Yahoo News Taboo ep 3 review: utterly mad, strangely attractive
Time for more "stories of madness, savagery, theft and worse" – and if you thought you'd grown accustomed to Taboo's grimy aesthetic, the latest episode opens with a sequence so grim it's sure to deliver even the most jaded viewer a shock to the senses.
We open on a pallid corpse, washed up on a muddy shore, a trickle of dried blood passing from its lips, crabs crawling out of its exposed gut. It's a nightmarish image – and an early high that the episode can't sustain. Instead, Taboo zig-zags this week as never before, with moments of high tension giving way to sudden dramatic lulls.
Veering from that gory violence to perplexing political manoeuvring to surreal sequences exploring dark magic, the show remains every bit as unpredictable, and muddled, as its lead character.
James Keziah Delaney (Tom Hardy), our adventurer of very poor repute, is under siege – having taken his first serious hit, he's no longer the unstoppable juggernaut of the first two episodes, but very much has his wits about him.
As he recovers (rather swiftly) from a knife wound, James strikes a double blow against his enemies. Realising the extent of the danger posed by the East India Company, he writes up a will to foil their attempts to take ownership of Nootka Sound, while simultaneously planting a spy of his own within their ranks.
All this rather confusing political manoeuvring is the least compelling thing about the series, and things become even more hazy as Delaney schemes to frustrate The EIC and the King both.
Watching James and his rivals do battle remains very much watchable. The reasons why they're doing it? Not all that compelling. Taboo isn't big on restraint, and much of the fun comes from how unfettered it is. It just needs to make sure it's indulging in the right things.
For the time being, at least we've got a top-drawer cast, led by Hardy, giving the rather dry subject matter their all and relishing writer Steven Knight's colourful dialogue. This week, Jonathan Pryce's crown as king of the curse words is in danger of being stolen by Jefferson Hall as hideous Thorne Geary, who ruminates on his and Zilpha's "murderous f**king" and later tells his wife: "I apologise that I'm not related to you, but you could allow your c**t to swallow the work of an honest man."
Also helping to hold our interest amongst all the talk of trade – and some rather baffling mystical interludes – is the emergence of Solomon Coop (Jason Watkins) as a major player. Briefly introduced last week as the kowtowing servant to the Prince Regent, it becomes clear there's much more to him as he engages in a battle of wits with Stuart Strange (Pryce) in the episode's standout scene.
Less appealing is the fate of Jessie Buckley's "fussy stuck-up bitch" Lorna Bow. The show's only other major female character, Oona Chaplin's Zilpha, continues to be poorly served – flitting back and forth between James and her horrid husband and getting little to do but quiver before both men.
As Horace Delaney's widow, Lorna might have proved to be James's undoing, laying claim to half of everything he owns, including Nootka Sound. So it's disappointing that the episode has the potential villainess relegated to the role of damsel in distress – as James calls her, " a weakness" – with our anti-hero forced to launch himself from the shadows to save her like a 19th-century Batman.
True, James has enough adversaries to be getting on with. but still, making him Lorna's protector rather than her rival is a much less interesting proposition.
That quibble aside, Taboo – utterly mad though it is – continues to be strangely addictive. There's something fascinating about the show even when its at its worst. Perhaps it's the feeling of having absolutely have no idea where its headed.
Everything's up for grabs from one moment to the next, from the visuals and atmosphere to a character's place in the narrative. There are absolutely better shows out there than Taboo, but few as sprawling and surprising.
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