Opening sequence: Abberline's hands prepare absinthe and opium. We see the opium pipe smoke and Abberline's eyes open, fading into the rooftops of London

Script onscreen: London 1888

The camera pans down from the rooftops, through many scenes of London life, looking in windows and doors. Reporter Robert Best, at the Times, hands an editor his story. Closer to Whitechapel, a family argues inside an apartment. On the street, vendors hawk their wares. Inside the Whitechapel district, in an alley, a prostitute services a client against a fence. Sgt. Peter Godley closes the door on a police wagon full of derelicts, which rumbles away. The camera lowers, beneath the street, showing the basement of the Times, where rows of typesetters press out newspaper pages. Moving through black to another basement, we see a circle of Masons holding a ritual. Again moving through black we come to an opium den and the camera approaches Inspector Frederick Abberline who is lying on a couch.

Abberline's first vision: Abberline sees a London street, and a woman in a green dress, walking. She is pulled into shadow by a hidden assailant and a bloody knife slashes her throat from behind. The scene shifts to her body, cut up horribly, her flowered petticoats saturated with blood. The vision shifts to showing a newspaper headling "The Ripper Returns!"

--

Sir Charles Warren's office.

Warren is at his desk when Godley looks in.
Godley: Sir? I thought you'd want to see this.
Warren gestures him in. Godley lays a medical report on his desk.
Warren: Another one.
Godley: Yes sir. Cut up like the other. A lot like the others before, if I may say so.
Warren stands and looks out the window.
Warren: Find Inspector Abberline and tell him I want him.
Godley: (surprised) Sir? The inspector … he's not in today.
Warren: I know he's not in, Sgt. Godley. I said to find him.
Godley: Yes, sir.
--

On the street outside Scotland Yard

Officer1, Officer2 and Godley walking. Robert Best and photographer cross the street heading for the police station.
Officer1: The press will see it, too. "Jack is back!"
Godley: Now don't go starting any rumors, yourself. We don't know that. Let's find the inspector.
Officer2: He didn't catch the Ripper before. I can't think why the Commissioner wants him now.
Godley: Watch yourself.
Officer2: I'm just saying …
Godley: I know what you're saying. Don't say it.
Officer1: (holding a piece of paper) Here's his address.
Godley: (shaking his head) He won't be home.

--
Opium Den

We see the denizens of the den: naked and semi-naked women, men in a dream-like state, all moving slowly if at all. The doors burst open and Godley enters, followed by Officers 1 and 2. Godley approaches the proprietor, a Chinese man wearing traditional Chinese dress.
Proprietor: I paid! I already paid!
Godley squeezes the man's nose.
Godley: Relax, Emperor, I'm not here for you. Where is he?
Proprietor indicates the couches full of opium smokers.
Godley: Move it!
Godley and Officers approach Abberline, who is lying on a couch.
Godley: Get up!
Abberline does not respond. Godley backhands him. Officers look astonished.
Abberline: Hello, Darling.
Godley: Get up!
Godley hauls Abberline to his feet. He and the officers assist Abberline out.
---

Abberline's Office

Godley and Officers 1 and 2 watch as Abberline soaks his face in a washbasin. Abberline raises his head.
Abberline: Sergeant.
Godley throws him a towel. He uses it.
Abberline: Fuck, it's night.
Godley: Well spotted, Inspector Abberline. Indeed it is night. Genius has returned to us.
(to officers) Thank you gentlemen, and remember if you ever want to escape the dreary confines of your present duties, this never happened. Cat along, now.
The officers leave.
Godley: Commissioner wants to see you. Can you walk?
Abberline nods and stands.
---

Warren's Office.

Warren is at his desk. A still dazed Abberline sits before the desk. Godley stands behind Abberline.
Warren: Inspector, I'm assigning you to this Whitechapel murder. I am confident that you can do as good a job as you did before. (looks uncomfortable) Or better.
Warren waits for Abberline to say something.
Warren: Do you understand me, Inspector? I expect you to be on the job and to not disgrace the force.
Abberline: Yes, sir.
Warren: Sgt. Godley, you will assist him.
Godley: My pleasure sir.
Warren: Good. Now … please leave us.
Godley: (confused) Uh, yes sir.
Godley leaves the office, giving Abberline a worried glance as he goes.
Warren: Inspector, you know why you are still on the force.
Abberline: You're buying my silence.
Warren: You owe your silence to the Empire. As do I.
Abberline: The Prince is dead, now.
Warren: The Crown continues, and we will not sully the Crown. There are socialists enough swarming our shores, trying to undercut the monarchy. This is no time for a scandal such as … (he searches for how to phrase it)
Abberline: The brutal murder and butchery of London "unfortunates."
Warren: (irritated) Enough. We said we would never speak of this again. No, you are still on the force because you have a brilliant investigative mind and intuition. If you choose to pollute it with your decadent habits, you can still be let go. Then, any story you might tell the press can be easily discredited. When I want you on the job, you are on the job. Is that clear?
Abberline: Inescapably clear. What's the job? Someone is pretending to be Jack the Ripper?
Warren: Once the press reports that Jack is back, we can expect hysteria again. This isn't the Ripper, Inspector; you and I both know it. Find this imitator and stop him before he decides to continue his masquerade by killing again. (uncertainly) I have complete confidence in you.
----
Abberline's Office

Abberline sits at his desk. Godley stands beside it. Both Abberline and Godley light cigarettes.
Abberline: Have I lost a day? Is it still Thursday?
Godley: Indeed it is. Oh, deepest apologies for the rude awakening.
Abberline: I suspect you enjoyed that.
Godley: "I must be cruel only to be kind," as the poet said. Though I'd happily wallop you every time you chase the dragon. It's making you sick, you know that.
Abberline opens a report, but can't focus on it. He tosses it to Godley.
Abberline: What's in the report?
Godley: Another bangtail murdered in George Yard last night. Cut up the way the Ripper did it.
Abberline: (distractedly)… flowered petticoats …
Godley: Yes, Inspector.
Abberline: (startled) What? Not a green dress.
Godley: How did you know that?
Abberline: Let's see the body.
--

The Morgue

Godley, Abberline, and the Police Surgeon stand before the body of a woman, covered with a white sheet.
Police Surgeon: Her name was Jane Carson, and if you'd caught this maniac the first time, Inspector, we wouldn't have to go through this degradation again.
Godley: And sparing your stomach is our chief goal in life. Show him.
Police Surgeon: You show him. I've already looked at the mess twice.
Police surgeon walks away.
Godley: (taking a swig from a flask) After he cut her throat, he removed her livelihood as a keepsake.
Godley throws back the sheet covering the body, and looks away, drinking another swig. Abberline, unmoved, looks closely at the body.
Abberline: I can't tell if he took any of the other organs. Her uterus is there.
Godley: I'll never understand how you can do that.
Abberline glances at Godley's flask as if to say to each his choice of numbing drug, then turns back to the body.
Abberline: He was right-handed. He cut her throat from left to right.
Godley: He could have cut either way with either hand.
Abberline: You can only cut one way from behind.
Godley: How do you know he took her from behind?