Welcome back, Inspector Reid.
Having recovered surprisingly quickly off-screen after his waking last episode, Reid finally returned to H Division for a bottle episode that incorporated a simple yet engrossing central mystery.
Almost all of ‘The Incontrovertible Truth’ is set inside H Division over the course of one night, but this limited setting never once feels constraining, with the claustrophobic settings adding to the deep sense of unease that permeated this episode.
The case of the week, concerning a dysfunctional aristocratic couple, both of whom are suspected of killing a poorer woman, was a great deal more successful than last week’s despite the relative simplicity of the plot – there were only three suspects at any point, yet Ripper Street managed to keep this viewer guessing by consistently and compellingly adding unexpected layers to the suspects.
Lady Montecute, for instance, seemed suspiciously enigmatic at the start of the episode, with her attempts to personally talk to the policemen seeming manipulative, with a clear ulterior motive – yet by episode’s end, the same interest in the policemen was shown to be clearly sincere, and her strangely calm demeanour suddenly took on an entirely different, melancholy feeling as her true motivations were revealed.
‘The Incontrovertible Truth’ also succeeded at utilising the three central characters, completely united for the first time in a while, in diverse and distinctive ways – there were certainly problems with Reid’s return this episode, as I’ll discuss below, but the Inspector’s portrayal as the stern leader of the group provided a clever role reversal from when Reid was the impulsive, violent policeman two episodes back and felt like a natural evolution of the character after his shooting.
For an episode so focused on police work, it was fitting that all three main characters contributed in their own ways to solving the mystery – and satisfying that each character used entirely different methods that subtly helped to advance each character’s arc.
Some of the actual execution, such as Drake’s sudden turn to impulsive violence, was a little suspect, but the concept was a great one that really elevated this plot-heavy instalment.
Unfortunately, despite a cleverly bittersweet conclusion as the wrong suspect was caught, ‘The Incontrovertible Truth’ stumbled with re-introducing Reid back into the equation.
Reid’s recovery seemed too swift and nondescript, and his (presumably temporary) amnesia concerning the events of the shooting felt like a convenient way to continue the inertia of Susan’s plot that set in last week so the case could be solved without any ongoing story arcs getting in the way.
In short, it felt as if Reid returned in the wrong episode – ‘The Incontrovertible Truth’ was far too focused on the standalone mystery to truly service the ongoing story arcs concerning Reid’s shooting, which meant that several questions that should have been answered with Reid’s return remain entirely unanswered for yet another week.
There’s just two episodes left now – and while ‘The Incontrovertible Truth’ represented a solid improvement over last week for Ripper Street, it’s about time it pressed on with the ongoing storylines of the season.
If the gun Jackson finds at the end of the episode is any indication, it seems as if the truth behind Reid’s shooting is about to come out…
Aired at 9pm on Friday 4 September 2015 on BBC One.
> Order Season 3 on DVD on Amazon.
> Buy the Season 1-2 box set on Amazon.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Let us know below…