Copper Finale: Fires, Assassins, and Heroes Oh My

Copper Finale

                I've raved about Copper throughout its ten episode first season.  Depicting the complex life of Kevin Cocoran, the charmismatic Irish cop in 5 Points New York, the show built a web of characters and mystery with dramatic flair.  The season finale was no exception.  Without spoiling the ending I can reveal that I found myself more and more rooting for Robert Morehouse, the affluent young man who makes up for his lost limb in wit, charm, and cunning.  He, much more than the Copper himself, proved the real hero as he fought to prevent a plot involving Greek fire destroying most of New York.  While Morehouse, like all characters on Copper, isn't always morally upright, his ultimate choice to risk everything, including his relationship with his father, is downright heroic. As for one of the main ladies of the show,  I wanted to scream at Elizabeth Haverford, a wealthy key player in the Copper world as she revealed she betrayed Robert and the country, having a hand in the fires.  The fact that she consorts with John Wilkes Booth the actor (yes, as in that Booth) is a dead give away to her place in future episodes.

             By episode's end, the protagonist Kevin Cocoran is left broken and destroyed in the wake of revelations about his wife and child. He did have a moment of great moral magnitiude when he was given the choice to let his former friend burn, but it was a little surprising that the final episode of the show was the least Kevin-centered, but then again, so much was revealed about him and his life that they may have wanted to save more for the next season.  I for one am very interested in the future season of Copper, a show that knew it's own idendity from day 1.  Bravo on a riveting season with few flaws.  (I could have handled not having cheesy music during the slower, sweeter moments.  I don't need a few notes to tell me "Say awwww here".)  When season 2 of Copper arrives next year, I will certainly be visiting the sorted and fascinating world of 5 Points.  I just may leave the brass nuckles to Copper.

Copper: Episode 2 Holds Up

Copper

            The second episode of a promising new show has a lot to live up to.  If it loses the momentum and spark of the first episode, it often loses it's audience.  However, BBC drama Copper's second episode more than lives up to the show's initial promise of a riveting character/cop/period piece set in New York's chaos in the 1860's.  By the end of the episode, I was grinning over the clever trick Detective Kevin Cocoran played to serve brutal justice to a slimy character.   Cocoran has charisma and danger to spare.  With a missing wife and a dead daughter, Cocoran's personality and need for his version of justice drives the show.  I for one, will be returning to the series every week to see the mysteries and conflicts of 5 Points through the eyes of it's violent, clever detective.  Watch it, and keep a very interesting new show on the air.

Copper: Not Your Grandma's Crime Show

          I get bored easily with procedural shows. I'm not saying crime shows and medicals shows aren't sometimes great television, it's just that it takes a special show with a unique premise and great characters to really keep my attention.  Even shows I used to love like House or Bones lose me when they feel repetitive.
         BBC America is banking on its new show Copper to be an original crime drama.  With easy parallels to Gangs of New York, Copper follows an Irish detective in the mid 1800's New York, with all the crime and drama that ensues during the boom of immigration.

       The trailer looks promising, and the concept of a crime show without modern technology sounds just original enough to be good. As long as the characters are well built and there is a larger story arc than a crime-a-week, I will certainly give the show a chance. The series comes out Aug 19.  See the trailer here.