Wild Goose Chase – As the fifth episode of Obituary begins, Mary McHugh says Sylvester’s seizures were getting worse and the doctor begged him to stop driving. Rose Mulcahy (Noni Stapleton) tells Mary McHugh (Fiona Browne) that the coroner would likely confirm the same. Mary asks Rose about finding him at the turn-off to Kildee. She questions why he was there since that was the long way home. Mary believes he was there to meet someone so she wants Rose to find out. In a flashback, Mallory (Emily Phillips) approaches Elvira (Eabha Moore) to ask why she ran away. Mallory has what appears to be blood on her knuckles.
In the present, Emerson Stafford (Ronan Raftery) tells Elvira (Siobhan Cullen) that he is screwed because he and Maria have hit another brick wall. Her dad told him that he got back after 11 that night and Elvira should be able to confirm it. Elvira asks if he doesn’t believe her dad. She suspects he has been rehearsing the question all morning. Elvira admits that is part of her job. Emerson thinks that makes her fascinating. Elvira says she’ll think about it. While they have a group meeting with Hughie Burns (David Ganly), Ward (Michael Smiley) sneaks inside and steals keys from a jacket pocket. He rushes out to get a copy of the key made. Hughie tells Emerson that he has something right up his street. He mentions the name Dolly Stenson.
She lives by the woods and was robbed. Hughie says they want a thousand words for the next edition. Ward gets the key and leaves the locksmith. Elvira asks Hughie if he can hold a section in the paper for her although she won’t say who died yet. Hughie finds it odd that she knows someone is going to die. There is someone in his office so he decides to go check. Ward puts the keys back just in time. Hughie finds a man delivering boxes with Clive’s name on them. Helen Stewart (Wendy Dynan-Gleeson) asks Elvira if she found out who wrote those nasty letters. Elvira says they’re dead now. Helen wants Andrew’s obituary to be in their own words so people can understand why.
Elvira thinks Hughie will be fine with it once she explains. Helen asks her to sit with Andrew (Mark Garton) while she goes out for a minute. Rose gets Sylvester’s phone records and calls one of the numbers she finds. She gets Mallory’s voicemail message. While they’re alone, Elvira tells Andrew that she tried to kill herself once. She realizes she can tell him anything and he can’t say a word. When Elvira tried to kill herself, her best friend left her for dead. Then, there’s her boyfriend. He likes Elvira who is happy when she is with him. She won’t say she’ll do it, but the thought of killing Mallory has crossed her mind. Elvira learns that Andrew doesn’t want to die and his wife is making him do this.
She finds out that he is joking. Elvira says not many people get to die with dignity before Helen returns. Dolly Stenson (Noelle Brown) watches a car drive by. She looks through her book to identify it. Moments later, she speaks to Emerson outside about her geese. Dolly tells him about the stolen goose although Emerson says they shouldn’t rule out a fox or it escaping on its own. Dolly is adamant that she was stolen. She admits she sees things including cars in the night and lights in the sky. Dolly doesn’t want to give him a story until he brings her goose home. Ward searches Hughie’s office. He finds a letter written to Maria and sticks it in his pocket.
Hughie speaks to Emerson who thinks he is being sent on a wild goose chase. He tells Emerson that he doesn’t know where the Dolly thing might lead so it could be the story of his life. Ward finds the goose in Hughie’s house before trying to flee. Hughie finds a note from Clive who questions whether there are more victims. Clive put together a list of every curious death in town. Elvira keeps an eye on Mallory. In a flashback, Elvira asks Mallory what happened to her hand. Mallory says those girls in school won’t be calling her names anymore. Elvira admits she just can’t do it. Emerson visits Tom (Michael Hough) to ask if he can look around his farm. Tom shuts the door in his face before calling Ward to tell him about the visit.
Tom tells him to fix it or he’ll fix him. Rose interviews Mallory and refuses to let her use the bathroom. Rose says Sylvester’s widow has been pushing her to look into this thing. Mary wonders what dragged him out of his way that night. Rose knows Sylvester got a text from Mallory’s number on the night of his death. Mallory denies sending those texts. She explains that Sylvester was her landlord and he offered her a good deal. Rose insists she’ll have to tell Mary herself because she can’t be the one to ruin her life. Mallory wants to find the person who sent the texts. Rose gives her 24 hours. Later, Mallory contacts Emerson to say she invited Elvira over.
Hughie finds Emerson at work so he asks if he was at his house. Emerson claims not to know where he lives. He goes on to say he is much closer to catching her killer. Hughie says he is closer. While looking through the file, Hughie finds a note about checking his meds. Elvira visits Mallory and they begin smoothing things over. Mallory believes she steals because her mother’s death changed her. She believes Elvira was meeting with Emerson because she thought it was a date. Mallory couldn’t help herself so she ended up taking him. She remembers that Elvira’s phone died that night. Hughie looks through obituaries.
Mallory talks to Elvira about Sylvester. When she shows her the emoji picture, Elvira says it is a cock. Mallory says Sylvester got a message from her phone on the night he died but she didn’t send it. Mallory asks if anyone was at her phone. Elvira says she can figure it out, but she needs to use the bathroom first. She begins worrying that Mallory may know. In a flashback, Mallory tells Elvira that she is allergic to peanut butter. Once Elvira comes out of the bathroom, she decides to order Chinese food. Hughie seems to print out the obituaries. Mallory admits she thought it might be Elvira for a second. Elvira excuses herself to go back to the bathroom.
She says she can’t kill Mallory. When she comes out of the bathroom, she finds Mallory having an allergic reaction. Mallory asks if Elvira’s dish had nuts in it. Elvira frantically begins looking for the pen. She gets it from her purse and also finds a passport. Elvira uses the pen only to find that it expired in 2008. She calls for an ambulance. Elvira tells the dispatcher that the EpiPen isn’t working. A doctor named Dan takes the call and instructs Elvira to find a knife. He walks her through the process of getting Mallory breathing again. Emerson comes in so Elvira grabs his pen and uses it to help Mallory. As Mallory is taken to the hospital, Elvira puts the passport back in her bag.
She admits that Emerson got to see the real her when he thought she killed Mal for a minute. The ambulance ends up hitting the goose. At the hospital, Mallory says Elvira said her life. Elvira knows most of what she did. Mallory says she found her five years ago in the forest car park. She had tried to kill herself. Mallory thought about saving her until she remembered how much pain she was in. She left Elvira with her body in the boot of the car. Maria was with Mallory and had been shot. She was threatening to tell everyone that Mallory stole her handbag. If the cops found out, Mallory would’ve done time. She left Maria to die in the boot of the car.
Elvira says that doesn’t make sense because Maria’s body was found in the woods. She asks what Mallory is going to do about Sylvester’s wife now. She questions whether she’ll tell her the truth about texting him. Elvira says her mother’s death taught her the power of self-sacrifice. Elvira stood over her body and decided she’d live. She knew Mallory would do the same for her. Mallory curses Emerson when she finds out he is not there. Dolly tells Emerson that her offer still stands. She says he seems relieved for a man who was kicked out by his woman. He admits he might’ve messed up by accusing her father of murder. Dolly says she puts every passing car in her book. Emerson checks the book and realizes it goes back years.
The road leads to the woods where Maria was found so the book may be helpful. Dolly shows him the car that drove away from the woods five minutes to midnight. Then, it came back and drove towards the wood at a quarter past four in the morning. Dolly agrees to let him borrow the book. At the office, Elvira notices that an obituary for George is in the garbage. Her dad texts her to say they need to talk. She checks the computer and finds out that Hughie looked at the files. He walks in and says good morning to her. Hughie goes to his office and gets the coroner’s report for Sylvester McHugh.
Obituary Review
The fifth episode of Obituary provided plenty of revelations after Mallory’s near-death experience. Elvira is also worried that Hughie could be getting closer to the truth so she may have to deal with him before that can happen. Obituary has an interesting story that had all the potential in the world. When the series delved into an unsolved murder and a murdering obituary writer, it fell into the same category as so many other shows.
The series isn’t bad even though each episode has felt long-winded, but the story had the potential to be so much more. Again, this is about death and murder, yet it lacks any real emotions. The series didn’t need an unsolved murder or a murdering obituary writer. If it had been grounded in reality and just focused on writing obituaries, the series could’ve been unforgettable.
Without the absurdities, Obituary would’ve been emotionally impactful enough to have viewers reaching for their tissues. This episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Obituary are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here.
