Choose Me – As this episode of Curfew begins, Helen (Alexandra Burke) says there would be no curfew without Valarie Rashid. She tells Max (James Craven) that angry parents have already complained about her display honoring Valarie. Helen is worried the tide will turn and the renewal vote won’t pass. Max admits it’s weird to see all the men rushing home before the curfew. Helen insists bad things happen at night without the curfew. She speaks to her mother on the phone about Patrick and other things. Helen gets a message from Tom saying she made the right decision. As Helen approaches her door, she finds a note from Sian trying to get her to change her statement about the taser incident. She takes off her ring and places it nearby. Seven days before the murder, James (Bobby Brazier) looks at pictures of women.

Billy (Selorm Adonu) works on his essay about Valarie Rashid. He urges James to work on the essay although James thinks it’s brainwashing. James asks about his relationship with Cass and whether she’s keeping him locked away for a rainy day. He mentions the Duke who is a serious political thinker. The Duke thinks education is only trying to get men to comply. James says Helen is in on it. Eddie (Mitchell Robertson) tells his mom that he has a date. He won’t break the curfew or any rules because he’s putting a table outside. Eddie mentions becoming a detective and working with Pamela. After the call, Eddie begins getting ready for his date. Aisha (Alisha Bailey) interrupts James to remind him he should go. She warns Billy that there won’t be any more study sessions if he gets another C. Before James leaves,  he tells Billy that Cass won’t shag him because he’s a wussy.

James sends him something to watch. Once Billy is alone, he watches a video from The Duke about being put in the friend zone. The Duke says women respond to power and men have to show that they can exert their own power. Eddie’s date doesn’t come. He goes inside and accesses the Alpha Axis Arena website. He reads about women needing to be punished. Meanwhile, Helen gets ready to perform in front of her webcam. Billy looks at his physique in front of the mirror. He listens to The Duke. Helen speaks to a man using her webcam. Someone called “ChooseMe” wants to chat. Eddie is shown on his computer. “ChooseMe” offers to pay double her rate. Helen ends up blocking him. Sarah gets in touch with Helen. She says she was Ben tonight. Helen admits Sian keeps trying to get her to change her witness statement.

“ChooseMe2” contacts Helen to ask why she blocked him. Helen tells Sarah that men don’t like hearing the word “no”. Eddie gets a call from his mother. He asks about his father who has Alzheimer’s. Helen returns and finds out that “ChooseMe3” is contacting her now. Someone continues bothering Helen as “ChooseMe3”. She hears a knock at the door. Sian (Amy Louise Pemberton) comes in and talks to Helen about the Taser incident. She shows Helen a picture of the victim and says his daughter is in her class. James calls Billy to say he’s been digging up dirt on Helen. He also belittles him for his relationship with Cass. James believes Billy lets everyone walk all over him. Billy mentions that he had Cass take his tag off. Helen tells Sarah about the person harassing her, but she doesn’t say anything about being a cam girl. Sarah confesses she really wants to sleep with Ben. Helen hangs up so she can deal with “ChooseMe5”.

She becomes concerned when they mention her name, Helen Jones. He also knows where she works. “ChooseMe5” threatens to tell the Headmaster J Tucker. Helen receives a call from Sarah who finds out what is going on. Eddie gets a call from his mom. Helen asks what the user wants. Eddie hears chaos in the background and tries to find out what is going on with his mom. He offers to call the police. “ChooseMe” warns Helen that he knows where she lives. Someone else arrives at Helen’s door. She calls the police and reports suspicious activity outside. Helen gives the police the house number for the house across the street. She grabs packages outside her door and rushes back in. “ChooseMe” is written at the top of the label on one envelope. Eddie gets a call about the suspicious activity near Helen’s residence. Helen asks “ChooseMe” what he sent her.

She opens the package and finds a sexy schoolgirl costume. Helen calls client 54. He insists he isn’t bothering her. Client 54 warns her not to contact him again. Eddie drives to the scene. ChooseMe tells Helen it was a mistake to call the police on him. Eddie visits the neighbor to ask her about the suspicious characters. He finishes talking to her. “ChooseMe5” tells Helen that he’s watching her. He sends her a picture of herself inside her house and tells her to put the costume on. Billy ignores a call from James before being stopped going out of his house by Eddie. Billy claims he’s still in his house. Eddie finds out that Billy has been listening to The Duke. The police tell Eddie his call is finished and he has 15 minutes to return. Billy asks Eddie if girls like that he’s a cop. Eddie’s phone battery dies. He claims he had a date but forgot. Eddie says his mattes don’t like the fact that he’s a cop since they think he’s complicit.

Billy says his mate wanted him to tear down the Valarie Rashid memorial at his school. They talk about the alpha chat rooms. Eddie admits he goes there sometimes to listen and have someone to talk to. He asks about using Billy’s phone to call his mom. Eddie learns that a curfew officer is at his house having to deal with his dad. After the call, Billy asks if everything is fine. Eddie tells him he doesn’t want to listen to The Duke or anyone who speaks about women like they’re not human. He rushes to get back. Helen puts on the outfit before “ChooseMe” contacts her. “ChooseMe5” calls her seconds later so they can begin their story. She doesn’t get to see them and their voice is disguised. “ChooseMe5” wants her to read something about liking to teach young boys. As she does it, she finds out that her session is being recorded.

Helen asks them to delete it. “ChooseMe” signs out without saying what they’re going to do with the video. Eddie finds a note from the girl cursing him. Someone in a black hoodie is shown with the video of Helen. When the figure turns around, we see that it is Cass.

 

Curfew Review

The fourth episode of Curfew was a big pretty sidestep considering it didn’t really focus on the present at all. Instead, it was more about uncovering Helen’s past activities that possibly could’ve led to her death. For starters, we learned more about Helen’s work as a cam girl and the fact that she was being blackmailed.

The episode did an okay job of making it appear that Eddie was responsible for the blackmailing until the very end. However, it was easily questionable throughout. Instead, Cass received the video of Helen and was likely doing it all along. Using Eddie like this just adds yet another suspect to the ever-growing list.

Furthermore, we have James and Billy who have been listening to an Andrew Tate-like figure called The Duke. These ideas have been done previously, but I suppose they fit the story pretty well. The story may end up getting more complicated than necessary. As for this episode, it easily could’ve been condensed to get the point much sooner.

The whole thing could’ve been better if the curfew concept was emphasized and played a bigger role in everything. This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Curfew can be found here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show with others here.