Just when we thought things couldn’t get any darker, Tom Hardy and Steven Knight twisted the knife further by adding a prolonged torture session to a mix that’s already as combustible as the gunpowder kegs James is storing in the ruins of Bedlam. Nor were the kegs the only things threatening to explode in an episode that saw relationships ruined, lives torn asunder and Delaney Jr’s cunning plan apparently in tatters with his co-conspirators scattered and the “league of the damned” in disarray.
‘I’m going to sail away and all those who have use to me will sail along with me – and on my ship there will be no rules and there will be no judgment. We are sailing to a new world’
By now, I think we all know that our Delaney is the sort of man you should never write off. And so it transpired as, already half-mad and filled with self-loathing, he proved that not even torture can stop him in his tracks. And it was some session, as the supremely creepy Coop subjected James to beatings, waterboarding, sensory depravation, an iron mask and numerous hallucinogens. Sadly for Coop none of these worked, and the episode ended with James getting his wish: a meeting alone with Sir Stuart Strange, the architect of all his miseries from the sinking of the Cornwallis through the blowing up of his ship to the murder of Winter. Surely Sir Stuart won’t make it out of this encounter alive.
‘What kind of rational man believes in justice?’
Why the utterly unflappable George Chichester, of course. When all around him raged, the wonderful Chichester (arguably the only truly heroic man on this show) kept his own counsel and plotted a calm course while serving as a mobile conscience for all those without one. Through him we learned that James was responsible for the deaths of the slaves on the Cornwallis, and that this is probably the largest motivating factor in his entire revenge plot. “I know you were following orders,” remarked Chichester softly, before damning him with the simple sentence “in return you will get a full pardon for your crime, for crime it is.”
In saying that, he cut to the nub of the affair. Delaney has never forgiven himself for “just following orders”. His every action since has been about gaining autonomy. The whole plan is essentially a finger up to both his former bosses at the East India Company and the idea of having to serve anyone, be it Company or Crown. But all the rugged individuality in the world can’t keep his growing army of ghosts at bay – and exchanging the old world for the new isn’t going to change that.
‘The lioness will fiercely protect her cubs regardless of consequences even if that means her certain death’
The vengeance and violence was punctuated this week by the sound of hearts breaking and relationships falling apart. Brace revealed himself to possess a God-fearing form of kindliness in which it was better to kill damned souls than let them suffer. Godfrey committed one more act of bravery for the man he loves by agreeing to testify against the EIC, while poor Zilpha found herself rejected by the man she had murdered for. That last seemed particularly unreasonable, given that James has insisted his sister come to him from the moment he arrived in London – though I presume Thorne’s murder has taken her a little too close to his dead mother for comfort. He did also imply that the exorcism had sundered their connection – “blame your God for that”. But I can’t help thinking this cursory rejection (“for your widowhood”) will only lead to more misery. Should poor, fragile Zilpha snap – and I think she probably will – then it won’t be long before James has another ghost visiting him during brooding hour.
If so she will join Winter, whose death was, as suspected, EIC-orchestrated. The company may not have known what she meant to James, but they knew she was Helga’s daughter and that her death would cause the grief-stricken Madam to betray the plan. Indeed, after the heartbroken Helga said goodbye to her only daughter with a beautiful eulogy (“She will be sent to you aboard a sunrise along the road of the river that she loved as if it were her father”) she told Strange everything. It’s worth noting here that James knew this would happen. Which means he has orchestrated all subsequent events to the point where he and Strange are in the room together. “I have a use for you” indeed.
Additional notes
• Others might scurry for the door when plots are exposed but not the endlessly chilled Dumbarton. Which makes me wonder again – what game is he playing?
• Interesting that James entrusted Robert with the key to the safe containing all the diamonds.
• James’ letters were addressed to Cholmondeley, Brace and, I think, Lorna.
• I might begin all my human interactions with the words “I have a use for you”.
• In an ideal world Lorna and Cholmondeley would spend the rest of their lives together, sardonically quirking their lips at the vagaries of life.
• Zilpha might be a dead woman walking, but her wardrobe remains magnificent.
• There were some great lines this week – in particular James’ response to Chichester’s accusation: “No, I just really like driving in nails.”
• Why yes that was Edward Fox as the ghost of Horace Delaney, in what might be the best (and certainly the briefest) cameo yet.
Most magnificently brooding Tom Hardy moment
“I suggest that you leave very quickly and very quietly or you can stay for the extreme violence that is coming your way.” It’s all in the delivery you know.
Most fantastically baroque threat of the week
“Arsenic is gentle. It was a mercy. Horace was no longer a Christian soul. I only wish I’d killed James too and given him a kind death to protect him from himself. They took him to the Tower where no one will be kind enough to feed him arsenic.” The full extent of Brace’s madness is revealed.
What did you think? How does James plan to escape from the Tower of London? Will Zilpha make it to the end of the series? What about Godfrey? And do you see Lorna as more of a pheasant-plucker than a dab hand with a duck? As always, all speculation and no spoilers welcome below…
