Ripper Street Recap: “I Need Light”

Ripper Street Recap: “I Need Light”
Original Air Date (BBC): Sunday December 30, 2012
Series 1 Episode 1

by C.S. Kane:

The teasingly promoted and highly anticipated Ripper Street has hurled itself into the weekly Sunday evening spot with the brutal and gritty episode “I Need Light”. The tone was set as undoubtedly dark from the start as we were introduced to the shadowy alleys of 1889 Whitechapel and the vicious underground boxing pits. It is in the latter we are introduced to Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfayden) and Sergeant Drake (Jerome Flynn) and in the former that we find a body of a woman seemingly mutilated with the ritualistic markings of the Ripper and dumped for our police protagonists.

The police procedural progresses with the introduction of Captain Jackson (Adam Rothenberg). He appears to be an American with a past. A former army surgeon and Pinkerton detective he appears to have a strained and temperamental alliance with a Madame named Susan. A shadowy secret between the pair is alluded to and sets up intriguing questions for the rest of the series.

Back to “I Need Light” which was ultimately rather more risqué than I had anticipated it to be. The titillation turned rather sinister as the plot delved into the dark and deadly underworld of pornography. With Reid, Jackson and Drake each bringing different methods to the investigation ranging from theorising to analysing to beating the pulp out of interviewees, there is a well deduced balance of character traits through-out.

There was a slight sense of influence from Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes about the show particularly with the fast paced fight scenes and the soundtrack. However, this show stands on its own in that it is dark, dramatic and definitely not for the feint hearted. It is a grimy story full of gore, blood, horrendous violence (particularly exacted upon female characters), shadows, secrets and the undertone of a paranoid East End still reeling from the recent Ripper murders.

So it ends that Reid produces the slimy, smarmy newspaper reporter Best (David Dawson) with the facts of the case of the murdered woman. The details are fodder for the sordid tabloid agent but for Reid it is essential that the truth should always be known. This drive and determination is exhibited perfectly by our Inspector as he strides away from the Brown Bear pub, dons his bowler hat and marches onwards into a promising and thus far disturbing series of investigations.

C.S. Kane is a writer of horror fiction and a DarkMedia contributor. Kane has a penchant for the paranormal and is a true a sucker for Sci-fi. Interests include reading, writing, watching movies and enjoying good food. Keep up with the darker side of life by following Kane on Twitter at @CS_Kane and via the blog: www.cskaneofficial.blogspot.co.uk