As the episode begins, DCI Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) enters an old building after putting on blue gloves. He wraps the handgun in a cloth and hides it in a hole in the floor. Then, DS Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) goes searching for Adam Corry. Tom gets upset as Niamh yells for Adam outside of his house. Niamh returns to Tom, suggests he might’ve fallen, so she smashes the glass and gains entry to Adam’s house. After searching the house, Niamh tells Tom that someone else has been there because Adam can’t go anywhere on his own. Tom tells her to check local hospitals and it might become a missing person’s investigation. He encourages her to treat it as a crime scene so they leave and a forensics team arrives. Birdy (Chris Walley) introduces Tom to Adam’s sister Linda Corry (Valerie Lilley).

She learns about the missing person’s investigation before saying she visits regularly to bring Adam mail and medication. Tom tries to find out who visits before he has to physically stop Linda from entering the house. She tells him she is going to file a complaint before he suits up and heads inside. He notices them checking Adam’s notebook so Tom makes sure they know he handled it previously. Adam jotted down notes about who visited him, but a few pages are missing especially recent ones. Back at the station, Jackie Twomey (Lorcan Cranitch) tells Tom that he is wanted. CSI confirms that a fingerprint lifted from one of the teacups does not belong to his sister or anyone in the database. Then, they learn from Niamh that a woman who was dumped out of a van near the hospital has arrived at the station for questioning.

The woman looks like the woman in Pat Keenan’s vehicle. The woman tells detectives she was coming out of the hospital, they came up behind her, and put her in their van. Then, they showed her to someone on their phone. She just heard his voice and he confirmed it wasn’t her. Tom argues that Pat is trying to find the woman involved in his kidnapping. Jackie says they can’t bring him in and should keep him under surveillance before Tom suggests Pat is going over where he went on the day of his kidnapping. He believes the woman might be from the hospital and she could be the Goliath hunter. Tom goes back to the hospital and looks for the woman in question. She has to look through the computer records before explaining Tom is in the wrong place to talk to Ms. Matthews. He is surprised to learn the receptionist is talking about Tori Matthews (Lisa Dwan) the surgeon.

A note tells them to alert Tori when the police follow up on Pat’s appointment. Tom returns to his vehicle and tries to come to grips with that before Twomey calls and says they got the DNA back from the teacup. The DNA matches the DNA found in Pat Keenan’s vehicle. The woman involved in Pat’s kidnapping was also in Adam’s house. When that call ends, Tom tries to call Tori but she doesn’t answer. We jump forward and Tom sits down with Tori that night for dinner. We learn that Tori was never married before because she moved around a lot. They talk about Tori’s time in Syria and the possibility of Izzy doing something like that. Then, their conversation turns to Tom’s father who was in the police force his entire career. Tom tells Tori about the recent missing person’s investigation. Tom explains that the old man lived on Comber Road and that surprises her.

She excuses herself and rushes from the table. Tom walks her home later that night and asks how she knows Adam Corry. He confronts her with the evidence and accuses her of disguising herself with a black wig. Then, he accuses her of using her position to get close to him and using his daughter. Tom says he is arresting her on suspicion of kidnapping Pat Keenan and the abduction of Adam Corry. He goes on and on until she reveals she is Simon Quinlan’s daughter. She explains her kept them secret and they lived out in the Mournes. Then, she wants to know where Adam is since he was helping her find her father’s killer. She goes on to say she is only doing what Tom is doing. They go inside and Tori explains he heard the name Goliath from some peeler in the Dunfolan Arms. They didn’t want to go to police because they would sweep it under the rug.

She admits she pinpointed Keenan as an ideal candidate to kidnap because that would force them to reopen the Goliath case. She tells him he is a victim as well, but Tom says he tried everything. She asks if he has ever been closer and suggests she and Adam were onto something. He threatens to arrest her before saying she is going about it the wrong way. He knows what Pat Keenan’s people will do to her in prison and he doesn’t want to lose a good person to a stupid move. He encourages her to leave it alone so she doesn’t cut her life short. Later that night, Tom watches Tori through her window. The following day, Tori visits her mother and reads her a letter. Her mother admits she worried about him on a bike because his limbs were like spaghetti. Her mother wants her to read another but Tori apologizes, says she can’t, and says they’ll never have justice.

She says she has to stop and that upsets her mother. After that, several boats find something in the water. Adam’s oxygen taken is pulled from the water and his body is discovered seconds later. Tom goes to the scene and sees the forensics team working the case. Niamh tells Jackie that there has to be a witness because Adam couldn’t have gotten out there by himself. Jack is convinced it was Goliath so he says to notify the Intelligence Hubs that they’re searching for a murderer. He blames Niamh and Tom for using Adam in their investigation. Tom gives his team instructions and says box up Adam’s work on his brother’s case and take it to the station. We return to the office and Linda arrives with all the Protestants. She watches her arrival with Birdy and Jackie. Linda complains to Twomey that he seems to have little interest in finding the person who killed her brother.

She gives Jackie a piece of her mind before leaving. After that, Tom runs into Jackie who says he has to be everywhere. They partake in the autopsy of Adam. There are ligature marks around Adam’s ankles so he might’ve been tied down with a weighted rope. Someone tried to sink him in deeper water but the weight dislocated his ankle and the rope slipped loose. Once that ends, Jackie says they’ll do everything they can to get Adam’s killer. Then, the files begin arriving at the office. Niamh looks through the evidence and realizes that Adam Corry used Frank MacFeale as an alias and she thinks an active office connected it with Corry. Jackie believes it means they’re searching for Goliath himself and he blames them for Adam’s death. However, someone outside of the district won’t know they’re searching for Goliath.

Jackie believes someone from their district is Goliath. He calls for Birdy and orders him to make a list of serving officers who fit the Goliath profile. Moments later, Tom shares a drink with Izzy (Lola Petticrew). Izzy wants to know about Tom’s dinner with Tori but he says he is not a good person for her. Izzy doesn’t believe that but Tom admits he is not a good man and not what Izzy thinks. After Tom throws a tantrum outside, Tori gets a letter from Adam along with some of his evidence. The letter explains that Jackie Twomey is back and he is the man who stopped Adam that last time. Adam was worried they would come for him so he sent everything to Tori along with the necklace his brother got from his lover. He suggests there is DNA and she should get someone to get at it. He also tells Tori in the letter that Jackie knows who Goliath is. Birdy tells Jackie and the others that there are only three individuals still serving that were active since 1998.

He names them starting with Dinger. The other two are Jackie and Tom. Jackie quickly jumps to his own defense and says it isn’t him. Tom tells Birdy to keep things going before approaching Jackie and asking why he left them out. Jackie says he doesn’t think he or Dinger ever met Adam Corry. Tori calls Tom to tell him about the parcel Adam sent before he did. He says he can’t get away right now so he’ll see her later that night. Tom and Niamh look through Adam’s files before Birdy comes in with HR files and they look through them together. Birdy finds it weird that Twomey’s files have a lot of redacted pages but Tom and Dinger’s files do not. Niamh asks about talking to the Intelligence Services so Tom says he’ll try. He gets up and watches Jackie as he leaves his office. Later, Niamh finds details of an allegation that a police officer unofficially ran Joe Harkin as an IRA source.

The number 2421 is on the paper and the allegation goes on to say the same officer passed highly sensitive information using insecure means. The number triggers something for Tom who says they each had a post office box in town and used it for storing evidence and information. Sure enough, box 2421 was Jackie’s. Tom wants to know everywhere Jackie has been for the last 24 hours. The others aren’t sure they should investigate him, but Tom wants to move forward with it. Despite their reservations, he orders them to do it anyway. He visits Tori that night and learns about Adam’s documents. Tori touched the documents but not the jewelry. He says he’ll take it all away as evidence before they begin talking about Tori’s father disappearing. She says she needs to find the man who killed her father. She confirms she read Adam’s journal so she likely knows who Goliath is.

Tom admits he is a friend before identifying Jackie Twomey. He claims it was a mistake to show Jackie the postcard since that brought him down. Tom doesn’t think they’ll let it come out since it could destroy the service. She reminds him he is a police officer, but he says Jackie is his boss. Tori offers assistance since she is an outsider and she wants to give them evidence they cannot ignore. Tom leaves with the evidence moments later while Niamh talks to Dinger (Michael Smiley) about the case. She asks him about his whereabouts and whether he is in a good position to manipulate evidence. Dinger says he isn’t. He also says the DNA in Adam’s house doesn’t belong to Siobhan since they have her DNA in the system. When Dinger learns that they’re going after Jackie, he admits Jackie is a good fit. He goes on to talk about politicians in the police and he never trusted that. Jackie runs into Birdy and asks him where Tom is. Birdy doesn’t know so Jackie tells him to come with him.

Jackie takes him to a private area and asks about the current focus of the investigation, but Birdy doesn’t want to say. Birdy relents and says it is that a police officer in this district unofficially ran Joe Harkin as an IRA source. He goes on to tell him about the 2421 box office box. Birdy confirms they know who the box belonged to before saying it was his. Niamh enters and says she hasn’t seen Tom either. Jackie leaves in his vehicle before Tom gets a call from Tori. She is at the caravan but hasn’t seen Jackie yet so Tom tells her she knows what to do. She gets out of her vehicle and sneaks into the trailer. She places a book on the shelf with the others before leaving in a hurry. By the time Jackie arrives, she is long gone. He grabs his secret phone and calls someone immediately after entering before meeting with Siobhan and telling her she needs to go.

He admits his officers are looking into him because he was running Joe. They’ll know she helped him and it will cause chaos when it gets out. She is warned that she’ll be hunted by her people. Later that night, Tori meets with Tom and confirms that she did it. He says it’ll lead to other things and they got the right man. Then, Niamh tells Jackie that Dinger’s alibi is solid. Birdy passes Jackie an envelope before he is told to get Tom in there. Jackie checks it and finds a picture of his trailer inside. He flips it over and finds “search the caravan” scrawled on the back. Tom enters and learns about the note. Tom tells Niamh to get some CSIs because they need to mark it as evidence. A bit later, Tom tells Jackie that the DNA on the caravan photo matches the DNA found in Pat’s car and at Adam’s house. Tom says it belongs to the Goliath hunter, but Jackie reminds them that he is not Goliath.

He realizes what is going on and says it is ridiculous. He wants to put an end to it so he offers to let them search his caravan, office, and vehicle. Later that night, police search his caravan while Tom, Jackie, and Niamh stand outside. One of them finds the book and takes the postcard outside seconds later. Jackie says he can’t account for that. Back at the office, Tom tells him they’ve found a fingerprint on the postcard and it belonged to Adam Corry. Tom arrests him on the suspicion of Adam’s murder, but Jackie says it is a waste of everyone’s time. Jackie is locked in a cell before the episode ends.

 

Bloodlands Review

Although it has its moments, Bloodlands feels like a missed opportunity. I think even people who despise this show can see the potential it had to be good. The problem is that it showed its hand way too early and we know that Tom pulled the trigger and killed Adam Corry. As a result, most of everything that is happening feels pointless.

Deep down, I want Tom to be innocent and solve the crime. However, it is impossible to think that because Adam’s murder is lodged in the back of my mind. I don’t see how they can make Tom innocent at this point unless they turn back the clock and make things unbelievable.

Although it isn’t bad, it is indeed a lost opportunity. The whole thing is becoming implausible and I have a bad feeling we’re going to be disappointed with the finale. The episode was okay but I am beginning to lose interest. If there are any mistakes above, blame that and my slowly dissipating interest. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Previous and future recaps of Bloodlands will be available here.