As the fourth episode of Bloodlands begins, DCI Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) wakes up next to Olivia Foyle while DCS Jackie Twomey (Lorcan Cranitch) meets with two men. Olivia (Victoria Smurfit) gets up in time to watch Tom hide his handgun in the laundry room. A man using a passport in the name of Jeremy Brooks gets off the plane before signing for his rental vehicle. A case in the trunk contains a handgun. Tom admits he’ll have to figure out how to get the gold from under his people’s noses, but it may not matter much if they find more before others do. She will search the house again since Colin might’ve left something. Olivia tries to kill him, but Tom won’t let her. Pc Judith Kenny is surprised when she sees Izzy (Lola Petticrew) with DC Billy ‘Birdy’ Bird (Chris Walley).

They agree they should tell Tom before he finds out on his own. At the station, Tom watches as DS Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) goes through the evidence and attempts to figure out the code. She tells him that forensics found gun oil deposits on the gold bar and they’re consistent with the oil sample from the M24 rifle. It also seems that the bars travel with the rifles with four bars and one rifle in each case. Niamh believes they were deposited with Colin on the date in question which is also the date of the first Goliath victim. Lauren confirmed that Goliath was a client of Colin’s. Tom argues that Goliath is dead, but Niamh will only say Keenan is dead. Tom recommends taking it up with Jackie who enters to show Tom the information request from the FBI. Jackie quickly shuts down the Goliath argument before asking Niamh to come to his office for a talk.

Judith mocks Birdy about his relationship until she finds out that Tom doesn’t know yet. Niamh tries to explain her case to Jackie who refuses to listen. Tom tells Birdy that it is Jackie’s favorite subject since he likes doing things his way. Tom is pulled into Jackie’s office seconds later. Jackie tells them they’re as bad as one another. He goes on to say he talked to some people on that side of the fence and it is clear that the IRA is nowhere near this. He thinks they should focus on Robert Dardis and Olivia Foyle. Tom suggests Olivia will slip up if she is guilty. Jackie thinks she is. While searching through Colin’s stuff, Olivia finds a folder with Castlewellan written on it. She takes a picture of it and sends it to Tom. She goes to the bedroom where she is shocked to see Jeremy sleeping in bed. He introduces himself as Ryan Savage (Jonjo O’Neill) and says he is the guy who owns the gold.

He makes her take a ride with him. When Birdy asks Niamh why she is taking down the evidence, she says it is because denial is easier. She wonders why they’re so afraid to talk about Goliath. Birdy believes he is dead. Niamh asks about Izzy since she heard about it from Constable Scott in evidence. She tells him to be more confident when he tells Tom because he knows Birdy is a capable officer and he likes him. Niamh laughs at him on the way out of the room. Judith shows Niamh to a private room and promises to keep it to herself. Ryan takes Olivia to the Titanic Centre. Once they go inside, Ryan says his dad owns the gold and he is there to collect it. He believes she can help him find it, but Olivia doesn’t know where it is. Birdy shows Niamh and Tom video of Colin visiting the storage center. One time, he leaves with a heavy briefcase. The next time, he comes with a light briefcase.

When he comes out the second time, it looks like the bag weighs a ton. Niamh doesn’t think he could get it into the car on his own. Birdy asked for footage from the neighboring warehouse and found video that shows Colin and Robert loading the bag together. The car is from Dardis’ employer’s fleet and it is a silver Mercedes. Tom wants to check other cameras to see if they can find out where the car is going. Ryan admits his family sent eight gold bars to this country and the gold never reached the people they sent it to. The man tasked with receiving the gold disappeared. Those two men were found in a hole on an island near here and they recently got a call saying the gold had turned up in her husband’s possession. Olivia says she doesn’t know where it is and she wasn’t privy to her husband’s secrets.

Niamh doesn’t think Olivia is a grieving widow. She thinks Olivia is raging because she has been cut out of the gold. Olivia tells Ryan that she is going to find his gold because she is already looking and already has help. Ryan learns about the detective who found one bar of gold in a house belonging to a client of Colin’s. He already knows about the jeweler. Olivia says the detective said he’d like to find more gold for himself. She told him she’d be able to help him do that. Ryan questions what split they agreed on and whether she is sleeping with the detective. He offers to give them until the end of the week. Olivia asks why he even needs it when he is from a big American crime family and worth God knows how much. He responds by saying a penny less than a million is no longer a million. Birdy gives Tom documents pertaining to Colin Foyle’s former clients.

Jackie is in there as well. Birdy has already separated those who may have been of interest to them at any point. While going through the files, Tom finds something that surprises him about Jackie so he decides to confront him. Tom believes he had another agenda to shut down other lines of inquiry. Jackie takes Tom and Niamh into his office to talk about it privately. Jackie admits they briefly ran Colin Foyle as an intelligence source so he was a CHIS. Jackie was working in Belfast and they were investigating a fuel smuggler named Hugo McNamara who was suspected of moving into human trafficking. They needed a local corrupt accountant so Jackie mentioned Foyle. He eventually passed them information that led to McNamara’s arrest. Since he is arresting officer, Tom knows he didn’t cut ties with Colin in 2006. Jackie says he didn’t as an investigating officer.

Jackie doesn’t think there was anything to tell them and he was trying to protect the lives of his extended family. When McNamara was arrested, there was a lot of heat on Foyle so they eased back on using him. McNamara had a good lawyer and only served six years. He kept his hand in several businesses around Castlewellan. Later, Tom looks through the picture Olivia sent before telling Niamh it is hard to take orders from someone you don’t trust. Birdy interrupts to say the ANPR team found the silver Mercedes on the night of the ninth on the road to the Royal Down Yacht Club. Tom recommends taking Judith up there since the gold could come in and go out by boat. He will visit Olivia. Before they leave, Tom gets a message telling him that Izzy is bringing a friend home for dinner. He had to be on his best behavior. Tom visits Olivia who says she has never heard of Hugo McNamara.

They scout out the businesses in Castlewellan. One is a disused iron mine. Olivia says Colin was claustrophobic so he wouldn’t be down a mine, but she thinks they should check it out anyway. After breaking the lock, Tom goes inside with Olivia. As they step inside, Olivia gets a call. She claims it is her from her son so she steps away to take it. It is Ryan and he wants the gold even sooner now. Once she returns to Tom, they end up finding some of Colin’s documents. Tom says it is a good place to keep your illegal paperwork while Olivia focuses on finding the cold. Niamh joins Judith at the yacht club where the secretary is waiting for them. Tom returns to the station where he tells Niamh that Olivia is keeping her cards close to her chest. Niamh tells him about Olivia being at the club and speaking to the secretary about looking for a boat for her boyfriend.

They join Jackie who wonders if she was talking about Robert. Niamh confirms there was someone with her, but they managed to stay out of the camera’s view the whole time. Judith gives Birdy footage from the neighbor’s doorbell camera from the night of the petrol bombing. When Birdy checks the footage, he sees someone who looks like Tom walking by the fence. He begins freaking out as he tries to get in touch with Izzy. He tries to cancel their dinner date and promises to make it up to her. Niamh tells Tom she is worried that leaving Olivia on a long leash is going to be a mistake, but Tom says it is all they can do. She messed up with Dardis and worries the same will happen with Olivia. Tom reassures her that her job isn’t on the line. When Niamh leaves, she goes into the private room where she finds Birdy sitting by himself.

He tells her that Judith owed him one so she let him in. She makes sure Jackie didn’t send him. Birdy gets a call from Izzy before leaving. He goes to his flat and takes a screenshot of the video before finding the email from the ANPR team due to Tom. Birdy realizes he never sent the email so he takes another screenshot of it. Once Izzy arrives, Birdy asks if she is angry that he canceled dinner. Birdy says he wants to tell Tom, but he can’t because of work right now. Izzy wants to know what work it is. Izzy thought they were going to be different and share stuff. She eventually gets upset and storms out of his flat. When Tom finishes his run, he finds Olivia waiting for him. When they go inside so Tom can shower, Olivia gets the gun he hid previously. She wipes it off before Tom can return. Tom receives a document that Colin added to his will on the day he died.

Olivia looks at it and says it is the graveyard where Colin is buried. It isn’t his grave so she doesn’t understand why Colin would give this to his solicitor. They suspect it could be the gold and decide to rush to the graveyard right away. Birdy takes pictures of them from another vehicle as they drive away. Tom and Olivia make it to the grave and begin digging until Tom hits something metal. They find all of the remaining gold bars. Birdy takes pictures of them as they begin kissing. Izzy sends him a message saying she is sorry about earlier. Birdy begins typing as Tom begins walking in his direction. He deletes what he wrote. As he begins taking pictures again, Tom knocks on his window. When Tom asks what he is doing here, Birdy admits that he followed him. Birdy lets him in before saying he saw the video. Tom doesn’t think he showed it to anyone else since everyone would be here.

After Birdy tells him what else he knows, Tom asks what he thinks he saw here. Birdy says he was looking for the gold and just found it. He doesn’t want to say why he believes Tom thinks the gold belongs to him. Birdy asks if this means he killed Rob and Colin. Tom says no to Colin. Birdy asks if he is going to kill him. He pleads with him to make sure his body is found. Tom confesses he wasn’t expecting this or Birdy. He asks what he is supposed to do now. He doesn’t want to kill him. Birdy suggests he can just drive away and pretend like nothing ever happened. Tom thinks he is trapped just as much as Birdy, but it is tempting to just stop. He can’t because he has Izzy. Birdy says she needs her dad and he wishes he had his, but he was killed on duty. Tom says they’re stuck and one of them will have to make a move eventually.

Birdy tries to tell him about his relationship with Izzy before turning on the car and saying he is arresting him. Olivia shoots him through the windshield and tells Tom it is his gun. She runs away as Tom screams Birdy’s name.

 

Bloodlands Review

Initially, I wasn’t expecting much from the second season of Bloodlands because the first wasn’t spectacular. Nevertheless, the second season has been vastly improved to the point that it could be classified as great television. Before this episode, I think it was pretty clear that Birdy was going to be killed, but it was difficult to guess who’d pull the trigger in the end.

It is a shame to see the character depart so soon since Birdy was just coming into his own and developing a relationship with Izzy. On the other hand, it seems Tom has finally met his match in Olivia and he also has to worry about Ryan who he doesn’t even know about yet. Despite some flaws and eye-rolling moments, Bloodlands has been thoroughly entertaining this season.

It should get even better as Tom finds himself at rock bottom with Birdy’s murder and the fact that all the evidence points towards him. For once in a long time, I am genuinely eager to see what happens. The final scenes of the episode with Birdy and Tom in the vehicle together were thrilling, edge-of-your-seat type of television because those moments felt authentic and raw.

The performances were excellent, especially from Chris Walley who will be missed. The episode scores an 8 out of 10. Recaps of Bloodlands can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work by following this link.