Elishia is buried by
James and William who is the saddest of sad pandas. James is also pouty because
he starts praying then has a tantrum. And honestly I don’t know if anyone
really showed that much care for her before.
William assumes that
Nichola Hysen is the culprit which isn’t exactly poor reasoning - but he does
disagree with the idea that Nichola is like old policeman Vic who tried to kill
the Risen - because Nichola wanted William alive.
They do tell the
other Risen who all despair and panic especially with the boundary shrinking
and Elishia not being around to fix it - since she created it (more news from
William). They decide they’re under threat and need to guard the place - so
James tries to give Kate his gun. She refuses because… well because James and
he could offer her water while she was dying of thirst and she’d still throw it
back. But also because she says she doesn’t know how to use a gun. So James
keeps his gun
Hey, remember Charlie
was an actual soldier who fought in a war? Y’know it’s JUST POSSIBLE he might
know how to use a gun!
Once James is gone,
the under threat endangered risen promptly decide to scatter to the four winds.
James would have better luck herding cats.
Kirstie is determined
to find out who murdered her and Charlie - dispatched by Kate to stop her
running off- becomes her willing servant in questioning her friend who is now
an estate agent. Honestly everyone needs to stop treating Charlie as their
personal sidekick.
It’s all awkward
because Charlie is super inexperienced in the modern world and definitely not
used to buying modern houses. But through questioning and Kirstie’s slow
recovery of her memories they learn what happened: Vicky hasn’t abandoned her
friend, she’s traumatised and trying to protect her son. Back before she was
murdered, Kirstie saw Vicky being raped (fathering her son); Vicky tried to
keep quiet and hide but Kirstie wasn’t going to let the popular football
players get away with their crime and was a vocal criticism - leading to her
being targeted and dying
The whole scene is
painful, traumatic and dramatic and mixed up with Charlie’s fumbling feels
unnecessary.
James tries to do
some more investigating and visits Hysen who, kind of weirdly, changes tactics
from “science? What is this science you speak of?” stonewalling to “let me tell
you about our whole raising the dead thing” and James doesn’t even blink, they
start talking together like they’re compatriots. So they now learn that Elishia
was the one to bring everyone back and they’ve kind of got the Boundary all
wrong: it isn’t a fence that keeps them in but more the source of the power
that actually keeps them alive. They’re not dying when they leave because
they’ve crossed a barrier but because they’ve moved out of range of the thing
keeping them alive. They talk more before remembering they’re actually enemies
and James refuses to hand over Elishia’s research
But that’s ok,
because William brings it to them later - his fingers are actually regrowing
which means while Nichola Hysen’s methods are supremely unethical and awful she
was pretty sincere about her motivations and what she expected to happen.
Either way, William is onside if they can bring Elisha back. Again
James also randomly
accuses Kate’s new hot flame Owen of being Elishia’s killer because he once
went to prison for manslaughter after, he claims, a fight that got out of hand
and an unlucky punch. James is clearly making a huge logical leap because of
Kate. I don’t think Kate should automatically dump Owen because of the
revelation but it’s irrelevant because James could prove him to be a child
eating serial killer and she would still run to him because James.
Though, to be fair,
if you accidentally kill someone and want to convince people you’re not a
murderer maybe a different hobby than taxidermy? Y’know, maybe?
Honestly, and I know
I’m a little broken record here, but Owen has a dark past feels like another
story element that is just far too much going on in such a short series. And I
appreciate that even relatively minor side characters have a backstory and more
information about them that’s great character building. But this is a lot for
such a short series to manage to keep up with. We have some really nice moments
but I don’t think we’re likely to go much further in developing even the core
cast as everything gets more complex than it has room to explore.
Paddy is still around
and still annoying Beau who really needs to keep away from this terrible man.
He does some more research and learns, unsurprisingly, that his murder was
blamed on Black people and used as a justification for further murders and
persecution. Paddy confronts the family matriarch with his plans to sue her and
prove the real murder.
This whole storyline
feels like a complicated way to have an awful racist character throwing out
terrible words but present him as having a heart of gold because he totally
loves his Black family (while completely ignoring his control over them).
They’re trying to make him a good character by… ignoring his badness.
Now for a twist - so
we know Sarah is working for Phil. And Phil seems to not be himself risen from
the dead so much as possessed by something (I’m still voting for angels).
Well this time I think Sarah may be as well. She not only lets him use her
house to clean up after murdering Elishia. He also talks about her also having
a mission - which may involve killing the Risen since she points a gun at
Charlie. She excuses why she isn’t doing it because she’s the caregiver of a
child…
... Which is not the
language I’d expect from a mother. And then I remember Sarah had a difficult
pregnancy in which she almost died.
Almost
Perhaps more than
almost
And now we have to
wonder about the missions - Phil has completed his task so is now sort of
hanging around (and assuring Beau they’re family). “Until it ends”
This is ominous. Of
course it could just mean the end of Phil’s natural life or even that he goes
home just as soon as Elishia’s ongoing shenanigans have been taken care of. But
I think it means more - especially since I’m not sure killing the Risen is
Sarah’s task. Phil had a perfect opportunity to do so and he didn’t take it -
and was there even a need to send a second… I’m going to say Angel because it’s
still my pet theory - when Phil was already out and about.
We may get
revelations next episode - because James finds the bloodstained clothes Phil
left at their house
