Callorwell – As the second episode of Ellis begins, a woman, Carla Duffy, tells investigators they have had time to charge her. Two days later, ACC Leighton (Allison Harding) contacts DCI Ellis (Sharon D. Clarke) and asks her to contact her back. Leighton asks her what she knows about Callorwell Police. Ellis remembers Carla Duffy who was a drug baron. The investigators have to arrest her. Leighton says the best case is that arresting offices skipped protocol or were just sloppy. 35-year-old DS Jenny Rawler (Jenny Kavanagh) has gone missing. Her husband reported her missing and he’s gone public. He claims the force has done something with it. DCI Hain (Tim Dutton) has taken a leave of absence. Ellis learns more about Jenny who has been married to Adam Reid for five years and has a stepson named Mark. Jenny’s vehicle was found at the Callorwell Activity Centre where she was a regular.

DCI Ellis and DS Chet Harper (Andrew Gower) arrive in time to see Carla being released. DI Jamie Morrison (Sam Marks) welcomes them when they go inside. He gives them every resource because their main priority is finding Jenny. Ellis warns everyone that she won’t be sharing any of her findings with their team. Once they’re taken to their office, Ellis talks to Jamie about why she doesn’t trust his team. Ellis knows DCI Hain is the last person Jenny communicated with. In private, Ellis reads her email to Hain. She visits DCI Hain to ask him about that. He insists that was typical Jenny because she never got her head around protocol. Hain isn’t worried about her husband’s statements. He is convinced Jenny requested leave because she was seeking attention. A man with his dog finds a body on a trail. DC Leah Thompson (Aoibheann McCann) introduces herself to Chet.

She wants to help because she was friends with Jenny. Sergeant Frank Landry (William Travis) also wants to help. Chet wants to look at Jenny’s cases and he still needs access to the system. Jamie tells everyone that they’ve found the body. Chet and Ellis arrive at the scene. They learn that Jenny suffered a single stab wound to the thigh. There are no other visible injuries. Ellis visualizes the attack. It’s possible that she was stabbed by a broken bottle. They don’t find blood on any of the bottles nearby. Ellis is convinced someone killed her, took her phone, and texted Hain to request leave. Chet and Ellis visit Adam Reid (Jonathan Harden) and Mark Reid (Michael McCloskey-Ooi). Adam explains he was away at a conference and there was no sign of Jenny when he returned. The doorbell camera footage suggests Mark was the last person to have seen her. Mark says he was headed to the library. He did not hear from Jenny later that day. They don’t talk every day although they do get on well.

Adam is asked about his wife’s phone which is missing. He admits he tried to convince Jenny to quit her job because she was being undermined and there were derogatory comments about her ability to do the job. Adam claims they did this because Jenny is a woman. Something happened that caused Jenny to begin looking into filing a formal complaint. Adam mentions death threats Jenny had received. He gave them to Landry. Ellis visits DCI Hain to ask him about the formal complaint for bullying. Hain claims he was playing cards at DI Morrison’s on the night in question. Morrison will be his only alibi. Ellis asks for the name of the cab company. Hain admits he drove home drunk and slept in the spare room to avoid bothering his wife. Ellis leaves and messages Chet to tell him. Chet speaks to Morrison at the police station. Morrison claims Jenny was in love with him and Hain didn’t reciprocate or they were up to something.

Morrison claims she was a woman scorned. Chet gets a message from Ellis telling him to check out Hain’s alibi. Morrison only says he’s the sort who stands by a man when he’s down. Moments later, Chet tries to speak to Leah Thompson who says she was just leaving. He follows her and finds her choking up. She tries to get away as quickly as possible. Chet asks her if there were any reported incidents in the days leading up to Jenny’s death. She points out a student overdose involving a 20-year-old named Amelie Hadenham. Leah claims to have no complaints with Hain. Ellis arrives and questions Landry about the threatening letters. Morrison interrupts and says this is the first he heard of the letters. He insists he’ll find them. He tells Ellis that he and Hain ordered Chinese. In private, Ellis and Chet talk about the case and Amelie’s suspected overdose at Broughton University. Chet believes they’re hiding something since IT still hasn’t given them access. Ellis learns that Jenny was 18 weeks pregnant.

They talk about Adam possibly lying to them. Ellis tells Chet to keep asking around at the station. ACC Leighton calls Ellis to say the Chief Constable wants an hourly update. Ellis tells her about the letters. She says she’s not getting the type of cooperation she needs. Ellis speaks to the police about the evidence they need. Morrison thinks she’d want to interview Adam Reid again. He says he spent the night looking for letters, but they were misfiled and destroyed by a probationary officer. Ellis wants computer access. Adam is questioned moments later. He insists Jenny wouldn’t keep secrets from him because they were incredibly close. Ellis shows him a list of numbers Jenny contacted in the last six months. Adam claims she was obsessed with the job and it was making her distant. Jenny called a midwifery center in Callorwell and two unknown numbers. Adam isn’t happy to learn they haven’t read the letters.

He claims this is a police cover-up. Moments later, Chet and Ellis go through the evidence they have. Jenny called an unregistered SIM and no one picked it up. Ellis tries calling the number again. Someone ignores the call. While they’re traveling, Chet received a call from Naomi McKeith (Stephanie Levi-John). Ellis says she’d like to speak to Naomi in person. Leah sends them CCTV footage from the hotel Adam Reid stayed at. There are no breakdowns so it will take a while to get through. Chet and Ellis catch up with Naomi who suspects Adam killed Jenny. She has to go in a hurry. Ellis says they can go again. Naomi insists Adam is controlling and cut Jenny off from everyone. Adam had a vasectomy after Mark so he couldn’t have another child. Ellis says Adam didn’t know that Jenny was pregnant. Naomi wonders why Jenny didn’t tell her. Back in the car, Chet happens to scan over and find Adam on CCTV footage.

Adam left the hotel in a taxi so he was lying about never leaving. They visit Adam who is working on his bicycle. Adam admits he panicked and lied. It was a shocker because he learned that his wife was having an affair. Adam doesn’t like Naomi. They ask him if he saw Jenny on the night in question. They also accuse him of sleeping with Miriam Anderson. Chet reveals Miriam insists Chet spent the night of Jenny’s death with her. Back at home, Chet and Ellis discuss the fact that Jenny was focusing on sexual offense cases and her success rate was very high. They go through the timeline and find out that Amalie wasn’t on Jenny’s caseload. Tim Jones was accused of multiple sexual offenses, including flashing. Jenny couldn’t pin a conviction on him. Jones went to the papers and accused the police of harassment and leaking his name. He blamed Jenny. Christine Bennett calls to say there’s something they need to see.

Once they meet her at the scene, Christine says she noticed that the victim’s leg was lifted. Someone did that to her. There’s also a bruise suggesting something was holding her there. Christine found the glass used to make the wound.

CSI Christine Bennett (Kristen Foster) insists someone wearing gloves wiped down the broken glass. Ellis tells Harper that the rape kit was negative but Jenny wasn’t alone when she died. A man approaches their vehicle and accuses them of pursuing him. Ellis quickly researches the man to determine he is Tim Jones. They emerge from the vehicle and pursue him. Ellis asks to speak to him. He claims the “witch” is lying. She says if he is referring to Jenny, she is dead. Tim blames her for losing his job and marriage. Ellis points out that he is heading to where Jenny died. He sarcastically says it is a free country. Harper asks if he ever saw Jenny when she visited there in the past. Tim denies seeing and killing her. Ellis tells her that there is no evidence of Jenny being murdered. Later, Ellis informs Hain that Jenny was 4-1/2 months pregnant when she died. She claims Morrison suspects he was having an affair with Jenny. Hain claims to have been in Dubai for a three-week holiday in November when Jenny got pregnant. He shows her photos and promises to send her a photo of his e-tickets. She tells him that Jenny’s threatening letters were in police possession when they were destroyed. He insists Jenny was sabotaging the Duffy operation.

Harper questions why Hain never filed a complaint against Jenny. Ellis suggests it was because of her high sexual offense conviction rate. Something in Jenny changed when she started working on the Duffy case. Immediately after the investigation into Duffy was executed in June, the team made an arrest. Duffy hires a team of notable attorneys and Casey was arrested in August. After Jenny joined the investigation in September, evidence began to disappear and search warrants turned up nothing. She was taken off the case in January and Carla was arrested in March. Ellis and Harper have validated Hain’s claim of Jenny being corrupt. She says Jenny fell in love with someone and utilized a burner phone to stay in contact. Seeing CCTV footage of Jenny with a gym bag, Harper questions why she rented a locker in the climbing centre. Utilizing Thompson’s computer, they scan through the evidence collected from Jenny’s locker which they knew nothing about. They trace the phone number back to Curtis, the father of Jenny’s unborn baby. Morrison says Duffy is Curtis’ mother. Later, Morrison preps his team to arrest Curtis. Thompson asks if Curtis was connected to Jenny’s murder. He says no. She asks if the Duffy investigation was halted by the CPS. He says on Carla only. Once alone, Ellis confronts Thompson about processing Jenny’s locker. Thompson claims to have wanted to conceal evidence that would taint Jenny’s name because she was a good cop. Ellis removes a brush from an evidence bag and disassembles it to reveal the burner phone that Jenny was utilizing to contact the Duffy gang. Thompson insists Jenny was not corrupt before turning in her badge. Harper tries to stop her but she refuses to change her mind.

Morrison and an armed tactical leave to arrest Curtis. Utilizing Jenny’s burner phone, Ellis tries to call Curtis to no avail. Within seconds an incoming call from a different number pops up on the phone. She answers the call to hear an irate Carla demanding to know who she is. Ellis warns her that Morrison’s team is en route to the Bridge Road garage. The line goes dead. Morrison and the tactical team approach the garage. Someone sends coordinates to the burner phone. The tactical team raids the garage to find it empty, leaving Morrison irate. Landry claims Morrison told him to shred Jenny’s threatening letters but he kept them. Harper confronts Ellis about alerting Carla of Morrison’s raid. She denies feeling bad about it because it wouldn’t have produced a single conviction. She notifies Leighton of Morrison trying to destroy Jenny’s threatening letters and suggests he be immediately suspended. A short time later, Ellis meets Carla to tell her that Curtis is a suspect in Jenny’s murder. Carla says none of her family killed Jenny. She recalls how she imagined spending time with her granddaughter and sends a text. Ellis accuses her of killing her boys’ dreams. Carla sarcastically suggests she will stop her on the next go-round. Harper arrests Curtis. Upon arriving at the police station, Thompson attacks Curtis and accuses him of killing Jenny. Harper tells her that he read the letters. She complains about her and Jenny being bullied. He urges her not to resign and sends her photos of the letters.

In the interrogation room, Ellis accuses Curtis of using Jenny to divert the course of justice. He explains how he and Jenny spend their weekly meetings. Harper tells Morrison that he thought he would have already been terminated. Morrison vows to get him for subordination. Chet says he’ll be lucky if he gets demoted to PC. Curtis Keogh (Fionn O Loingsigh) is asked about Amelie. He says she wasn’t their customer. After Jenny’s shift, she was going to pack a bag at home and meet him. Curtis admits he was gutted when she didn’t turn up. He admits he’s his mom’s son so he can’t grass even on himself. Leah looks at pictures of the threatening letters. Chet asks Morrison how he didn’t know about all of this. Morrison leaves. Chet asks if anyone can pull the cell site history of Curtis Keogh’s phone before they’re all suspended. Chet and Ellis meet Amelia who confirms she did the sexual assault examination on Amelie Hadenham. She gave Jenny a heads-up. She knew Callorwell would bury it if Jenny wasn’t on Amelie’s side. They kicked Jenny off the case and buried it before Amelie overdosed.

Jenny kept doing the right thing for her. Amelia has never heard of Curtis. Ellis confronts Landry about Amelie’s case. She alleges Morrison asked him to bury the case and he did as he was told. Landry admits he was trying to stay there until he could collect his pension. Next, Ellis insists the letters weren’t written by Carla Duffy. Chet says Curtis was inside a jewelry store doing a smash and grab at the time. Ellis holds a letter up to the light and finds a hidden message, “Everything they’re not telling us.” Chet searches for that and finds a conspiracy theory book by that name. They immediately suspect Tim Jones and go looking for him. They find him attacking Leah. Ellis tells him they know he wrote the letters to Jenny. She pleads with him to let Leah go. Tim says he had a bad day, so he came to the center on Tuesday evening.

He gets upset and yells that Jenny hurt him by telling everyone his name. Ellis insists Jenny didn’t leak his name. When he gets distracted, Leah hits him and flees. Chet arrests him. Leah admits she leaked his name to the press. Tim says he waited for her, but she was a no-show. He claims he’ll be on the CCTV. Leah notices he had Jenny’s gym bag. Tim yells that he found it as he’s led away. Ellis looks inside the bag and finds drugs. Back at the station, Curtis admits to doing something such as a smash and grab robbery. Jenny was ready to leave since she packed her passport and a load of prescription drugs. Chet asks if Curtis’s mom knew Jenny was the one dealing at the university. Curtis insists Jenny would never do that. He told Jenny his mom had picked it out and she needed to pick her family. Curtis smashed his car into a jewelry shop because he thought Jenny had picked the police. Ellis ends the interview.

Chet and Ellis visit Adam to ask about Mark. Ellis searches Mark’s room and finds a hidden compartment in the bed. Inside it, she finds drugs and other items. Chet and Ellis go to the university. Mark flees from them. They eventually stop and detain him. He’s arrested for possession with intent to supply and the constructive manslaughter of Amelie Hadenham. In an interview room, Mark complains about getting sixty grand of student debt for a degree that’s worth nothing. He saw Jenny at the movies with Curtis one night. Mark says something bad had happened to Amelie. He doesn’t think it’s his fault that she overdosed. He claims he was done after she died. When he got home Tuesday, Jenny was there waiting for him. She took half of his stash and put it in her gym bag because she was going to sort it out. Chet asks where he got the drugs from. Mark says his dad didn’t allow many friends. Chet and Ellis go to the hospital to look for Naomi.

They eventually get Naomi and accuse her of giving drugs to Mark Reid. Naomi doesn’t know why Jenny didn’t tell her about the baby. She said Jenny asked to meet her. When they met, Jenny started shouting at her and she saw red. Amelia pushed her. Chet tries to catch up with the elevator. Amelia says she knew something was wrong because Jenny was in shock. She landed on a broken bottle that severed her femoral artery. Amelia stopped the bleeding, but she knew Jenny always had to do the right thing. Amelia decides to let her bleed out. She says Jenny had picked her family and it was Curtis. Amelia is arrested. Later, Ellis tells Chet she wants something to eat.

 

Ellis Review

The second episode of Ellis was fairly formulaic when compared to the first. It had the same flow, the same issues, and the same outcome. Despite all the issues here, Ellis would be a lot more tolerable if it was only an hour or 45 minutes per episode. At an hour and a half, the show is spinning too many webs and leading to everyone being a criminal before the episode has concluded.

Chet is decent enough, but none of the other characters are really likable. That includes Ellis who tipped off a notorious drug dealer in this episode. Other things throughout the episode were just silly, including not noticing how the victim was lying much earlier on. That should’ve stuck out like a sore thumb for an investigator because it did for me.

It was also corny for Ellis to use the old light trick to find a hidden message. It’s also lame that Curtis got so upset he decided to drive his car into a jewelry store, but no one realized that until he confessed to it. There are too many of these silly things because the episodes last far too long.

The second episode also had some performance issues from the side characters. They weren’t as strong as they could’ve been. The camerawork is hideous during the raid and chase scenes. Otherwise, it works well enough and the scenery is perfect for the moodiness of the show.

Ultimately, Ellis is just barely watchable because of the excessive runtime. If the episodes were shorter, this could possibly surpass some of Britain’s many crime dramas. This episode scores a 5.2 out of 10. Recaps of Ellis can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here.

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