The Episode begins with Fia Lucey (Lisa Dwan) arriving at the station to see where Superintendent Shanahan (Lloyd Hutchinson) stands on locating Sean McGuire (Frank Blake). Much to everyone’s surprise, he shows up mere seconds later with Deirdre McGuire (Orla Charlton). Even more shocking is Sean’s confession of selling Ketamine to Charlie Reid (Aidan McArdle). He even provides proof in the form of a digital device that resembles a cell phone.
Fia takes the news to the Reid house, where she learns that Serena Reid (Natalie Radmall Quirke) hasn’t spoken with Charlie since their blowup at the restaurant. He’s currently not responding to her calls either. After their very short encounter, Fia discovers the knife Carrie Hurley (Rebecca Hanssen) had at the caravan. She relays the news to Cian Furlong (Rory Keenan) over the phone and then with Shanahan and DG Luke Gannon (Youssef Quinn) at the station. They are in the middle of devising a strategy to find Carrie as quickly and quietly as possible when Luke notices Fia favoring the back of her neck. Shanahan attempts to get her to take morning, but she claims she only needs a shower to recharge.
Fia does return to her aunt and uncle’s house Donal (Andrew Bennett) and Sandra Riley (Ally Ni Chiarain), but discusses the case with them. A text from Donna Walsh (Jade Jordan), inquiring how she’s doing changes her plans. A quick meeting at the hotel leads to them finally acting on their feelings for each other. Once it’s over, Donna jokingly tells Fia that she’s a bad influence.
Charlie returns home on foot with scratches on his face. Despite his attempts, he fails to sneak past Serena. After catching him up on the latest news/gossip, she says she’ll stand by his side if he tells her the truth. He merely packs his bags without responding and leaves Serena in a bawling mess of tears and emotion. Charlie visits Bill McGuire (Stanley Townsend) and admits to being a bad person but says everything Sean accused him of wasn’t true. Charlie soon becomes enraged with Bill’s lack of empathy and begins to throw off on what he’s done to get ahead in the town. A pre-arranged package containing a gun alludes to Bill suspecting that Charlie might become a liability.
A reported sighting of an armed Charlie comes into the station and Cian relays the information to Fia who just happens to be a few minutes away and the first responding officer. She arrives to find him staring despondently into the lake. During their encounter, he admits to doing plenty of bad things but claims to be a decent person. He never strays from his claims that he had nothing to do with Roisin Hurley’s (Clara Fitzgerald) death. He doesn’t shine any light on Carrie’s whereabouts before using the gun to shoot himself in the head. Witnessing the act spurs several memories from the night of her family’s tragedy.
While Marjorie Whelan (Ingrid Craigie) and Dr. James (Barry McGovern) learn about the suicide through radio reports, Cian drops Fia off at home. He promises to keep her updated, although he doesn’t suspect Shanahan will let them drag the entire lake. Against Sandra’s wishes, Donal reads Fia the right act for going to the scene alone. Still somewhat catatonic, Fia mentions seeing a look of emptiness in Charlie’s eyes. She describes it as him already having checked out and wonders aloud if Jack Lucey (Sean T. O Meallaigh) had the same look. Although Fia ends the conversation by rushing off to take a shower, they later pick it back up in nearly the same spot. Donal does the majority of the talking and admits to being traumatized by the crime scene. As ashamed as he is of this, he says he couldn’t have pushed forward otherwise. Their conversation doesn’t get beyond that when Emma Riley (Lisa Dwyer Hogg) interrupts with an offer to treat Fia to a drink.
Else, Cian arrives home to Niamh Furlong (Amy De Bhrun) enjoying a glass of wine in front of the TV. She immediately points him in the direction of the alcohol and “emergency smokes.” While having a smoke on the patio, he admits to seeing Roisin’s dark side, but claims he knew nothing about her hiding the sexual abuse. He also admits to being complacent, petty, and lazy, and promises to change. She appears to believe him.
Emma and Fia’s drink at the bar turns into a nightmare once Emma attempts to get Fia to talk about her feelings. Donna shows up right before the worst of it and ends up storming off after receiving the cold shoulder from Fia. The argument leads to Fia leaving a message with her previous Superintendent Byrne in Dublin and asking for her job back.
The next morning, Donal interrupts Fia in the middle of packing. This time she does most of the talking before he encourages her to at least see the case through. Just as Fia is loading her luggage, a call from Cian about a discovery at the Lake comes in. She arrives just as the team pulls an SUV from the water. A quick vehicle search reveals Charlie Reid as the owner of the vehicle. DG Angela Webster later confirms the identity of the body as belonging to Chloe Whelan (Grace Collender).
Fian and Cian’s next visit is to the Rileys where they reveal the discovery. Their reaction is surprisingly happy now that they actually have a corpse to lay to rest. At the end of the encounter, Marjorie poses the question that Fia appears to be thinking about all along, “Why would Jack kill his family if he was innocent all along?” Fia and Cian quickly devise a plan in hopes of finding Charlie while also learning more about Charlie and Roisin’s involvement in the abuse.
Cian and Fia eventually make their way to Charlie’s house where they begin their search in what appears to be a garage or shed of sorts attached to the house. Cian discovers photos of abuse victims, with some of them dating back to the late nineties. A very short scene shows Niamh’s emotional breakdown after receiving a mobile alert about the 20-year-old remains discovered at the lake.
A sighting of a girl matching Carrie’s description sends Cian to the warehouse district north of Limerick. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t take much convincing to draw Carrie into to open or turn herself over to Cian. The mention of Charlie’s death appears to have done the trick. Fia experiences an emotional breakdown after learning that Carrie is still alive and now in custody.
Later that day, Fia visits her father’s gravesite. Although this shakes loose more memories, everything still appears jumbled and unclear. After several minutes of reflection, Cian joins her. The episode ends with Fia claiming that she believes Charlie’s earlier claims of innocence.
Blackshore Review
Redeemed!! Knowing what I know now, I would recommend skipping or skimming through episode 3 and going start to 4 and 5. Although 4 was not entirely perfect. It was a breath of fresh air in compression to the 3rd. Despite having to start where the jumbled mess of episode 3 ended and Fia’s childish tantrums, the episode was nearly flawless. Flawless, of course, is a major stretch but as far as character development, story progression, and intrigue go, Episode 4 offered it all in spades.
The episode easily deserves a 6 out of 10. The only thing I can throw off on is Fia’s childish impromptu tantrums. I wouldn’t necessarily it was the acting that made them unbearable but they felt completely unmerited and random.
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