So you watch a show
and then it’s like 2 years before the next season. Which is unnecessary,
television, very unnecessary
And then you forget
about it so wait like 6 months to watch it. And then you’ve got to remind
yourself who these characters actually are, what’s happening and why is there
syphilis.
So with a hearty “I
have no idea what I’m doing,” I’m diving in! Hey why change a habit of a
lifetime?
John Merlotte was a
policeman in King George’s new police force in London. He died and then Lord
Hervey the very very nefarious brought him back to life all Frankenstein-y just
10 minutes before I gave up on this show ever having any supernatural elements
Now back from the
dead, we’re focusing a lot on ATMOSPHERE. So it’s all a bit vague and emotive -
and it’s extremely good at that. There’s definitely an incredibly powerful
sense of Merlot’s confusion, his being out of place, and his confused and
painful memories along with his extremely painful memories and experiences.
It’s jarring and full of despair and bleakness
Yes, Sean Bean is
delivering bleakness and despair. You’re shocked, folks, I’m sure.
He has been detained
in Bethlem and has been there for 3 years. He’s near catatonic, hallucinating
about the beach and his past and trying to find some sense in his confused and
broken mind. The one person who visits him in all this time is Reverend
Ambrose, who knew John before he was hanged, but even he can only get a brief
reaction.
Until he finally
breaks through to sanity - or something resembling it - and manages to yanks
his chains from the wall and slit the throat of one of his guards.
I don’t know if
undead Merlot is super strong or whether the chains are just poorly maintained.
He escapes and makes
his way to Lord Hervey’s old home which is abandoned. At least I think he does.
It’s also possible he’s hallucinating this - again atmosphere and theme and
ominousness as he pieces together his memories about how Lord Hervey tried to
make him into his protege/project and it didn’t go that well (hence Bethlem).
There’s also Lady
Hervey as well, Lord Herving’s highly religious wife who was already highly
conflicted about her husband’s experiments. The quote is “if he succeeds then
we have a world without god”. And he just succeeded - and he’s likely to do
more of these experiments: Merlot won’t be the last. She feels guilty and
damned: and is pretty much convinced god has forsaken her and Merlot. And she
needs him to hunt Hervey down (with a hint that since he’s damned anyway he
might as well do a lot of fun murdering).
She also keeps saying
“fire, water and ice” for some reason. Hey it sounds dramatic and ominous and
I’m pretty sure will never actually be relevant but will damn it sounds ominous
and dramatic. Especially since Merlot and Lady Hervey kind of had a thing
before death and resurrection and… possible death.
Merlot finds his way
back to the poor part of the city and sees his old friend Reverend Ambrose who
is surprisingly calm about the whole zombie people coming back to his church.
But he’s mainly concerned about Merlot not giving up on god and throwing in a
pretty random dig at the local church hierarchy, specifically the Dean of
Westminster, who has all the money and doesn’t care about the poor and I really
think this isn’t exactly Merlot’s main priority and I’m sure it’s rude to
lecture passing zombies about ecclesiastical corruption.
His point is that he
should put all his faith in god just because the church is pretty much failing
the people. I think dying and coming back is why Merlot’s not a big church fan,
not because of the whole church failing the poor thing
Still he has contacts - including a lady called Esther who is happy to get new clothes for him. After some very awkward measuring where he asks for a high collar because of his hanging scars, she deckes him out in… his old clothes rather than his Bethlem rags. She saw him die in them and is… really earnestly charitable and kind about it all. The people of London are surprisingly casual about zombies wandering around. She radiates kindness and earnestness and is doublessly going to be a regular character
Meanwhile elsewhere
in London we have a Deacon of Westminster has been brutally murdered and the
police Inspector wants to get his best man on the case: Sergeant Nightingale
(who has a new sidekick, Bircher, who doesn’t impress much). The Inspector also
has a super sarcastic snark about paperwork showing police work never changes.
The problem for the
police is that the Dean of Westminster (who I hereby deem EVVVVVIIILL) has
decided murder is a church matter and is using all his considerable influence
to keep the police out. I’m not sure of his motive yet, I’m going with evil
The case Nightengale
can pursue would be the escaped convict from Bethlem - Merlot. And there’s
pressure to solve it because other-person-I’m-deeming-evil Mr. Dibble, a man of
ridiculously excessive wealth is putting huge pressure on Sir Peel, the Home
Secretary, to have him solve it. In exchange he will back Sir Peel’s cemeteries
act and he has that kind of pull.
No we don’t know why
this rich guy cares about Merlot. Let’s go with evil
Investigating does
reveal that Merlot was dropped in the asylum by Lord Hervey - but anonymously
(since Merlot is presumed dead by hanging) and Lord Hervey himself is now
presumed dead as well after a fire. Merlot was in Bethlem for 3 years and left
a whole lot of incoherent rambling notes during his stay.
But Nightengale does
have two leads: 1. The doctor appears to be hiding something and 2. that visit
from Rev Ambrose
Except Rev Ambrose
has just been brutally murdered - looks like this murdering of clergy is
turning into a serial killer thing.
Oh and Lord Hervey
looks like he’s alive.
And we've got all kinds of plot hooks to come
