As the second episode of The Light In The Hall begins, Joe (Iwan Rheon) walks outside and approaches Sharon (Joanna Scanlan) who is standing in the street. When Sharon says she wants him to tell her where her daughter is, Joe insists he can’t help her. She pleads with him to tell her so she can at least bury her daughter. Sharon threatens to make his life hell if he doesn’t help her. When Joe leaves, Ian (Aled Pugh) walks over to say he was thinking he could help her. He suggests he can ask the right questions. Ian gets her phone number before going inside.

The next day, DCI Parry (Ioan Hefin) visits Sharon at home. He asks her about approaching Joe Pritchard outside his hostel last night. Parry doesn’t think they should’ve let him out either, but he knows it wasn’t up to them. Sharon is warned that she could end up in a lot of trouble if she speaks to him again. Later, Cat Donato (Alexandra Roach) approaches her and says she was Ela’s friend. She is a journalist now and writing a story about Ela so she’d like to speak to Sharon at some point. Sharon obviously isn’t interested since she leaves without responding.

Greta receives Ela’s diary. She calls Rhys to tell him about the police and journalist visiting. She wants to visit him at the garage later because there is something she needs to show him. Sharon goes to the sawmill and talks to Dai about everything that has happened. He would’ve never given her the address if he knew what she was going to do. Sharon is told she has to let it go now. Ian approaches Joe to ask him what that was about last night. Joe refuses to tell him anything. Cat goes to the café her family used to own and runs into Caryl (Sian Reese-Williams).

Cat tells her that she is writing an article about Ela. They sit down and grab coffees. Cat explains she is doing this to try to make sense of it all. Caryl doesn’t think it’ll be easy to get people to talk. She reveals there were conspiracy theories including one involving the stepdad. After Caryl says Joe did it, Cat asks if she remembers much about him. Caryl says they all fancied him because he was good-looking and mysterious. Cat gets her number. Caryl thinks she should come over to her residence sometime. Joe panics and believes he sees Sharon in front of him.

Cat goes to the police station to speak to DCI Parry. He meets with her and admits the case got to everyone including himself. The whole community wanted to help find Ela but nobody did. They knew from Sharon she had left home just before 12. Then, she was seen walking through Llanemlyn looking upset around one. A day or so later, they received a call from Joe’s father Wyn Pritchard who said he saw a girl matching Ela’s description walking into the woods near Joe’s caravan. Parry doesn’t think he knew. When they searched the caravan, they found Ela’s blood and signs of a struggle.

There were fingerprints, handprints, and Ela’s hair. They had a call naming Joe as a person of interest. Although the caller didn’t leave a name, they said Joe was dangerous. Greta takes the diary to Rhys who asks if Sharon has seen it. Greta admits no one knows. She hid it in her room because it is full of horrible things about mom and dad. There is also private stuff about her boyfriend. Greta realizes it is evidence now. She is encouraged to tell her mom about the diary. Cat visits Gafyn (Aneirin Hughes) at a construction site.

She says she used to be friends with his stepdaughter Ela. Cat tells him about the article before saying she is trying to see if there was a connection between Joe and Ela that she didn’t know about. Gafyn lost everything since the lies in the press convinced some people he did it. It took him years to sort it out. He explains they wouldn’t have let her anywhere near the likes of Joe, but they didn’t know what was going on in her life back then. Gafyn asks if she did or if she cared. He urges her to leave and not to talk to Sharon or his daughter.

Sharon tells her friends about Joe being out. Bronwen and the others advise her not to try to get revenge on Joe. She tells them they have no right to judge her because they’ve managed to make peace with it. Sharon can’t pretend everything is normal with Joe out there carrying on with his life. As she leaves, she gets a text from Ceri-Ann (Shelley Rees) asking her to come back. She also finds a text from Ian asking her to call. She calls to see if they can talk. Cat visits Wyn Pritchard (Ifan Huw Dafydd) who shows her where Ela went into the trees.

He didn’t get a good look at her face and had never seen Joe and Ela together. Wyn hardly saw Joe back then because it wasn’t a good time for the farm. He hasn’t seen Joe in 18 years and doesn’t plan on doing so now. Cat questions if there is anyone else she could speak to, but Wyn can’t help. She walks into the woods likely to the spot where the caravan used to be. Ian tries to get Joe to come to the pub with him. Ian tells him where he’ll be in case he changes his mind. Joe ends up meeting him at the pub for a drink.

Cat gets a call from Steve (Ben Bailey Smith) who wants to make sure she got there okay. They talk about her progress. Cat admits she is struggling to make a connection between Joe and Ela. When Cat hears a knock at the door, she goes outside and doesn’t see anyone only to step in poop. Joe finds himself drugged. Ian leads him outside and begins asking whether he burned Ela. Joe remembers some of the events from that night and other nights. Sharon wakes up from a nightmare and tells Greta that she doesn’t want to lose her too.

They go downstairs where Greta asks about Cat. Sharon doesn’t think she was a friend to Ela before she remembers they have the fitting for Greta’s wedding dress this week. Sharon says Rhys is such a lovely man. In the morning, Joe notices that Ian has a black eye. Sharon meets with Ian who calls Joe a nutcase. Once she gives him money, Ian reveals Joe said he buried her in a place where she’ll never be found. He swears on his girl’s life that Joe said she was in the forest. Ian explains he is going to need more time to get other answers. He says there might be ways to speed up a confession, but it won’t be cheap.

Before Sharon leaves, she tells Ian not to call her again. Cat approaches her later to say she just wants to find out what happened to Ela. She insists she’ll leave her alone if she talks to her. Sharon claims Ela was fine and happy when she left the house that day. Sharon isn’t sure where she was going although she thinks she went to meet Caryl. Cat says it doesn’t make sense for Ela to go into the woods that day unless she was seeing Joe. Sharon only knows that she ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

She paid for that with her life. As Sharon walks away, Cat argues that she was Ela’s friend. At work, Dai checks on Sharon who admits she isn’t really alright. He learns she is printing off papers saying Joe is lying because she is going to harass him until he cracks. He isn’t going to let her drag him into this. Nevertheless, he drives her out and helps her put the signs around town. Joe calls about getting a job. He hears someone knocking at his door. One of the papers is slipped under his door as someone calls him a pedo and says he is famous.

Joe calls Cat to see if she still wants to talk to him. When she says yes, he says he needs her to do something for him. She picks him up the next day and asks where the interview is. Cat notices the bruises on his knuckles. Joe says he doesn’t fight, but he got into a situation with someone at the hostel. She takes him to the interview and finds the paper when he is out of the vehicle. Sharon goes to the dress shop for the fitting. She tells Greta she looks beautiful before police enter and remind Sharon she was warned about visiting the hostel at Mill Hill.

PC Gwyn Jones (Gwydion Rhys) asks her to step outside to answer a few questions. When she doesn’t, she gets up getting arrested. Cat asks Joe how he knew Ela, but he claims he didn’t. He has only seen her about with Cat and the other girl. Joe doesn’t know how she ended up in his caravan. Cat suggests talking about that can help him remember. Joe forces her to stop before getting out. When Cat goes after him, she ends up falling and hurting herself. Joe finds her with a hurt ankle so he helps her up. He says it doesn’t matter what the man said because he has heard it all before anyway.

Joe admits it was stupid to come back there. He came back for his mother who barely knows him. Cat thinks he should tell his story. She questions why he was living in a caravan in the woods. He says he didn’t want anyone to get hurt but they did anyway. Joe reveals she was in the caravan and there was an argument although he doesn’t know what it was about. He says he killed her and he is dangerous so she should stay away from him. As he walks away, Ela yells asking where Ela’s body is.

 

The Light In The Hall Review

The second episode of The Light in the Hall saw Sharon confront Joe to find out if she could find answers about Ela’s murder. Once that didn’t work, she ended up paying Ian to see if he could get anything out of Joe who allegedly said he buried Ela in the woods where no one would find her.

The series has many promising features since the performances are mostly good and it sets the mood well. The episode had more of a bleak feel than a mysterious one as viewers learn more about Sharon’s struggle with her daughter’s death. It is slightly longwinded though and sometimes drags.

Although the story isn’t original, The Light in the Hall has a unique feel thanks to its atmosphere. The camera is a bit odd at times because the characters are always off-center which may not be an issue. The episode was okay even if it was slow. Depending on the future episodes, this could become a gripping drama about coming to terms with the murder of a child.

The real sticking point is trying to figure out whether Joe was actually responsible for Ela’s death though. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Light In The Hall are available on Reel Mockery here. Visitors can support our site by following this link. We offer advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery. Learn more here.