As this episode of Bloodlands begins, it is February 21, 1998 on Salt Island. Someone in a ski mask watches as a boat arrives nearby. The men begin unloading a long box from the boat. The man in the ski mask looks at a picture of a baby before grabbing his gun. He pulls out a gun and confronts the men before ordering them to get on their knees. Both men are shot. The man in the ski mask grabs keys from the pockets of one of the men. He is shocked when he founds firearms and gold bars in the boxes. Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) removes his mask. In the present, Tom drives to the Athal Causeway. Tom and DS Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) learn that the victim has been here for about 12 hours. It is not known how far the shooter was away from the victim at the time of the shooting.

They’ve also found a footprint that doesn’t belong to the victim. They haven’t found the bullet. Niamh says his driver’s license identifies him as Colin Foyle. Tom is introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Ford who found the body. Mr. Ford (Brian Devlin) wouldn’t let her anywhere near it because he could see the blood. Mrs. Ford says they found the body around 9:53 because she checked her watch. There was no one else around at the time. Tom asks Birdy (Chris Walley) to deal with them when Niamh calls his name. She explains that Colin is an accountant who longer lives at the address on his license. He moved two weeks ago and his business is registered at his home. He puts her in charge of finding a forwarding address. Tom rushes home where he retrieves a cellphone that contains messages between himself and Colin talking about moving the gold.

Next, Tom goes to Craigavel Road where he approaches a house being sold by Siobhan Harkin. He opens an old box nearby only to discover that the items he has been looking for are gone. When he meets with Niamh, she tells him the forwarding address for Colin. As they get closer to the house, Niamh says they completed on the house just weeks ago for 1.9 million pounds. They approach Constable Judith Kenny (Vanessa Ifediora) who says she is FLO. She tells them that only Olivia Foyle (Victoria Smurfit) is the only one here. While Colin has two grown kids from the first marriage, they’re across the water. Olivia is the second wife who was only married to Colin for 18 months. He never showed up to dinner so she reported him missing last night. She talked to the duty officer in Dunfolan. Kenny only told her that he was involved in a serious incident because that is all she was told.

They approach Olivia and tell her about her husband’s death. She begins saying this is your fault and she told you he was missing. Once she calms down, she says her husband was supposed to come to dinner so she called the police when he didn’t. She tried his phone first. They were supposed to go to dinner at Benetti’s in Belfast. Olivia was in M&A in New York, but she hasn’t worked since moving back to Ireland about 18 months ago. She is from Dublin. Colin wasn’t big on spoiling himself so Olivia encouraged him to get the house. It was for new beginnings after his first wife died of cancer. Olivia didn’t want him to live with those memories. Colin was a specialist so there weren’t many clients. They were mainly local CEOs and executives. They learn that the DCS has arrived seconds later. Jackie Twomey (Lorcan Cranitch) bangs on the door before Tom goes outside to ask what he is doing there.

Jackie says the Colin he knew wouldn’t have put his head above the parapet with a house like this. When he says he should go talk to Michelle, they tell him about her death. He is surprised to hear about the new wife before revealing Jackie was a client of his about 16 years ago. He believes he last saw him in 2006. Olivia comes out to see if everything is okay. She knows Jackie is there to see his wife. Once she goes in, Jackie admits Colin has a story and there is a reason things between them ended the way they did. They go inside to ask Olivia about the armed gang that stole 11 million pounds from the Irish Savings Bank in Belfast in July 2006. Colin was questioned in relation to possible money laundering. She says she believes so, but it was before they met. He took it as a compliment because they were only questioning the half decent accountants in the country.

Olivia questions if they think Colin was working for terrorists. She knows enough about it to know who they think did it. When asked if he worked for terrorists, Olivia says he was an honest, hard-working gentleman. She agrees to let them look in Colin’s office which is right down the hall. She complains that this wouldn’t have happened if they would’ve acted sooner. Tom says her husband was in a secluded place that night so the likelihood is that his killer was waiting for him. He could’ve been working for terrorists. Tom says it is possible for people to work for terrorists without meeting their clients. She doesn’t want to say if Colin was using code words or names. A car pulls up outside, but Olivia doesn’t know who it is. Judith tries to get the man to turn the vehicle off. It speeds off. Tiny tries to stop it outside but nearly gets run down.

The car loses Tom and Niamh. They learn that it is registered to a Belfast address to a man named Robert Dardis. He rents the car from his employer, Belfast Executive Cars. Birdy calls to tell them that the address is for an executive car service in the city. Dardis didn’t come in today so the company recommends trying him at his Dunfolan home. Birdy sends them his address at Crow Park Estate. As they speed toward his property, Birdy warns them that Dardis is an ex-soldier. Once they arrive, they do not see the vehicle anywhere. Niamh recommends waiting for backup to arrive, but Tom wants to go in immediately. After another phone call, Niamh says Olivia was booked on a flight for this morning to New York. Niamh suggests Olivia murdered her husband with help. They begin hearing a bang coming from the direction of the house. Niamh rings the doorbell and a woman answers.

Tom goes around back to see what the banging noise is about. He finds a young boy kicking a football against the fence. Sandra Dardis (Elly Condron) complains about Tom scaring her son with a gun. When the other officers arrive, Sandra asks what Robbie has done. At the station, Tom tells Jackie that they have a suspect, but they still have to find him. Niamh reveals his wife Sandra hasn’t seen him since 5 PM last night. Jackie receives a message saying her son needs counseling because of what happened. Jackie confirms a bullet was found at the scene and has been sent off for analysis. Tom is convinced it is paramilitary considering how Colin was linked to the bank robbery. Although it wasn’t proven, Jackie stopped using his services because his bosses told him to do so. Niamh believes Olivia knows more than she is saying. Tom says they have to track down Dardis because it could be the work of multiple people.

Jackie orders them to focus on eliminating Olivia first. When Tom leaves the room, Jackie tries to find out what happened between the boy and Tom. Niamh insists it is what Tom said. They shouldn’t have been in that situation anyway because she told him more than once to wait for support. She is asked to tell Jackie the moment Tom steps out of line. Next, Tom tells Niamh that one of them should be more sympathetic towards Olivia to see what they can get from her. Tom checks the price of gold using his computer. It seems he is calculating the value of the gold. Tom visits Olivia in the morning after learning she dropped her family liaison officer. Tom tells her about Robert Dardis who works as a driver out of an executive car company in Belfast. Although Olivia doesn’t know him, she believes her husband used that service.

She was going to go to New York to see her son so Colin might’ve ordered the car to take her to the airport. Olivia asks if he is trying to pick holes in her story since she is likely considered the easy option. It’ll keep the politics out of it if he can say it was just her and Colin. Tom thinks he might’ve been asking the wrong questions before. He asks if her husband only did accounts or if he bought and sold anything physical. Olivia says she doesn’t remember anything like that before asking Tom about his partner. After he says she doesn’t need to be here, Olivia asks if he is alright since he seems ill at ease. Olivia insists she had nothing to do with her husband’s death so he has nothing to worry about around her. She will do anything to find his murderer. Tom promises they’ll find who did this before leaving. Next, Tom takes Izzy (Lola Petticrew) to a house she is considering purchasing.

They sit down and discuss whether they should put in an offer. Tom is convinced they can increase the bid. She learns that her card has been denied since she is waiting for her loan to come through. She steps outside to talk to Birdy who says he has noticed her and saw her around. He tells her why he is up here. Birdy says they only talk about work stuff in the car because her dad is a bit terrifying. Birdy drops them off moments later. Tom gives his daughter money before she encourages him to work things out with Jackie. She explains that he went out of his way to arrange the elective for her. They thank Jackie. Tom asks Jackie if he is using Niamh to keep tabs on him, but Jackie suggests he doesn’t need to do that. A hidden compartment is found in Colin’s car. Once the compartment is cut open, they retrieve a notebook.

Tom looks through it. He finds a page that says, “98-02-21 Au 12.5 x 8 SHHS 174” before asking Leah to have it submitted as evidence. Tom searches for SHHS 175 using his phone but finds nothing. Later, Tom tells Niamh that he guarantees Colin was moving dirty money. Birdy says the house was bought off the back of a mixture of bonds and ISAs he liquidated last month. The company Dardis works for has GPS trackers in their vehicles, but they’re having no luck finding him. He had 11 clean years in uniform. He is a bouncer a few nights a week at a club in Belfast called Angels. Some of the other bouncers have done time. One was arrested for non-domestic robbery. When they go to the club, they are told to speak to Davy. He tells them about Robert’s other job and how he ferries rich people around the country. He goes on to say there is a woman client who moved up to Curran Isle.

He talks about her as if he’d like to ride her like a stolen bike. Tom visits Olivia who agrees to walk around the property with him to see if there are any gaps in security. He confronts her about knowing Robert who has been driving her for five months. Olivia explains that she lost her license during the summer so Colin got Rob to drive her. She said she didn’t recognize him because she didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. After he tells her that she made things worse for herself, Olivia asks why he wanted to know if Colin had a client he hadn’t met. He admits he is keeping something from her before giving her a warrant so they can search the property. Tom can’t help her unless she tells the truth. He recommends calling her solicitor. While searching the home, Tom finds a letter from Safe House Home Storage. He suspects that is what the SHHS on the paper stands for.

They interview Olivia at the station with her expensive solicitor. Niamh asks why Robert took her to her old residence several times. She says pleasure. Robert’s staring started getting uncomfortable so she told him that the next trip to the airport would be the last. She intended to visit her son and stay for two weeks. Colin wasn’t coming because he isn’t the boy’s father. Her dinner with Colin was supposed to be their last dinner before she left. She insists she is telling the truth before she is allowed to leave. Jackie reveals that Colin was killed using an M24 sniper rifle. It is made for military purposes so that makes it look like Robert was involved. He suggests tightening the noose on the wife or driver. Jackie takes Niamh into his office while Tom rushes to his vehicle outside. As he makes it out to the road, he sees Olivia’s solicitor telling her to go straight home.

Olivia asks the driver to take her to the Whiteside Industrial Estate. Niamh asks Birdy if he looked at the accounting ledger that came from Foyle’s car. Tom watches Olivia as she gets out of the car and waits for the taxi to drive away. Olivia walks down an alley before going inside Safe House Home Storage. Niamh retrieves the notebook found in Colin’s vehicle. Niamh finds the code that Tom found earlier. She believes the first set of numbers could be a date and that date has come up before. As Olivia prepares to open the door to the #174 storage unit, Niamh questions why the DCI didn’t flag this. Olivia goes inside and opens the two boxes only to find that they’re empty. One case contains a gun and bullets, but the gold bars are missing. Tom watches her leave. He uses the phone to send her a message saying he is alive and wants his gold.

 

Bloodlands Review

It seems like it has been forever since the first season of Bloodlines was released so it is really hard to remember what exactly happened. However, I do recall not being blown away by the first season and being surprised that it had been renewed. Nevertheless, it is hard to lose with a cast including James Nesbitt, Lorcan Cranitch, and Charlene McKenna.

Despite not being thrilled with the first season, the opening episode was enjoyable. There isn’t a lot going on besides talking and some investigating, yet the episode still has several captivating moments. The fact that the episode is juggling multiple stories simultaneously really helped keep it interesting from start to finish.

The guessing from last season has been eliminated since we know that Tom is up to no good and wants the gold. Jackie is depending on Niamh to keep an eye on Tom and potentially bring him to justice if and when he steps out of line. Colin’s murder was the beginning of a bigger mystery although Tom is going to use it to get the gold from Olivia who seems to no longer have it.

The episode helped this season get off to a better start than the first. Certain aspects could be improved with a few tweaks, but the episode got the basics right and the story is promising. The opening episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Bloodlands can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work by following this link.