'Better Times Are Coming' -- Copper 1x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

As much as Morehouse Jr gets on my nerves, and as shady as I think the man is, I do have to give him props for thinking ahead and making sure that the Greek Fire didn't actually make it into town ... and to do it so that it didn't look like he had anything to do with it. Now, he's seen the men that are involved with the plot, he's kept Rome New York from burning, and he's kept himself in with those who are trying to do nasty things. While I don't completely trust him not to do only what is in his own self-interest, him continuing to be undercover with these men might prove useful in an effort to continue to foil their plans to do some serious damage ... at least for a little while ... until they start getting suspicious of how things keep going wrong around him. But as much as he is only really out for himself, at least his interests include keeping New York from burning (at least at the moment). I'm not sure that he is necessarily thinking of all of the people that would be displaced, harmed, or killed in the process, but at least he is probably thinking about the fact that the city is his home (and if it burned, he would be out of his home and his wealth). So, I guess ... good on him?

And Morehouse Jr and Elizabeth ... wow, she is a manipulator, isn't she? She got him from going, "I'm am not touching this. You do your own dirty work with Kevin. I'm out," to getting him to "have a talk" with Kevin. I have no doubt that she is afraid of Kevin now that he's called her out for what she did to Annie, and for pulling a knife on her, so getting someone else to fight her battles for her (when she so royally fucked that whole thing up) was something that she seemed rather eager to do from the first place. I have no doubt that "Oh, let's be boyfriend/girlfriend" thing is for her, an arrangement of convenience. As soon as she feels like Kevin is safely out of her hair, where he won't be abel to hurt or threaten her anymore, I have the feeling that she will dumb Morehouse Jr like a load of bricks. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that she will (at some point) try to get Morehouse Jr to try to kill Kevin for her ... so that she can go back to being the Queen Bee, without having to worry about him coming around and threatening her anymore over the horrible things that she's done. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that all of her charity work is just a cover, and that she is really part of the Southern plots to burn down New York ... but she has go-betweens so that her hands don't get dirty. Is it becoming more obvious that I don't trust her? But then, who can you trust on this show? Kevin and O'Brien ... and the n00b as well ... but they're pretty much it.

Speaking of not being able to trust anyone on this show ... it's looking more and more like Maguire killed Mary. I'm not really surprised to find this out, especially after his "she's dead to me" comment from last week. After he started talking, he seemed to suddenly realize that he had said something that might have made Kevin kind of suspicious about what was really going on (and was suddenly trying to amend it so as to not make Kevin start asking him uncomfortable questions about what he was talking about). The only reason that there seems to be about why he would have done it is the ledger (since that's the only thing that we really know about her, other than that she's a teacher, and that she got hit by one of the guys that she was blackmailing). But her death did seem to be a murder of passion, so maybe there is something more that we don't know about what was going on? Maybe Maguire confronted her (perhaps about the ledger), and things got a bit heated ... hence her being buried where she fell.

And now the biggie of the episode: Ellen is still alive ... and she's in a mental institution ... and Maguire knew where she was the whole time (cuz he was the one that seemingly checked her in there. So, I was wrong about her running off, and I'm glad that I was (since there being a twist that I didn't see coming from the beginning is always an awesome thing, no?). But why was she there? We do know that she saw the abortion doctor, and that Maggie was killed ... but now that we know that she is in a mental institution that puts a new spin on what may have happened to her and Maggie. The fact that Maguire kept the fact that Mary had the ledger to himself makes me wonder now if he was having an affair with Ellen while Kevin was away at war, and if it was actually his baby that was being aborted. If this is possible, could it also be possible that he did something to Maggie? And could seeing her daughter killed by someone that she trusted have made something inside of Ellen's mind snap? We know full well that Maguire is capable of murder, and we know full well that he has absolutely no problem with lying to Kevin ... sure, these two things don't necessarily mean that he was responsible for Maggie's death, or with Ellen's current state of mental health. But what makes me wonder (and very suspicious about his role in all of this) that he knew where Ellen was, he never even acted like he knew anything to Kevin (despite knowing just how much Kevin needed to know what had happened), and has always seemed to be trying to steer Kevin away from finding out the truth. Up until now, it could have been seen as him trying to be a good friend, and to stop his friend from obsessing over something that he may never get the answer to (knowing how Kevin obsesses over things). But now ... now that we know that he has always known far more than he has ever said about what really happened ... it creates an entirely new coloring on the events surrounding what he has said and done when it has come to Ellen and Maggie. And the fact that the preview for next week makes me wonder if it's cuz he feels guilty for Mary, or if he feels guilty about everything that has happened. Hopefully it's the second one.