The Arrival – As the second episode of After The Flood begins, Pat (Matt Stokoe) apologizes to Joanna Marshall (Sophie Rundle) and admits he understands why she wanted to start the course. When her phone rings, she pretends it is Deepa so she doesn’t have to answer it. Once she gets away from Pat, she checks her voicemail and hears Tasha Eden (Anita Adam Gabay) urging her to take her calls. Tasha claims she is looking at her ashes. Jo talks to Molly (Lorraine Ashbourne) about Tasha. On the van, Jo gets another voicemail message in which Tasha threatens her. They arrive and begin helping the locals. Pat makes sure Jo doesn’t lift anything heavy.

He calls out a man for taking someone else’s fridge before learning he is being called in to work. Jo tells Molly that she is going home. Jack begins helping. Molly tells him that the Flood Relief Fund is back up and running. She thinks people should remember that the money comes from people paying their council tax on those streets. Jack is surprised to learn Molly is the treasurer. Jo runs into Amy and her baby near their vehicle. Amy learns that there is no news about the hero. Jo goes home where she begins charging her phone. She finds a news article about an E-fit image being issued by Waterside Police in hopes of identifying the deceased man. Jo checks Tasha’s social media and finds pictures of the man  in question.

She is convinced it is the same person. Jo hears something upstairs so she goes up to investigate. She finds Soph in bed with a man. Jo complains to Kelly (Faye McKeever) because Soph is 15 and the boy is 19. She threatens to arrest the man if she finds him there again. Jo decides to spend another night with Molly. She believes she messed up putting the DNA on that genealogy site. Jo shows her mom what she just found on Tasha’s social media page. She doesn’t know what to do with the information. Jo wonders if someone used the flood to make it seem that the man in the lift had drowned. Molly listens to the voicemail and learns it was sent about six or seven hours ago. She thinks Jo should forget about it. Tasha arrives at the Waterside Valley Hotel where she asks about Jo Marshall.

At the station, Jo learns from Deepa (Tripti Tripuraneni) that everyone has been sent to help out in Minton. Sergeant Phil Mackie (Nicholas Gleaves) interrupts to tell Jo that the training course has been suspended until the flood emergency is over. Before she can go back to work, she’ll have to complete a risk assessment. Phil puts her in charge of calling the people on the sick list to see when they’re coming back. When she is alone, she looks through the case files for the deceased man and doesn’t find Eden on it. Molly goes around getting signatures so she can run in the election. Jordan calls her to say the insurance guy is there and he needs her help. Tasha tries to find out more about Jo but the Internet doesn’t help. Jo quickly looks at pictures of the garage before Phil returns.

Jo learns that Don and Mary Allen’s grandson wants to speak to the officers who found them. She agrees to speak to Finn. Molly hears Jordan yelling because the insurance man claims he isn’t insured. The insurance man explains that there is an exemption clause for business premises. Jordan complains that he is ruined and 18 years of work have been wiped out. Jack and Kelly tell Molly they have something for the Flood Relief Fund. Kelly takes a picture of Jack Radcliffe (Philip Glenister) handing a check to Molly. Molly asks Jack about Sarah Mackie. Jack admits the Chair of the Planning Committee will always be one of his favorite people whoever they are. He gets a call and steps away. The groundskeeper speaks to Jo and agrees to let her look around.

He doesn’t remember anything although Jack Radcliffe comes in from time to time. Jo learns that he owns and built the facility. It includes eight units and none of them have ever been used. She is allowed to look around the facility. Chris realizes that his key isn’t working. He offers to call Jo when he finds the right one. Jo remembers there were four cars stuck in the car park. There were four in a row and the second to the last one was red. Jo mentions checking the CCTV only to learn there is no CCTV system. When she checks it, she notices that the car is missing. Jo believes someone wanted them to think the man had drowned down there. Pat and Jo return home a bit later. Before they go inside, Pat asks what she’d think about putting in for a transfer.

He suggests they can go somewhere new and exciting, but Jo is worried about leaving her mom. Faye and Keith have a surprise for them. Sophie apologizes. Jo and Pat learn they’ve given them a massage chair. Jo isn’t thrilled to hear they put her dad’s old chair out in the garden. Tasha arrives at the door to speak to Jo. Seconds later, Jo goes back inside to tell them to remove the chair and to tell Pat to get rid of them. She leaves with Tasha. Jo tells her that she is a police officer and there has been a misunderstanding. In the car, Tasha shows Jo her brother’s ashes and explains he died on May 5, 2019. Jo quickly tells her what happened. She confesses to putting the man’s DNA into Gene Tracker. Once Jo shows her the E-fit photo, Tasha says she is going to the police. Jo reluctantly agrees to take her to the police station.

Before Tasha goes inside, Jo asks her to come to her mom’s place to look at the early case file she downloaded. Tasha accuses her of trying to save her own skin. Pat gets upset with Kelly. He receives a message from Jo saying she is going to her mom’s place. Jo believes she sees the hero (Jonas Armstrong). He tells her that he just knows he came to on the riverbank past Saltbridge. He admits he only remembers her and he didn’t come forward for a load of fuss. The man calls himself Lee. Jo suggests he could meet Amy and her baby. Lee asks if she is going to tell anyone. He agrees to come. Tasha tells Phil that her brother is Daniel Eden. She gets upset and yells for them to take her DNA. Phil calms her down and says he’ll call for someone who can help.

Lee and Jo visit Amy. Tasha tells DS Babak (Heider Ali) she just wants to prove the man isn’t her brother. She tells them that Daniel died in a motorbike accident. Babak and Phil ask questions about how she knew and why she thought the man might be her brother. Jo receives a call from Phil Mackie but ignores it. Lee finishes speaking to Amy before leaving. Phil finally gets in touch with Jo to say the Allens’ grandson will be at the house tomorrow. He is at her dad’s allotment because the foster boy decided to grow carrots. After the call, Sarah and Phil argue about not calling and their whereabouts. Jo is surprised to find Tasha at her mom’s house. Tasha explains she didn’t mention her and the police won’t let her do what she needs to do.

She wants to identify the body, but they want a DNA test first. Tasha wants to look at the crime scene photos. She wonders why Daniel would let her believe he was dead for all these years. Jo reluctantly lets her look at the crime scene photos. She questions why Daniel would’ve faked his death and why someone would’ve wanted to kill him. Tasha doesn’t have answers. Jo learns Pat is coming so Tasha hurries out of the house but not before they agree to meet in the morning. When Pat arrives, Molly says she has enough signatures. Pat stays the night and tells Jo the chair is back. Deepa and Jo speak to Finn the next day. They tell him what happened and that he can’t go inside because it’s still a crime scene. Finn says it is a crime since they didn’t need to die.

He complains the government and the Environment Agency have no obligation to provide flood defenses. Jo thinks he should get together with her mother because she is a flood warden. Then, Jo visits Tasha who has been looking for signs of Daniel online but they all stopped five years ago. Jo suspects he had another ID or got a new one. She calls Deepa to ask her to email her the response list for the lift man E-FIT. Deepa agrees to do it even though the boss is screaming in the background. Once they get the list, Tasha and Jo look through it to see if anything rings a bell. Tasha sees Alex Welland and shouts that’s Daniel. She knows that because of the connection to Nanta. Tasha shows Jo her tattoo and explains she called him Danta and he called her Nanta.

They go to the address which is down by the docks. Pat and another officer are sent down to the docks to follow up on the E-FIT list. DCI Roy tells Phil that he wants Jo. Tasha tells Jo about her brother once they reach the docks. They check out the business called Nanta Remediation Services. Jo is surprised when Tasha sees Lee and instantly recognizes him.

 

After The Flood Review

The episode of After The Flood was okay although it is easy to have more concerns after this episode. After all, the pace is already starting to slow to a crawl as the series focuses on unimportant side stories. The flood is over so it feels like a moot point now. In a way, it seems the series is trying to do too much just to reach the six-episode count.

After all, there are many side stories that probably won’t matter too much in the long run. For instance, the series is trying to juggle the death of the Allen couple, Molly’s campaign, Kelly’s stay, Jo’s pregnancy, and Jo and Pat’s relationship woes. I mean it is hard to imagine anyone really cares about the environmental stuff that seems so superfluous.

The relationship and in-laws drama just aren’t that interesting either. If this series is going to succeed, it’ll have to focus a lot more on the investigation, Lee, and Daniel. The flood scenes in the opening episode were really the best part of the series. Once the flood ended, this has turned into any other crime drama.

It’s right in the middle of the road because it has moments but never enough to break through mediocrity. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of After The Flood can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent work at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here. Discuss this series and more at the Reel Mockery Forum.