Taboo Episode Six Recap: Powder Keg And It's Lit

With only a couple more episodes to go in Taboo, enough of the show has passed were we can fairly assess how it’s been and what it’s accomplished. Is it the next great British import like Peaky Blinders? A one-and-done True Detective? Something else?

The critical response to Taboo has been mixed. Some sites I really respect like the AV Club and Variety seem to think it’s over-the-top and self-indulgent, which is a pretty fair criticism. I personally think the reason the reviewers are being as harsh as they are is because the show hasn’t been the artistic achievement they probably hoped it would be when they see the number of highly-respected actors and producers like Oliver Stone attached. I think that let-down and unmet expectation is why they’re unduly harsh on what has been all-in-all some really quality television. Is Taboo “art” the way shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men or The Wire are? No. But as I’ve always said, it’s interesting and entertaining and I watch TV to be interested and entertained. From that perspective, I’ve found Taboo to be extremely worth my time and legitimately look forward to it every week.

Of course that begs the question if the show is so good, why isn’t it more popular? After some early buzz (TOM HARDY ON TV!), Taboo never took off the way I expected (and selfishly as someone who wants these recaps to be read as much as possible, as much as I hoped). I’m sure there are a lot of reasons for that and I’m not an TV executive. But much like why the NFL ratings are down, the biggest reason and problem in Taboo is really simple: Commercials. There are just flat-out too many fucking commercials. I’m in college so I mostly watch on my laptop the next morning, but decided to watch live last night and was absolutely stunned by the number and length of the advertisements. It completely disrupted the flow of the show, didn’t let you get adequately absorbed in the action and led to me missing some dialogue as I was still checking my phone. I know FX has to make their money and they probably paid a boatload of money for the broadcasting rights to the show. But having 50 minutes of content and 35 minutes of ads or whatever the breakdown is, is just a flat-out dumb strategy if you want to attract new viewers. If Taboo was on HBO or Netflix, platforms you could more easily find a stream and ad-free, it’d be one of the three or four most talked about shows on TV right now. Believe that.

Now for a bullet-pointed recap of the episode itself because no one wants to read too much:

• This was one of the best episodes of the season, probably the second best after last week. One of the biggest reasons is we saw actual emotional vulnerability from James Delaney after a stunning revelation about the only topic that seems to be able to knock him off balance: his mother.
• Finding out his Mother wanted him dead is the first time we’ve seen Delaney genuinely shocked and affected. Him visiting the mental hospital with a big sign reading “MENS DANO IN CORPO SANO” – translation “Damaged Minds In Healthy Bodies”, shoutout to Saxe Middle School for the three years of Latin I took 6^th to 8^th grade- was a nice little summary of his entire family state. Delaney’s visions are only getting worse, and more violent. Luckily I’m sure someone as stable as him is going to be able to handle a shock to his psyche like this extremely well!
• Tom Hollander as The Chemist is the other only actor/character other than Tom Hardy/Delaney able to consistently steal scenes and go toe-to-toe with him acting-wise. Taboo desperately needed him.
• The Lawyer from The Sons of Africa has the East India clearly shook from the depth of his knowledge about what happened on that slave ship. Whether it was racism or arrogance, they clearly weren’t expecting that in-depth, surgical dismantling they got from him. The last person they underestimated this badly was Delaney. Which means The Lawyer is extremely dangerous for them. Especially when he finds his natural ally in James next week.
• The East India’s arrogance will be their downfall in general. They think they’ll “let Delaney keep thinking he’s a step ahead” because they can’t comprehend that he, ya know, actually IS. The fact they haven’t sniffed out there’s an inside man yet is stunning to me. At least they have the snitching priests though. I’ve been joking every blog that the East India is basically plays God but it turns out he’s actually just on their pay roll! *hits hat tip* *crowd starts booing and throwing tomatoes*
• It’s all-out war now with the destruction of the ship and Delaney is in a spot where even Atticus, a guy with a fucking scalp tattoo and hangs out with murderers and cannibals in his spare time, is terrified of him. The show is about to get really, really explosive for it’s conclusion.
• I find it weird that I’m hoping for two demented murderers to make their incestuous relationship work. But I’m oddly rooting for them. I guess I’m just a sucker for a good love story.
• Zilpha murdering her husband was inevitable for at least two episodes. Her standing up to him about the Australia job, showing she’s no longer scared of him, sealed it.
• I don’t think James killed Winter. I just don’t. But if he did, and again I realllly don’t think he did, he’s transitioned fully into a Monster and is in Heisenberg territory where it’s hard to keep rooting for him.

Alright that’s quite enough from me. If you want to talk about the show more, I’m on Twitter @CharlieWisco