Last week I mentioned the absurdity of Taboo's premise, and of its protagonist James Delaney. An ex-soldier returns home from Africa years after being presumed dead, carrying with him rumours of cannibalism and knowledge of highly classified geopolitical secrets. Combined with Tom Hardy's rather theatrical performance, Taboo is quite ridiculous on every level. But ridiculous is only a bad thing for a TV series when said series doesn't acknowledge its own ridiculousness, and I found enough self-awareness in last week's premiere to enjoy the show.
Thankfully, Taboo's second episode only strengthened my confidence in the show's ability to self-criticise, with plenty of scenes that were played at least partly comically. Perhaps the most obvious example of this in this episode was Mark Gatiss' near-unrecognizable appearance as a drunken, gout-ridden Prince Regent, a scene in which the show recognized its own absurdity and indulged in it instead of shying away from it.
But moments of humour and satire don't stop Taboo from being the brooding character study it so desperately wants to be. In fact, I would argue that it gives the show more license to do so, as when dark dramas lack comedy or any moments of levity they collapse into heavy, formless slogs. And this episode provided plenty more of same angsty and intimidating scenes of Tom Hardy that we saw last week, as he continued his one-man war against the East India Company, as well as the British Crown as a whole, though this episode makes clear that the former is significantly more powerful than the latter (modern day relevance!!!!).
Outside of the delightful aforementioned Mark Gatiss cameo, this episode had some heavy lifting to do in expanding the show's cast even further, introducing four new major characters. Boardwalk Empire's Stephen Graham shows up as a chatty murderer-for-hire, Michael Kelly makes his first appearance as Dumbarton, an American spy. The wonderful Jessie Buckley appears late in the episode as an actress claiming to be the widow of James' father. Also, we meet Winter, the daughter of Helga (Franka Potente), the owner of the brothel.
The series is having a lot of fun playing with how James seems to weave between both upper and lower-class London, and while the class commentary is hardly subtle, it does provide some great images. For example, the scene in which James and his father's solicitor Thoyt are walking along a very clean street in a posher area of the city is striking, not just because we are reminded of the muddy locales James usually finds himself in but also because of James himself, from his unkempt appearance to Tom Hardy's very physical performance. While other characters walk with back arched and head held high, James remains hunched forward, eyes to the pavement, mind set to task.
While the show continues to keep its cards close to its vest, this episode not only revealed that James and Zilpha did indeed once have a sexual relationship and it wasn't just sexual tension (though the end of last week's episode made that pretty clear), but also revealed that there is at least some credibility to the rumours of cannibalism surrounding James, the episode concluding with him biting the throat of an assassin.
This episode saw James expand his business ambitions, buying a ship and starting a trading company with the intent of trading with the "savages" around Nootka Sound. But as he continues to improbably rise through society the show doubles down on exploring how he's viewed by others, expanding the meaning of its title. In the episode he is called the n-word by Zilpha's husband (who's death is going to be very satisfying when it does inevitably come), as the show is underlining that James is rejected by society for a number of reasons, including his mixed race.
To wrap this review up, it's pretty clear at this stage that Taboo is a show with a lot on its mind, and some of the ideas it's playing around with are undeniably interesting. Helped by a terrific performance at its centre, Taboo is an engaging watch. But the show is also constantly teetering on the edge of unintentional parody, and needs to avoid the fate of other, more self-serious prestige dramas.
Grade: B+
