We Are One Another’s Ghosts – As the fifth episode of Bodies begins, Charles Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) is told there is no smoking in shul. Rabbi Goldstein (David Horovitch)’ calls him Karl Weissman and asks if he is Hadassa’s boy. As they sit together, the Rabbi tells Charles he saw his mother not long before she died. Charles says he won’t have anyone to preach to and pray for if Hitler has his way. He goes on to claim he treats people the way they treat him. Charles tells the Rabbi that Esther is dead because of him but not by his hand. Charles asks if a man like him can find mercy in God’s eyes. Goldstein says it is not God’s mercy he should seek.

Instead, he should seek the mercy of the child. Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) yells for Barber (Michael Jibson) when she hears them nearby. At the police station, Barber says they swept the house and there was nothing there. They haven’t found Andrew Morley either. Barber doesn’t know what is going on but he is drawing a line under it. He believes she has fallen down a rabbit hole and he can’t follow her. Later, Maggie (Alexandra Roach) calls Shahara to ask if the prints are really from 1890. Maggie explains that the prints are a 100% match to Elias Mannix. Iris Maplewood (Shira Haas) admits that she was fooled with Lorna Dunnet (Philippa Dunne) and Gabriel Defoe (Tom Mothersdale) sitting nearby. Gabriel believes she’ll know why he is doing this and Chapel Perilous are doing this once she knows the truth.

Once they arrive, they drag Iris out of the vehicle. They take her inside and place her in a chair. Shahara comes forward and asks for Iris’s hood to be removed. Shahara sits down with Elias (Gabriel Howell) to ask who did that to him. Elias says the governor is going to get him transferred to Feltham this afternoon. He suspects she found something out. Shahara shows him a picture of Sir Julian Harker from 1890. He died in 1941 when he was 99 years old. Julian was killed in his own bedroom. Shahara shows him how his fingerprints match Julian’s fingerprints. Alfred Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) shows Chief Inspector Paxman (Nicholas Farrell) the print he found on a lamppost on Longharvest Lane. Paxman also looks at Sir Julian Harker’s prints. Paxman asks how he got this. Alfred says it was an oversight on Harker’s part.

Paxman argues that dactylography is a continental fad so it is hardly evidence. He refuses to accept it as evidence although Alfred is adamant that Harker will be questioned. Elias tells Shahara that he never knew his dad. As for his mother, Morley said she had probably already overdosed by now. Shahara believes the dead body and the Morleys are all linked to this man. She thinks Elias’s mom might know why their prints match. Elias knows that her name is Sarah. Shahara asks if she is a Mannix. Elias remembers the creeps she hung around with. He doesn’t think she is dead, but he doesn’t want her to know anything about him. As Shahara leaves, she calls Maggie to ask her for the addresses of every Sarah Mannix in the country. Charles Whiteman confronts Chief Inspector Calloway (Derek Riddell) with a gun.

Calloway asks Charles if he killed the young girl. Charles tells him he needs his help. Calloway stitches his wound and asks if he killed the person in the boot. Charles says no although he admits to killing Cozens. He framed him to get a case closed. Charles never killed a man before. He had gambling debts so he did small jobs. A voice on the phone told him what to do and he did it. She told him that he had to kill Esther but he couldn’t so she did it herself. Calloway asks Charles what he is after. Charles explains he is after justice for Esther. He doesn’t know who this woman is, but he is convinced she is part of something bigger. Someone must’ve talked and that’s how she knew Esther was there. Charles wants Calloway to help him flush them out and find out what is really going on. Shahara tracks down Sarah Mannix (Natalie Gavin) who learns Elias is in trouble.

Sarah tells her what it was like when the social took Elias from her. She knew Elias was safer away from her. When she tried to see him again, they said Elias wanted nothing to do with her. Shahara tells her that Elias is bright and alone. In the future, Iris tells Shahara that they’ll find her and kill her. Shahara tells her that they educate instead of torturing people. Iris goes after her. Shahara takes her to the ground and threatens to rip the tech from her back if she tries that again. Shahara tells Defoe that Iris is with Mannix. He admits that may be true, but he trusts her anyway. Shahara suggests that’ll be what gets him killed. Then, she confronts Iris and tells her how she responds will impact how this ends for her. Shahara tells Iris she isn’t the first detective to discover Defoe’s body.

Iris is one of four. Shahara mentions DI Hillinghead, DS Whiteman, and herself. Her investigation 30 years ago led her to Elias who was 15 years ago. Shahara says he grew up to be Commander Mannix. The government said they never found out who set off the bomb. They lied because they did it themselves and Elias detonated it. Shahara believes Mannix intends to go back to 1890 and form a cult. They’ll take power and build the society they live in today. Shahara says they live in Mannix’s utopia built on the murder of half a million innocent people. He just needs to go back to 1890 and create the same chain of events. In 1890, Paxman thanks Julian for coming in. Alfred confronts him with the evidence. Julian admits he dimmed the gaslight when he heard someone coming.

He explains there was nowhere else to hide other than the alcove. Julian makes Paxman get them tea. When they’re alone, Alfred tells Julian he would tread more carefully. He believes Julian is scared because he is there changing his story. Julian insists he is going to tell him the whole truth. Shahara tells Iris that she found a record in 2023. Mannix recorded hundreds of them. On one of them, he says Iris’s name. Shahara wants to know if she is friend or foe. If she is a friend, she can help them stop Mannix. Iris calls this the greatest crock of crap she has ever heard. Shahara tells someone to take Iris to the throat. Calloway tells everyone they’ve uncovered new evidence suggesting Lee Cozens was framed. He is reopening the investigation as a result.

Charlie goes to the switch room so he can monitor calls going to the station. Before long, Detective Harris calls the Coroner’s Office. Kathleen Squires calls a number that the operator doesn’t recognize. She explains that 565 is the Mansion House telephone exchange. Kathleen tells the man to know he is loved. She tells the man that Whiteman has told Calloway that Cozens was framed. Calloway confronted Kathleen (Emily Barber) to say he wished she’d come to him first. She is taken to a holding cell. As Kathleen is led away, she apologizes and says she’d said she’d kill her son. She only knows that the number goes to a private switchboard at a bank, Harker and Co. Chief Inspector Calloway and Whiteman go to Harker Bank.

Whiteman hears a woman’s voice and immediately says that’s her. The managing director comes over so Calloway tells her why they’re there. Calloway tells Whiteman he needs a cool head so he asks him to stay put. Charles punches him and fires his gun toward the ceiling. He takes the woman in a vehicle. Sarah tells Shahara that she ran away from home when she was 15. A few years later, she met a boy who said his name was Danny. She was pregnant months later with everyone saying she shouldn’t keep it. Sarah tracked Danny down and found out he is rich. Once she told him she was pregnant, she was only talking to his lawyers. Danny disappeared. When Elias was born, Sarah couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She worried he wouldn’t know she loved him.

Shahara asks about the banker she mentioned. Sarah confirms his name is Julian Harker. Shahara checked the family tree and didn’t find anyone by the name of Daniel Harker. Sarah explains he took his mother’s name so his last name is Barber. After Sarah confirms it is Barber, he calls Shahara. Barber tells Shahara to give Sarah his love. Shahara rushes to find out about Elias’s transfer. No one knows where they are. Iris reaches the throat. Shahara asks if she still thinks they’re lying to her. She tells Defoe it is time to show and tail. Defoe explains he was researching the Deutsch particle three years ago. He detected an abnormal neutrino trace that defied every natural law he thought he understood. What she is about to experience happened as he got closer to the source.

As she begins experiencing its effects, Defoe explains it is temporal displacement. He says it is naturally occurring time traveling. Defoe explains that Throat is what Mannix uses to go back to 1890. Each time they’ve tried to stop him, they’ve failed. Nothing seems to work. Iris believes they’ve already lost and can’t stop it. She asks what will happen if they succeed. Shahara says they only want to save lives by stopping the bombing. Iris alleges they just want to rip everything up like the other terrorists. They receive a warning because people are raiding the facility. They yell for Iris to be tied up. Mannix’s men find her a bit later. She tells Mannix that they didn’t hurt her. Mannix wants to know what she found. As they walk together, he asks if something is on her mind.

Iris tells him that they said he was the one who detonated the bomb in 2023. She explains that the throat thing was supposedly the key to it all. Harker tells Alfred that he was waiting for a miracle on Longharvest Lane. Harker claims Alfred wears his shackles too and everyone can see it. He asks if Alfred feels his lies will be forgiven if he persecutes others for theirs. Alfred threatens to make it his life’s mission to expose Harker. Julian doesn’t think he remembers what happened at the séance. He shows Alfred a picture of him with another man who appears to be Henry and calls it his murder confession. Julian tells him that his love for Henry is no crime. He wants Alfred to frame Henry Ashe for the Longharvest murder. If Alfred does that, he and his family will have a future.

Otherwise, the photos will destroy him. Before Julian leaves, he insists he didn’t kill him and doesn’t know who did. Polly tells Charles that her dad was a police officer named Alfred Hillinghead. She doesn’t think he can kill her because it isn’t the time. Charles points the gun at her and intends to test that theory. Polly doesn’t want to tell him who killed Esther. Charles asks why the body was so important. Polly admits her father asked the same question, but it didn’t do any him good. She offers to give him money. Polly eventually says they just needed the murder investigation closed. Polly says there was too much to lose, but she didn’t want to kill her. When Calloway shows up, Charles tells him that he can’t let Polly walk.

Calloway says they won’t let her since she has confessed. He arrests both of them. Hayden Harker (Michael Shaeffer) arrives and reminds Calloway he told him not to enter until backup arrived. Hayden wants Polly uncuffed. When Calloway says he heard her confession, Hayden shoots him. He punches Charles. Then, Hayden says hello mother to Polly. Shahara tries to find Barber. When she enters his home, she finds a key with a note saying it is for her. She plays the record nearby as instructed. Mannix says hello to her. Elias knows she is listening from his father’s flat. Mannix is certain they will meet again.

 

Bodies Review

Bodies is quickly going off the rails as it tries to juggle multiple time frames. While the episode was more competent in some ways, the story just isn’t up to par. In some ways, it is a lot like 1899. It tries to be mysterious and clever although it could’ve been written as they went on a whim. The way everything just clicks into place and all the characters are conveniently connected makes the whole series a little corny honestly.

The series is already hindered by its bloated cast, yet each episode adds even more characters to learn about. The issue is that none of the characters are easy to genuinely care about it. In some ways, I am interested in seeing how everything plays out in the end. In other ways, I can’t say that I really care whether the bombing is stopped or if any of the characters end up eating a bullet.

Bodies just doesn’t have enough substance to force viewers to care about the characters or the story. The episodes are incredibly drug out to the point that seeing the credits roll at the end brings relief so having eight episodes makes any small problems unforgivable. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Bodies can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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