The Irregulars – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Ipsissimus

Episode 3 of The Irregulars begins with Bea speaking to Mycroft in his office; she wants to know everything about Watson. Instead, he brushes this aside and tells him that the Golden Dawn – himself included – need her help.

It turns out the Golden Dawn is a branch of this secret paranormal society. One of their members, Richard Wynn, was killed and strung up just like the picture on one of their tarot cards. Mycroft mentions the Inner Circle, and how they may be connected to this. For now, he wants her to join him at the Woodlands where they’re holding a meeting the following day.

Meanwhile, Leo is approached by Billy who tells him to stay away from Bea. These tensions continue to hang over the group, as Bea leads them all to the Woodlands estate. They’re staying there for the weekend, and with the boys and girls separated, Billy and Leo are forced to shovel coal while Bea and Jesse get dressed up for the night ahead.

Mycroft approaches them during the banquet, divulging details surrounding the various different suspects. Alan Crawley, RP Breakwater, Dion Cross, Gustav Felkin and Coleman Jones are our main culprits, and Mycroft believes one of them killed Richard Wynn.

With Bea and Jesse leaving the room and watching from behind the door, the various suspects all begin talking amongst themselves. They vote on the next magus leader too, which happens to be Gustav. Alan has difficulty accepting this but all of them do eventually kneel.

That evening the love triangle gets underway, as Jessie teases Bea about the two men after her. However they’re interrupted by another death – Gustav has been murdered. Tied up to a chair with swords stuck in the ground, they realize this murderer is killing based on different tarot cards.

Well, Bea and the kids decide against sticking around and high-tail it out the estate. Only, in doing so they realize they’re stuck in some weird loop that keeps them fixed at the house. Somehow there’s magic around this area, as Leo serves as our resident exposition dump. He confirms that the murders are magically linked. It appears to have caused them to become stuck in time, especially if the star constellations are anything to go on.

Bea and the group start investigating and asking around…but not before more of this teen romance. Bea spends time with both Billy and Leo, the latter of which showing the puzzle box he’s found up in the attic. As the two start playing around with this, they manage to break inside and find a book which holds numerous incantations.

Back downstairs, Jessie touches the tarot cards and sees glimpses of the future. In fact, she realizes the cards were taken from a dead body. Mycroft suddenly jumps up, understanding that she’s an ipsissimus – which is a powerful psychic that has the power to change things.

It turns out she’s the chosen one of sorts, but she doesn’t want this responsibility and subsequently runs away. As we soon find out, Jessie’s powers can actually be taken away through ritualistic magic. If she’s sacrificed then her powers can be transferred to another individual. This explains what’s going on here, as the gang head off to try and find Jessie before it’s too late.

Well, another two victims are found in Dion and R.P. which holds a clue to who the killer is here. Racing through the house, they track Mycroft down and learn through him who the real killer is. Through contact with Mrs Brown, Patricia is the one who’s really the killer. And to top it all off, she’s at the abandoned tower the kids mentioned on their way into the estate.

With Jessie under Patricia’s spell, the young girl willingly holds onto the metal pole on the roof and refuses to let go. Spike tries to help while Mycroft arrives and holds Patricia up at gunpoint. Patricia tries to seduce him into submission, while the power of love helps Jessie let go and admit that she loves Spike too. Patricia tumbles into the metal pole, just as lightning strikes and knocks her down.

With the magic gone and everything safe, Mycroft admits that his job involves looking into the paranormal as part of the government branch he’s involved in. He’s been investigating the Dawn and needed someone capable of bridging the gap between the magical and real world. Apparently there was another Rip 15 years ago and this seems to have consumed Sherlock, explaining why he’s not around anymore.

Mycroft tells them that the Doctor is a poison and if there is another Rip, it’s safe to assume that Watson won’t be far away from it. Well, as Bea starts sifting through information hidden inside the book she’s recovered, she finds a picture of her Mum and Watson together.

The Episode Review

The Irregulars bows out its third episode with a nice self-contained episode featuring this mansion and a typical whodunit set-up, The murder mystery parts are pretty weak in truth, and some of the contrived drama here is a bit disappointing too.

The biggest issue with this series comes from a lack of depth with these different kids though. Beyond some initial nods in the opening episode, we’ve seen very little from Spike, Billy, Bea and Jessie’s upbringing – or their connection toward one another.

Sure, we know Bea and Jessie spent time at a workhouse but there’s nothing here to really dive into their background – and why they have powers.

The final point is being explored over the season to be fair,  but it’s still a little disappointing that this show hasn’t taken the time to get us acquainted to these characters and their chemistry.

Because of this, the contrived love triangle forced in the middle of this feels tiresome and completely unnecessary. I understand this is typical teen drama territory but here it feels forced and not at all organic.

Despite that, the actual plot is quite interesting and the idea of this supernaturally charged alt-history with Rips and magic actually works pretty well. Hopefully the show can keep that up for the coming episodes.