Television

Year of the Rabbit Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: ‘Sniper’

Rabbit’s old flame is a prime suspect

March 12, 2020

An old man named Neil Fromage (which is close to Nigel Farage), is up on his soap box and inciting a crowd. His anti-immigration rhetoric draws supporters, protesters and anti-protest protesters. Rabbit, Strauss and Mabel are there for crowd control and to ensure a riot doesn’t break out. All of a sudden, a sniper shoots Mr. Fromage right in the forehead, instantly killing him.

[SPOILERS FOR 1.4 AHEAD!]

An assassin is on the loose killing three separate individuals. It isn’t until after Fromage’s death that the shooter mails a letter to the East End police threatening more violence and calls himself, Trigger Tom. From the description of the bullets used, it seems Rabbit has an idea who the suspect is.

Finding this marksman is a juicy case for our crew but they are assigned protection duty for Prince Hector of Bulgaria instead. The royal is participating in Balkan peace talks and needs escorts while he’s in town. The prince is star-struck when he meets Mabel as the news of London’s first female police officer has reached his country. But he also brings to her attention all the political cartoons and newspaper features criticizing her appointment.

Prince Hector is a man of the people and wishes to see the real London. They all end up at the neighborhood drinking spot, the Bar of Gold. While the prince admires the city from a window, the sniper takes shots at him taking out his two bodyguards. As the others scramble to get Hector to safety, a gas grenade is tossed inside containing knockout gas. Before Rabbit succumbs, he catches a glimpse of Trigger Tom, who appears to be a she.

When everyone wakes up, they realize the prince has been kidnapped. It’s a high priority to find Hector. Not only will the upper brass be upset, but if the peace talks break down, it may lead to a world war. Suddenly, a recently installed phone rings catching everyone off guard. It’s the first time many of them have heard or seen one. Tom is on the other end trying to arrange an exchange with details to come on the next call. Before hanging up, he warns the detectives to not try to find him.

Afterwards, Rabbit leaves without telling his partners. The bullets from the crime scenes and the female silhouette he saw at the kidnapping leads him to Flora Wilson, an old flame and a mercenary. She denies her involvement but seeing each other again brings out their hedonistic side. The two make love over and over again while Rabbit asks for her sniping expertise to track down Tom.

Meanwhile the tabloids are getting to Mabel and she goes to see her new friend Lydia to vent. The newspapers portray the young policewoman as useless and a threat to men at the same time. Lydia offers to start a letter writing campaign with her woman society on Mabel’s behalf. In exchange, she wants to learn the innerworkings of the police station under the guise of police reform. Little does Mabel know that Lydia is behind the smear campaign so she can manipulate the Chief Inspector’s daughter. She also makes reference to an ominous prototype that is ready to use with one of her helpers.

Word of Hector’s kidnapping has reached back to his country and his sister, Princess Juliana has taken the earliest airship into town. She’s furious how the police have bungled her brother’s safety and wants to use her political influence to remove Rabbit from the case. Chief Inspector Wisbech gives in to her demands but really runs interference so his best man can do his work.

Rabbit determines where the sniper’s nest is after consulting with Flora. The team head to the spot but are a few moments late. They do find a map of all of Tom’s targets but also discover Prince Hector’s ear. The evidence points to Flora but Rabbit assures Mabel and Strauss that it’s not her. They then presume correctly that she was who Rabbit met the other day and of their romantic involvement.

Trigger Tom calls in once again demanding a ransom of £100,000. Rabbit must deliver the money alone or the prince dies. While Rabbit is making the drop, Mabel and Strauss are still trying to figure out the real identity of the sniper. Mabel’s mind is elsewhere as the ridicule from the press continues. Strauss tries to get her out of her funk by praising her police skills. His words of encouragement work and the two notice in the day’s newspaper that all airship flights were cancelled. That means Princess Juliana has been in town for days and is behind the kidnapping/sniping.

Rabbit walks into a trap where the princess and her goons are waiting for him. She confesses to kidnapping her brother because he is the heir apparent and wanted the family fortune for herself. At first, she was going to let her brother go unharmed, but now that Rabbit is involved, she plans to frame him and Flora for Prince Hector’s murder. Luckily, Flora is there for back up and she snipes Juliana’s muscle while Rabbit arrests the princess.

The next day, most of the detectives’ hard work has been for naught. Even though they save Hector, Juliana walks free because of her political connections. Inspector Tanner arrests Flora as well for the kidnapping despite Rabbit hearing the princess’ confession. For such a serious crime, Rabbit’s girlfriend will be hanged. Honoring her deal with Lydia, Mabel shares all this information. At the very end we see that Princess Juliana and Lydia are working together and everything is going according to their plan.

We learn what kind of woman that can win over Eli Rabbit. Their love scenes are played for comedic effect but it’s also a little disturbing at how primal, physical and explicit they are without nudity. However, even though we just met Flora this episode, Berry and Jill Halfpenny’s chemistry together makes their complicated relationship and love for each other believable. If his ongoing police brutality investigation wasn’t enough to have Rabbit concerned, now he risks losing the love of his life to the gallows. He has to come to her rescue next week.

The intrigue keeps building over Lydia and her secret society. They have big plans coming and have a wider reach than expected. At first it seemed they were only controlling London, but with Princess Juliana’s involvement, there could be bigger ambitions. Through the kidnapping, they almost start a world war. Now we hear about a mysterious prototype that’s ready. What kind of nefarious plans do they have coming?

In addition, Mabel’s involvement with Lydia is raising some eyebrows. At first Mabel’s aloofness and naiveté towards her new friend could be chalked up to her being relatively young and inexperienced with people. Or also, it could be due to her looking for a place of acceptance since she was always rejected and overlooked in a man’s world. However, that final scene where she’s relaying the station’s events comes off a bit sketchy and unreliable. Especially the part where her dad congratulates Rabbit on a job well done. It’s almost as if she’s lying and her oblivious and innocent nature is a ruse for her to better infiltrate the group and bring it down from the inside. There’s only two more episodes left so we’ll have to see how it plays out.

Insult Not Meant to be an Insult of the Night

Prince Hector: I support women’s right and those of animals. I believe you both have a function.