TV Series: Taboo
Director: Anders Engstrom
Cast: Tom Hardy, Oona Chaplin, David Hayman, Lucian Msamati, Jessie Buckley, Michael Kelly, Jefferson Hall and Jonathan Pryce
War has been declared. And what a time to make the move, credit to the East India Company (EIC) to finally resort to what seemed inevitable to anyone with half a brain.
First things first, however.
Slowly becoming the norm in the opening exchanges, Brace confronts James with the truth about his mother to drop a bomb of epic proportions early on.
Once and for all, it is confirmed that she clearly isn't the saint she is made out to be by James Delaney and, perhaps less shockingly, is the woman in his visions.
So much is happening in the sixth episode that somehow the deluge of events become a little tedious to keep track of. James’s half-sister Zilpha Geary decides enough is enough (Finally!) and takes matters into her own hands, only to find brother dearest isn't as glad as she would have hoped for.
You will wonder, has James’ incest died down after his initial advances were spurned?
Elsewhere, the EIC is like a rabid dog backed into a corner after Mr Chichester goes ahead with his royal enquiry of the slave ship that sank of the African coast. With Sir Stuart Strange’s personal interests coming to light, it seems it's just a matter of time before the Crown pounces on the EIC’s devious supremo.
But, if Strange is going down, so is the Delaney Shipping Co. It seems as a brazen attack in broad daylight has explosive results, leaving James’ hopes of building a shipping empire floundering in the Thames.
After successfully managing to supply the Americans with their freshly-made gunpowder, albeit with quite a bit of luck involved. James is clearly pushing his crew to their limits, including his son and as the stakes are raised, it seems he remains one step ahead of his powerful but laboriously slow enemies.
It was not to be as betrayal comes from a few sides and they are dealt with in a chillingly-gruesome manner that even James’ hard right-hand man Atticus finds it difficult to stomach. The damage, however, is done and James is left to count the cost of the dead.
While on the whole the episode is spectacular, Taboo’s pace is too slow for its own good and Stuart’s declaration could have come much earlier as it was always a question of when.
The penultimate episode is next week and a lot of hopes are riding on James' fading stock, we’ll have to see if the ‘horse’ can give one final kick or not.