TV Review: BBC America's Copper

I have eagerly awaited BBC America’s Copper for about two months now. All of the commercials I have seen made it look like a cross between Sherlock Holmes and the Wild, Wild West. In reality, it is kind of a mix between the two, but not quite. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first --- what it is all about.

Tom Weston-Jones plays Kevin Corcoran an Irish-American police detective in New York. Only, this New York is set in 1864 and Corcoran is a “Copper” who doesn’t follow the same rules that the modern-day detectives you see on “Law & Order” or “Blue Bloods” are forced to stick to.

The police shoot first and ask questions later. They help themselves to the loot after killing a gang from a bank robbery, and Corcoran (who is maybe more of an anti-hero than a hero) would make Elliot Stabler proud when he beats up a suspect that he is convinced killed a little girl.

In tonight’s premiere, Corcoran investigates the murder of this young girl and we start to learn who she was and why she matter. Kate was apparently taken in a by a woman called “The Contessa” (who already had her sister Annie) only to be handed over to an aristocrat with a thing for little girls, who then rapes and murders her.

Along the way we get to meet the other regulars of the show. Corcoran’s new love interest who is a madam named Eva (Franka Potente), an African-American valet named Matthew Freeman (Ato Essandoh) who assists Corcoran as an unofficial coroner, and two other Irish-American detectives, Francis Maguire (Kevin Ryan) and Andrew O’Brien (Dylan Taylor), who for now appear to have Corcoran’s back.

Corcoran also has a friend named Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid) who served with him in the war (the Civil War --- in case you‘re trying to put the timeline together). Robert had to have his leg amputated and owes his life to Corcoran, so they are able to overlook the fact that Robert comes from money and Corcoran is basically from the other side of the tracks (if the tracks have been built --- which at this point in American history I am not entirely sure about).

I have often said that premiere episodes tend to launch everything at you all at once and then your brain tries to take it all in to figure out who is who and what is what. There is usually a throw-away plot and we get to learn some background about the main character. Well, in this case while we do learn that Corcoran’s daughter was killed and his wife disappeared, the plot was not actually a throw-away as it continues into next week’s episode. This time, we know who the killer is, but getting the bad guy when someone else is already about to be hung for the crime, makes the job a little harder.

Now, to the series itself ---

I didn’t really love it and I didn’t really hate it. I think it would have helped tremendously if they had rolled a little more wording onto the screen in the beginning to explain the history of early New York and give us a little more than the year and a location. As it was, it’s kind of a learn-it as you go and while a true New Yorker might know the history of Five Points, for those of us who have only briefly been on the ground in the state of New York when we changed planes at the airport, there was a lot of catching up to do. I spent most of my time trying to remember what all was occurring during that era and realized I really could have used a cheat sheet.

Anyway, the show is gritty and dark and interesting and confusing all at once. It almost seemed like it would have been better to have based it in London (since we all remember the history of Jack the Ripper), but then I guess you wouldn’t have an Irish-American cop, which is the whole point of the show.

I’m going to give it a few more episodes. I liked it and I didn’t. I have hope for it and I don’t. Perhaps, next week’s episode will give me more to go on --- but for now --- I’d say catch an episode if you can and let’s wait to see how it all develops before throwing in the towel.