As the first episode of The Irregulars begins, a young girl walks through a tunnel and finds herself surrounded by what appears to be the spirits of miners. She stumbled upon a bunch of skeletons on the ground and they quickly come back to life. That girl, Jessie (Darcia Shaw), wakes from her nightmare when one of the skeletons grabs her by the throat. Her friend, Bea (Thaddea Graham), tries to calm her down before Jessie wonders if she is losing it. Bea urges her to go back to sleep and she does. Moments later, Jessie wakes Bea up to tell her happy birthday. Jessie gives her friend an imaginary present which is supposedly French perfume since Bea is desperate to find a boyfriend. Bea denies it but Jessie promises that two sprays will make any man want to make sweet love to her.

Bea says she doesn’t have time for boys or the word shenanigans because she is tired of hearing it. Bea changes the subject and asks about Billy (Jojo Macari) and Spike (McKell David). Bea leaves the hideout. She stops along the way and sees a man watching her through a window nearby. She looks closer and sees that the door has 221B on it. Later, Spike tells Billy they shouldn’t be at the bare knuckle arena. Billy warns him not to make eye contact with anyone, but Spike cannot control himself and immediately stares at a man nearby. After the current fight ends, the next announced fight is William Chisup versus Tam Bibby but Spike tries to talk his friend out of it. Most in the audience begin placing bets on Tam since Billy is much smaller than his opponent.

Billy isn’t worried about the size of his opponent, but he is concerned when he sees Bea. Leopold (Harrison Osterfield) watches a woman from his window before he receives a gift from the Marquess of Bath. He isn’t impressed with the cups and tells Daimler (Edward Hogg) he has decided what he wants his mother to get him for his birthday. He wants to leave the palace, but Daimler isn’t sure Her Majesty is going to allow that. Despite his recent ankle injury, Leopold wants to leave the palace for at least one day. Instead, he is allowed to ride around the city with Daimler. He is warned that the city is a hard place that is not great for a person with a delicate constitution. Billy returns to the hideout with Bea and they argue about the possible outcome of the boxing match.

She reminds him that he promised to stop fighting, but he denies that. Then, she urges him to put a shirt on since he’ll get a cold and become even more of a bellend. Billy puts on a shirt before explaining he was fighting to get money for Jessie because she needs a doctor’s help. He also admits Hudson cornered him yesterday to warn him that they’re two months late on their rent. They need to get the money together quickly. Otherwise, they’ll be on the street and they could freeze to death during the upcoming winter. Spike reluctantly suggests a workhouse, but Bea ridicules him for mentioning the workhouse. She reminds him that he wasn’t there with the rest of them and doesn’t know what the workhouse was like.

Bea gets upset and covers herself with the blanket so Spike and Billy join her. Bea says she can’t lose Jessie because she is the only family she has. Billy and Spike tell her that they’re family too and they’ll get through this. Bea wonders how they can get the money before Billy notices that Jessie has disappeared. She walks along the streets and hears something about monsters coming to London. She notices an odd creature in the distance before nearly getting crushed by the horses pulling Leopold’s carriage. Leopold laughs when Bea gives Daimler a piece of her mind. Leopold pays attention to the local buildings as his carriage pulls away. Later, Bea meets with Sister Anna (Lisa Dwyer Hogg) and tells her about Jessie’s dreams and how it started for her mother.

She promises Bea that what happened to her mother won’t happen to Jessie. Anna believes Bea is making connections that aren’t there before they talk about Alice Cook’s grave never having any flowers. They joke about the repercussions of stealing flowers from other graves and putting them on Alice’s. Before the conversation ends, Anna reminds Bea that her door is always open. Someone watches Bea from a distance as she wonders what she is going to do. The stranger approaches her so she rushes from the cemetery but the stranger follows her.

John Watson (Royce Pierreson) eventually stops her, introduces himself as a doctor, and admits he has been watching her with his partner from their apartment on Baker Street. They want something from Bea and they’re willing to pay for it. They go to the motel where John puts a room on his tab. They enter the room and Bea promises to keep everything said in the room secret. John explains he runs a small detective agency with his partner and their officers are at 221B Baker Street. They’re reputable men and do not have access to the more disreputable parts of London so they want Bea to find information for them. She will be paid if she is successful. John tells her about the first case involving the kidnapping of four newborn babies. The most recent took place last night. The baby was taken from a locked room in Bayswater.

Bea learns about the strange circumstances and the feather found under the crib. She is told about the daughter whose name is Susan Shipley. John agrees to pay Bea if she can find Susan and find out what she knows. The following day, Bea and Billy argue about the arrangement and whether it is a good idea. Billy is worried that John took the baby, Susan saw him, and he wants to kill her. He is also concerned they’ll never find her, but Spike pops up and confirms he has already located her. Spike quickly tells them how he found out about Susan. Before long, they’re introduced to Susan Shipley (Marli Siu). Bea tries to get information from Susan by saying the police are no longer looking for her sister and only her detective friends are. Susan tells them about the night Laura went missing.

She admits she snuck out and left the window open so she could hang out with her boyfriend. She lied about the window because her mother would be angry with her. Then, she admits she heard a scraping and cawing outside of her window five nights in a row but thinks she might’ve dreamed it. She tries to tell them what it sounded like before a raven swoops down and slashes her across the face. The group makes a run for it as a large group of birds follows them. Susan is knocked down and flogged before Billy is cut above the eye. Billy and Bea manage to hide but the birds nearly break the door down before unexpectedly stopping. When Spike rejoins them, they find Susan dead with her eyes pulled from the sockets. Meanwhile, Leopold daydreams about Bea.

Daimler interrupts and tries to explain he is keeping him in the palace to ensure his safety because he has hemophilia. Leopold is warned that it could have dire consequences if he hurts himself. Leopold tells Daimler he doesn’t want to be disturbed for a while. Once he is left alone, he quickly tries to sneak out of the palace. Although a guard catches him, the guard stays quiet and lets him leave. Leopold enters a pub and asks about The Duck and Quiver pub. He also buys a pint of ale and pays a bit too much but doesn’t realize it. A prostitute tries to take advantage of him but he is thrown out when she realizes he doesn’t want to pay for her services. Bea goes to Watson and demands to know what he got them into. He wants to know if she said anything, but Bea believes Watson doesn’t care about what happened and wants out.

She wants to be paid for her services or she threatens to come back and smash every window in their home. He tells her to find him useful information and she’ll get 30 pieces of silver for her troubles. He knows she needs money before telling her to stay put while he steps out of the room. She looks around and sees a man sleeping on a couch with a cane nearby, but doesn’t see his face before Watson returns with the information police gave them about the other missing babies. She grabs the papers and rushes out of the building. Before she leaves, she wants to know why he picked them, but he won’t give her an exact answer. Moments later, Bea finds Jessie outside. When she asks her why, Jessie says she doesn’t like being stuck in the cellar.

Jessie tells her to stop telling her what to do. Leopold becomes a bit distraught on his journey until he finds Bea. He asks her about the feather and believes it is a raven’s feather. He explains why he thinks it is a raven’s feather and why he doesn’t think she found it on the street. He introduces himself as Leo before discussing what Bea is reading and the investigation they’re involved in. Billy watches as Leo looks at the records and learns from Bea that all babies were female and taken on consecutive dates. He finds it intriguing that the babies were all born on the same day and likely at the same hospital. He suggests finding the other babies born at that hospital on that day and stopping it from happening again.

He recommends going to Marylebone Town Hall because they keep the birth certificates there. Before long, they visit the town hall and Leopold searches through the birth certificates to find what they’re looking for. Bea tells Billy that Leo is just some lad who supposedly works for his uncle near Kings Cross doing deliveries. Jessie says she likes him because he is tasty. Billy isn’t sure about him but the others claim he is just racist against posh people. Bea doesn’t care because Leo is smart and he is going to help them solve the case. He finds that six girls were born at the hospital on October 2. Four have gone missing and one passed away after it was born. The last one lives at 18 Persimmon Mews. Then, Leo warns that someone might be controlling the birds. We see a raven with another baby while Bea and the others walk the streets.

Spike stops them and reconsiders going since a girl is dead and it could be very dangerous. Bea encourages Jessie to go back to the cellar with him, but she doesn’t want to go. Eventually, Bea tells her she is a mess and is falling to pieces so she can’t come with them. She admits everyone is worried about her since she is lucky to be alive. Jessie storms off and Billy follows her before the others continue. Once they reach the address, Bea tells Billy to switch the baby for a decoy and get out of there. Billy climbs the pipe and sneaks inside. Then, he wakes the baby and causes it to cry. He has to bar the door to stop the mom from entering but a raven sneaks off with the baby.

Leo and Bea chase after it while Jessie has another nightmare. A mysterious creature grabs Jessie by the throat as Spike struggles to wake her. Billy catches up with the others as they encounter the bird master (Rory McCann) who says the baby is his. He attacks them with birds before disappearing. Jessie is surrounded by butterflies before being transported to another magical land. A man approaches and tells her she is okay since he isn’t a murderer. He also admits she is only there in her mind. He claims she is in Louisiana. Meanwhile, the others try to figure out why the bird master is stealing babies. Bea wonders if he lost his baby and won’t stop until he finds her. She wonders if it has something to do with the 6th baby before checking the details and finding that the mother was Angela Hilton.

The father’s name was Arthur and he was the head ornithologist at the London Zoo. The Linen Man (Clarke Peters) tries to convince Jessie he is her friend. She tells him about the nightmares in which she is trapped in the tunnels of hell. The Linen Man wants Jessie to help him find out about the bird master and where he gets his great powers. He explains she can touch him on his arm and enter his mind, but she doesn’t want to do it. He insists she needs to look at the madness as power to get rid of the nightmares. She wakes up and tells Spike they need to find the others. Billy and the others arrive at the largest aviary in Europe. They step inside and notice that the birds are missing. Arthur confronts them and warns he is going to have to hurt them but Bea tells him his baby is dead.

He refuses to believe his baby died and claims someone swapped her. He begins summoning birds to them so Bea and the others rush to close the doors. Jessie and Spike arrive just before the last door is closed. Jessie says she has to touch Arthur although Bea doesn’t think she should. Jessie touches his arm and they enter his memories. She tries to show him that his daughter died. He can’t see his baby girl because her body has already been taken to the morgue. Arthur admits he only wanted to say goodbye. Then, Jessie tries to find out how Arthur got his powers. We see that he performed a ritual and something happened.

He apologizes but says he doesn’t know where it came from. When Jessie is finished, the birds fly away. Billy climbs the steps and finds the baby safe and sounds. Bea wants to know what Jessie did, but Jessie just wants to go home. Leo leaves in a hurry. Back at the cellar, Billy tends to his wounds and Bea confirms she hasn’t seen the posh boy. Billy makes a lewd gesture that causes her to laugh. As Jessie hangs out with Spike, it seems she is getting better. Bea goes to Watson and finds him fighting with someone. He has blood on his face. He agrees to pay her before saying the babies were returned to their homes, and Arthur will spend the rest of his days in Bedlam. She wants to know how he knew Jessie was her sister. He admits her sister has a gift and can see things that normal people cannot.

He says you learn how to spot an angel after spending a lifetime fighting demons. Bea leaves with the money and finds Jessie sitting on the ground. She says everything is fine. Before she leaves, Watson tells Bea about the darkness that has come to London. He tells her not to go far because this is just the beginning.

 

The Irregulars Review

I am seriously torn with The Irregulars because I think it has a smidgen of potential, but it has really dropped the ball so far. I am not sure what this show is trying to be and I don’t think the creators do either. I could see this being a decent show for kids on one hand. On the other, the episode was full of cursing and lewd gestures so I am convinced some parents would object.

It is hard to judge the acting in a show like this because it is so far off base, but I am having a hard time developing a relationship with any of the characters regardless. I sometimes like oddball shows like this so I might watch a few more episodes before I totally give up. On a plus note, some of the actors and actresses seemed to be trying extremely hard to nail their respective roles.

For example, Jojo Macari was really pushing the envelope here and Harrison Osterfield was oddly interesting. Some aspects of the story were good and the whole theme at the end made me a bit emotional. The show could potentially develop into something worthwhile in the long run.

I guess I’ll wait and see what happens. This episode wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve watched in the past few months either. The opening episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Past recaps of The Irregulars will be available on Reel Mockery here.