Copenhagen
Episode 5 of Copenhagen Cowboy begins with worlds colliding as we get some more of that stunning imagery this show has done so well depicting. The screen is split in half with rotating camera shots above and below, showing the two sides of the fight that’s about to break out in this chapter. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here! We return to Miu answering a call from Danny. “The city is burning. I need your help.” He says. Miu heads out and learns there’s a gang war going on. Miu is told to focus and must be all-in on their side if they’re to come out of this on top. This isn’t Danny’s first rodeo though, he has experience with killing and is adamant that no one is going to mess with them. When Miu sees someone rushing toward Danny, she blasts him down with a punch to the gut. Unfortunately, Danny is shot in the process while Miu has her back turned and ends up bleeding out, but not before shooting the other two foot soldiers that come at him. As Danny bleeds out, Miu nonchalantly steps on his hand to prevent him holding his wound and watches the life leave his eyes. Miu takes the bag and heads off. At the same time, men show up to see Miroslav, pointing out that Danny has been killed and Miu has taken off with 8kg of coke. Miu is his responsibility and as such, Miroslav is told to take care of this. Miroslav is concerned, wondering whether Miu showed up and cast her witchcraft here to completely destroy his operation and cause the fight that has consumed the gangs. Miu shows up to see Mr Chiang with the bag full of cocaine. He’s not happy but when he learns there’s more in there than the fee they agreed to, Chiang certainly changes his tune. In fact, he gives a new plan, telling her she needs to kill a man if Ai is to return to Hulda. She’s to do it by dawn tomorrow and to use a gun as well. Miu refuses the gun and points out she has her own methods for doing this. Nicklas is still recovering and experiencing horrific visions of his sister while all of this is taking place. Nicklas wants revenge and he’s told by the ghosts floating in his memory to get Mother’s blood if he has any chance of doing this. Miu shows up to see Miroslav, who’s incredulous at her taking the coke and leaving him high and dry. “What was it you did to me?” Miu questions Miroslav. He asks whether it’s possible to make amends and stop what happened before but as she looks at him, Miroslav starts to lose control and pleads with her, taking off his jacket and claiming that his heart is full of regret. “Please don’t put a curse on me!” He begs, going on to tell her he regrets everything. Apparently Miroslav came to find Miu with birds circling around her. She was ice-cold as a child, stuck in the snow. He didn’t believe her to be human. A woman claimed to be her mother but Miroslav knew that she wasn’t. She started breastfeeding Miu, which killed the woman. Miroslav points out that people around Miu either die or get a new life. The rumours circling her claim that everyone should fear for their life should she show back up again with short hair. And here she is, with short hair and exacting revenge on those who allegedly deserve it. Miu arrives to see her target, Dusan, and makes swift work of him. She rings Miroslav to let him know, while we cut across to Nicklas, who heads down to the basement, opening up the coffin and taking a sword. This is very clearly a metaphor for Nicklas’ manhood (or lack thereof) but as he heads upstairs, his mother happens to be sitting on a chair, holding her breasts seductively. Nicklas stabs her and takes the blood red sword downstairs, dripping it on the body of his sister, who awakens.
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode of Copenhagen Cowboy sees more of Miu’s history come into focus, including snippets of her past involving her alleged mother breastfeeding and passing away. Elsewhere, Nicklas seems to be given a purpose now and presumably has killed his mother off-screen. The images are pretty revealing and as I said before, this show is certainly artistic and not afraid to make bold choices with its sound and art. However, a good point of comparison comes from Sam Esmail’s work on Mr Robot and Homecoming. Both shows are incredibly artistic with excellent soundtracks but they both gave compelling and well written stories to back it up. Copenhagen Cowboy, unfortunately, does not. Still, hopefully we get a conclusive ending to this series to round things out.
