We opened with the escape of Irish terrorist Aiden Galvin (Stanley Townsend), after the driver of his prison cab suddenly fell dead. Galvin quickly caught the attention of Inspector Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) by assassinating a politician in the name of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and when Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) figured out that the death of Galvin’s driver was caused by an electric shock, the Whitechapel boys found themselves on the trail of a master electrician who had something significant to gain from Galvin’s bombing.

Elsewhere, rookie Constable Flight (Damien Molony) was sent undercover by Chief Inspector Abberline (Clive Russell) to get close to Galvin’s daughter Evelyn (Charlie Murphy) – being An Irish and all – and found himself grappling with his guilt over deceiving her.

Ultimately, the culprit was revealed to be Charles Broadwick (James Wilby), a former member of the IRB seeking to implement Thomas Edison’s “Direct Current” across England and make a fortune in the process.

First off, lots of fun was had with the historical stuff. Reid telegraphing Edison for help was an amusing inclusion, while Galvin’s name was no doubt inspired by Luigi Galvani, whose work centred on the effects of electricity upon human tissue – thus illustrating how Galvin was merely a muscle charged into action by Broadwick (yes, we may be reading too much into this).

Though these inclusions made the story nip along nicely, there was just too much going on. Broadwick revealing himself to be Evelyn’s real father, Galvin being tailed by Irish moderates, and the convenient involvement of Jane Cobden (Leanne Best) all felt crowbarred in. Indeed, Cobden’s inclusion might as well have been accompanied by a flashing arrow pointed at her noggin, alongside the words “REID’S GONNA SNOG THIS ONE SOON”.

It was, in other words, not a particularly subtle episode. At one point we watched a roomful of brandy-swilling English toffs tear apart the concept of Irish independence. With lines like “Trust an Irishman? I’d sooner play chess with an orangutan!” coming thick and fast, the scene veered dangerously close to parody.

And while it was genuinely shocking to see the world-weary Abberline ruthlessly beat a man for information, there was no fleshing out of how this could be a glimpse into the idealistic Flight’s future. Flight provided a provocative opener to the episode, taking to the confessional box to admit to being a liar. But, as the credits rolled, we wished we could have seen his morality pushed a little further.

Perhaps least convincing was the hasty exit of Broadwick. Having been set up as a cowardly, self-serving man, Broadwick’s suicide using his rival’s device (poetic justice, anyone?) came out of nowhere.

But maybe the real problem here is that we’re starting to miss the presence of this series’ Big Bad, the moustache-twirling über-Cockney Jedediah Shine (Joseph Mawle). Luckily, we still got scenes involving the three leads larking about.

This week, the merciless teasing of Flight by Reid, Drake and Jackson was supremely enjoyable and proved that, despite Ripper Street’s shortcomings, there’s always something worth switching on for.

Aired at 9pm on Monday 18 November 2013 on BBC One.

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