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Critic Reviews
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Copper has much to recommend it: action, passion and great performances arising from an exploration of classic American themes.
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It's both a promising and foreboding series, with class warfare an ever-present force that wants no part of any idealized forms of truth, justice and the American way.
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Copper spins somber stories of gold.
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The characters hold promise, the show looks swell, the stories reflect rich history and the makers have earned our trust.
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Filmed with a muddy palette, the premiere hums with menace. There's lots of low-down action, with brass knuckles applied.
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The second hour is more engrossing than the first, and is easily rich enough to keep us coming back for more.
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A half-dozen plots routinely swirl around Copper, banging into each other. Levinson and the cast never let them unravel.
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Its unyielding moral passion, exemplified in the character and pursuits of its hero, Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones), is the life force that propels this powerful--and powerfully violent--tale of New York City, 1864.
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Those [dialogue] imperfections never jolted me out of the spell Copper casts.
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Copper doesn't open as confidently as I had hoped (or as its pedigree might lead one to expect), but given the classic themes, rich time period and great acting, I trust it will keep my interest.
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There's enough to recommend about Copper that it's worth tuning in to see how the series develops.
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If it strains our credulity at times, Copper also assumes our intelligence, specifically, for introducing us to an unfamiliar world and, rather than explaining every simple detail, expecting us to keep up with plot and context.
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Copper has come to entertain, not to educate, and it discharges that duty well.
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It's a promising framework for a series, and the first two episodes of Copper work in fits and starts.
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Copper lacks the brains or kick to lift it above being a period piece. [10 Sep 2012, p.41]
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So far, it's certainly no "Homicide," in which the dialogue was always crisp and unexpected.... But when Copper puts down its billy clubs and delves deeper into its characters, the series has great possibilities.
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Everything about the show feels just a bit off: underfunded, insufficiently cast and flatly written.
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The scenes are always gritty and often very violent, which makes great TV. However, the dialogue? Whew. I mean, seriously? "She is waiting for you with breath bated!"
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As it is, the decent but unspectacular Copper comes off as "Deadwood Cop," minus the Milch.
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All of these characters and situations are mildly interesting, but it's difficult to know from just a couple of episodes if they're ever going to become desperately interesting.
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The first two episodes are so full of clunky explanations that it's impossible to forget for a moment you're watching a TV show.
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while the opening episodes set up this material, they don't do much with it, getting bogged down in a sensationalistic, but not especially well-plotted, child-prostitution story.
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Copper has the same problems that AMC's Hell on Wheels does, which is that there's an excellent show there somewhere, just not on the screen.
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While the story does capture a sense of the times--and provides intriguing glimpses into the Manhattan of 160 years ago--as constructed, this can't help but feel like "Deadwood" lite.
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If the actors were stronger--or, to be fair, if the show had had a better sense of how to tap whatever talents they possess--they might have been able to sell the material. No such luck.
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It's missing exactly the elements that make you want to watch those British shows on BBC America: energy, irreverence, a sense of humor and, crucially, consistently good performances.
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It doesn't lack in ambition. It's in the stilted, stiff execution where things fall apart.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 42 out of 53
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Mixed: 8 out of 53
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Negative: 3 out of 53
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Sep 3, 2012
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Sep 10, 2012
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Aug 19, 2012