As this episode of Unforgotten begins, DCI Jess James (Sinead Keenan) struggles to get the kids ready in the morning. Debbie (Grainne Keenan) calls her to talk about meeting later. DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) is so distracted that he nearly leaves without saying goodbye to Sal. He gets a call from Thomas with forensics about the plasterboard. Tony Hume (Ian McElhinney) pulls out the youth centre registration form for Mustafa Ali. Karol Wojski (Max Rinehart) tells Szymon that the loneliness, inequality, and hostility of London almost killed him. He claims it wears you down until you become someone who isn’t you. Karol receives a call about his mortgage application.

Jess tells the team that they’ll have a better chance of working out how Precious died by learning more about her. Murray Boulting (Jordan Long) is put in charge of checking her bank account and phone. Karen Willetts (Pippa Nixon) is asked if there is anything on Ebele Falade on PNC. Karen has found multiple arrests including an ABH charge against a doorman of a City stockbroker’s office in 1986. It involved a firearm, but Karen is still working on getting the other details. Jess mentions that Precious had a son named Joseph. Fran (Carolina Main) only found out that he was born in 1998 in Wales and he has a criminal record. He served six months for a gang-related battery charge. Jess questions whether Precious was transferred to West London Social Services at some point.

Sunny tells Jess that he had the rest of the plasterboard tested and it is all from the 60s. She wonders how that works now that they know the victim is from 2016 at the earliest. Sunny says the tech lab thinks it has been refused. Jess gets a call confirming Ebele is there. She responds by making sure Ebele doesn’t see the body. Jess can’t imagine why someone would reuse plasterboard so Sunny suggests they were completely broke. Alternatively, he says they might’ve wanted to avoid having any trace that they bought it. Sunny says the newspaper has the date July 12, 2016 on it. Before the meeting ends, Jess asks them to stop using “ma’am”. Josef from the lab calls Sunny to say they’ve found lots of blood. Jay Royce (Rhys Yates) is questioned about the debit card belonging to Sophie Coulson.

He is asked about using the card at a convenience store, but Jay continues saying no comment. Jay is told that the woman he mugged was four months pregnant and nearly lost her baby. Dave (Mark Frost) and Ebele (Marina Laird) are allowed to see Precious’s body. Ebele says the things they do to them and the way they treat them. Jess questions who she is talking about, but Ebele doesn’t want to say because she is having a private moment with her dead daughter. Then, she blames men. The CPS is happy to charge Jay and they can put him in front of the court for a remand application in the morning. Keith is told that Jay won’t get bail. Keith claims Jay is remorseful and he just struggles to show it. Phil is surprised that Keith wants to fight for a guy like that.

Phil doesn’t care about Jay’s story and only cares about the woman who nearly lost her child because of him. Sunny learns about the blood they found at the scene and smearing around the fireplace. Josef (Magnus Bruun) says they found traces of cleaning materials so someone might’ve tried to clean it up. When asked about DNA, Josef says they’re doing comparison tests with the victim right now. Sunny gets a call from Jess who says Ebele has agreed to come in for a chat. Karol tells Elise (Claire Ganaye) that they want a 20% deposit even though they’re struggling to get a 10% deposit. Tony talks to Mustafa and his mother about playing table tennis with him a few days ago. Tony claims he saw a fire in his belly that reminded him of himself when he was his age.

He asks Alaya if there is anything he can do for them. She tells him how she studied economics back in Mogadishu. She insists his money isn’t what they need. It might help them, but it won’t help all the things in their community that his party defunded for so many years. Alaya suspects money from him would be more for his benefit than theirs. Jess and Sunny try to get more information from Ebele. They’re pretty sure Precious died between June 4 and July 12, 2016. Ebele claims she last saw her daughter in January 2016. She was living in emergency accommodation in Shepherd’s Bush. Precious had lived with her at various points, but it was too difficult because of her issues.

Her son had stayed in Wales. Ebele visited her there once many years ago because of the cult. When she was 15, she was abducted by a cult called The Family of Blessed Light. Ebele didn’t report it because her daughter said she wanted to go with them later. A decade later when it was Ebele’s fault, Precious claimed she was abducted. She explains that her daughter and strong-willed and regularly suspended from school. Ebele thought it’d be good for her to work hard on a remote farm out of London. This was when she first moved to Wales and she was pregnant at that point. Precious didn’t say who the father was, but Ebele thinks it was the cult’s leader named David Bell. Precious lived in Wales on and off for ten or 15 years.

When she was in London, she’d steal or do escort work. When that didn’t work, she moved back. Ebele didn’t see the boy’s father coming looking for her, but he would call Precious a lot. Precious was scared of him so he might’ve come down on occasion. Ebele admits she had her own challenges at the time and she eventually had to take care of herself. Ebele cut her off after their last meeting which was on Precious’s birthday. Ebele knows she was using at the time, but she isn’t sure whether it was just meth. She believes Joseph was raised between the cult and care. She never helped with him. Ebele is asked about her 1986 firearms charge. She says it is likely in their files. Unless they’re going to arrest her, she thinks she has answered enough.

Fran speaks with a woman who says Precious had many issues and her primary issue was her FASD or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She believes that caused many of her other problems. Ebele refused to accept the diagnosis. They fought all the time and it often got physical. From what Precious told her, the aggression always came from Ebele. Jess tells Sunny she wants to know more about the grandson and the cult. She complains about how slow the others are working. Sunny asks Murray to see what he can find out about the cult. Jay talks to Keith about the Fauvists. He asks Keith if he can call his social worker because his girlfriend needs help with her habit.

Keith promises to see what he can do. Sunny speaks to DSI Clive Andrews (Colin Campbell) about Jess because each day is worse than the last. He thinks Fran should step up because she is more than capable. Karen finds something that interests her. Fran learns that the social worker shared Precious with Karol Wojski who left social work completely. The last appointment anyone had with Precious was on June 26. Karol supposedly took the apartment and saw Precious at the house where she was found deceased. Fran is given the brief notes from the meeting and told they would normally be written up in detail. It mentions that her son wants her to go back to sex work.

Her mother also assaulted her again. The notes were written up properly because Karol resigned the following day. Fran asks for Karol’s contact details. Karol suspects Elise doesn’t want to have a child with him, but she is trying to articulate some of the real practice difficulties they’ll face. Elise explains that her priority will have to be a lawyer now that Serge is going to make her do that. She doesn’t need a baby to prove to herself how much she loves him. Karol continues complaining that she won’t have a baby with him. He asks if it has something to do with the Untermensch. Leanne (Georgia Mackenzie) talks to Sunny about Cass’s death and insists it is just life.

Sal and everyone else think he should’ve gotten over it by now. Leanne knows how he feels. She recommends talking to her if he doesn’t want to see someone about it. Jess calls Sunny later to apologize for snapping earlier. She asks him about going to Paris to speak to Karol. Sunny suggests Zooming him, but Jess thinks it is important to see him in person since he is the last one to see Precious alive. Karen tells Jess that the relative who used to stop by and check on her and the La in the lawyer’s notes is Lord Anthony or Tony Hume. Jess says her local library was shut down because of him. His wife was the late owner’s youngster sister and he changed the locks.

Jess wonders what could connect the Tory Lord to the sex worker. She asks for his address. Jess calls Debbie to cancel their meeting tonight. Sal calls Sunny to say she thinks she is miscarrying. He urges her to go to the hospital before the call ends. Karol cuts open a box at work before he is interrupted by Szymon. He checks on Karol and reminds him he is always there to talk. When Keith visits Jay’s flat to check on his girlfriend, another man opens the door. Keith is told to tell Jay she is fine because he is looking after her now. Tony sends an email about tying up some loose ends. Jess visits him to ask whether he had access to the house around May or June 2016. He explains he drove down there a day after a neighbor rang and knocked on the door.

Two came to the door and he told them they couldn’t be there. He counted five in total with three men and two women. They were hostile and ended up telling him to get lost. They looked like addicts to Tony who knows addicts can be dangerous when they’re sick. Tony offered them money to leave, but they didn’t accept his offer. When he increased his offer to a thousand, they accept and left. Tony didn’t call the police because he wasn’t sure of their rights and didn’t want a long, protracted legal battle. When he went in, the place was disgusting because there was damage and filth everywhere. Tony dropped the new keys off with the solicitors a few days later. Jess checks her notes and finds that it was five weeks later.

Tony claims he was just busy. When he is shown a picture of Precious, he claims she is not familiar. After she leaves, Jess calls Karen to ask what the neighbor said the squatters were like. Karen remembers that she said they were sweet. Tony calls someone to ask what they did and ask them to call him back. He tells Emma that one of the squatters must’ve got back in somehow, overdosed, and died. A shell casing is found in the house. As Karol works his other job, we see that he stole from his workplace. Sunny tries calling Sal again before he is picked up by Leon (Denis Michallet). Dave calls Ebele to remind her they have the VC meeting tomorrow. Jay calls someone and says his mother was Precious Falade and he was there that night. He saw it all.

 

Unforgotten Review

After the third episode of Unforgotten’s fifth season, it is becoming clear that something is missing and it could be logic. The investigation is slowly moving along as Jess, Sunny, and the team learn more about Precious and those around her at the time of her death. The series jumps around a lot as usual, but it seems a little messier this time around.

It is hard to truly care about any of the suspects at this point since none of them are particularly sympathetic or interesting. On the other hand, it is also difficult to care about Precious possibly because so little is known about her. These things may change as the story continues unfolding. In terms of believability, the series seems to have taken a hit in the most recent season.

It appeared Tony was trying to bribe Alaya who didn’t seem to be hurting considering the fancy flat she was living in. It is pretty unbelievable for Jay to be Precious’s son for obvious reasons. That storyline was the best of season five so far, but that twist is just too farfetched. The Karol character is particularly frustrating because it has been nothing but whining and complaining from the beginning.

We can only hope everything will come together and make sense in the end. It has really just been okay through three episodes though. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Unforgotten can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.