a phantom.”

 

It also bugged me that the case’s outcome seemed to excuse or make less of Reid’s violent actions by having someone else repeat them. Reid’s behavior may be psychologically understandable, but it is not excusable. I was a bit surprised by how willing Drake and Jackson were to cover up for Reid, too. It simply came down to friendship, I suppose. There was a nice tension to the scenes where other characters talked about how honorable or good Reid was though, because Drake or Jackson seemed to grapple with their knowledge that this was a Reid who hadn’t existed for years.

 

Wild West saloon imagery this episode…and they're not even trying to be subtle with the Alice in Wonderland references. In ep. 2, it was all the caterpillars (“Who are you?”) and butterflies. In ep. 3, it’s the endless looking glasses, of course.

[radishcake]

 

Alex le Shayne, a mysterious clairvoyant is found dead at the local performance place. Jackson presumes poison has a part to play. As Reid is missing Drake steps in to investigate. Elsewhere Susan continues to care for Mathilda and plans to send her to Switzerland.

 

[Primetimer]

It's just like Ripper Street to screw up a perfectly good romantic pairing. Did they?

Read the story

[Kat]

Boy, has "Creepshaw" ever earned his nickname. **shudder**

I loved this episode from start to finish! And a good portion of why is because of Drake and Rose. FINALLY.

[attica]

Flynn looks quite a bit, um, healthier than he did in previous seasons.  I am not mad at this. I am getting mad at the whole 'my job is ruin and I ruin everything I love' trope. The only ones whose jobs ruin what they love are the writers who mine this hacky-assed nonsense.

 

I really wanted Sgt Artherton to hug Bennet. Completely unrealistic for him to do so, but it would have made me happy watching that spectacular ginger beard slung over Drake's shoulder.

[Snarklepuss]

This show has more twists and turns than Chubby Checker on the Ed Sullivan Show.  For all its faults I still love it, though.  Absolutely loved seeing Bennett with Rose although somehow it's anticlimactic in a way.  It was so unexpected that it didn't have the impact I would have wanted it to have.  I guess I like it when their tension builds.  Mr. Snarklepuss said he liked Susan more when she was a madam because she was more upright and moral (irony intended).

[raven]

I really like seeing Drake in charge of the investigation and working with Jackson without Reid.  I like Reid, as difficult as he can be, but Drake/Jackson was a good departure. 

 

Love the sets they come up with, always so atmospheric and detailed - the medium's and then the taxidermist's.  Speaking of which, when the wife pulled out that teeny knife I thought for sure the husband would overpower her but nope!  She managed to kill two people with that little thing. 

 

Am not overly invested in Drake and Rose except it's what he wanted and I love Drake so yay for him.

 

Still not really caring about Matilda, except for there being still no real explanation (for me) about why Susan just immediately believes this obviously tramautized girl who's been locked up in a basement for what is it? a couple of years?  I don't remember. Believing that Reid also abused her, I mean.  Plus she compounds it by telling a Reid the lie that will make him feel the worst.  At least they're not dragging out the "finding out" part.  I liked the little heart to heart she had with Rose even if I've never really felt the great love Susan and Jackson are supposed to have.  I wish they had concentrated on her building a business, however shady it might be.

 

Hopefully the young constable helping out won't end up like poor Hobbs, RIP.

Edited May 16, 2015 by raven

[attica]

girl who's been locked up in a basement for what is it? a couple of years?

 

Well, there were four years elapsed since last season, and they lost Matilda a year before the action in season one, so: five or six years, easy. Which is a lot for a kid, obvs. But nothing a well-appointed Contrivance Fairy can't fix with a wave of her wand!

[merylinkid]

Why is everyone accepting this is Matilda?  It's not like they had DNA tests, but I would take a little more than the ramblings of a kid locked in a basement.   Okay she has burns.   big deal.    With the skirts girls wore in those days, it is highly likely that the weight of them getting wet weighed her down so much she drowned.   Kids did not learn how to swim back then.    But even if she had -- skirts.   

[Neurochick]

How did Susan come to work with such a douchebag? And why does she listen to him? I thought Susan was smart.

[weyrbunny]

Rewatching…

 

In retrospect, 3.3 isn’t complete without 3.4. And it doesn’t come alive until Drake and Rose’s reconciliation and conversation. It’s nice to see Drake’s subtle investigation and interrogations skills, but chunks of the case-of-the-week are slow and disjointed, IMO.

 

The Amazon UK cut of episode 3 is 1:07, btw, making it 9 minutes longer than the US version.

 

I had forgotten that Jackson actually falsified Buckley’s autopsy, and I like that Abberline questions it—he’s no fool or, at least, not fooled.

 

It always puzzled me that Mathilda would run away, into maze-like streets, after being loudly phobic about leaving her room/pupae in ep. 3.2. I finally realized that she escaped simply in order to find Buckley and return home. Makes sense now.

 

So much here pays off in the next episode, even the little details, like Susan’s nostalgia for Jackson and trying to reconnect with him.