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The Irregulars Chapter Two: The Ghosts of 221B
episode 1.2
UK 2021
produced by Rebecca Hodgson, Greg Brenman (executive), Jude Liknaitzky (executive), Tom Bidwell (executive) for Drama Republic/Netflix
directed by Johnny Allan
starring McKell David, Thaddea Graham, Jojo Macari, Harrison Osterfield, Darci Shaw, Clarke Peters, Royce Pierreson, Sheila Atim, Charles Armstrong, Brooke Carter, Keira Chansa, Anouk Christiansen, Emma Cunniffe, Alex Ferns, Edward Hogg, Nell Hudson, Ansu Kabia, Evie Lew-Davies, Ameen Mustapha, Patrice Naiambana, Jonjo O'Neill, Muna Otaru, George Potts, Lucy Russell, Harriet Turnbull, Ian Whyte
written and created by Tom Bidwell, based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle, music by Paul Haslinger
TV series The Irregulars, Sherlock Holmes
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Young Bea (Thaddea Graham) is thrown into prison for some petty theft,
but Watson (Royce Pierreson) gets her out - under the condition that she
and her friends investigate another case. Bea's less than thrilled, but
the alternative would be being sent back to the workhouse, so she accepts.
She has grown suspicious of Watson though, so she sends Spike (McKell
David) to check out Watson's home in Baker Street - which he finds a vast
place that includes a private museum, and that's obviously inhabited by a
man (who stays off camera) with a bad cocaine problem and a lack of talent
for playing the violin. Bea, Billy (Jojo Macari) and their aristocrat
friend - and Billy's rival for the attention of Bea - Leopold (Harrison
Osterfield) meanwhile go out to investigate the case in question, that of
a woman who apparently tears out the teeth of random people at night -
thus dubbed Tooth Fairy. Bea's sister Jessie (Darci Shaw) wants to tag
along, but Bea is overprotective of her. But since Jessie's the only one
of them with superpowers (empathy), Bea eventually gives in. And it's
not long before Jessie finds the actual Tooth Fairy, Jean Gates (Sheila
Atim), a woman who uses the teeth to grow clones of those she stole them
from. And why do that? Because she wants revenge on the Duke of Winchester
(Patrice Naiambana), who has made her lose her home, and she can
telepathically control her clones to first expose him as a loan shark,
then kill him at some theatre performance. And even though our heroes
manage to overcome Jean, they can't keep her from controlling her clones,
and when Billy rushes to the theatre to save the Duke, he eventually finds
his own life threatened, and Bea finds herself forced to kill Jean to save
Billy ... and the day. But it's not something she enjoyed, and furthermore
she and her friends have now come to the conclusion that for some reason,
random people have been equipped with superpowers that fit their
personalities, and apparently it's the job of Bea and company to stop them
... There's something about this episode and the series so far
that just doesn't click: Sure, the sets and costumes are really nice and
properly suggest the Victorian era - but unfortunately nothing else does:
The dialogue suggests 21st century in both language and attitude, the plot
with all its supervillains and clones seems more fitting for Marvel
Comics than Sherlock
Holmes, and while the interracial cast is generally a good
thing if not fitting the era, it somehow gets in the way of portraying the
class system still dominant back when. And on top of that, the story of
this episode is actually rather silly, which is a shame because the thing
looks good, and is carried by a strong cast, it just fails to convince on
any other level.
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