As the third episode of After The Verdict begins, Zoe (Coco Jack Gillies) goes to her refrigerator and finds dinner. She goes upstairs and notices a car outside when she walks past the window. She calls her dad to see when he is coming home. Zoe learns a message before going to the shed to grab a flashlight. Then, she confronts the people in the car who turn out to be Margie (Magda Szubanski) and Ollie (Lincoln Younes). They tell her they’re there to talk to Daniel (Sullivan Stapleton) since they did jury duty with him. Zoe makes sure they know thaat she isn’t there alone although Daniel isn’t home. She says he never mentioned them. The only person he mentioned from jury duty was Clara (Michelle Davidson). When Ollie asks what he said about her, Zoe reveals he called her annoying. In private, Ollie suggests to Margie that Daniel might’ve kidnapped Clara.

Although Zoe wants them to leave, they decide to wait around until Daniel comes back. She goes in, comes back out, and asks what they want to talk to her dad about. Then, she asks if it had anything to do with that weird guy here yesterday. Margie asks if someone has been bothering her father. Zoe admits she was in bed when she heard them yelling. Despite not being about to hear what they were saying, things looked pretty intense. They show her a picture of Dean Walsh (Tel Benjamin) since they suspect it was him, but Zoe won’t confirm it. She offers to let them stay inside. Clara hangs out with Heidi (Tess Haubrich) who is busy chopping wood. Clara hears something behind her and begins worrying, but Heidi insists it isn’t anything. Once they go inside, they decide to open a bottle of wine. Heidi doesn’t think her father will notice it is gone.

Clara notices that her phone has fully charged. She has tons of messages so she listens to one of them. In one of the messages, Ollie and Margie tell her that Daniel is the stalker and murderer. In another, she learns about Dean’s murder. Clara tells Heidi about the stalker being found dead as she begins freaking out. Heidi suggests she should be slightly relieved that the guy is dead. She reminds her that he started that fire because she doubted her, but Clara didn’t want him dead. Heidi doesn’t mean to be heartless but she is glad they don’t have to worry about him anymore. Clara asks if she can take a shower before heading to the bathroom. While standing in front of the mirror, she sees Belinda behind her saying it is peaceful out there. After she realizes she is alone, she messages Margie to let her know she is okay. Trish (Virginia Gay) contacts Margie to ask if she should take the bus to work.

Margie promises to get there as quickly as possible. She asks Zoe if she is going to be okay on her own. When she asks about her mother, they learn that she is dead. Clara calls to check on her children even though it is past their bedtime. She is shocked to find Daniel behind her as he tries to keep her quiet. She accuses him of following her around all week. He promises to tell her everything, but they have to go immediately. Daniel insists it isn’t safe with Heidi here and there has been a development. Clara knows her other stalker is dead. Daniel didn’t know although he saw the crime scene. He asks if she suspects that Heidi might have something to do with this. Daniel suspects Heidi paid Dean to burn down Dom’s store. It is a gut feeling just like she always thought Heidi was guilty. Clara isn’t eager to leave with him. When Heidi comes, Daniel has to leave in a hurry.

Heidi looks outside but sees nothing. Then, they play a game. While playing, Clara asks about her day shopping and if she bought anything special. She tells her before learning that Clara loves lipsticks. Heidi gives her the lipstick she bought today. She says she is on to her and that seems to surprise Clara. Heidi is talking about Scrabble. She offers to let Clara have another turn and promises not to tell anyone if she doesn’t. In the morning, Clara joins Heidi and reveals she kept wondering who killed Dean Walsh last night. Heidi thinks someone like him would have a lot of enemies. Clara mentions Belinda’s husband Paul since he accused him of killing his wife.

Heidi claims Paul (Nicholas Brown) was always intimidated by Belinda’s brains and success so it was like it ticked him off. Although he has a temper, he never hit Belinda or anything like that. She goes on to allege that he used steroids. Heidi invites her to a café, but Clara is ready to see her kids. Clara thinks she should march over there and make Dom let her see them. Daniel reads about the body found in the national park until Zoe enters the room. She notices some cuts on his knuckles. When Margie arrives, Zoe admits that she called her. Daniel asks Zoe to go inside, but she wants to stay because he never talks to her about anything anymore. Margie tells Daniel that she and Ollie saw him in the national park. They confront him about knowing Dean too. Margie asks about his knuckles before revealing the police said Dean was beaten to death.

Daniel claims he grazed them while working on the bike, but Zoe doesn’t believe that. He eventually confesses to joining a fight club where a bunch of normal guys get together and fight. He first went about a year ago and also went last night after he saw Clara with Heidi. Daniel goes on to tell them that he has been checking up on Clara since the fire because he feels responsible. Zoe and Margie continue pushing in hopes of getting more information from him. They step inside where Daniel says one of the Free Heidi fanatics followed him from court about three weeks into the trial. Dean wanted to pay one of them to make sure the jury voted not guilty. Margie gets him to admit that he was paid 40 grand to lie to them. He hasn’t spent any of it and doesn’t want it. Zoe wonders if her father could go to jail for this. Daniel confesses that his head has been messed up for a while and he doesn’t even remember agreeing to do it.

Dean claimed he was working alone in the bribe and fire although Daniel isn’t sure. He told Dean over and over that Clara voted not guilty like the rest of them. Daniel offered to give his money back and even kept an eye on Dean to make sure he didn’t go after Clara. Margie says getting rid of him would help cover Daniel’s tracks too. He explains that he was on his way back to give him the money when he saw the crime scene and panicked. Daniel quickly tries to smooth things over with Zoe, but she says she is late for school before running off. Clara goes to Dom’s place to see Jamie and tells Dom that her weird stalker has been murdered. She makes him agree that she has been a good mom up until now. Clara isn’t going to let them punish the kids so she is demanding to see them. Dom agrees to bring them over for dinner one night this week and they can sort something out.

When Daniel shows the others the money, Ollie asks why the wack job didn’t pick him. Clara immediately argues they should go to the cops, judge, or both while Margie thinks they should talk about it first. Ollie doesn’t think they change the outcome although Daniel made a little money on the side. He even suggests splitting the money, but they’re worried Heidi might be looking for it. Daniel believes she could’ve ordered the fire. He asked Dean numerous times and he always said Heidi wasn’t involved.  Margie and Ollie explain it isn’t eager because Daniel has a young daughter and he is a widower. Margie believes they should find out where the bribe came from before reporting it. Next, Margie and Clara meet with the founder of the Free Heidi group. Leanne calls them her heroes for setting Heidi free. She reveals that Dean became a real problem for them although she isn’t happy he is dead.

He kept saying Heidi was his fiancé and he even bought her a wedding dress. He was even talking about buying them a home. Since he was an IT specialist, he had a lot of money. She shows them a picture of the wedding dress. As they leave, Clara and Margie don’t think Heidi picked out that dress. They also suggest Dean could’ve paid the bribe himself since he had money. If Dean was telling Daniel the truth, Heidi might’ve had nothing to do with it. When Zoe returns home, she says she was out with friends and didn’t answer her phone because he never does. He offers her dinner, but she has already eaten.

After that, Daniel visits Clara with Margie and Ollie. They go inside where Clara shows them the cart she made in hopes of making things clearer for them. She points out that Heidi had the motive to kill Belinda and Dean. Since Dean wasn’t short on cash, there is a chance that Heidi didn’t pay for the bribe. The fire could’ve been a way to punish Clara for doubting Heidi. Clara believes there is a strong possibility that Dean’s killer also killed Belinda. She says the person who had motive to kill them both was Paul. They discuss the possibility of Paul killing Belinda and Dean. Ollie admits murder is a good way to shut someone up. Daniel wonders what Paul was doing yesterday afternoon. Clara and Ollie try to get a meeting with Paul at his office. Ollie manages to take a picture of the computer screen that seems to have Paul’s schedule on it.

Clara spots a woman who works there and remembers she testified during the trial as a neighbor of Belinda. She asks to speak to Megan instead. When they leave, Clara tells Ollie that the accountant backed up Paul’s story during the trial. She also said that there were two female voices arguing on the roof. The woman gave evidence and made Heidi look guilty. She also got a job from Paul a month or so ago. Ollie arranges a meeting with Eliza (Emma Diaz) who makes sure they know she isn’t in a relationship with him. They try to convince her to tell the cops to look into Paul since he could’ve killed his wife. He had the opportunity and his DNA was on Belinda’s close too. They also tell her about the accountant named Megan. Eliza learns about Paul’s steroid abuse and how he was jealous of Belinda’s success. As Ollie escorts Margie and Clara out, he thinks they’ve solved the case. Clara tells Margie about the kids coming over tonight even though it is supervised.

Margie tries to convince her not to do anything about Daniel’s bribe. At home, Margie prepares a late breakfast for Trish and agrees to drive her home. Heidi unexpectedly shows up at Clara’s house just before the kids arrive. Dom isn’t happy about that, but Clara says she just popped by and she is only an accused killer. He takes the kids away as Heidi realizes that was her fault. Heidi explains that Clara inspired her to do something amazing today so she wanted to show her. She takes Clara to her office and explains she is launching her own PR firm. Belinda’s old clients have been asking her to do it. Clara mentions Paul so she has to come clean about him being investigated. Heidi asks if she has been speaking to the cops, but she quickly says no. She scares Clara when she begins tearing down the wall with a sledgehammer. Clara makes sure to get out of there swiftly before seeing Belinda again.

At home, she throws away Heidi’s lipstick. Ollie arrives and she admits she wants to get this over with quickly too. She tells him about Heidi setting up her business using Belinda’s client list and staff. When they reach the venue for Belinda’s party, they run into the woman from the business. She tells them that Paul ruined Belinda’s business because he is grumpy all the time and it is because of the steroids. Heidi rescued her since she is going to be working with her now. Once Heidi comes out, Paul surprises them and reveals that the police were searching his apartment. He complains about Astrid switching jobs since Belinda did so much for her. Paul questions how Heidi managed to fool everyone before asking why Clara and Ollie are there. Cops enter to arrest him because the suspected murder weapon was found in his apartment.

He accuses Heidi of putting it there as he is led out of the building by the authorities. Heidi never wanted to believe he could do something like that. Clara goes to Daniel to complain about his bribe making things even more complicated. She admits she told Heidi that the police were looking at Paul before the murder weapon showed up at his apartment. She is going to listen to her gut and nobody else from now on. Daniel sits with Zoe and says he is going to turn himself in for the bribe.

 

After The Verdict Review

The third episode of After the Verdict was the best episode of the series to date for a handful of reasons. The characters were a bit calmer so some of them weren’t as annoying as they normally are. There were a few genuinely funny moments with Ollie, Daniel, and the money. It was also interesting to learn more about Daniel’s life while seeing his interaction with his daughter Zoe. Since some of the characters are a bit over-the-top, it is hard to judge the performances. However, Sullivan Stapleton and Coco Jack Gillies really stood out in this episode thanks to some grounded scenes.

Lincoln Younes has gone a good job of bringing a little humor to the show. As for the story, it is a bit simple with plenty twists and turns already so it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here. Paul has been arrested after Clara, Ollie, and Margie convinced Eliza to talk to the police about him, but Clara is having second thoughts. She still seems convinced that Heidi could be involved in the murder.

That aspect of the story is at least good enough to keep viewers guessing and watching week after week if they can get past some of the sometimes trying characters. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of After The Verdict can be found on Reel Mockery here. Thanks for stopping by. If you’d like to learn how to support our work, follow this link.