As this episode of Annika begins, viewers see Forth Bridge in Edinburgh. A metal cage is pulled from the water. DI Annika Strandhed (Nicola Walker) and DS Michael McAndrews (Jamie Sives) reach the scene and find that the metal cage contains a body. They discuss the camping trip and the tent. Michael insists he isn’t trying to duck out of their chat. After the intro, Annika talks about Waverley which is a novel set during the Civil War. She questions whether she should get Michael to read it. Annika joins DS Tyrone Clarke (Ukweli Roach) and the others in the incident room.

DC Harper Weston (Varada Sethu) gets in touch to say she is at the prison now. The victim is 28-year-old Jemma Kerr. She was given six years for causing death by dangerous driving. The man she hit was Zuria Keita. Jemma was released three days ago and taken to a halfway house in Newhaven. Then, she missed all of her appointments with her probation officer. Harper says she was apparently a model prisoner. Annika asks her to check the visitor logs while she is at the prison. Tyrone says the victim was knocked unconscious before drowning and was in the water for two to three hours. A white van was reported driving erratically nearby at the time.

They’d need something like a van to transport the cage. DC Blair Ferguson (Katie Leung) says she has a team checking the CCTV footage. They find it odd that the dog cage was painted so Michael is having it analyzed. Michael and Blair are sent to the halfway house while Tyrone and Annika deal with the next of kin. Annika and Tyrone speak to Bruce Kerr (Billy Mack) about his daughter Jemma. He explains that she seemed overwhelmed when she got out. Jemma’s mom used to visit her at the prison until she got too ill. Jemma received day release for her mom’s funeral though. Bruce doesn’t drive so he couldn’t pick her up.

She arranged a visit although she never turned up. Bruce reveals she was drunk when she called from some motel. He argues that Jemma did her time and paid her debt although many cannot forgive a drunk driver. Morgan Strandhed (Silvie Furneaux) hangs out with Femi Talla (Taylor Goodwin) while camping. Femi complains about the weather. They are going to try to navigate using the sun even though they cannot see the sun. When Michael and Blair reach the halfway house, they find something red on the lock across the hallway from Jemma’s room. Once they enter Jemma’s room, they realize she hadn’t stayed there.

They notice blood on the handle inside. They go next door and break in when no one answers. They’re surprised to see several dog cages in the room. Annika and Tyrone check out the motel where Jemma had been staying. Once they reach the desk, Valeria Callo (Hannah Collins) says she hopes Tyrone has brought his handcuffs. They ask her whether Jemma is staying there and which parts of the hotel are covered by CCTV. Valeria says Jemma is booked in the penthouse and she canceled her room service. When they check the room, Tyrone questions whether Jemma was attacked there. He admits it’d be hard to drag a body out of a hotel.

They see some guy fleeing the room so Tyrone chases him. In the elevator, Annika talks about Sir Walter Scott’s The Chase. Tyrone manages to stop the guy with help from the chef. Andros Bakas (Ryan Bown) admits that he took money from the rooms of guests. The victim was angry and drinking hard. Andros says she didn’t want to talk about her anger and instead shut him down pretty quickly. He claims he was working there until three. Tyrone and Annika find a bag of money in Jemma’s room and question whether she was a gangster. Michael says the room at the halfway house is occupied by an ex-con named Billy Gleason (Steven Duffy).

He tells Annika and Tyrone that they cannot ignore a room full of cages. The substance on the door handle has been sent to the lab. After the call, Annika talks to Tyrone about Michael always being calm. Tyrone reminds her of the time Michael went ballistic before Annika says the assessment center liked Tyrone’s application. He is just waiting for a post to open now. Tyrone admits it is big because he is going to have to get used to making tough calls. Annika receives a call from her dad. Before Tyrone leaves, Annika tells him that being a DI means he can’t go dancing with hotel receptionists.

When Billy Gleason returns to his room, he complains to Michael about the door and the fingerprint dust everywhere. Billy tells him that the cages are for dogs whose owners are away on holiday. After Michael tells him about Jemma and the blood, Billy says one of the dogs bit him. After Billy is asked where she was going, he recommends asking the driver of the van who was tailing her. Annika realizes that her dad doesn’t like her much, but he hopes that’ll change one day. Michael visits Astrid McAndrews (Cora Bissett) and leaves one of Billy’s dogs with her for the night. Bess just wants to make sure the kids don’t see it.

Bess McAndrews (Mya Milne) comes in and believes they got her a puppy. Morgan calls Annika to get advice for dealing with Femi who doesn’t like being outdoors. Back in the investigation room, Annika questions where Michael is before they focus on the crime. Blair says Jemma hit Zuri. There were many upset people at the trial including Amara Keita (Kimberley Mandindo). Amara is Zuri’s sister and wanted to be notified when Jemma was released. Tyrone explains that there are two gaps in the timeline. The first is when he picked up the bag full of money. As Michael arrives, Tyrone says they got a lost luggage barcode on the bag.

They should be able to trace it. Michael says the blood from the handle belongs to Billy who snooped around in Jemma’s room. Billy saw a white van tailing the victim and it had the word Stand on it. It could be linked to three companies. Michael says the second gap in the timeline is when Jemma left the motel at 11 AM and up until her body was found. Annika and Michael go to The Stand Comedy Club. Annika and Michael talk about the dog. He offers to let Morgan come over and walk theirs since they’re likely getting one. They go into the comedy club to speak to Amara Keita who turns off the lights and flees.

At the investigation room, Michael learns that Amara tried to escape only to throw her van in reverse. Harper informs them that the paint on the cage is black trade paint. It is used to cover stage floors. There is some in Amara’s van. The barcode is from her flight to Monaco a year ago. They have the passenger’s name, Jason Craig, and address. During an interview with Harper and Annika, Amara tells them how her brother died. She goes on to say Jemma acted noble during the sentencing like she was being brave or something. Amara went to where she lived because she was trying to get some closure. She followed Jemma to the station where she picked up a bag.

Amara only knows that she came out with the bag. Harper informs her that the black paint was found under Jemma’s fingernails. Amara claims she was in a room with a hundred people and four comedians on the night of Jemma’s death. She argues that Jemma was killed by someone who hated her more than she did. When Annika asks who that might be, Amara recommends reading the trial transcripts. Blair and Tyrone visit the Craig house where they give Briony (Laura Ferries) a parcel. Once they come inside, Briony admits to giving Jemma her husband’s bag because they were old friends.

She says the money is hers to give and her husband is on a work trip overseas. Briony reveals she gave Jemma the money so she wouldn’t have to stay with her dad. She wishes she’d used that money to get to the other side of the world. Annik and Harper catch up with Michael and Blair who also have something on the dad. He made a few visits to the prison before he got banned for violence. Harper has confirmation from the court that he was removed because he was shouting that his daughter was bringing shame on the family. He even called for the death penalty. Michael says the friend is an art dealer.

Annika wants to check CCTV so they can see her collect the money. Morgan makes Femi go kayaking with her. Before long, Femi’s kayak flips and she ends up going in the water. Morgan pulls her out of the water and everything is fine. When Morgan calls her mom, Annika apologizes for making her go on the trip. She also offers to come pick her up, but Morgan isn’t coming home. Annika and Michael meet Bruce who admits he never wanted kids. He says he was pretending to be a loving father because he wanted compensation. Bruce also claims to have proof of where he was all night. He reveals that Jemma dropped her pal off before the accident.

Annika remembers that Jemma was described as noble on the stand like she had done something loyal. Blair learns that the CCTV cameras do not show a happy reunion between old mates. Her phone pings near the gallery at the time of the murder so Briony could’ve been going to work. Blair thinks she’d be there now. Harper suggests the gallery owner was driving the car, but her mate took responsibility for it. Tyrone talks to her about the possibility of doing time for someone. Michael learns that the victim was caught on a street camera close to the gallery on the afternoon she was killed. Annika finds a picture of a painted cage in a book at the gallery, but the cage seems to be missing.

Michael yells that she is coming out of the lift before Briony approaches them with a gun. Annika doesn’t think the shotgun will fire because it is only a piece of art. Briony tries to convince them to let her walk out of there. Annika says Briony offered to make it right if her friend, Jemma, took the blame for the wreck. Briony says she didn’t feel like her friend when she came out. Jemma wanted more money and more of everything. Briony claims Jemma threatened her and her son who was there as well. She confesses to pushing Jemma down the stairs and she hit her head. After Michael takes the shotgun, Briony is arrested.

Later, Harper thanks Annika for the opportunity. They discuss the time between Scott writing Waverley and it getting published. Michael comes in and learns that the tent died. He notices that Morgan is wearing his hat and suggests he left it in the tent. They agree to get a drink since Michael has a surprise for Annika. At the comedy club, she learns that the pub isn’t anything important. They discuss the puppy. Annika is shocked to learn that Michael signed her up to perform at the club. She tells the audience about the recent murder and gets no laughs. Michael speaks up and makes everyone laugh instead.

Annika tries to tell another joke and Michael interrupts. Then, she uses the opportunity to tell Michael that he is Morgan’s father. When she sits back down, Michael storms out.

 

Annika Review

This episode of Annika was okay although it may have had several additional problems as well as those from the opener. The performances are great with Nicola Walker and Jamie Sives leading the way. Some scenes in this episode were overkill and added nothing to the story. That includes many of the scenes in which Annika breaks the fourth wall.

If this was done to add something meaningful to the episode, it’d probably work more effectively. The audio needs to be improved, especially there at the end with the screeching microphone that will pierce anyone’s eardrums. This episode had several moments like that and the music was a bit annoying at times. Other than that, this was a typical episode of Annika with a predictable, slow story that never got any momentum.

While the episode wasn’t bad, it only did enough to maintain a minimum level of interest from start to finish. On the plus side, Michael got a cute puppy that we’ll hopefully see more of in future episodes. This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Annika can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.