As this episode of Miss Scarlet and the Duke begins, Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips) talks to Ivy (Cathy Belton) who is getting ready for work. Ivy Woods says Alexander Blake (Tom Durant-Pritchard) is a gentleman. When Mr. Potts (Simon Ludders) arrives, he learns that Ivy is leaving and Eliza will keep him company during breakfast. Eliza says they’ll have to make adjustments because she hasn’t seen Ivy this happy in a while. She asks Ivy if he can help her with the dishes. He agrees to help so Ivy will have more free time this evening. Potts begins talking about the Thames Reaper. Eliza knows there have been four murders in three short months and then nothing. Potts reveals the Reaper has written a letter to The Morning Herald saying he plans to kill again. Eliza leaves Potts with the dishes and takes the newspaper with her.

Eliza visits Sydney Barnes (Peter Polycarpou) who is busy giving Mr. Bailey (Ryan Hawley) his instructions. Eliza tells Mr. Barnes she’d like to help the newspaper solve the mystery of the Thames Reaper. She explains it’s been almost a year since the first murder and no one has the slightest idea who the Reaper is. Sydney says he might hire her if she brings him something new. Eliza speaks to Bailey who broke the story of the Thames Reaper. She tries to convince him to share any insight he might have on the case. At a pub, Bailey admits the Reaper case helped The Morning Herald because it was on the verge of closing due to poor sales. In November of last year, a body was found on the banks of the Thames by the London Bridge. Bailey says no other newspaper reported it. The next day, he received a letter. It read, “Edward sleeps by London Bridge.”

Bailey spoke to a police contact who confirmed the dead name’s name was Edward Turnbull. The letter was posted the day before Bailey’s story was published. He wrote a bigger story mentioning the mysterious letter. Barnes requested follow-up articles pouring over every detail. It was front-page news by the end of the week. Then, another body was found and another letter arrived. This time, it said, “Samuel sleeps by the Isle of Dogs.” The location and name were correct. It was written in lowercase with the same formatting. The next victim was found a month later up the river near Richmond. Around that time, someone in the office started using the moniker the “Thames Reaper”. Although Bailey didn’t like the name, Barnes insisted they use it. The fourth victim followed the same pattern. Yesterday, the Reaper wrote again to say he had returned.

Bob (Milos Pantic) gives Ivy paperwork to file. Ivy visits Inspector Blake to give him files. They also talk about Eliza. Blake asks about the new desk sergeant, Bernard. Ivy agrees to type up his log since his handwriting is illegible. He tells her she’s a credit to the department. At the Fat Goose Pub, Bailey says the postmarks on the letters are from all over the city. The case spans several jurisdictions. Bailey doesn’t know why the killer resurfaces. Bailey receives a telegram because another letter has arrived. Detective Inspector Blake is at the scene of a discovery by the London Docks. Eliza and Mr. Bailey arrive to see the body and speak to Inspector Blake. Blake is shown the letter which reads, “Caleb sleeps by Limehouse Docks.” He has Eliza escorted back to her carriage and asks for a statement from Mr. Bailey. Eliza visits Mr. Potts to get background information on a case. He doesn’t want to cooperate with her. Eliza tries to negotiate to get him to help.

Once he invites her in, Potts learns she’s investigating the Thames Reaper. Eliza wants background information on the previous victims. Moments later, Eliza shows Bailey the details of the coroner’s reports on the other victims. They believe the suspect has considerable strength. There is not much information on the third victim, a Russian named Aleksander Sochnev. Eliza decides to speak to Ivy who is reluctant to help her. Eliza knows she shouldn’t have asked. She agrees to ask Inspector Blake. Eliza urges Ivy not to overdo it because she needs rest too. Eliza approaches Blake to say she wants to make a deal. She explains it would take him days to gather information about the killer since the evidence is spread across different jurisdictions. She offers him a summary of the information he needs. Eliza says Scotland Yard is investigating so a request could be sent to gather the evidence. Blake is surprised she didn’t ask Ivy.

Eliza claims she would never put Ivy in that position. She recommends hiring her and she can help him catch the killer. Eliza explains this is an itch she just has to scratch. Blake agrees but there is one condition. Eliza has to tell Bailey that she can’t work with the newspaper and the police. Bailey isn’t sure he’ll continue as a journalist since he comes from a family of doctors. The next day, Eliza tells Blake she’s ended her relationship with the newspaper. He reveals they have an identification for the latest victim. At the morgue, Mr. Potts says the victim is Caleb Hunt who was a junior clerk at Aldgate Mortuary. Caleb suffered a broken neck and did not drown. Potts tells them where he lived. Blake and Eliza visit Caleb’s residence and find newspaper articles about the killings. Eliza says he was obsessed. Blake doesn’t think Caleb’s murder was random. He decides to get uniform in to search because they need to follow procedure.

Eliza wonders if Caleb was carrying out an investigation on his own. Blake also suggests Caleb was the killer. He finds a hidden key and suspects it belongs to a safe deposit box. Eliza finds a note for the Bank of Switzerland on Threadneedle Street. It mentions box 17. They go to the bank with a search warrant. The man in charge tells them they do not keep the names of the clients. Once the box is open, they find nothing inside. Eliza asks if they could get a description of the man, but Herr Klinsman (Petar Zekavica) doesn’t want to tell them anything. After being threatened by Blake, Klinsman says the box has two registered clients. Blake says he’ll get a warrant to cover Switzerland so they can get the account holder information. Outside, Blake tells Eliza he’ll have to speak to the Foreign Office to get the warrant. Eliza says she’ll go over the case notes to see if there’s anything she missed. Later, Bailey visits Eliza at her offer to make her an offer even though he knows she’ll refuse.

Barnes is willing to pay her a fee for passing on any information he obtains while working with Scotland Yard. Eliza refuses. Bailey asks if she’ll be free to dine tomorrow evening. He gives her some time to think about it. Later, Potts arrives and learns Ivy still isn’t home. Eliza tries to cook but it doesn’t turn out well. She talks to Potts about her inability to cook anything. He decides to teach her how to cook. While he teaches her, they talk about Ivy and Caleb. Potts says Caleb made a woeful mistake although he corrected it. Eliza asks about the mistake. Next, Mr. Stevens takes a photo of Caleb’s room for Blake. Blake tells the officers he wants everything itemized. Eliza arrives and tells Blake that one of Caleb’s duties was to log the possessions found on the corpses that were brought into the mortuary. Potts said he was slapdash. He’d miss things and make spelling mistakes. She reveals that Caleb misspelled the Russian victim’s name.

By the time Potts fixed it, the Reaper had sent the letter to the newspaper with the same spelling mistakes. Blake suspects Caleb passed on the names to whoever wrote the letters. The officers find something hidden in the wall. It’s a blackmail letter from Caleb who was threatening to expose Sydney Barnes. Blake questions Sydney Barnes who denies everything. Seconds later, Blake gets evidence confirming Barnes is a registered account holder for the safe deposit box. Barnes wants to speak to his lawyer. Blake tells Eliza what is going on in private. He agrees she may be able to attend questionings in the future. Blake wants a full report on his desk first thing. Eliza admits she might be engaged this evening. Ivy suspects Eliza is going out with Inspector Blake. Eliza tells her it’s someone she hasn’t met. She isn’t sure she’ll go though. Potts arrives to speak to Ivy. He tells her that Reverend Harvey has had a cancellation next month.

Harvey wondered if they’d want to book it for their wedding day. Ivy says she’s busy with her duties. She’ll be working late this evening. Eliza meets Bailey who says he booked a table for them. They briefly talk about Barnes before Eliza notices the key Bailey has. Ivy drops off the files for Blake who asks why she’s still there. He tells her that she cannot work for this long. Ivy admits she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Blake believes they should rethink her position. Bailey tells Eliza that he and the paper will be a laughingstock once the news breaks. Eliza mentions the safe deposit box. She knows Bailey has the other key and she took it from his coat. Eliza says he invented the Thames Reaper story and he killed Caleb when he was blackmailed. Bailey calls that nonsense. Blake arrives with a few officers to take Bailey into custody. Moments later, Blake tells Eliza it likely won’t take much to get a full confession from Bailey.

He agrees to let Eliza attend the questioning. Ivy catches up with Mr. Potts to share some exciting news. Inspector Blake has asked her to dedicate herself to his work only like his assistant. Ivy admits she’s missed Mr. Potts. Her houses will be more civilized from now on.

 

Miss Scarlet And The Duke Review

It’s unfortunate, but it’s starting to look like the strong writers left with Stuart Martin. The series has lacked any of the charm that made it so fun previously. The show’s best characters have disappeared while the investigations have become tedious and predictable. Detective Fitzroy rarely shows up, DS Phelps is nowhere to be seen, Clarence visits from time to time, and Patrick Nash is locked away somewhere.

It’s hard to see anything good about this episode because the case of the Thames Reaper was so horribly unoriginal and predictable. It was clear right from the start that Bailey or Barnes would be responsible. When Bailey asked for dinner, that pretty much sealed his fate. The series is moving too quickly with Blake and Ivy going off on a career path.

The series still has a few bright spots, including the locations and the costumes. It does a good job of appearing to be authentic for the time period. The performances are fairly strong as well, but the characters don’t pack the same amount of charisma they had previously. It definitely feels like we’re getting Blake shoved down our throats and the character is portrayed as far too perfect.

It’s also questionable why Blake would abruptly change his mind and allow Eliza to work with him since he was so adamant in his stance previously. Even then, the series could work with the original cast and the same fun investigations that we got previously. Sadly, the fifth series hasn’t been able to deliver a worthwhile investigation through three episodes and this one was probably the worst in a long time.

The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Miss Scarlet and The Duke can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.