This week on Copper, “The Hudson River School” takes on turncoats and petticoats; rebel spies and matters concerning the women of Five Points.
Morehouse makes himself useful for the first time in a long time by sniffing out the Confederate spies posing as Canadian businessmen. It’s the kind of task that Morehouse is well-suited for – it involves drinking, frequenting Eva’s establishment and idle but revealing small talk. But Morehouse, as usual, is tempted by the dark side.
Will he help these men if it’s to his advantage? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Corky bask in their new found relationship. I’m honestly not a huge fan of them getting together so soon. I wanted more time for their sexual tension to build. But maybe I’ll get my wish. Their relationship quickly finds itself on the rocks when Corky discovers where Elizabeth really sent Annie. Again, Morehouse is waiting in the shadows to take advantage of a wounded Elizabeth.
I actually like that Elizabeth made the mistake of sending Annie with her Reilly. It makes her seriously flawed – the high-minded noblewoman who took in a troubled child more for social martyrdom than the good of the child. She couldn’t really care for Annie or she wouldn’t have given her up so easily. Of course, she gets points for trying to get Annie back, but she’s still not the goody two-shoes she seems to be.
I think Annie has also improved. Over the past two Copper episodes she’s become much more realistic. At least this time she actually had a reaction when she killed a man. Still, it seems the show is determined to make her creepy. Part of thinks the scene where she watches Eva and Corky have sex is an interesting way to depict her infatuation with Corcoran, but the other part of me thinks it’s unnecessary.
Overall, it was a fine episode that feels like it’s building to something bigger. Still, there are two really minor loose ends that I can’t let go of from tonight’s episode:
- The title: is it just because Corky chose not to slash the Hudson River School painting?
- Corky doing sit ups. Did sit ups exist in the 19th century?