S04.E03: A White World Made Red

[radishcake]

Quote

Jackson feels the heat when a double murder throws light upon his recent illicit activities.

[Deanie87]

Is anyone else watching/able to watch?  I am really, really curious to see how things are going to go down with Jackson and Susan.  Not only because she has now murdered yet again, but I can't imagine that her presence is going to stay a secret during the whole season, and then some.  But I can't see Reid and Drake just overlooking the fact that she is now free.

 

Not to mention Conner (or is it Colin?)  I can't see the Drakes being happy about giving him up (well, maybe Rose LOL), but I also can't imagine Susan just being fine with letting them keep him either.  Since Jackson and Susan are my favorites, I am getting nervous about their eventual fate, given all the current circumstances.  

 

Edited because I can't remember what the little boy's name is.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Deanie87

[weyrbunny]

I did not recognize Jonas Armstrong until I saw his name in the credits. He’s been here since the 4.1 premiere, it turns out. He looks fairly different as Croker’s thug/lieutenant, but also he’s not whiny and petulant and paling in comparison to Richard Armitage like on Robin Hood, which is probably why I didn’t recognize him here. His character is interesting so far, if underdeveloped.

Of course, I love the poetry of the episode’s title, A White World Made Red, and it was really engaging to see how it symbolically and bloodily permeated the episode. I just wish ep. 4.3 were more subtle, less obvious. Dracula was a foreigner seeking blood like the killer—yeah, we didn’t need Reid to (over) explain that connection at the end. Or how this was a continuation of ep. 4.1’s exploration of immigrants living in Whitechapel—a white(chapel) world now populated by red, as in foreign blood and skin color. Again, obvious.

Jackson’s story about the blood on the snow while he was in the American West—the original “white world made red” reference—served a lot of purpose, I see now. Not only was it beautiful Wild West imagery to remind us of Jackson’s past, but by bringing up “red” Indians, it tied again into the race theme.

I’m starting to dread when Jackson pulls his gun or acts “Wild West,” though. The progress and urbanity that’s taking place in Whitechapel may just be a veneer, as the show suggests, but Jackson threatening more modern criminals with Wild West tactics seems out-of-place and increasingly foolish. He’s going to threaten the wrong person—I'm guessing Croker.

Croker continues to defy my expectations by being the father-figure that Susan has needed all along. I did not expect their story line to be about parenting! (Other than Connor…) It’s totally Ripper Street of course, since he’s mentoring her in murder. Nice callback to S3’s obsidian story when Susan talks with Croker at the end: she calls herself “blacker in my heart” and then uses “dark secret” to refer to her father.

The other callback I noticed was to Merrick’s death from S2. I’m sure Ripper Street is just reusing characters out of narrative economy, but it’s starting to seem like a farewell tour.

Oh wait, one more: Mathilda sneaking looks at Reid’s Isaac Bloom files, just like she did with the Jack the Ripper case before her accident. I enjoyed Mathilda and Reid’s conversation about Drummond, too. Mathilda articulated herself well and used logic not angst, which Reid responded to.

I must look up the word “lobcock” now…

Edited May 8, 2016 by weyrbunny

[attica]

Fun bit of trivia: England is the only land where there is no native folklore tradition of the Undead. They've had to import all their vampires and zombie stories. Ghosts, yes, but not reanimation. 

I get the feeling that the show wants Abel to be Swearengenesque. Which I am not opposed to, philosophically speaking. All depend on how they play it. It is taking some massive suspension of disbelief that word of Susan's survival has not spread like rats on the waterfront, though.

[raven]

Just knew Jackson was going to do a blood transfusion, heh. 

I feel like whatever cuts BBCA are making are causing me to lose track of what's going on.  So the doctor that Susan killed - when she was in prison, he seemed to be acting sleazily towards her, though I don't think it was explicitly stated.  Jackson threatened him so he caved and helped cover up Susan's escape (presumably by pronouncing her dead).   He was the one sending the seamstresses to the French doctor?  If so, how did he know them?  I don't think it's a big deal (one he should die for) that he was sending the French doctor the prisoner corpses; it's different if he was setting up innocent people to be experimented on and killed.   It just seemed that excessive beatings were a bit much and that's why he tried to blackmail Susan.  I understand she felt backed into a corner and that's why she did it...I more question Jackson's beating and threatening him - didn't he realize that would only cause more problems? 

Again, I enjoy Susan more when she is apart from Jackson.  Her scenes with Abel are very interesting, though I wish the show wouldn't fall back onto daddy issues.  Eventually she is going to try to see Connor.  Jackson may have inadvertently let Drake know that he has seen him; Drake recognized the song Jackson was singing at the end as the same one Rose sung.  I wondered why when Susan was released that the three of them didn't just go back to America - I assume lack of funds.  The season premiere it appeared Jackson was trying to get Susan's father declared dead in court, so that he (I guess as her husband and guardian of his heir) would get his money.  Presumably she can't because she's in prison?  I feel like I missed something.

Quote

Mathilda articulated herself well and used logic not angst, which Reid responded to.

I appreciated this also and I am finally finding her not creepy.   I liked their dynamic in that scene, you could see in Reid's face that he realized he's got a thinking person on his hands.  I would have liked to have seen her with Drummond (I assume that was cut); he hasn't had much to do. 

[attica]

2 hours ago, raven said:

He was the one sending the seamstresses to the French doctor?  If so, how did he know them? 

He only sent the one, the one with the braid. She'd done a stretch at Newgate, which is how he knew her. She sent the other seamstress (the one who died), who had nothing to do with the prison doc.

[pezgirl7]

I hate that BBC America is cutting out scenes. They seem to be nice, little, quiet character driven scenes. I would have liked to of seen Matilda give Drummond the book, if the scene exists. I know they cut one of Frankie escorting Magdalena back to work. I saw it on Tumblr here:

http://corpyburd.tumblr.com/post/149051336749/hold-tight-girl-frankie-thatchers-coming-for-ya

[weyrbunny]

On 8/20/2016 at 9:28 AM, raven said:

I wondered why when Susan was released that the three of them didn't just go back to America - I assume lack of funds.  The season premiere it appeared Jackson was trying to get Susan's father declared dead in court, so that he (I guess as her husband and guardian of his heir) would get his money.  Presumably she can't because she's in prison?  I feel like I missed something.

Money was the reason given, as you say. In particular, Susan and Jackson owe Abel money for facilitating Susan's escape from prison and then sheltering her, so... they're stuck at this point in the story—can't leave without paying Abel. Jackson really should be planning some way to get more money. Instead, mostly, he spends time at work.

Also, it's mentioned that Susan was too recognizable—a media sensation synonymous with 55 deaths—for them to get on a ship to America immediately after the hanging. Susan and the show conveniently forget this detail every time they want to go outside Abel's, of course.