As the first episode of Better begins, DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) tells her friends a joke about an arrest. When she receives a call, Lou leaves Ceri Davies (Samuel Edward-Cook) with the others. Ceri questions what he wants this time, but Lou doesn’t have an answer for him. She takes a call in the car and says she hopes he knows what he is asking. After the call, she removes the SIM card from the phone and disposes of it. Lou goes to the scene before covering her hands, shoes, and face. Once she enters the house, she gets spooked by her ringtone. She locates the gun and takes it. Lou finds a dead body when the ringtone goes off again.

Then, she discovers what looks like a drug operation. A man is clinging to life on the floor nearby. Lou steps over him and leaves. Back in the car, Lou calls Cerci to tell him she is all done. She learns he already left before being pulled over by a police officer. When the officer reaches her window, she tells him he should try catching some real criminals for a change. He apologizes. She asks what is going on with the weaving. The officer says they’re pulling over everything and a body has just been found at an old boozer up the road in Bramley. Lou says Phil is on tonight.

Lou goes home and talks to her son about her night. She begins worrying that Owen (Zak Ford-Williams) is ill since he is warm. Lou tries to cheer up him. She joins Cerci in bed and asks how long he stayed with his fan club. He says about an hour. Lou claims he needed her for a bit of paperwork. She argues they need to get some rest since they’re out again tomorrow night. After the intro, Lou has breakfast with the family before watching television with Owen. Ceri and Lou question who he might be texting. Lou is just glad that he is happy. She soon learns that Ceri doesn’t want to come with her tonight.

She complains that he can’t do one evening after everything he has done for them. Ceri reminds her that she has done a lot for him too. He questions what last night was all about. Ceri wishes things were different because she has been doing more lately. Lou asks if he wishes they had gone bankrupt, living in their old place, or Owen being bullied. She wishes he’d show a little appreciation. He asks her not to go, but Lou believes she has to. Before she leaves, Owen tells her they should reconcile before his passing. She meets Bulge and Noel Wilkes (Kaya Moore). She is told that Noel will hold onto her phone for the evening. They arrive outside the house where Lou is searched for weapons.

Inside, she says hello to Alma (Carolin Stoltz) and Donal (Ceallach Spellman). Lou also speaks to Curtis and Elise. She tells Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan) that Ceri couldn’t make it because Owen is ill. She gives him the gun wrapped as a present. They sit down and sing happy birthday to Col. Alma and Col talk about their first building. Col gives a quick speech about his line of work and the people around him. Col tells Lou he wouldn’t be there without her. Outside, Col and Lou share a cigarette while admitting their partners would be upset if they knew. She doesn’t want to do something like yesterday again because it was too close. Col admits there was no one else he could trust.

Endri’s crew thought they’d cook gear on his patch. He sent some of the lads down to prove a point and things got out of hand. Col blames himself although the shooter is now on holiday. Lou tells him that the lad was still breathing. They talk about how he has been pushing hard the last few months. Both say they wouldn’t be here without the other one. Lou tells Noel to get his teeth sorted when he drops her off at her vehicle. She finds several missed calls from Ceri and soon learns she needs to go to the hospital. Once she gets there, Ceri tells her that Owen had a rash all over him.

He couldn’t wake him up. Lou isn’t happy that he didn’t check on him for three hours. The doctor interrupts to tell them Owen is quite unwell since he has bacterial meningitis. He tells them not to go anywhere because this will be a very long night. Lou immediately worries they think he is going to die. She pleads for him not to die and promises to be better. Later, the doctor says they still have a long way to go, but Owen’s body started responding to the treatment about an hour ago. They’re allowed to speak to him. Owen struggles to speak so they tell him what is going on. Later, Ceri reminds Lou that Owen could be deaf or brain damaged.

Lou tells him to stop reading that stuff. When pressured by Ceri, Lou says she will tell her mom. She meets Col to tell him. Col insists she should call him if there is anything Owen needs. Back inside, the doctor says the swelling on the brain has subsided, but there is still some damage. It’s like he suffered a number of small strokes so there will be some after-effects going forward. He may experience hearing loss, memory loss, and experience cognitive issues. They’ve lost young patients to MEN B infections before while others have lost limbs. They’ll know whether Owen was lucky in the next few weeks. He begins trying to walk again.

Then, he struggles to write and tells Lou to stop helicoptering. Lou goes home and finds Ceri changing the locks because Owen wouldn’t be able to open the old ones. Later, she tells him she is thinking about going back to work. She goes back and talks to her bosses. DCI Sandy Mosby (Lucy Black) checks on her to make sure she is actually ready to return. Once Lou says yes, Sandy admits they need her. They stopped Wilco’s cousin last week and he had his usual haul as well as 26,000 pills. Phil is making headway with Thomas Ajazi, but he could use her help. Then, Lou heads out with DC Esther Okoye. They reach the scene of a robbery and learn more about the crime.

They say that the suspect had dodgy teeth so Lou immediately thinks of Noel. The victim walks them through the events. Once they mention it was a guy like an old German one, Lou thinks about the dead man and Owen. She remembers wrapping up the gun and returning it to Col at the party. Lou gets upset and speeds away from the scene. She tells Esther it was Noel who knocked over the post office. Esther knows he is one of Col’s men. They visit Noel’s house and speak to Noel’s mother who claims she doesn’t know where he is. They leave and Lou suggests checking the barbershop where he hangs out. She asks Esther to get out because there has been a change of plans.

She meets with Col at the building site. Col complains about being down there and how they try to put him in a hard hat. He tells her that Belinda Wilkes runs two nail shops for him in town. Bulge got a call saying she visited trying to pinch Noel. She asks if he gave Noel that hot gun. They say he was supposed to get rid of it, but Lou says he used it to knock over the post office in Gipton. She can’t let this one go because everyone knows it was Noel. Lou insists the smart move would be to give him up. If he gives him up, they can use plausible deniability to make it work for them.

Lou says it makes sense for him to let her pin something on him every now and then. Col agrees and says Noel has messed up royally. The problem is that Noel is loyal and loyalty is something Col returns. Lou warns him that Noel is going to get arrested eventually. They’ll benefit if she handles it. Col refuses. He says they’ll hide him away for a while. If he gets pinched, he won’t get pinched by Lou. They briefly talk about Owen before Lou leaves. She keeps thinking about Owen. Once she picks up Esther, she admits she visited an informant that she has to keep off the books.

They track down Noel. Lou wishes he’d give himself a chance. Esther suggests they bring in firearms. The flat where he has been staying is raided by police. They hear a gunshot and learn that he has a hostage. Lou says she’ll speak to Noel since he knows her. She quickly finds out that his cousin is with him. Lou tells the officer that she is going to exchange herself for the hostage. Once she goes into the room with Noel, he explains that he needed cash and he couldn’t ask Col. He doesn’t want to get his dog shot. Lou admits she can’t get him out of this because he wore a ski mask that showed his mouth.

Lou urges him to be a good soldier, keep his mouth shut, and do his time. He asks if this is what the boss wants. Lou says Col will do right by him if Noel does right by Col. Noel ends up putting the gun in his mouth. He stops and says Lou will have to take his dog. Lou eventually agrees to take Kiwi. She asks whether he shot Thomas who was in the pub. Even though it was the same gun, Noel says he didn’t do it because he was in Manchester doing a job for the boss. Bulge gave him the strap and asked him to chuck it. She convinces him to kneel before letting the other officers enter the room. At home, Ceri learns that she took the dog.

They go to the hospital and tell Owen about the dog. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get back to where he was in terms of drawing, but Lou says he doesn’t know that. When they leave, they notice Bulge is waiting outside. Ceri wants to know what is going on. Lou tells him that something has changed although she isn’t sure what. She is taken to a restaurant where Col is waiting for her. He tells her about another clinic for Owen and says money is no problem. She asks what is on his mind. Col says her mind is on his mind. She explains that OCT got an anonymous tip and it didn’t come through her so she couldn’t kill it.

The best she could do is to get ahead of it and stop Noel from getting shot. Col asks who she thinks he is. He doesn’t believe that she wasn’t involved since only a few people knew about the safe house. Lou tells him about the cousin who also knew about the safe house. Col insists this can never happen again. He wants her to promise, but Lou says no.

 

Better Review

Better tells the story of a bent cop who has finally had enough as she decides to bring down the gang leader who she helped create. Lou has been loyal to Col who has also helped her and her family, but it seems she is no longer willing to follow his orders blindly. Lou is also struggling with her son, Owen, who is going through a lengthy recovery after nearly dying.

When her son becomes ill, Lou promises she’ll do better if he pulls through. The opening episode did an okay job of setting up these storylines and briefly introducing the main characters. The cinematography and camera work are mostly good although the scenes seem a bit hazy sometimes. The performances are good enough to add a sense of authenticity to the series.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t particularly interesting perhaps because so many stories are being juggled at once. As the series gets deeper and closer to the later episodes, it may become more meaningful though. The lack of real character development makes it difficult to care about anyone so it’s more about watching to see what happens instead of watching and worrying about DI Slack.

There just isn’t an emotional connection so any character death may have little impact unless it is Kiwi. The story is farfetched in every possible way from the casting to the dialogue. It is unfortunate that Better wasn’t more refined because the cast could’ve pulled off something special, but the opening episode was forgettable. As the push and shove between Lou and Col intensifies, this could get a lot more interesting.

The first episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Better will be available on Reel Mockery here. Want to support an independent entertainment website? Find out how to do so at this link. Learn more about advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery here.