Taboo Episode 5 Review - A Duel with No Death

On a small hill in the middle of the river, when the sun rises, Thorne tried his best to get revenge from James Delaney...

Unluckiness or failure doesn't fit the scene with Tom Hardy and Jefferson Hall. As a dark thriller, built on conspiracies, Thorne had made his shot in cold blood. And the other side (James' side) was not in so rush about it... I hear your voices, let the silence turn into concrete words; he already knew that the Company or Crown would take precautions to keep him from dying. While Lorna was very much concerned for the sake of James there, all happened in the blink of an eye. Thorne chose to fire his gun at James and James chose to kill Thorne's second with an excellent shot. (It's been learned that Thorne's supporter was Company's man on a mission to prevent James' death). 

Waiting for the death news of her husband, as being sure of James winning the duel, Zilpha seemed unhappy when Thorne returned to home without even taking a scratch... Potatoes or champagne? Such a misery dilemma in their situation. Thorne revealed his endless aggression and anger towards Zilpha and James. He did not just sense it, he also heard the gossips about his wife's forbidden background with African Devil... 

"So I shall hear through gossip?" Zilpha asked  Thorne when he didn't want to share the details of that duel with no death in the end, which is very odd... And Thorne replied in grief, "As I hear about you." 

Until that moment in the show, I fed antipathy against Thorne, hands down... But with this particular moment, I felt pity for him. The exorcism which occurred at the end of the episode made me very frustrated about the narrow minded mankind... and just that. I was not yelling at Thorne for doing this to his wife. As he learned from his ancestors, the only way to see light again (according to him) goes through firstly beating his wife, then hiring an exorcist and as last letting that exorcist disturb his wife sexually. So, the suffering of Thorne caused his wife to plant the seeds of revenge in her secret garden (unforgiving memory of a sorrowful woman). 

In this world where the ugliness and the beauty blended violently by the hands of evil men, we can't pretend not to see Regency England, right? While Mark Gatiss is highly unrecognizable under the heavy make up, the skin discolouration of Prince Regent we have witnessed on the show, evokes as if the selfishness of that character turned into ugly bubbles on face.

There were abandoned letters in small boxes for nine years...until now. The Crown (Prince Regent and Solomon Coop) decided to hear the voices of 280 souls after so many years with the purpose of blaming Sir Stuart Strange. Because as you recall from the previous episode, the saltpetre had been stolen by the league of the damned.  To make someone responsible for this treachery, because, searching the whole city from head to toe wasn't enough, the Crown has found the solution with delving into past. 

Lucian Msamati has joined to the cast as George Chichester, a black man who works for the Sons of Africa, and also he was the person that sent letters every year to Solomon Coop. Almost 300 slaves died years ago within a sunken ship.. wait for it...which was called "Influence". The ship that James was on and known to be dead after it sank... The justice and revenge that James was seeking from the beginning rests in the ruins of the Influence, without a doubt... 

Meanwhile, having the knowledge of James Delaney's gunpowder business, Doctor Dumbarton wants to buy some... James sees this as an opportunity to get a safe passage in return. He also knocks the door of Countess for another safe passage promise... James seems like he doesn't trust to Doctor, does he?

It will be tough to finish the work in time, while dealing with Mr. Cholmondeley who has a crush on Lorna Bow perversely, and also dealing with the soldiers of the Crown who search for each hole in town...

I am sure James will find a workaround for all these easy problems. After all, he can speak to dead. He will take his revenge as he tore off the betrayer's finger... 

Read More

The Battle for Benefits - Taboo Episode 4 Review

Taboo's Episode 4 brought a new ally in the show: Lorna Bow...

As James had predicted (or planned) Solomon Coop's men came for Lorna to make her pay off for the crime that she committed against Duke of Richmond (big headed psycho). The incidents in that small cell made me very uncomfortable with the situation. In their little world, taking care of business with man and woman separated in different ways horribly. If Solomon Coop or Company wants to get things done with a man, they can simply assassinate that man. It's a simple simple world... But if it is a woman, oh boy! There are plentiful things to do on that matter. We have seen the most sorrowful moments in Lorna's life along with it.

Insulted while the laces of her corset were untied one by one, threatened with rape by a superior agent of royals who was expected to be a gentleman; nevertheless, she resisted it. Hell yeah! She hit the real deal to her villain (from now on) as spelling James' name in that dreary place where the lights were reflecting only the desperation or evilness on faces.

Thanks to Delaney, her suffering didn't last long. The big game between James and his enemies eventually started to bear fruit. The battle for benefits showed its true face. The Crown and Company fell out with each other. We took a deep breath, didn't we? Now it's time for them to fight over Nootka Sound. It was a well planned bait, James Keziah Delaney, we see you...

Brace, wise and old manservant of Delaney's, cleared up everything for us actually as saying "We're all just part of the plan, aren't we sir?"

I feel, as audiences we are, that part of the plan includes us, too. We try to solve the mystery of James Delaney's intentions with every episode, right? We got the main idea. The whole purpose is revenge. Let's make them fight each other. Let's make them dig a pit for each other. Let's let daylight into this rotten city and its nihilist folk so they can see their true colour with its all bleakness...

In fact, James Delaney is not the main enigma to be solved. The enigma is there in its dark air and mud. When we see the clear sky one day in episodes, we will learn the mystery as I believe...

On the other hand, we have Mr. Cholmondeley as Tom Hollander. He gives life to an experimenter chemist. Ironically, I liked the chemistry between Tom Hardy and Tom Hollander. They fit the scenes very well together. The moment they have met, the moment they saw each other again in the ball was hilarious.

The gunpowder will be the key part of their relationship as that powder is actually a key part of everyone in the show. And now the refined salt peter has been stolen... James likes to play Sherlock. Clever man and his mad chemist is in the ball with his step mother while his league of the damned stealing the needed materials for them which will cause the Crown to fall out with EITC...again!

Americans want gunpowder. The Regency wants gunpowder. The Company wants gunpowder. Indians want gunpowder. So, Mr. Delaney has gunpowder... Selling some to Americans in return for a safe passage to the US, James is a traitor now from a nationalist angle. As he said in the first episode, he is so eager to do very stupid and dangerous things.

Dangerous man, playing dangerous games, couldn't get away from Zilpha's obsessive husband Thorne Geary's radar. As if the way of visiting Zilpha in her very bedroom wasn't creepy enough, he even managed to talk about it with his sister in the ball. We have a man with incomprehensible magical powers by birth. It is highly possible these powers passed from his native American mother.

And also we have a jealous husband who seeks a satisfaction with the death of Delaney. While Lorna tries to learn the real relationship with Zilpha and James in her own feminine way, Thorne wants his revenge in his masculine way.

Who will see the sunset after morning? Who will get his revenge in this world of men?

Read More

Taboo Episode 1 Review

I have finished watching the series of  "Taboo" yesterday night...

I am truly sorry that I hadn't heard of the show until this week, but I didn't miss much, did I? The last episode has been just released so...

I deeply loved 'Taboo". The terrifying, dark atmosphere pulled me directly into the 19th century of London. An era with regency just before Queen Victoria's reign, the architecture of royals and the poverty of back streets. The nasty air is circulating above London while our anti-hero James Keziah Delaney (Tom Hardy) shooting a wrathful glance at the city. The light seems not to be able to drop its gleam to surface at all...

There is a dead man's funeral by the way. A lady rides her horse side-saddle as she is supposed to do in 1800s. After this cold and nervous screen, a dead man enters the holy church. The lady on the horse, Zilpha gives a quick look to the stranger and these words falling from her lips:

 -Has Hell opened up?

James Delaney as I mentioned my preview was known long dead by everybody. It had been heard that he moved to Africa and died in a sunken ship. But he has returned in the first episode with poisonous desires and plans as we understand from the first minutes. Lots of rumours were told about him. Some said he learned witchcraft in Africa, some said he is a mad man as his father, some said he is a cannibal...

I have watched all episodes and I can guarantee to you, he is a clever man in a Sherlockian way. He never shouts or speaks loudly. He has a dark side that you will not understand if it is a good thing or bad thing. I guess it is a good thing for audiences who loves mystery ( and I loved it). 

And beyond this darkness there is an organisation called 'Honorable East Indian Company'. Mr. Delaney of course didn't return for nothing. He wants to drink the blood of his mystical enemies. He is so pleased to have that toxic land 'Nootka Sound'. I have asked myself so many times " Why does Delaney want to go into a war with Prince Regent and East Indian Company?", " Why is he so eager to make fun of them every time?" Maybe because he is actually and badly mad?

It is a fascinating thing to try so hard (hmm maybe not that hard) for learning the sneaky demons inside a character's mind. From the first episode till the last episode ( I am not gonna give spoilers, no worries ) James Delaney will murmur deep down in your head as he murmurs in front of his enemies or friends. That doesn't matter for him. Murmuring is a way of replying for him and I have found it quite funny. At the very last minutes of first episode, while he was talking with Sir Stuart (Jonathan Pryce) and his brazen faced comrades, Delaney watched well dressed men in front him with an emotionless temper of him and while even a so-called sophisticated gentleman Sir Stuart was using a Taboo word in those times which is 'fucking', he replied excessively with ease "hangee"... 

The expressions of gentlemen in the room were priceless there and they were just like "What did he just say?" Oh I laughed so hard.

I will have to say before I finish my review of this episode; Tom Hardy and Jonathan Pryce suits their roles perfectly. Tom Hardy's acting is breathtaking and I would have watched this high quality show only for Hardy if I hadn't enjoy the theme already....

Read More