Copenhagen Cowboy – Season 1 Episode 3 “Dragon Palace” Recap & Review

Dragon Palace

Episode 3 of Copenhagen Cowboy starts with Mother Hulda confronted by a whole bunch of gangsters, fronted by Mr Chiang, who bemoans her for leaving them waiting and dropping off a body for her to dispose of. This explains what she’s doing with the pigs in the back, as it seems they’ve been fed dead bodies.

Much like with Rosella, there’s a seedy underbelly hidden from view. Chiang happens to run an underground fight club, while at Hulda’s Chinese restaurant she’s thanked by the new mother whom she sees off before they leave. Hulda encourages Miu to stay and help out at Dragon Palace. She’s given a new identity, although Miu decides on the name herself – Cimona.

Meanwhile, our estranged killer Nicklas, with his slicked back hair and faraway look, begins experiencing visions while looking at the flowery wall. He’s certainly not of sane mind.

That night at Dragon Palce, the gang show up again, led by Mr Chiang. He’s heard about the new girl and wants to see her. Chiang happens to be Hulda’s boss and Miu agrees to help. Word of her miraculous powers have spread after the baby incident.

Miu lies the man down and runs her hand over his face, bringing up visions of the past. These include Hulda exchanging a little girl in the middle of the woods, handing her over. With Chiang asleep after this, Miu speaks to Hulda in confidence, telling her she knows that Chiang has her daughter. If she doesn’t pay Mr Chiang then she’ll never see her again.

While Hulda fixes up some food for Mr Chiang, Miu lurks about and speaks to him privately, off-screen. He has a message for Hulda after he leaves – “I hope your pigs are hungry.” Of course, there’s another dead body dropped off for her to take care of, but this is starting to take its toll on the Chinese restaurant owner. She prays to God and seeks salvation for her actions, eventually taking a chainsaw and hacking off the man’s limbs.

When one of Hulda’s pigs drops dead, Chiang heads off to buy more to keep the insatiable appetite of eating those dead bodies. Miu tags along but during the deal, she’s told to leave the room given she’s creeping out the woman. This house, as it turns out, belongs to Nicklas and his parents. They eventually agree a fee of 5000 kroner… and Nicklas’ father showing off his penis. Okay then.

As for Miu, she’s on a collision course with the evil himself, as Nicklas happens to be in the basement, smoking and propped up against a black coffin. When Miu heads down to check on it, Nicklas is nowhere to be seen. She continues to shuffle around the house, moving from place to place, experiencing visions of Cimona.

Miu speaks to Chiang and tells her that she needs to go back to the house, given she’s been seeing visions of Cimona around the place. She has to find out why she’s there and see what she can do to help.

The Episode Review

So it seems like Nicklas and Miu are on a collision course in the future and there’s been a good deal of symbology around this throughout the episode. Seeing Nicklas propped against that coffin, which could well hold Cimona inside, is a nice way of also hinting that Miu is getting closer to death.

We still know very little about our protagonist though, who has spent most of the series wandering from room to room, conducting different rituals and seemingly working miracles. The show has a lethargic pace and while the soundtrack and the aesthetics are doing most of the heavy lifting here, the show’s narrative is surprisingly light in the way of development.

Hopefully the second half of the show can inject some life into this one.