Forum:Copper

I thought I'd open this up for anyone wanting to share thoughts on the Copper finale which aired tonight. First of all, I didn't realize until it came on that tonight was the finale; I hadn't been counting all that closely, but I thought they had two episodes to go. I hate how short TV seasons are becoming; it's convenient for those getting caught up on past seasons in a hurry, but if you're following a show as it airs, you can no sooner get into a routine than you're saying goodbye to the show. On a related note, I noticed that they borrowed the Doctor Who tactic of throwing up a grandiose title card with thudding sound effects as the message "Copper will return in summer 2013" is revealed one word at a time. I find I rather like that. It gives a sort of hope and encouragement that I often find lacking in the finales of our domestic shows.

As for the episode itself, watching all the ongoing plotlines laid out side by side and pushed toward resolution made me realize for the first time just how much went on in that show. In retrospect, everything was built up to pretty solidly, but there was not much of a sense of things accelerating, except perhaps with the Confederate conspiracy plot. (I did rather come to appreciate the bucket of cold water that was thrown on the happy revisionist myth of near-universal Northern support for the Union.) The show did become more dramatic and easier to follow as the weeks went on; the first two or three episodes had me a bit confused and more than a bit bored, but things tightened up once they got out of the first act of the story.

I won't be more specific than that; the "Spoil Away" policy applies only to Turtledove works, and I really don't have all that much to say about many of the main plots beyond that I really don't think there was a weak link in the chain. I do take issue with the very last scene. I found it a very bizarre choice for the image with which the writers want the viewers to be left for almost a year. Is it supposed to hint that when we rejoin our protagonist he'll be in the midst of a rather more serious struggle with his demons than he has been up till now? I like a hurting hero in drama, but there's only so much brokenness you can lay on him before he can no longer win the audience's empathy. But if that's not what they're suggesting, then what the hell are they getting at?

One final note: I couldn't swear to it, but I don't believe they once showed Robert Morehouse's legs, though the trauma of the amputation was one of the most central driving forces of his entire character development. Anyone remember seeing it? Turtle Fan (talk) 04:04, October 22, 2012 (UTC)