'Our Betrayal Part 2' -- Ripper Street 2x08

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Interesting. So, we've had somewhat of a reversal of the characters of Drake and Reid (where Drake started off being the bulldog, and Reid started off as the lily). Even if his job hadn't already started to make things difficult between him and his new lady friend, the fact that she saw him demanding that Drake kill Shine will certainly put a damper on whatever may happen between the two of them in the future (which, at this point, doesn't seem like much at all).

And it seemed a bit out of bounds to keep demanding that Drake be the one who got Shine's blood on his hands, instead of Reid doing the deed himself (if that's really what he wanted to happen). It didn't sit all that well with me that he wanted the violence to be done, but he was unwilling to do it himself. It wasn't even just that it smacked of hypocrisy to me ... it was also the fact that what he was demanding of Drake would have taken away of Drake's soul. Granted, this is exactly the sort of thing that Drake would have been fine with doing not that long ago, but he's not alright with doing it anymore (cuz he's changed).

Even as much as I would like Susan and Jackson to make up and get back together, I don't get the feeling that Susan is going to be able to forgive him for what happened. It seems like they may have flirted with love when they first got together, but their relationship may have been based much more on passion than love ... and that passion may have finally run out (despite looking like it may have been enough to save them last season).

I am really glad that it was Susan that was the one who knifed Duggan. In another show set in the same time period, the writers could have feasibly have had one of the boys do it for her (most likely Jackson, since he was so desperate to make things up to her and try to win her back). But the fact that it was Susan that Duggan was holding over the barrel (and who he was forcing to do things that she really didn't want to do), I am glad that it was her that was able to exact the revenge and get her free ... even if it was her taking advantage of the moment that was created by Jackson and his brother.

Speaking of Jackson's brother, I don't know why Jackson would have trusted him at all, if he knew that his brother was so untrustworthy. Sure, he wanted to get the plan worked out so that he could get the money that Duggan would have paid for the diamond (so that he could pay Duggan back with it to free Susan), but if he really wanted it to work out (and knowing that his brother was likely to skip town with the cash), he probably should have gotten someone else to help him out. I'm not sure who he might have gotten to do it (since he seemed reluctant to let anyone else know anything that was really going on between him and his brother), but there had to've been someone that he could have trusted (maybe one of Susan's girls?).

I'm glad that the show was picked up for a third series, and I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to have happened between the series two finale and the series three premier. The fact that it's supposed to start up again a few years down the road will probably mean that there will have been all manner of fall out from this episode.

'Our Betrayal Part 1' -- Ripper Street 2x07

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I knew it!! I knew that there was something going on with Flight!! The way that the writers started off that episode that centered around him with him in confession saying about how he needed to be forgiven for lying. That whole thing seemed far too hinky to me (even though it only lasted for a 30 seconds or so). And now we know for sure that he is doing something that he feels all kinds of guilty about.

I really want him to go to Reid (before Reid figures everything out) and let him know what's been going on. It's not just that it would makes things a million times easier on him when this whole thing comes out, but it will also make things tons easier on him when everything starts to blow over. I kind of have the feeling that he probably will at least start to say something before Reid finds out, only cuz he does seem like he's a decent person in hi core, and everything that's been happening with Shine has probably been eating away at him (and I still do believe that he is a good person at his core ... a good person who was caught in a bad situation and tried to do the best that he could cuz of it).

The guy playing Daniel Judge (Jackson's brother), this is the third show that I watch that he's been a part of in the past couple of years, and it's starting to freak me out. And he played someone named Daniel on another of them as well. At this point, I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen him on "Criminal Minds," since they tend to have all manner of people as guest stars that have been part of other fandoms that I have been a part of. But he started off as a Daniel on "Suits," then, he was on "Grimm," and now he's been on "Ripper Street." I almost have the feeling that this is probably not the last time that I'm going to see him within my fandoms.

As much as I want Susan and Jackson to get back together (cuz I like the two of them together), I have the feeling that they're probably done for. As much as they love each other (or have loved each other in the past), they really don't work together. Their relationship (at its core) seems to have been based almost exclusively on sex, and it doesn't seem that something like that is going to last forever ... unless they are able to find some other common ground and trust with each other; but the way that things are now, I don't see Susan trusting Jackson again, no matter how much either of them might like for her to be able to.

Rose saying that she has never been with anyone that she's ever loved ... I don't really believe that. I think that she does love Drake ... maybe not the way that he may have wanted her to in the past (or the way that he probably still wants her to now), I do think that she cares deeply about him. And I'll admit to still wanting the two of them to be together (and not just cuz I want at least one of the boys to have a love life that works out ... or that having the one that works out be Drake's makes me all the more happy at the idea).

Finally with getting back to Shine. There has been too many episodes where Shine hasn't been involved, when they set him up in the beginning as the one that Reid really needs to look out for. And I'll admit that I am wanting the fight that happens between the two of them to be something kind of epic (or as epic as anything that is going to come out of a period drama).

'A Stronger Loving World' -- Ripper Street 2x06

Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, now we have a backstory for Bella, and why find out why she's been kind of cagey about letting anyone know anything that has happened to her in the past. And to have her past be full of a cult which was trying to cause all kinds of trouble with other people felt again like the writers were trying to touch on things that were happening in the world right now ... but I will admit that I did have a bit of a flash of Charles Manson with the cult that was going on in this episode. It wasn't just the way that the women seemed to be in so awe of him ... it was the fact that he seemed to be trying to create a war between peoples of different faiths. True, the Manson family didn't try to create a war along religious lines, but they did try to do it along racial lines, so there could be at least a bit of a correlation that way. And I'll admit that the dude that was the leader of the cult did kind of remind me of the look that Manson had in the '60s (the long hair and the Ren Faire shirt type of look). I'm not sure that the correlation between the two of them was intentional, but that's where my brain went to.

I'll also admit that I was kind of glad that we found out bad things about Bella, and that she was gotten out of the way. Sure, Drake is wrecked about what happened (even though he loves Rose, and he will always love her (I think), and he loves her more than he probably will love anyone else, he still loved Bella), but I don't think that Drake should have been with Bella in the first place. Dude should always have been with Rose ... and she should always have been with him, even if she didn't always realize it. I have a feeling that the writers are trying to move the two of them toward getting together (which would make me all kinds of happy inside that place where I should have feelings). It will probably take them a bit to finally get together, what with how wrecked Drake is right now, and how much he is feeling like he's cursed, but I do have the feeling that it's going to happen eventually.

But I do find it rather curious that all of the boys who are our main characters are having love problems in the moment. It's almost as though the writers got together and decided that they were going to mess with the boys where their love lives where concerned, cuz they don't have enough problems going on as it is. I want to know if there was some kind of over-riding reason as to why they would have all of the boys going through all of these love problems at the same time, but I'm not sure that there is some over-arching reason (other than it maybe seemed like a good idea to the writers at the time).

I still really want Susan to be able to get out of her contract with dude, so that she can be free and clear with her girls (and not have to have that hanging over her head). I also still want to know what's going on with that other inspector that was all up in Reid's grill at the beginning of the season. The writers made such a big deal of him at the beginning of the season, it seems like something should happen with him later on. There's still two more episodes this season for them to deal with this stuff, and I hope that it makes it in.

'Threads of Silk and Gold' -- Ripper Street 2x05

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Oh, look at you, "Ripper Street," being all topical and everything. I'm so very proud of you for taking a stand and saying that love is love, regardless of who is involved (provided that the people involved are consenting adults). I also really enjoyed the fact that you made one character part of the LGBT community (even if it's on the DL within the world of the show), the main character accepting of the people that he encountered who where gay, and another major character question his opinions on the LGBT community at large (and have him do it for the better). Good on you.

Is it wrong that I was hoping that the two boys who where doing the blackmailing would be able to get away with what they were doing, and they would be able to get some kind of money out of it (so that they could get at least some of the things that they were dreaming about having)? Blackmailing is bad, blahblah, I know, but I wanted them to have nice things, and to be able to move away from Whitechapel ... maybe into the country (where they could grow vegetables and flowers and everything would be nice).

And when everything went to shit, I was at least glad that the one who survived was able to get his revenge. It won't bring back the one who died, but at least dude won't be able to hurt anyone else anymore (even if it's just hurting them by lying to them about their investments and how much money they're not making with them).

Speaking of investments ... if only that whole thing had worked, and Susan would have been able to get out from under the contract that she has. That would have been fantastic. And even if Jackson thought that the investment that he heard about was a sure thing, I don't know why he would have put in all of their money. I kept thinking that maybe they should put some in to test the waters and find out if they could get anything back from it, but that they should only put in a portion of what they had. That way, they wouldn't lose everything if the whole thing went belly up. But I guess he was wanting to get rich quick, so that Susan would be able to have all the money that she needed to buy her way out of the contract ... which still wouldn't have worked out, since I don't get the feeling that any amount of money is going to be enough to buy her freedom. I get the feeling that Jackson is going to have to get Reid and Drake involved in the whole thing and that the boys are going to have to make up some charges to send Duggan away for a good, long time.

I also am getting the feeling that the relationship between Susan and Jackson is on very shaky ground right now. First, he shot the woman who Susan was trying to talk into giving herself up a couple of episodes ago, and now, he's lost all that money. I get the feeling that the resentment that Susan is feeling for Jackson is going to fester until the two of them aren't going to be able to fix things between them. I don't want things to go that way, since I would like the two of them to work out, but it would make sense if she kicked him out on his ass (the way that the story is going).

'Dynamite and a Woman' -- Ripper Street 2x04

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I don't know why, but for like half the episode, I was thinking that the setting was Five Points instead of Whitechapel. ::facepalm:: I have no idea why I had a momentary brainfart into thinking that I was watching "Copper," or something. Probably had something to do with the fact that it's a period cop shop, and there were Irish all over the place in this episode (and there was probably a bit of the fact that the shows are kind of similar with the tropes that they use ... and season one had a big deal made of an explosion). Not a great excuse, but that's all I have at the moment.

I'm wondering just how many friends Reid has, if he doesn't understand how people tease each other when they like each other ... or maybe that's maybe more of an American way to go about showing that you like someone? Cuz it seemed obvious to me that Jackson was being affectionate with him.

I was really glad that the Chief Inspector mentioned the fact that the constable died in the last series (and that it might color the way that Reid is looking at putting kids in harms way), since I loved that character, and I didn't like the idea of everyone forgetting about him ... besides the fact that homeboy's death would have to color the way that Reid is looking at things afterwards.

The beginning of the episode with Flight going to the priest and confessing that he had lied ... I think that the writers were trying to go for a bait and switch with that ... making us think that he was talking about something else, but revealing that he was actually talking about what happened in the episode. The thing is that I still don't completely trust Flight; I still think that he's up to something, and that even though we have found out some things about him (like that his mother died when he was small, and his father drank himself to death (and that's why he doesn't want to drink now)), I still don't think that we can completely trust him. I can't shake the feeling that there's something about him that is kind of suspicious, and that he is going to turn out to be someone that is going to fuck everyone's shit up. I may be completely wrong about him, and I will admit that right now; it could very well be that I am feeling suspicious about things that are completely innocent ... but that doesn't stop me from being suspicious of him. And I'll admit that now that we know a little bit of something about him, I am curious to know more about him, and want to know what his deal is.

I was kind of happy by the fact that when Flight was in the pup, they played a trad song that I hadn't heard before. The fact that I listen to so much music from that area of the world, the chances of me knowing the song that is being played when a character walks into an Irish pub is pretty good. (and let's not get how annoyed I got during that episode of "Castle," where Beckett and Castle went into the Irish pub, and they were playing a song by "The Real McKenzies" ... a Scotch-Canadian band. Still Celticly influenced, but splitting hairs over here)

'Become Man' -- Ripper Street 2x03

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I was expecting there to be a bit more of Inspector Shine in this episode (or for there to be really any of him at all), what with the way that the writers were building him up as being the new big bad in the show ... or at least to be the main antagonist for Reid. But to not have him around (especially when the seasons are so short), it seems like they might loose some of the momentum that they might have been wanting to create where he is concerned. I would also really like for there to be some kind of closer over what happened to Merrick (since I liked him so much), and that may be coloring how I am looking at what's going on.

I really wish that Rose and Drake could have ended up together. It's obvious that the two of them care about each other, even if things didn't end up the way I would have liked. And I get the feeling that she may have regretted turning him down last series (when he offered her the lovebirds), but I'm getting that impression from the way that she was looking the newly minted Mrs. Drake when Drake and the Mrs. were together after they were trying to ID the dude's stuffs. I do think that Drake cares about his Mrs., but I get the impression that he still prefers Rose to anyone else.

The new youngin' detective that they have now ... I really don't want to like him. If he had been around in series one, I think that I might have liked him, but the way that things were written, it feels like he's supposed to be kind of a replacement for Hobbs, and I am not ok with that. I liked Hobbs ... a lot ... and I'm still mad that he was killed off (and they way that he was killed off). Yeah, I suppose that they wanted to have something that was kind of a shocker for the end of the series, but hot damn, why did they have to kill the baby? He was just learning how to be a proper inspector. ::epic frowny face::

This new guy is going to have to do a lot of big time awesome for me to even be ok with him (despite the fact that he seems like he's pretty decent, and stood up for Merrick and all). He'll probably need to take a bullet for someone for me to start to be ok with him; a bit extreme, maybe, but such is my love for Hobbs.

I'd love to see some more of Jane Cobden, especially since the female characters are so scant (at least where it comes to being something other than the Madonna/whore thing), and to be able to have a strong female character who isn't secretly being manipulated by the men in her life ... or who isn't being motivated by revenge ... would be kind of refreshing (especially since they've written off Emily Reid).

Even with the introduction of a female character that I think that I can get behind (at least after first viewing), this episode felt kind of like a throw away (in that it didn't really seem to move the story-arch of this series, and it felt like a move away from the tension that the first couple of episodes were trying to build up). But maybe some of that tension will come back in the next episode, and we can get some more of Shine.

'Am I Not Monstrous?' -- Ripper Street 2x02

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Hizzah!! It looks like there really will be a series three after all!! I'm so very happy about that, since I did not like the idea that there wouldn't be anything more of it. I so very much like this show.

I didn't like the idea that Merrick was killed, even if I knew from the preview that it was going to happen. I liked the idea that he was going to be added to the show, and not just cuz his character was so very sweet (and made me wanted to snuggle him for being such a good guy). Though, I will completely admit the fact that the scene where he was killed disturbed me more than a character in a show's death has disturbed me before. I can usually separate myself from stuff that happens to characters in movies, shows, or books (even if they're based on real people, cuz what happens to them isn't actually real), but this left me not feeling all that good afterward, and I know exactly what it was; it was having him say "no" to the inspector who ended up killing him, and the pleading tone in his voice ... the kind of pleading tone where you knew that there really was nothing that he could have done to stop it, and he was really begging the person not to hurt him. Yeah, it left me with an icky feeling on the inside.

So, Reid's wife has been written off the show. I'm disappointed that the writers went that way with her, since I would have liked to've seen more of her, as well as more of her working in the women's shelter. It's disappointing to only have Long Susan left from series one to represent the ladies, and it would have been nice to have at least one more of the ladies from series one who looked like she might have become something more than the Madonna or whore (and someone who was doing something good for the community and for the ladies in Whitechapel). Plus, it feels rather cheap to have the things that happened to her happen behind the scenes, instead of on camera (and to just have Reid tell us about it after the fact); cheap and lazy.

But writing her off the show also takes away the possibility that their daughter is going to be found again, and that was part of the dynamic of Reid's character in series one (his hope and faith that their daughter was still alive). Taking it away feels like they are taking something away from Reid and what motivates him as a person, but it also feels like they are just giving up on her after having all of series one filled with his faith that she was out there somewhere. Just cuz she wasn't the little girl that he ended up finding in the finale doesn't mean that she isn't somewhere else; she very really might be dead, but we still don't have the proof that she is (and until there's a body, there is hope that she could be out there somewhere).

Whatever else is going to happen in this series, I think that Reid is going to have a throw down with Abberline ... at least, I really hope that there is one, cuz that would be fantastic (especially after what he did to Merrick).

'Pure as the Driven' -- Ripper Street 2x01

Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, I go into series two of "Ripper Street" already knowing that there won't be a series three (since it has been cancelled by the Beeb), which I find rather disappointing, since I was looking forward to there being at least a few more seasons of this show. I saw some of the comments from that article, where people said that the show was kind of cliché, and while I can't really argue with them all that much, I still really enjoy the show and want there to be more of it. So, there's a big-time frowny face over here.

I'm wondering where Reid's wife was when he got home. The writers seemed to be making a point that she wasn't there when he got there. I don't get the feeling that she is dead, but maybe the two of them have been having more trouble, and she's gone off to stay at the half-way house that she's set up? The two of them seemed to be really iffy at the end of series one, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were still really iffy now (especially since I get the feeling that she probably still thinks that their daughter is dead, and he probably still thinks that she's alive).

I liked the introduction of Joseph Merrick into the show, since I thought that it was an interesting move on their part, and I liked even more that he was friends with Reid. I worry about what is going to happen to him with our new baddie, since it seemed from the preview that the baddie knew that Merrick had seen what he did (and was going to make sure that Merrick didn't tell anyone about it). Hopefully, he will tell Reid what's going on before something bad happens to him, since I don't want bad things to be going on for the poor boy (he probably has it bad enough as it is).

I'm always struck by the way that Jackson takes the drugs sometimes to figure out what they are supposed to do. It doesn't seem like the smartest thing for him to do ... even if it may be the only way that he can really be sure of what's going on with some of them (since, like with the Heroin, it's something new, and they don't really know all of the effects of the drug). So, yeah, I know that I'm coming at this from a more modern POV, and not one that might have been feasible for the time frame, but damn ... that stuff is no good and will end up hurting him in the end if he keeps testing it on himself.

This new baddie, I'm really hoping that he turns out to be something outstandingly evil, cuz that would be completely amazing. And even though I don't think that it will happen (since the show runners probably weren't prepared for the cancellation), I would really like to get an answer (one way or the other) as to what happened with Reid's daughter.