Copper: Season Two

“The Irish take care of their own,” observes a character in this BBC America original series set in the Five Points slum of Civil War–era New York City. Tom Weston-Jones stars as Detective Kevin Corcoran, an honest (if realistic) cop who's still allied with war buddies Robert Morehouse (Kyle Schmid), a rich man whose station makes him privy to insider political corruption, and Doctor Matthew Freeman (Ato Essandoh), an African American physician who secretly works as New York's first forensic pathologist. But most of the drama is instigated by Brendan Donovan (Donal Logue), a veteran returned to take charge of Tammany Hall politics and reinstate control over the squalid Sixth Ward. Copper improves in this second run thanks to a more complex view of the inner workings of 19th-century urban America—a land of immigrants, graft, and racial discord—and some interesting conflicts and twists. One episode offers a take on the assassination of Lincoln, with the three friends joining the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and ending up revisiting their own pasts on the battlefield. Franka Potente costars as brothel manager Eva Heissen, with guest stars including Eamonn Walker (as Frederick Douglass), Alfre Woodard, and William Baldwin. Compiling all 13 episodes from the 2013 second season, Blu-ray and DVD extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. Serving up a grubby portrait of a gritty era, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)