With Susan’s father, the malicious Theodore Swift, back on the scene, Ripper Street set the stage last week for a concluding confrontation between Reid and the woman who shot him, Susan.
‘The Peace of Edmund Reid’ delivered that confrontation, but, in true Ripper Street style, it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that…
‘The Peace of Edmund Reid’ had an awful lot to wrap up – a season’s worth of character arcs and a sprawling plot that began seven weeks ago with the locomotive disaster – yet it still came out as an episode that was both thoroughly entertaining and satisfying to watch.
Captain Jackson, who has been generally placed to the periphery this season while Drake and Reid received the meatier dramatic material, played a pivotal role as he finally pledged his allegiance to Susan and scrapped with Drake in a thrilling fight scene that compellingly displayed how the season’s events have put huge strain on the friendships once held between Reid, Jackson and Drake.
Thankfully, Jackson’s turn to criminality by obstructing an investigation feels like an entirely organic, sympathetic progression of the character after discovering Susan’s pregnancy rather than a rushed ‘turn to the dark side’ – an impressive bit of writing, given that he’s been aligned with H Division for the entire season.
His imprisonment at episode’s end didn’t even feel like a tragic end for the character, with Jackson having finally reconciled with Susan in a cell, turning the final moment into a note for Jackson and Susan’s characters to be left until Season 4 that was undoubtedly bittersweet, but also surprisingly heartwarming.
Reid, meanwhile, sought to finally wrap up the case that almost took his life before leaving his position to Drake – it’s a storyline that could easily have ended with a ‘defeat’ of Susan, but Ripper Street took a pleasing left turn by instead having Reid and Susan ally to take down Susan’s father.
Susan was already portrayed in a compelling sympathetic manner, but it’s in ‘The Peace of Edmund Reid’ where Susan ceased to be even an anti-villain – the depiction of Susan trapped under the thumb of her tyrannical and oppressive father (a fairly thin villain, but Susan’s father still effectively served his purpose as an appropriately hateful common enemy for Susan to redeem herself against) was a well-executed one that heightened the pathos felt for Susan’s character, ensuring that her escape from her father’s shadow and redemption was a victory that felt equal to Drake’s ascendance to Reid’s previous role and Reid’s escape from the depravity and crime of Whitechapel.
Though Susan is locked up for her previous crimes at episode’s end, it’s highly unlikely we’ve seen the last of the character – and it’s going to be extremely intriguing to see how Susan re-enters the show next season…
The placing of Swift as an unresolved evil equal to Jack the Ripper to Reid gave the Inspector what appears to be a fairly final send-off – as Reid blissfully plays on the beach with his daughter, it almost feels like the last time we’ll ever see the character, such is the finality of the aforementioned concluding scene here.
With two more seasons already ordered, Reid will likely be back in Whitechapel soon enough – but, for now, Reid’s final victory is a superb way to leave the character, wrapping up his tumultuous journey this season in a poignant and triumphant manner.
‘The Peace of Edmund Reid’ was a hugely satisfying and notably conclusive season finale that wrapped up season three in a way that adequately serviced every major character and ongoing conflict, as well as delivering a reliably grim serving of the gory crime drama Ripper Street is known for.
It’s a finale that could served as a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole – but the fact that Ripper Street has a secure future beyond this season raises the question: can Season 4 match this hugely impressive third run?
Aired at 9pm on Friday 18 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 Season 3’s finale? Let us know below…