The Victorian woman PI show
Jul. 24th, 2025 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessMiss Scarlet and the Duke - 2.3 A Pauper’s Grave
More Ivy and Moses in this one, as circumstantial evidence (is it breaking in if you have copied the key to let yourself in more easily because the man in charge has a hate on you?) got Eliza arrested for something she hadn’t done. William was in a foul mood for 90 per cent of the episode, because Ivy interrupted him from a lie-in (next to a lover) On His Day Off because Eliza was in trouble. And of course Eliza wouldn’t follow his orders, but as this spared her getting locked up (again), one could hardly blame her. William knew she hadn’t done what she was accused of – and while there was circumstantial evidence linking her to the first crime scene, there was nothing for the the other morgues that had been broken into. But the Chief Coroner was very insistent that she’d done it!
Eliza was bundled off to stay with Clementine the prostitute (who ended up being a source who led Eliza to much the same conclusions as the Duke). Ivy was forced to pretend to be posh to pump Eliza’s nemesis, Mr Potts, the man in charge of the first morgue. It was one of those cases where the character is as good an actress as the actress.
Ivy was working with Moses, see. William was mainly looking for Eliza and Moses (and angry that she’d turned to him for help), but also using Fitzroy to investigate the crime, which led to pauper’s graves, interred 25 years ago. Moses wound William up some more about how he could get information the detective inspector couldn’t, but they ended up working together (arranged offscreen) to entrap some gravediggers.
They revealed that the woman William had thought was a most respectable witness – a vicar’s wife – was a criminal bearing the name of Bloody Mary, fresh out of jail. Why? Flowers sent to one of the pauper’s graves from the Chief Coroner suggested a link. William turned up to interview him, even though he was now off the case for having another woman suspect in the station before letting her go, as did Eliza. He ordered Fitzroy to keep her outside in the carriage (by this point, he needs to chain her down in these types of situations). The Chief Coroner gave him one version of events, which didn’t answer many questions, but as the Duke pressed, there were noises off, and it emerged that Bloody Mary (played by an actress who you feel you’ve seen in dozens of things) had his wife hostage.
Fortunately, Eliza did not stay in the carriage, having got Fitzroy to talk to her, and pulled the same move to rescue William as he’d used in the previous episode, only with Fitzroy’s gun. Turned out the Chief Coroner had also come from humble beginnings and been a bit of a thief alongside Mary. She’d got arrested, he’d pretended to be dead and used the stolen diamonds to fund a new life. She thought the diamonds were in one of the pauper’s graves, and tried to find them as soon as she was released.
Case closed, Eliza cleared, yay? No. William’s boss took a dim view of his having disobeyed orders, even though justice had been served. He was on the outs, and the superintendent was now favouring a bit of an idiot of a colleague. Having proved she is as capable as Moses and William (what all three also have in common is a healthy ego), Eliza was disconcerted to learn that housekeeper Ivy had invited Mr Potts, her nemesis, for dinner, having felt bad for deceiving a man who had thought she was a proper lady.
More Ivy and Moses in this one, as circumstantial evidence (is it breaking in if you have copied the key to let yourself in more easily because the man in charge has a hate on you?) got Eliza arrested for something she hadn’t done. William was in a foul mood for 90 per cent of the episode, because Ivy interrupted him from a lie-in (next to a lover) On His Day Off because Eliza was in trouble. And of course Eliza wouldn’t follow his orders, but as this spared her getting locked up (again), one could hardly blame her. William knew she hadn’t done what she was accused of – and while there was circumstantial evidence linking her to the first crime scene, there was nothing for the the other morgues that had been broken into. But the Chief Coroner was very insistent that she’d done it!
Eliza was bundled off to stay with Clementine the prostitute (who ended up being a source who led Eliza to much the same conclusions as the Duke). Ivy was forced to pretend to be posh to pump Eliza’s nemesis, Mr Potts, the man in charge of the first morgue. It was one of those cases where the character is as good an actress as the actress.
Ivy was working with Moses, see. William was mainly looking for Eliza and Moses (and angry that she’d turned to him for help), but also using Fitzroy to investigate the crime, which led to pauper’s graves, interred 25 years ago. Moses wound William up some more about how he could get information the detective inspector couldn’t, but they ended up working together (arranged offscreen) to entrap some gravediggers.
They revealed that the woman William had thought was a most respectable witness – a vicar’s wife – was a criminal bearing the name of Bloody Mary, fresh out of jail. Why? Flowers sent to one of the pauper’s graves from the Chief Coroner suggested a link. William turned up to interview him, even though he was now off the case for having another woman suspect in the station before letting her go, as did Eliza. He ordered Fitzroy to keep her outside in the carriage (by this point, he needs to chain her down in these types of situations). The Chief Coroner gave him one version of events, which didn’t answer many questions, but as the Duke pressed, there were noises off, and it emerged that Bloody Mary (played by an actress who you feel you’ve seen in dozens of things) had his wife hostage.
Fortunately, Eliza did not stay in the carriage, having got Fitzroy to talk to her, and pulled the same move to rescue William as he’d used in the previous episode, only with Fitzroy’s gun. Turned out the Chief Coroner had also come from humble beginnings and been a bit of a thief alongside Mary. She’d got arrested, he’d pretended to be dead and used the stolen diamonds to fund a new life. She thought the diamonds were in one of the pauper’s graves, and tried to find them as soon as she was released.
Case closed, Eliza cleared, yay? No. William’s boss took a dim view of his having disobeyed orders, even though justice had been served. He was on the outs, and the superintendent was now favouring a bit of an idiot of a colleague. Having proved she is as capable as Moses and William (what all three also have in common is a healthy ego), Eliza was disconcerted to learn that housekeeper Ivy had invited Mr Potts, her nemesis, for dinner, having felt bad for deceiving a man who had thought she was a proper lady.
