Miss Lucy Had a Baby
Sara finds Kreizler sitting on a bench in Central Park as children are eerily singing “Miss Lucy Had a Baby.” She delivers Moore’s drawing kit to him. Sara tells him that Connor gave it to the Commissioner after finding it at the murder scene. Kreizler is shocked because Moore did not tell him he had lost it. Kreizler then asks Sara if she thought about their last conversation and she says she does not have it in her to kill a child.
As the two sit on the park bench Kreizler points out a woman sitting alone with a baby carriage. He tells Sara that the woman married and quickly had a son and then a daughter. When the girl was six months old she drown both her children in the bath. The first thing that comes to my mind is Postpartum Depression, but I would assume in the 1800s that was not something that was understood. The doctor explains that her family’s status kept her out of prison, but now she wanders the park with an empty carriage.
Sara says she has no empathy for a woman who kills her children. Kreizler explains that society puts pressure on women to marry and have children, to smile when they feel incapable of smiling. He tells Sara that it is society that formed the woman with the empty baby carriage. Kreizler says, given the right circumstances, we are all capable of doing horrible things. While I agree with this to an extent, like Sara I don’t think I would be capable of killing a child under any circumstance. As Kreizler leaves Sara watches several little girls playing jump rope as they continue to sing “Miss Lucy had a Baby.”
“The Saint”
John Moore makes his way to a brothel that has been closed down by the police. At first I thought he was at Paresis Hall, but when he enters I realize it’s a different brothel. The place is filthy and I realize this must be where the latest victim worked. Moore heads down a dark, dingy hallway. A person darts between two rooms behind him and this makes me jump. He makes his way to a room at the end of the hall where he discovers three little boys playing dice.
As Moore turns to leave there is a man behind him. I catch my breath, but I see that it is Marcus and I can breath again. The establishment, The Golden Rule, was shut down as soon as the police discovered the identity of the latest victim, Ali Benghazi. After finding a window in one of the basement rooms the pair go up to the roof of the building. Marcus discovers remnants of a rope that was used to scale the building. When Moore says the killer acts with the confidence of the Devil, Marcus corrects him and says not the Devil, God. Suddenly a child appears and says “he’s a Saint.”
Bernadette, whose real name is Joseph (Jackson Gann) use to work at The Golden Rule. Moore asks Joseph who is a saint. He says that’s what Fatima, Ali’s working name, called him. Joseph says he has never seen “The Saint’ but he knows he is real. Ali had told Joseph “The Saint” was going to take him to live in a castle in the sky. Moore warns Joseph to never go with a man with a silver smile.
Is is Willem?
Captain Connor meets up with Thomas Byrnes at O’Rourkes Bar. Connor asks what he wants done about “this society pervert.” He must be talking about Willem Van Bergen whose parents Byrnes talked to in the last episode. Byrnes tells him to just keep an eye on him for now. He says if his mother can’t find a place to stash him where he can’t cut up kids someone will have to do it for her. Byrnes and Connor seem convinced that Willem is the killer. There has to be a backstory we are not being told yet that has them so sure.
Byrnes shows up at the extremely opulent home of the Van Bergen’s. He tells Mrs. Van Bergen (Sean Young) that there has been another murder. He informs her that arrangements need to be made in the best interest of her son. She claims she doesn’t know what he is talking about. Byrnes says it would be best if the police could not question Willem, given his “history and inclinations.” Now I’m dying of curiosity to know what Willem has done in the past. I’m also pissed that Byrnes is trying to protect him. I’m sure it’s because he is from such a well-to-do family and the victims are just “immigrant boy whores.” Mrs. Van Bergen just walks away without saying a word.
At Paresis Hall we see a man using some kind of cream on his hands and arms. He then slides a pair of ladies long gloves on as a boy enters the room. He tells the boy he would like to take him somewhere else and spoil him. Is this really the killer? He is partially in shadow so I can’t see his teeth. The boy tells him they are not supposed to leave, the man whispers they do a lot they are not supposed to do.
MY MOTHER!
Dr Kreizler’s patient Ezra (Roland Miskey) is repeatedly kicking the wall as the doctor enters the playground. Kreizler tells Ezra he is sorry that his parents did not come to visit this week. The doctor has a ball and he tells Ezra to pretend the ball is someone special and kick it. Ezra says it’s his mother. Kreizler gives him the ball and tells him to kick the stuffing out of her. Ezra repeatedly screams ‘MY MOTHER!” as he kicks the ball against the wall. The other children stare at him in disbelief. As Ezra walks away Kreizler gives the ball a mighty hard kick. I wonder who HE is imagining the ball to be.
A Special Date
Moore rushes into Kreizler’s where he finds Mary and Cyrus chasing a chicken around the house. When Cyrus tells Moore that Kreizler has gone to the park with Miss Howard he notices Mary’s jealousy, not that she is trying very hard to hide it. Moore tells Mary to put on her best dress he is going to take her out. Moore is such a sweet, caring man. This gesture has touched my heart, I’m going to look at him in a new light from now on.
Mary looks so lovely all dressed up and on Moore’s arm. He is taking her to see “the latest rage,” Thomas Edison’s Vitascope. A moving picture of the ocean is projected on the wall as the stunned audience looks on. I can’t even imagine how amazing that must have been for people to see for the first time. Mary appears amazed and a little frightened as she grabs on to Moore’s arm. Her huge smile when it ends tells us she is truly enjoying herself.
The Duel
Sara asks Roosevelt what happened between him and Kreizler, as she can sense their “unsettled past.” In college Kreizler had challenged Roosevelt to a duel. Roosevelt chose fists. They were in the gym in front of all their classmates when the took their shirts off. Everyone was shocked when they saw Kreizler’s arm, which according to Roosevelt, looked like “a broken wing tied to his side.” He refused to fight Kreizler because of it. He said everyone in the room was bothered by Kreizler’s disadvantage except Kreizler himself.
Kreizler is attempting to button his boots one handed. When he struggles he begins calling for Mary, with no response. He goes to her modest room and he is surprised to find it empty. He begins snooping around her stuff, even sniffing some of her clothes he finds on the floor. Creepy! I’m feeling anxious that he will get caught doing this, but he does not. I originally thought he may end up in a relationship with Sara, but it seems he may actually be attracted to Mary.
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