As the second episode of Better begins, Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan) questions why Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) would say no. She explains she isn’t the all-seeing eye. She can’t guarantee that no one from his firm will get arrested again. Lou reminds him that they’ve been friends for 19 years. She provides him with something of value. She doesn’t bullcrap him and always treats him like an equal. Col admits she is right. Bulgey (Garry Cooper) drops Lou off later. Ceri Davies (Samuel Edward-Cook) learns that Lou arrested Col’s lad even though he told her not to. He wants to know what she meant when she said something had changed, but Lou won’t say.

Lou insists it is sorted and done. She takes the dog out to get away from him. In the morning, she finds Ceri looking through Owen’s stuff. He says Owen asked him to and they’ll only remind him of what he lost. Lou doesn’t think he has lost anything because he’ll get better. Ceri believes they have to let go of things so Owen can. When Col meets with Marta, he tells Donal (Ceallach Spellman) not to play hard. Lord Roy searches her and finds her drug port since she is going through chemo. Then, she tells Col that they passed on everything he wanted them to.

The news isn’t good because they can’t increase his order any further. Marta explains that the region has had two very dry summers so the yields have been poor. Col offers to pay even more, but Marta says the product just isn’t there. Donal asks if they could introduce them to someone else with a surplus. Marta leaves since she has to make a flight. At work, Lou learns that the ballistics report confirms the gun from Noel was used to kill Thomas Ajazi. Noel is in the clear because he was in Manchester overnight and the cameras caught him all over. Phil wonders if she can get Noel (Kaya Moore) to speak.

She asks about the cousin and whether she got counseling. Phil doesn’t think she needs it, but Lou isn’t so sure. She asks Phil to stop by if he is in the area before calling Jade to leave a message. Bulgey and another man visit Jade to see if everything is okay. They barge in and accuse her of telling someone about the flat. Curtis talks to Col about the risk of getting a second supplier. Col mocks his idea to press pause. Instead, he says they should keep pushing as hard as they can and get what they need elsewhere. When Curtis mentions the cancer, Col tells him to stop trying to cheer him up. After a call, Col learns that Bulgey spoke to Jade who swore she didn’t tell anyone about the safe house.

DCI Sandy Mosby (Lucy Black) tells the other offices that a terrace in Hyde Park is having a loft conversion. The builders looked in the next building’s skylight. It looks like the Rainforest Café in there. The electricity has been bypassed and the council tax has been paid by someone who appears to have died seven years ago. DC Esther Okoye (Olivia Nakintu) mentions the rumors that the McHughs might have a farm around there somewhere. Sandy questions whether Col would bother with a domestic dope farm. Lou says he makes millions importing coke. Sandy confirms it is being raided and Esther will stay on it.

Sandy tells Lou to tidy up Noel’s arrested. She needs to get the informant who told her where he was on the books. Later, Esther calls Lou to tell her they’re raiding the property. Although there is nobody home, they find a weed-growing operation inside the building. Donal tells his dad that his Hyde Park grow just got raided. He claims it is clean. Col tells him to clear the other two out. Alma (Carolin Stoltz) asks Col if he has to be so hard on him. Col insists he does. He sits down and discusses whether Lou can be trusted with the others. Carl thinks he should give her the benefit of the doubt, but Bulgey doesn’t think they should trust a bent cop.

Donal is with Bulgey because there are two things going against her. Carl suggests testing her by giving her a job. Ceri tries to talk to Lou who doesn’t seem to be listening to him. Lou isn’t sure she can do it anymore because everything feels different after Owen, but she can’t just tell Col that they’re done. If she isn’t a cop anymore, she won’t be any use to him. They discuss finances with Ceri saying Owen might have to go back to the old place. They’d be broke but they’d be free. At work, Lou tells Sandy that Owen is coming home later so she is thinking about hanging it up. Sandy doesn’t think she is ready to make this decision considering everything that has happened.

Sandy wants to put together a task force to have a crack at McHugh. The lab pulled a print from the murder scene and linked it to Harrison Sprewell. He flew to Spain on the morning after the murder. Lou goes to the bathroom to send a message to Col saying they need to talk. She meets with him moments later. She tells him she didn’t know about the raid yesterday. He talks about old times. When Col mentions that you lose things, she says he has lost more than her. Col wants a favor from her because he is trying to do an exchange with someone. He explains that the woman wants to do the switch in public with a woman.

Lou suggests sending Elise, but Col needs a grown-up. Col tells her to say no if she is uncomfortable. She’ll be delivering cash and receiving an envelope with paperwork. Lou says she would do it but Owen is coming home today. Lou warns him about the other grow operations because NPAS is going to come up tomorrow with infrareds. She agrees to make the exchange for him. As she walks away, Bulgey tells her where to go. Owen (Zak Ford-Williams) is taken home. Once he arrives, he decides to walk up to his room on his own. Col and Alma talk about their daughter not being there anymore.

At work, Lou learns they haven’t had any luck with Jade. Esther calls Lou to tell her to get over there now. They found two kids hidden away in one of the houses. They use a translator to say they hid in the hole like they had been taught. They don’t know who they’re working for. Esther says they hope the girl has only been cooking and cleaning. They thought McHugh didn’t use kids. Lou goes to the drop site only to turn around and leave without giving the package to the woman. Donal watches her leave before calling Col to tell him. Col is going to need him to do something important and not very nice.

At home, Lou complains that Owen doesn’t want to talk to them. Ceri thinks it is good for him to talk to someone without any skin in the game. Lou receives a call that she ignores before looking at some photographs. After that, she visits Vernon Marley (Anton Lesser) and tells him she is Bill Slack’s daughter. They briefly talk about her mom and dad. Lou knows he was for sale almost his entire career and took gifts many times. She wants to know why he confessed out of the blue. When Vernon asks why she wants to know, she pretends an officer in her unit is taking bribes. Lou gives him money to tell her. Vernon says the last thing the brass want is the embarrassment of a big corruption case.

They usually go for a quiet dismissal instead of a prosecution. He explains that everyone knew so he decided to try to cut a deal and ended up admitting to a carefully-curated selection of misdemeanors. He avoided doing time and they limited damage to their reputation. Vernon notices that she is disappointed so he wonders if she wanted him to say he saw the light. He doesn’t want to speak ill of her father. Later, she asks Ceri if he liked her father. Ceri admits he was good to them since he helped with their first flat. Owen is dropped off at the group meeting. He tells the other members about getting sick and almost dying before Shaheen begins.

Donal is sitting nearby. He claims his name is James and someone he loved died. Once he finishes speaking, he makes sure to smile at Owen. Ceri tells Lou he is fine. Lou admits she has a scrambled head. She says she sometimes wants to go into Sandy’s office and tell her everything. Ceri doesn’t think confessing is a good idea. He believes she gave up her right to a clear conscience when she started taking his money. Ceri argues that Owen needs her more than ever and she could do real time. When she says they wouldn’t prosecute, Ceri says Col would come after them. He accuses her of being selfish.

Donal talks to Owen about living with his parents. Phil texts Lou to say there is no sign of Jade. He asks if they should escalate it. Lou calls Noel who asks about Kiwi. Lou promises she didn’t take the dog to the pound. She urges him to find out what courses he can take. When she asks about Jade, Noel says she is minding her nan’s flat while she is in Jamaica. He tells her where that is. Lou and Ceri pick up Owen who tells them about the meeting Donal watches them leave. Lou tries to get Jade to open the door. When she does, she breaks a window and lets herself in. She finds blood all over the place as she goes upstairs. Jade is found injured on the bed although she is still alive. At the hospital, Lou learns that Jade will be okay, but there will be extensive scarring.

Lou is allowed to see her moments later. She promises to get the people who did this, but Jade needs to tell her what happened. Jade claims she fell. Col learns that Lou still isn’t responding so he is asked what they should do. Lou returns to Vernon to ask if he’d confess now if it happened now. Vernon says it kept him out of prison, but everything comes at a price. She questions whether there was a part of him that wanted to make things right. Vernon says people confess for selfish reasons, but it is nobler to carry it the distance alone. He knows the officer is in deep trouble so he offers to help.

Lou tells him how she got into this mess with Col and how she built a career using his information. When her husband’s business experienced trouble, Col bailed them out. Lou says she and Col cared about each other and she thinks she did good with the information he gave her. Vernon recommends telling Col that she needs to scale back because Owen needs her. If they’re mates, he’ll understand. Lou can’t do anything for him again. She could quit the force, but she’d be running away and Col would get to stay where he is. Lou believes sending him down is the only way to get out.

 

Better Review

The second episode of Better saw Owen return home as he continues his recovery and Lou struggle with her decision to stop helping Col McHugh. Lou received assistance from an old acquaintance of her father. The production is mostly well done besides a few scenes that look color drained while the performances are decent enough. The story isn’t particularly original or believable, but some viewers will enjoy it more than others.

There isn’t enough here to force viewers to get behind any of the characters making for an unenthusiastic affair. The series likely could’ve been reduced by an episode or two because it already feels long-winded. Better sits in the middle since it isn’t spectacular or horrible, but it may pick up as the struggle between Lou and Col deepens.

It is probably better as a straight binge so viewers will quickly find out whether they want to stick around for the entire ride. The second episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Better are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.