As the third episode of Better begins, DI Lou Slack (Leila Farzad) tells Vernon Marley (Anton Lesser) about the cash that Col wants her to deliver. Vernon uses a technique to open the package without showing signs it has been tampered with. When the package is open, they find a bunch of post-it notes. Vernon thinks it is fair to say Col doesn’t entirely trust her. If she is serious about taking him down, she needs him to trust her so she should deliver the package. Lou makes the exchange. She goes to work and tells DCI Sandy Mosby (Lucy Black) that she is staying after all. She also wants on the McHugh taskforce.

Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan) meets with Mehmet (Diyar Bozkurt) to try to get more drugs to sell. Mehmet tells him that they don’t have more white, but they could sell him more brown. Mehmet tells him to make the jump because he won’t regret it. Col tells Bulgey (Garry Cooper) and Lord Roy (Mark Monero) that they should talk to Jimmy in Bradford. Roy isn’t sure about that since Jimmy supports the Maliks. Curtis argues it is reckless to risk the peace in Bradford. Col says he wants to do this because that is what he wants to do. He tells Bulgey that he needs to talk to Lou.

Ceri (Samuel Edward-Cook) finds Lou up early in the morning and learns she is going to see Col. She knows it isn’t going to be easy to sell Col she is resigning. She asks Ceri to drop Owen off at his thing. Once Lou arrives, she is searched by Artem (Moe Bar-El). Then, Col asks her about Jimmy Erskine. She says he is a major rat poison importer and he supplies the Maliks who are the biggest gang in Bradford. Col says he is going business with him on Friday night. He wants to know if Jimmy is being watched. Lou couldn’t ask Bradford without them questioning why she was asking. When he asks if everything is okay, she tells him about Owen coming home.

Col offers to give her money so she can buy Owen something from him, but Lou says they’re good. As she leaves, Artem hands her an envelope with money and says Col insists. Bulgey calls Donal McHugh (Ceallach Spellman) to tell him to get as close as he can to the boy. When Owen (Zak Ford-Williams) arrives, Donal tells him he can’t face this twice in a week so he’ll have to bunk. Owen says he could be up for it. Donal takes his phone and puts in his number as James. Lou meets Vernon and tells him about Col’s business with Jimmy. Vernon thinks they need a proper informant to sell the story. He thinks he knows someone, but she will want quite the sweetener.

Lou questions why he is helping her. He says it is something to do. At the station, Lou talks to Phil and Esther (Olivia Nakintu) about the evidence they have against Col. They have nothing to tie back to him. The two minors found at the property went through their gang boss. Their second thread is Noel Wilkes. Lou says Noel (Kaya Moore) is never going to flip because he is loyal. Phil explains how Col keeps everything at arm’s length so someone else takes the risk. Col was last in court when the NCA brought an unexplained wealth order against him three years ago. Col beat it and his lawyers got a formal apology out of it.

There are rumors that Col is stepping up his activities. Col’s daughter Aoife topped herself the year before last. Lou says it was an overdose and the coroner reported an open verdict. Phil says competitors moved in around that time until Col came back with a vengeance. Lou says the third thread is Thomas Ajazi. The prime suspect, Harrison Sprewell, is still on his toes in southern Spain. A footprint in the blood has poor definition around the edges and on the tread. FSI is used to seeing that. Their own prints come up off a scene when wearing shoe covers. Blood pooling dates the print to the time of death. Phil doubts the person in question was Sprewell.

Everyone agrees to take a break when Lou gets a call. She goes outside and panics while remembering everything that has happened. Esther visits Vicky Endersley who is watching the two kids they found. Esther gives Vicky her personal number in case she needs anything although she knows she isn’t supported to be there. Vernon visits Lynne. As he comes inside, he claims he is just picking up the granddaughter. Vernon says he has come to ask a favor that is well-paid. He wants her to go into Bradford nick with a tip today. Col’s bunch is coming to do business with Jimmy Erskine. Lynne says he is mentioning some dangerous names so she wants a grand today and another after.

During dinner, Lou tells Owen that she is thinking about quitting her job, but she won’t for the time being. She believes she might be able to do some good. In private, she tells Ceri she didn’t like being smoked out. She tells him that she is going to do something, but she promises to keep them safe. Owen overhears Ceri saying it doesn’t sound safe because it sounds like she is going to stab him in the back. Col has a business dinner. He is told that everyone is delighted with Shearhills Rise. They’d love him to be on board with the Sheffield development, but there are some institutional investors that aren’t entirely comfortable working with him. Col suspected that. He asks Howard why that would be.

Col gets upset and punches the table. On the way back, Alma and Col argue about the necessity of this. Col doesn’t think they need it because they’re already doing well. Alma argues that she needs something else for herself and Donal. She wants something that can’t be taken away easily in case he is in prison or dead. Alma makes it clear that she can’t be left with nothing. Bulgey calls to tell Col it is on with their friend in Bradford. Two of theirs are meeting two of Jimmy’s tonight for the handover. Ceri tells Lou he can’t continue their relationship like this anymore. Lou promises that they’ll be free of him, but she can’t just walk away.

Ceri doesn’t care about the dealers and scumbags. He only cares about his family. Ceri says she can continue working for Col or quit, but she has to choose. He’ll take Owen with him. Col’s men are confronted by the Maliks and badly beaten. Lou gets a call about it in the morning. She is told that Artem and Kane have been beaten and knifed. Both are in the hospital and in stable condition. Lou visits Vernon to tell him about the Maliks showing up and battering Col’s lads. Vernon can’t believe Lynne would give them that information and leave a grand on the table. He realizes that she said she was being looked after and probably pays a crew for protection. Lou worries that people are going to die because of her so she needs to find Col and fix this.

Vernon gives her a gun and explains that she doesn’t know who knows what now. He’ll be okay because he has a spare buried in the garden. Col tells Curtis they have to make a big move because the Maliks put two of theirs in the hospital and stole 80 grand. They believe that Jimmy would have to sell to them if they took care of the Maliks. They might even be able to take over Bradford. Col learns that the cop wants to meet. When he meets Lou, he confirms it was the Maliks. She questions whether he is going to start a war. Col suggests they need one. Lou thinks she can get rid of the Maliks for him if one of his runners plants class A in their car. If he does it her way, she thinks Aftar and Adib Malik will be playing hunt the soap by the weekend.

Lou thinks they can do it without any dead bodies. Col asks how a Leeds DI would collar Bradford’s top dealers. Lou says she can do it on her patch. Lou sees another cop named Marriott so she has to hide from her. They managed to get rid of her. Col says it is funny how he used to live for the feeling of getting that close to being caught but not anymore. Lou is told that Bulgey will be in touch when it is on before they leave. Ceri learns that there is going to be a delay at work. He finds money in an envelope in his pocket so he decides to take everyone to the pub for drinks. Lou calls him. She leaves a message saying she doesn’t care about anything more than him and Owen.

She calls her mom, Zaara, and hangs up quickly. Back at home, Owen tells them he made a friend and he is going into town with him. He tells them about James who comes to the group because his girlfriend died. Lou doesn’t think it is a good idea because he is vulnerable. Owen believes he needs to get used to the chair since he could have it for the rest of his life. Ceri decides to take him. He tells Lou that he is worried, but Owen is right. Once he drops Owen off, he tells him that Lou is struggling with this. Owen suspects there is something else going on. Lou gets a message about meeting. Bulgey calls Noel to tell him about Zada who is in prison with him.

Zada needs an introduction to some friends of theirs today. He is attacked and thrown down a set of stairs. Bulgey tells Lou that it is a black Mercedes GLC. The Maliks will be visiting Oakdale Prison at 11 AM tomorrow. Bulgey mentions that Zada is an innocent man doing eight years thanks to her. The Maliks will be visiting him because he just had a little accident. Owen learns from Donal that his sister died instead of his girlfriend. Donal comes there to remember her. He can’t do it at home because his folks are weird about it. Owen tells Donal he doesn’t want to go home because things are weird and super tense. Donal says he can tell him about that stuff.

Lou gets a call saying they have a problem because they couldn’t get the gear in the car. They’ll have to call it off. Lou says she can do it when she picks them up or before that. Col agrees so Bulgey says they’ll drop her something off in the next hour. Lou gets the drugs before going to work. Esther tells her that Artem has discharged himself from the hospital despite having a broken collarbone. Sandy tells them about the tip regarding the Malik brothers coming their way with drugs. They rush out to catch up with the brothers. They stop the brothers and detain them as Lou begins checking the vehicle. They find pakora in the back. Lou manages to hide the drugs in the vehicle.

She talks to Aftar about selling drugs as a good Muslim. Esther says the vehicle is registered to their events company and the other lad is Khafiz Zada. Lou realizes what she has done as the drugs are found. At the station, Lou asks them to go easy on Zada because he has nothing to do with this. Vernon tells her it is a dirty business doing good and she stopped a gang war. Lou says she’d go clean if she managed to send McHugh down and he didn’t suspect her. Vernon suggests she believes her guilt will leave if she manages to get rid of Col. Bulgey tells Col that she pulled it off and the Malik brothers are off the street. Col approaches Howard and says he knows where the gossip comes from.

He questions whether any of them choose to be what they are. People get stuck where they get stuck. Col insults him and asks how often his wife lets him get her. They never get to choose to be the people they are, but they’re punished for it anyway. Howard offers to talk to the other partners. Col tells him to search his heart and do what he thinks is right. Before he leaves, Col reminds him to check the smoke alarms regularly. Lou tries to talk to Owen who says he wants to be treated like an adult. He wants her to accept what has happened and to be honest with him. Lou begins talking to him about the dead bodies she has seen. She admits she thinks about one of them more often than others.

Later, Esther visits to tell Lou that the kids from the weed farm disappeared. She is mad that she did the best she could for them and it didn’t amount to anything. Esther thought she could change it from within and make it better, but she feels like she is manning a bloody turnstile now. Esther questions where Lou is going because she is constantly disappearing. She has been asking herself why she is trying to explain away what she knows she saw. Esther knows that she put the gear in Maliks’ vehicle and she threatens to go to Sandy if Lou denies it again. Lou explains that she did it to stop a war, but she won’t tell her how she knows this.

Lou follows her to her vehicle and confesses that she has been working for Col McHugh and always has.

 

Better Review

The third episode of Better pushed the story forward at a good pace while forcing Lou to make difficult decisions. The series remains unbelievable in many aspects, but the story is good if viewers are willing to accept certain things anyway. A bit too much is going on at times making it difficult to get invested in some of the side stories. The addition of Anton Lesser as Vernon Marley is great and helps keep the story moving.

It feels like Better is building up to something bigger although it is taking a while to get there and it’s questionable whether the payoff will be worth it. With a solid ending, Better could be a worthwhile binge since it is only five episodes. In terms of the episodes in general, some are better than others. At the very least, the episode had more action that helped pushed the story to its eventual conclusion.

The episode scores a 6.5 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 opportunities on Reel Mockery here.