Obituary Series 1 Episode 6 Recap
Body Count – The episode opens on January 6, 2018, with Elvira Clancy (Siobhan Cullen) in the woods. In a pub, Ward Clancy (Michael Smiley) texts Elvira multiple times asking where she is to no avail. Maria Riedle (Dagmar Doring) stuffs her passport and wallet in her purse when Hughie Burns (David Ganly) approaches asking why she returned his letter. She says his previous letters were “dreary”. He claims to have asked his wife for a divorce. She says it was always about the sex before informing him of her plan to return to Germany. Hughie pays Mallory Markum (Danielle Galligan) to burn the contents of Maria’s purse. Maria finds Mallory outside with her purse. Mallory taunts Maria while running into the woods. A chase ensues. Unaware of their presence, Elvira fires a round from a rifle. Outside the pub, Ward hears gunshots. The chase ensues when Maria is shot. While assisting an injured Maria out of the woods, Mallory asks her to contact the police because she has a criminal record when they spot a car.
Approaching the vehicle, Maria collapses on the ground. Mallory sees Elvira passed out in the driver’s seat and alcohol and pill bottles in the passenger’s seat. Maria tries to wake Elvira before fleeing. When Ward arrives, he tries to wake Elvira to no avail. He opens the boot to find Maria’s body. Stunned, he slams the boot lid down.
Unsure of what she was supposed to do, Elvira vows to never do it again. Later, Ward explains how he disposed of Maria’s body and cleaned the boot with a water hose. She says Emerson Stafford (Ronan Raftery) believes he is connected to Maria’s murder. She texts Emerson to throw him off Ward’s trail. He admits to putting Padraic Quigley’s (Damien Owens) rifle in the lake. Ward warns that Hughie is onto the rifle. She sends Emerson another text because he is staying with Hughie. Holding up Maria’s letter from Hughie, he claims the contents make Hughie look bad. He says they also have Maria’s passport.
Garda Rose Mulcahy (Noni Stapleton) finds Hughie’s letter to Maria under her windshield wiper. At the pub, Elvira informs Emerson that it snowed on the night Maria died. Emerson claims Ward told him that he drove home after leaving the pub. She says he walked home. Testing her, Emerson suggests Ward can’t drive. She claims Ward taught her to drive. She explains how Ward took to his bed after he got food poisoning. She says he ate on the third day when they saw a news report about Maria’s body being found. She confesses to liking him before pointing out that he is on the rebound. He admits to liking her from the moment they first met. Referring to her sexual encounters but really her victims, she claims to have a body count of six. She recalls killing Veronica Sloan (Carrie Crowley), George Slammon (Ciaran McCourt), and Sandy Benson (Barry McGovern). He expresses his desire for him to be the last of her body count. Later, he slips her into Hughie’s house where they get intimate. She is later seen returning to bed. She prays to God for it to work.
In the back of Rose’s police cruiser, Emerson reads Maria’s letter from Hughie. Rose suggests Maria was running from Hughie, not her husband, Daniel. Emerson assures her that Hughie is a good person but she disagrees. He points out there is not enough evidence to warrant a search warrant for Hughie’s house. She asks him to do it for her. Later, Emerson searches Hughie’s house to find Maria’s German passport in the fish tank.
Hughie gives Rose Corner’s Reports for Fintan Drake and Sylvester McHugh. He explains how Fintan died in a car collision following an epileptic episode. Sylvester died after an epileptic episode. He points out that both men were prescribed the same anti-seizure medicine and dosage but Sylvester had 1/8 of what Fintan had in his system. He suggests Sylvester’s medicine was tampered with before he died. When he mentions Veronica’s death, Rose asks how he is connected to Sylvester. He suggests Maria’s killer also killed Sylvester and Veronica. A text from Emerson with a photo of Maria’s passport pops up on Rose’s phone. She accuses him of being the killer.
Albert McGovern (Brian Robinson) gives Mallory €5,000 to deliver for €400. She questions why he isn’t doing the delivery. He claims the buyer has a history of not paying him but she knows him.
During a phone call, Garda Mick (Jason Daly) suggests goose-napping charges if the murder charges fall through. She says they can charge him with both crimes. Rose discovers Padraic’s rifle in Hughie’s office. Elvira smirks while Rose grills Hughie. At the bowling alley, Mick asks Oisin Markum (Ryan Burke) if he found a rifle in the lake. Oisin denies the allegations. Back at Kilhave Chronicle, Hughie tells Rose to speak with Tom Quigley (Michael Hough). Later, Rose reminds Tom of Padraic and Hughie going shooting together. Tom claims Padraic would get frustrated because Hughie was a “crack shot”.
Hughie tells Attorney Morris (Paul Tylak) that Rose is not accusing him of stealing Padraic’s rifle. Morris urges him to keep quiet. Hughie demands Rose return so he can make a call.
Leonard Slammon (Andy Doherty) refuses to pay the €5,000 unless Mallory does a line. As she prepares to snort the drugs, an incoming call from Rose pops up on her phone. After he tests the drugs, she orders him to get the money. Rose summons her to the police station to discuss the job that Hughie paid her to do five years ago. Leonard collapses on the floor while accusing the dealer of spiking the drugs. At the station, Hughie assures Rose that Mallory will validate his claim of Maria’s passport being planted. Back at Leonard’s house, a frantic Mallory collects the cash before leaving. She is waiting on the Dublin Airport bus when a man points out the blood on her hand. She boards the bus while Hughie at the police station grows more frantic.
Emerson tells Rose that Ward witnessed Mallory taking Maria’s bag. Rose admits to hearing the story but never believed it. He prepares to show her Dolly Stenson’s record when she reminds him of his murder charge. He claims a gangster came to his house with intel on a story that he was working on. She says intel was offered in exchange for an alibi. He tells her that the gangster murdered someone a few weeks later. He says his editor agreed to keep it hidden. She questions how Elvira would feel about his causing a death before urging him to let Mallory go to give the people closure. Elsewhere, while listening to a new report about Hughie’s arrest, Ward and Elvira celebrate.
Six Weeks Later – Elvira struggles with James Kenny’s obituary because he died a natural death, not at her hands. She tells her that killing is worth it because it makes her happy. Emerson informs her of an impending meeting with Netflix and Sky to discuss the documentary. He assures her that the deaths will pick up. She says it may be time to start killing people. She denies having a “dark thought” since they have been together.
Ward tells Emerson that Elvira doesn’t mind cooking for him. Emerson says he could have picked up something at the chipper (fish and chip shop) but there is the risk of food poisoning. A news report reveals Sandy Benson (Barry McGovern) is back from the dead after a fall over a cliff two months ago. Sandy and Margo Benson (Marion O’Dwyer) are back together after he resurfaced in Vigo, Spain. A local correspondent (Caroline Harvey) says the report reveals Sandy is suffering from amnesia. Ward describes the amnesia claims as “malarkey”. Emerson rushes away to write the story.
Kilraven Chronicle – Emerson reads an article about Sandy taking part in a charity fundraiser. He questions how a terminally ill man can survive five years. He types “LIES” into the headliner. Later, Margo holds up The Chronicle newspaper featuring a front page headliner – “Lies! Sandy Benson Cancer Claims A Scam”. She says Sandy’s survival is overshadowed by Emerson’s story. Elvira suggests Margo take a walk while she watches Sandy. Once alone, Elvira finds Sandy at the dining table. Sandy describes what he remembers from his fall. Elvira informs him of her mum dying while she was pregnant with her. Grabbing his obituary, he says only a stupid person would write this crap. Elvira tells her to ignore his insults. She offers to rewrite his obituary but only better. Margo arrives home to find Sandy dead and Elvira holding her bloody stomach.
Morris gives Hughie two newspaper clippings of Sylvester and Veronica’s murders. He warns that The Chronicle owners exposed him, so bail is out of the question. Morris says he paid per article while keeping the rest of the money for himself. He tells him that he will no longer be representing him after his check bounced. Before leaving, he informs him of Sandy attacking Elvira before committing suicide. Hughie has a flashback of suggesting Elvira kill people when she complained about not getting paid. Back to the present, he realizes the connection. He receives a greeting card with four tens and a message – “Now, we are even”. He breaks down sobbing.
Elvira threatens to tear out her sutures unless Ward explains why he drinks. Ward attributes his drinking to her dark side which he blames himself. Emerson asks Elvira to tell him what transpired at Sandy’s house. At the pub, Donal the Barman (Conan Sweeney) comments on Ward’s appearance. In a flashback, Ward sets off the car alarm before returning to the boot to find Maria’s body gone. Tracking fresh footprints in the snow, he finds Maria who pleads to be taken to the hospital. She calls him a “monster” before he kills her.
Elvira takes a bouquet of flowers from the hospital to her mum, Grace Clancy’s gravesite. She voices concern about being caught. She says when they ask how many people she killed, she will tell them “not f**king enough”. The episode ends.
Obituary Review
Elvira and Ward frame Hughie for Maria’s murder. After hooking up with Emerson, Elvira sustains from killing until she concludes that it makes her happy. Learning Sandy is found alive in Vigo, she offers to take care of him while Margo takes a walk. Sandy denies any memory of her shoving him off the cliff but remembers her as the Obituarist who wrote his “sh*t” obituary. She stages Sandy’s murder to look like an attempted homicide-suicide with a non-fatal abdominal wound.
Five years later, Rose is determined to charge Hughie for Maria’s murder. Believing Hughie is innocent, Emerson tries to reason with her until she threatens to tell everyone that he is a murderer. He traded an alibi for intel to score a big story. The gangster ended up killing someone later. He finds Maria’s German passport in Hughie’s fish tank. The owners of Kilraven Chronicle release documents that reveal Hughie is pocketing most of the profits. Hughie’s situation grows more dire when Morris discontinues his representation after his check bounces.
Mallory makes a drug delivery for Albert. Leonard uses the drugs only to die a short time later. He accuses Albert of spiking the drugs. Mallory flees with the money on a bus en route to the Dublin Airport.
The series is burdened with uninspiring clichés, the finale is no different. Each scene revealed another cringeworthy revelation until the storyline ended on a cliffhanger. Halfway into the episode, it becomes apparent resolution was never the intention but it would have been nice if some loose ends were tied up.
Elvira utilizes a kitchen knife to inflict an abdominal stab wound that misses all her major organs, Sandy survives a fall from a cliff into rushing water below, a severely injured Maria is found alive in the boot of Elvira’s car, Leonard dies after taking tainted drugs are asininely unbelievable. It’s also difficult to overlook Sandy remembering Elvira as an obituarist, not his assailant.
Five years ago, Hughie tried to stop Maria from returning to Germany by paying Mallory to steal her purse. An intoxicated Elvira is shooting Padraic’s rifle when she accidentally shoots Maria. Mallory offers to help Maria if she doesn’t report her theft to the police. They approach a vehicle for help when Maria collapses and Maria discovers a heavily intoxicated Elvira in the driver’s seat. A failed attempt to wake Elvira, Mallory puts Maria in the boot. A short time later, Ward discovers Elvira and Maria in the boot. Believing Elvira murdered Maria, he tries to dispose of the body only to find her still alive. To keep her from talking, he kills her.
If the series isn’t commissioned for a second season, it will be a complete letdown for many viewers. At this rate, a second season wouldn’t get the storyline closer to a conclusion.
The episode deserves a 4.5. Get more Obituary recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by donating. Visit our new forum to discuss the series. Our onsite advertising builds brand awareness, click the link to learn more.
