'Taboo' episodes 1 & 2 Review

Image from Variety
By Darian Scalamoni

            One of the best new shows of 2017 is already being broadcast on television and that is FX’s Taboo. The show follows the always amazing Tom Hardy as James Keziah Delaney, who is believed to be dead by many in his hometown of London, before he returns to take over his father’s shipping empire. The show is set in 1814 and you can clearly tell that just by the remarkable costume and production design that is put into the show week by week.

            I really wanted to break this into two separate reviews but duty calls and there are many other shows I must watch and review for all of you readers so I’m going to bunch them up into one article. Now that you know the premise of the show, let’s talk about the tone of the show. Taboo is one of the most original things I’ve seen on television in a while, not being based on pre-existing material or world like some of the bigger shows as of late like Fargo or Westworld. While I love both of those shows, Taboo has a highly imaginative world built by Hardy himself along with his father that Steven Knight and Ridley Scott helped back as writers and producers. The show is currently set to be an eight-episode series that follows Delaney returning from his twelve year stay in Africa with stolen diamonds before inheriting his father’s shipping empire due to his death. Not only that, but its set against the backdrop of London, England as the war with the United States is nearing its end.

            Starting with the performances, Hardy stands out as the lead Delaney and provides a mysterious, intelligent and haunting character that I truly can’t take my eyes off of. The paranoia that constantly sets in with Delaney adds a supernatural effect to a show that didn’t need it but adds to the rich character development and story that this show has done in very little time thus far. Within the first episode we see the townspeople truly shocked by seeing Delaney in his return from Africa. Quickly jumping from being taken aback to going on the attack, mostly by the East India Company, led by Sir Stuart Strange who is the chairman, played by Jonathan Pryce. Not only that, but it seems that everyone wants to get their hands on the Delaney fortune and want their shot at trying to take out the eldest Delaney member still breathing. Other than that, there is Oona Chaplin who plays Zilpha Geary, the half-sister of James Delaney, who believes she has a clear path to the same empire that James has just inherited before quickly finding out she was not in her father’s will at all in episode two. Also, there’s my personal favorite character other than James and that would be the loyal Delaney family servant, Brace, who is played by David Hayman.

            What the show presents is an amazing story of redemption, revenge and mystery led by a man who looks as grimy as the times he’s living in. With every shot of Delaney and his mates, you begin to see just how filthy everything around him is and how his situation always has him in a frenzy. Accompanied by flashes of what seems to be his past and demons, Delaney is a character that spirals to be mad at times. The show contrasts greatly from the period peace setting to these narrative jumps to the surreal in a way that doesn’t feel forced but helps the audience understand how crazy James Delaney is. He’s a man who is haunted by the dead and haunted by a past love with his younger, half-sister. This is revealed when James tells Zilpha, “One thing Africa did not cure… is that I still love you.” After her husband finds her reading her second letter she intends on sending her brother, Zilpha is quick to remind him that he’s actually her half-brother. Romance between siblings could obviously be viewed as something that is “taboo”, hence the name of the show. There is more along the way that makes the show taboo as well, including the way Delaney speaks to a woman named Helga who runs the local brothel and has a storied past with him.

            Its within episode two that we begin to expand our pallet with more characters to support the show but James Delaney still being the focus. The gloomy, historical and at-times gothic show gives the audience a better look at the kind of person Delaney really is. Delaney can feel all of the threatening people around him starting to close on and that even includes an assassination attempt at the end of the episode.

We also got a glimpse of Stephen Graham as foul-mouthed tattooed anthologist, Atticus who seems to have been a friend of Delaney’s father before he passed away. Graham, is best known for playing Al Capone on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and was terrific in that show on the premium network but in this show, he’s hardly recognizable and is a man of many talents, including killing. We first meet him as Delaney realizes that his horse is missing, following an auction with a piece of paper with the name Atticus on it being there in place of his white steed. Atticus feeds information to Delaney that at one time, he was asked to murder his father to which he refused. He then tells Delaney that his father had owed him debts beyond the grave, James tells him that he’ll re-pay these debts if Atticus will be his eyes and ears to which he accepts.

In episode two, we also meet important characters like the grandiose Prince Regent George IV, who ran England from 1811-1830. When we meet Regent, we see that he’s in a room that was clearly designed to show that he has everything including Persian rugs, taxidermied animals such as zebras as well as a splattering of gold. We learn in almost no time at all that Regent is a man intent on destruction when calling for the American ships to be sunk and to have “the bodies of the drowned to be nailed to the church walls of Ireland to stop their rebels making common cause.” Not only Regent, but an American spy named Dr. Drumbarton played by Michael Kelly who could be recognized best for his role as Doug Stamper in Netflix’s House of Cards, is a character to look out for. Delaney seems threatening to the doctor leading him to pull a gun on him for trying to get information out of him. The scene is terrific as it plays as the two best actors on the show sharing the screen and hopefully it’s not the last time we see him.

            The FX drama Taboo, is unlike anything I’ve seen before and has the potential to honestly be one of the best shows of 2017 nearly twenty days into the new year. If you aren’t watching this show yet, you should be for the value of the making of great, patient storytelling along with an incredibly well-done production and acting prowess.

9.5/10