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Episode 4 Recap: A Brush with Death

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Who had a bloody good time last Sunday?

Copperheads, here's your spoiler warning. Didn't watch last night? Plant yourself in front of a TV now, because you do not want to miss this episode.

The date is October 2, 1864, and we open with Corky and O’Brien gossiping like a pair of schoolgirls. Turns out Maguire wants to marry Molly and become a farmer. The fellas have a good chuckle over their buddy playing house and harvesting crops with the town whore. But hold on, wasn’t Molly screwing Corcoran just last week? We haven’t forgotten, and neither has Andrew, who alludes to Kevin and Molly’s loud sexcapades. It’s time for Kevin to fess up to the fling, but he’s saved by the dramatic entrance of a prosthetic leg. (The leg that’s usually attached to Morehouse.)

So O’Brien has the dirty deets on Corky and Molly’s affair. Fine. Let’s hope poor Maguire never finds out. Anyone else have the sads for the guy? Well, we'll get to that mess later.

While the detectives gossiped, your two favorite hookers bickered upstairs in Eva's Paradise, which we have renamed Eva’s Sex Dungeon of Doom. Molly stomped into Eva's den like an ornery child, demanding Eva return Corky’s locket. Eva's all, 'Sure, cool, fine, whatever, take the locket...BUT LISTEN BITCH. YOU EVER TELL CORKY I HAD THIS LOCKET AND YOU. WILL. BE. SORRY.' Despite her terrifying behavior, Molly skips back to Corcoran, cursed locket in hand, and uses it as a prop to seduce him. Atta girl, Molly. Nothing turns a guy on like the jewelry of his beloved missing wife.

In this week's whodunit, the Hardy Boys investigate Madame Grindle and the Case of the Cursed Locket – the mysterious death of the town abortionist who pawned Corky's jewels. Corcoran discovers a potential lead in Grindle’s home – a letter that could be incriminating, if it wasn’t roasted and toasted. Enter miracle worker Doctor Matthew Freeman, who mixes a cocktail of potassium ferrocyanidum and acid hydrochloricum, sets up metal plates, pulls trace iron residue from the parchment, and presto, recovers the obscured text. Uh, this procedure is possible without computers and a science lab? Stay tuned for next week's episode, in which Doctor Matthew Freeman discovers genetics, but graciously gives the credit to his good buddy Gregor Mendel. (Kidding. Maybe.)

The rescued letter implicates a 'man of God,' Bishop Onderdonk. It seems poor Onderdonk mistook the vows of chastity and obedience to mean impregnating his parlor maid and taking her to get an abortion. Corky believes Onderdonk murdered Grindle to keep the scandal quiet, and since God hasn’t offered to strike Onderdonk with a righteous bolt of lightning, Corky happily volunteers, pummeling the guy into the ground. In typical Corcoran interrogation fashion, he lets his fists ask the questions. Turns out Onderdonk's a liar and a cheater but didn’t kill anyone, so the case goes unclosed. See ya on “Unsolved Mysteries” Madame G.

And finally, the Oh S-! moment, Molly’s murder. Sure, there was some tension between Eva and Molly over the locket, but it was not-so-innocent Annie Reilly who really got things rolling when she offered Eva an insider tip: Molly’s been fooling around with Corcoran. It’s unclear what set Eva off – was she fed up with Molly’s conniving little ways, or is death the punishment for bedding her favorite customer? If you thought Corcoran's interrogation techniques were tough, wait 'til you get a load of Eva's – open your mouth, she'll slit your throat. R.I.P. Mols. You jealous bitch.

Five (More) Points

The Wickedest Woman in New York City
Madame Grindle has a real-life imposter. Meet a real 19th century abortionist with a killer nickname.

Rivers, Oceans, Lakes: Trash Cans For Your Jewelry
Uh, Corky? You forgot to make that awkward noise you make when throwing priceless jewelry into the water. Cue instructional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CGl5-blQBE

This or That: Which One’s Cursed?
*The locket
*Annie
(For now, we're avoiding both.)

HaverCork Update
Elizabeth Haverford and Kevin Corcoran talk chess. Hearing these two go on about it, you’d assume chess was the sexiest game ever.

Poor Francis Maguire
Then again, maybe he dodged a bullet. Might be tough getting your prostitute wife to stay faithful.

So Copperheads, are you mourning Molly's death? Think Kevin should skip the chess lessons and make a move on Elizabeth? Is there anything Doctor Matthew Freeman can't do? Share your two Copper pennies below!

By Gretchen Hansen
Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2012
  • Anachronism

    The maid says she was raised in Parnell Square, but this is 1864, and Charles Stewart Parnell, for whom that place is named, was only 18 years old. I don’t know what year the square and the street were named, but it was after his death, in the 1890′s.

    • Laura

      I noticed this, too! I can’t find any information on when Parnell Square was named, but it had to be after 1864. I’d love to know if anyone does find the date it was named.

      • http://www.facebook.com/peter.koenig.35 Peter Koenig

        Can’t find the exact date, but … At the time of the maid’s youth, it was definitely called called Rutland Square. Best I can find is that it was still Rutland Square during the Easter Rising of 1915. There’s also a road in Dublin now named Parnell Street (formerly Great Britain Street), which was likely re-named at about the same time as the square.

    • http://www.facebook.com/peter.koenig.35 Peter Koenig

      Good catch. Did you also notice that our hero beat up a Bishop who died in 1861?

  • claudia22477

    A thought, Eva kills Molly, does anyone else seem to think that Eva knows more to the Corky’s missing wife and murdered child? I think Eva was some how behind all this mess!! Just thought.

    • Cynical Optomist

      She does. Probably find out that she lost her virginity to Corky when she was ( fill in an age) and hasn’t gotten over it. How did she become a madam? Could the whorehouse be financed by the Moorhouse’s?

  • Aleution

    Whatever Molly’s profession is , she is a babe handsdown

  • Cynical Optomist

    In the first three episodes we have seen most of mankinds flaws. In which episode will the buggery start? Equal time you know….

  • yoshiyasu yamamoto

    I think you need to do some more research on abortion. You leave the impression that this was illegal. It was not. Not until the 1870s. And it seems you are out to make all your female characters into snakes of some sort. My guess is that maybe you are going to have Eva go after Ellen? Am I right or am I right?

    • Nbeam07

      If it were illegal, the Abortionist would have been arrested. They simply stated that she was “going to Hell” for her actions, which was the general consensus of the time period. Besides, these are strict Irish Catholic characters so of course they’re going to have that view point. You might want to check out the Copper blog as they have an entire post on the woman the Abortionist was based on. Also, Eva has been a “snake” from the very beginning. She’s the dark side to Elizabeth’s light. The Five Points was a corrupt gangland and if you weren’t willing to deal in, you weren’t going to rise to the top. Eva runs a successful whorehouse in the area. She knows how to get what she wants and it ain’t by way of virtue. Eva strikes me as a character who will protect you until she thinks you’ve crossed her– then you’re going down.