The second season of Unforgotten begins at the River Lea in North East London. A group of workers excavates a nearby waterway. They uncover a suitcase, which is opened seconds later. When opened, a body is found inside. After the intro, Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) calls her partner Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar). They couple agrees to meet up and head to the scene together. Moments later, Tessa (Lorraine Ashbourne) meets up with her son Jason (Will Brown). They speak briefly about the new neighbors and Alice. Jason reveals he split with Alice awhile back. At this time, Cassie and Sunil arrive at the scene. They look at the body. Meanwhile, Marion Kelsey (Rosie Cavaliero) speaks with a cancer patient at the hospital. The young girl Zoe (Jodie Tyack) tells Marion never to become a therapist. Cassie and Sunil learn that the river was dredged in 1994.

The officers are surprised that the body has remained in such good shape. The forensic investigator is unable to tell Cassie how long the body has been in the water. They spot a watch on the corpse’s wrist. Jason returns home and is stopped by his neighbor, Cath (Bryony Hannah). Cath apologizes for missing Jason’s party. They agree to set another date, before Jason rushes off. That night, Cassie speaks with her father, Martin (Peter Egan). Martin complains about the older women he met earlier. Cassie reminds him that he is just as old. She apologizes, before her father heads to bed. Cassie tells her father she loves him, but gets no response.

Back at home, Tessa speaks with Paul (Douglas Hodge). Paul contemplates taking Jason to Spain. Tessa breaks down. Paul comforts her and insists Jason is a good kid. The body is transported back to the morgue and removed from the suitcase. One of the investigators discovers that the watch is a Blanchard. Sunil and Cassie learn that the company went out of business in the early 90s. It is also revealed that the watch may have an engraving on the inside, if it was ever repaired in the past. It is believed that the engraving could lead the police to the watchmaker and then the victim. At the courthouse, Colin (Mark Bonnar) defends his client and manages to get him sent home. He rushes out of the courthouse and meets up with his boyfriend, Simon.

Meanwhile, the medical examiner manages to get the watch open. Colin and Simon pick up Flo (Amy Jayne). As they load the girl into their vehicle, someone watches them from a distance. Cassie speaks with her partner, Jake (Lewis Reeves), and learns that they have around 7,500 missing persons cases to examine. Seconds later, Sunny and Cassie arrive at the British Watch and Clock Makers’ Guild. They head inside and speak with the man in charge. He admits there are a large quantity of Smiths, but he agrees to look through the records. During this time, we’re introduced to Sara Mahmoud (Badria Timimi). Sara teaches her young students. She lectures them about Lady Macbeth. She calls Hassan (Adeel Akhtar) moments later and confirms the time for dinner. Sara also reveals she is headed to a meeting and is very nervous.

Meanwhile, Colin and Simon (Charlie Condou) take Flo shopping. Another shopper approaches Colin and makes a rude comment about his homosexuality. Meanwhile, Cassie learns that the victim was likely between 30 and 50 years old. It is also revealed that the man was stabbed with a knife. During the examination of the body, a pager was discovered. Before leaving the supermarket, Colin keys the rude shopper’s car. The strange man continues watching the couple throughout. Sunil visits several watchmakers in person. Meanwhile, Marion Kelsey returns home to her husband, Tony (Nigel Lindsay), and her nephews. Tony serves the kids lunch. Marion’s sister storms in seconds later and escorts the kids out. Cassie heads to a local cell phone store and speaks with Nathan (Bobby Lockwood) about the pager.

The boy admits it would be possible to retrieve the messages stored on the pager. However, they’ll need to find an exact replicate first. He suggests looking at eBay. Sara heads to Highbrook Academy and speaks with those in charge. During this time, the Kelsey family throw a birthday party for Joy Dunphy (Wendy Craig). Joy has a little difficulty blowing out the candles on her cake, so Marion helps and ticks off her sister. Sara speaks with the interviewers. She finishes up and leaves. She returns and explains that she would be the best candidate for the job, even if she isn’t as qualified as the others. Marion argues with Elise (Holly Aird). Marion storms out and takes Tony with her.

Later, Colin and Simon put Flo to bed. Flo asks what will happen if the men aren’t given custody of her. Colin remains confident and insists they have a good chance. Meanwhile, the mysterious man, Tyler (Josef Altin), watches the couple from outside of their window. Sunil finds a man, who believes his uncle might’ve worked on the victim’s watch. That night, Cassie speaks with her son, Adam (Jassa Ahluwalia). Cassie and her son speak about girls, before a phone call from Sunny interrupts. Sunny reveals he may have found the watchmaker, Pat Smith (Eric Carte). He tells Cassie that the man believes the signature is his Uncle Bill’s. Cassie reveals they were able to obtain a second-hand page on eBay. During this time, Sara returns home and tells her family about the interview.

In the morning, Colin takes Flo to school. Before he can leave, he is confronted by Tyler. Tyler reveals that he is the boyfriend of Flo’s mother and considers himself to be the girl’s stepfather. Tyler uses the key incident to force Colin to sit down and speak with him. Meanwhile, Tessa speaks with her boss at the police station. Tessa speaks about her potential retirement in the near future. Nathan is escorted to the station and ordered to transfer the chip over to the new pager. He immediately goes to work. During this time, Tyler tries to extort money from Colin. Colin tells the man to give him time to think about it. Nathan manages to get the pager up and running just as Tony returns home.

He catches his wife speaking with Zoe on the phone. Marion is forced to leave moments later. Sunil meets with Peter and obtains records for the man’s uncle. He sits down with Cassie and scours through the records. Sunil reveals the name of their victim, David Ewan Walker. The victim was 39 years old and was last seen in May of 1990. While Cassie speaks about the victim, each of the other characters is shown for a brief period. Next, Cassie and Sunil visit Tessa. She admits she was married to David, but thought he had committed suicide. The woman agrees to speak with the investigators later. She also realizes that she will become a primary suspect in the murder.

Colin returns home and spends the night with Simon and Flo. Once Sunil and Cassie leave, they agree that Tessa showed all of the appropriate emotions. However, they admit she works as a cop and would know how to behave. Nathan contacts them seconds later. He tells them he has managed to get some of the information from the pager. The date of one of the messages is February the 15th of 1990.

 

Unforgotten Review

It has been so long since the first season, I had forgotten how good Unforgotten truly was. The first episode of the second season was a good start. We were introduced to a whole cast of characters and quickly discovered that each of them has their own set of problems. While the show tends to shift around a great deal, nothing is lost along the way. Everything is very understandable.

The new characters this season make the show feel like River, without River. The premiere episode of series 2 scores an 8 out of 10.