CB Strike Troubled Blood Part 3 – As this episode of Troubled Blood begins, Brian Tucker (Billy Boyle) tells Strike about Louise (Mollie Holder) and how she was his whole world. When all of her friends started walking home, Brian told himself to let her go a bit. He thought he taught her how to be safe, but he couldn’t imagine a man like Dennis Creed. Brian knows he killed Louise and he has proof that Dennis killed Margot Bamborough too. He suspects there is a good chance he killed Kara Wolfson as well, but Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger) admits they think Kara was killed by a gangster. Brian says poor Terry went to his grave not knowing where his sister was. He is afraid of that since no one will search for his daughter once he is gone. He could tell the police places for them to dig, but there isn’t any value in it to them with Dennis locked away.

 

Brian shows them what he has regarding Margot’s case. He warns them they can’t use it until they have a case because it could get his mate into trouble. Brian explains that one of the guards at Wakefield gave it to him. Creed was writing his memoirs although he has never mentioned Margot. Brian explains that Creed likes games. Brian takes them to Louise’s rooms and reveals he was allowed to write to Creed before showing them what Creed wrote back to him. When looking at each letter in the first sentence, it says “your daughter cried for her mummy before she died”. Brian thinks he is just something Creed plays with, but Strike is famous so he might talk to him. Cormoran (Tom Burke) doesn’t think their client would want them to take that kind of risk. After offering to pay for their services, Brian begins breaking down and saying he needs their help.

Robin promises they’ll do their best to try to help him find his daughter before refusing to take any money from him. As they leave, Robin tells Strike that she’ll do the work in her spare time since she doesn’t have a life. Strike reminds her that the writing wasn’t a confession and Creed doesn’t help people. Robin thinks it’d be good for Brian to still have someone looking for his daughter even if he dies. She just can’t let them all go. They visit the pub for a pint. Strike shows her the evidence pictures Pat made him. He goes on to say they still need to talk to Steve Douthwaite, Paul Satchwell, and Dennis Creed. Strike gets a call from Lucy who asks him to come down because it might not be able to wait until Christmas. After the call, he tells Robin he needs to sort something out for Joan while she intends to work on Creed. Later, Strike looks through the old photographs he has.

He receives an email invitation from Johnny Rokeby to celebrate the Deadbeats. Robin calls an old business owner to ask whether his business had a delivery van. Strike sits outside with a homeless man and bums a cigarette from him. He offers the man some curry when it arrives, but the man can’t eat it because it wrecks his guts. Strike says he’ll get him some chicken instead. In the morning, Cormoran goes to the office where Pat (Ruth Sheen) says she rang the council because there were poppadoms and what looked like chicken tikka masala on their doorstep this morning. Strike doesn’t say anything about it. He learns that Robin has been in and out already. He wants Sam (Jack Greenlees) to be obnoxious and call Paul Satchwell as well as everyone who might know him. Robin meets with Izzy Chiswell (Christian Cole) to see if she can help her get permission to talk to a prisoner in Broadmoor.

After learning more, Izzy says she might know who to flatter and cajole at the MoJ. They discuss their Christmas plans. Strike gets a call from Beth Spencer who is the social worker assigned to Delia and Samhain Athorn. He asks Beth about what Samhain said about Margot being killed by Nico Ricci. Beth says she did it because he was talking about his dad killing her with magic. She didn’t want people thinking they were dangerous and she actually got the name from Samhain. They learn that she had been working with him for a few years before the call ends. Robin tells Strike she is trying to clock out early so she can start cooking for Max’s dinner party. Her brother is coming too. Strike mentions the phone box on the junction with Albermarle Way. Robin found out that a wholefoods store used a delivery van. The driver admitted to speeding in the area at the time and said he didn’t come forward because he didn’t want to get caught up in a police inquiry.

The van wasn’t Creed. Strike doesn’t think the struggle near the phone box adds up either because Creed usually spiked the drinks of the women he attacked. As for Margot, she was sober and in a rush to meet her friends. Robin reminds him that it wasn’t Margot. Strike asks if they have the interview Simon Layborn did with that witness. Sam continues calling around to bother Paul. Strike looks at the interview with Ruby Elliot from May 7, 1975. During the interview, Ruby (Charlotte Eaton) says she was trying to find her son’s new house. She pulled over and saw two women near the phone box. It wasn’t a fight, but it looked like the short one was trying to make the other one walk faster. There was shoving and she thought there might’ve been too much drinking. The tall one had a raincoat while the short one had a plastic rain hood over their head. She is asked about Detective Inspector Talbot thinking one of them might’ve been a man.

Ruby felt like he wanted her to stay that but he isn’t sure. Robin finds the article from the woman saying it was her and her mother that night. Strike says it was the other way around because Fiona was at least a foot taller. As for Dennis, he would’ve been shorter than Margot. It is possible that it was Margot and Creed, but Strike still isn’t convinced. He gets a call from Paul who complains about their unconventional methods. When Strike pushes the matter, Paul agrees to tell him whatever he wants to know. Later, Strike gets a call from his father Johnny. He’d love Strike to come to the party, but Strike argues that he is too busy. After Strike says now is not a good time to talk, Johnny says he has prostate cancer so there might not always be time. Strike can live with that so he tells his father not to call again. Strike gets drunk and goes to the dinner where they question becoming a soldier under the last few governments.

Strike argues with Courtney (Maia Tamrakar) about the Taliban and war. Robin tries to change the subject by asking Max (Syrus Lowe) about army life. Jonathan (Jonny Green) and the others talk about rape and other things while Robin attempts to defuse the situation. Strike apologizes to Robin, calls Jonathan and Courtney idiots, and finally leaves. Robin goes outside where she finds Strike vomiting nearby. She complains about him arriving late, being drunk, and talking about rape. Although he apologizes, Robin insists it isn’t enough. He gets up in the morning and tries to call Robin, but he doesn’t answer. Robin makes it to the office and learns Lucy is making Strike coffee. Robin pulls up the blinds to wake him and asks about going to Cornwall. He confirms he might be away for a few days. Strike tries to apologize again before admitting he only remembers half the evening.

She makes it clear that it won’t happen again. When asked about Joan, Strike says he isn’t sure they’ll make it in time although Lucy wants to try. Later, Strike and Robin run into a flooded road and a police officer tells them they’ll have to go back. Despite trying other routes, they keep running into flooded roads so Strike says he’ll make some calls. Robin visits Brian to tell him Creed has agreed to be interviewed. He agrees to help her come up with things to ask starting with evidence that he took Louise. He shows her what they gave him and says they even told him they thought Creed killed Lou. Dave and Nell arrive to help Strike and Lucy reach Joan. Once they arrive, Ted (Ian Redford) admits he never thought they’d make it. He confirms she waited for them to get there. In the morning, Joan (Linda Bassett) asks Cormoran to sit with her. She wishes she’d met Robin and asks if she looks after him.

Strike admits it isn’t like that these days so he is supposed to look after himself. Once she passes away, Strike leaves to find a quiet place to collect himself. Robin sends the family an email giving them her condolences. She talks to Strike on the phone later and tells him that Creed will only talk to him. He is quick to agree to that. The funeral isn’t until after Christmas. Cormoran says they’re seeing Anna tomorrow. Robin says she can’t make the meeting before checking on him. Strike doesn’t answer her before ending the call. The next day, he meets with Anna (Sophie Ward) to tell her that the police made an error by discounting the statement from a witness who saw two people struggling near a phone box, but it hasn’t gotten them any further. Cormoran admits there is no evidence of an affair between her mom and Paul. He thinks her mom just wanted more attention from her dad.

Anna knows that he tried to find her, but they’re nearly at the limit of the amount they agreed they spend. Strike says they can work at a lower rate. Anna and her partner agree to accept that offer. When Robin meets with Matthew (Kerr Logan), she says she just wants the deposit her parents gave her for the house back. They argue about her pay and other things. Strike and Robin visit Brian to see what they can find out about Creed. He likes people to think he is clever and he will expect them to be playing a game. Strike and Robin learn that Creed liked Aleister Crowley. There is a theory that he picked certain nights to take women for satanic rituals. Brian recommends getting him talking about the other places he might’ve buried the body. Saul Morris (Jonas Armstrong) goes to the office where he tells Robin that they’re inches away with Shifty. She enters Strike’s office and they begin talking about Talbot’s theory.

His notebook says Schmidt explains everything so Cormoran thinks they should get him in there. When they begin playing with the tarot cards, Robin pulls the lovers card. She doesn’t show Strike and instead tells him she’ll pick him up tomorrow. Cormoran goes to Broadmoor to meet with Creed (Kenneth Cranham) the following day. Creed thinks he is withholding information to make himself powerful, but he believes he is working for Margot’s daughter. He isn’t sure it could be Brian Tucker since he doesn’t see how he could pay the fee. Dennis claims they like to do things to frustrate him. He thinks he should be in a prison instead and could even be useful if they meet him halfway. Dennis says men like him target society’s unwanted. Although society won’t say it, they’re not unhappy that these people are gone. He believes men like him are necessary. They begin talking about Crowley and Talbot trying to solve Dennis using star signs.

Dennis says sane men don’t believe in Satan or horoscopes and he is sane. Strike reminds him that his doctors disagree. Dennis tells him how he would poison women and always knew how much they’d had. Strike mentions that he didn’t always use a van before he admits that his client is Margot’s daughter. When asked what he wants out of this meeting, Dennis says he wants to go back to Belmarsh where he can finish his book. Strike asks if he thinks he could change anyone’s mind by talking to the press. Dennis can do that if he tells him where Margot is buried. Strike will have a body and Dennis will have a trial. He can plead not guilty and talk to the press that way. Dennis confesses to killing Louise Tucker after he saw her in her school uniform. He took her necklace off before dumping her body. Dennis also knows that she called her stepmother Claws and she told him she was unhappy at home.

Dennis refuses to tell him anything about Margot until he is back in Belmarsh. Strike doesn’t believe he had anything to do with Louise or Margot. Dennis says he’ll find Louise where he finds M54. As they begin talking about the phone box and van, Strike says he wasn’t driving the van. He ruled him out for Margot and was only ever here for Louise. Strike thinks he is a lunatic and will tell everyone that he belongs in Broadmoor. When Strike joins Robin, they try to figure out what M54 was about. Strike finds out that there is a star called that and it is located in the Sagittarius constellation. Robin thinks she knows where Louise is buried since Dennis could’ve taken her to the Archer Hotel in Islington. They meet with George Layborn (Samuel Oatley) who says they’ve found what looks like a skeleton. Strike remembers what Dennis said about being born under the 13th sign.

George reminds them that nothing is official until they get dental records. Later, Robin tells Strike that she found out that the 13th sign was made by Stephen Schmidt as part of a 14-sign system. Under his system, people’s signs change. One of them is Steve Douthwaite who becomes a Capricorn. In the notebook, it says Capricorn kills Julie W. Robin did a search and found a woman named Julie Wilkes who was a holiday rep at Baxton’s on Canvey Island. She died while Steve was still working there not long after the article was written about him changing his name. The article even mentions that Steve Jacks was her boyfriend. Robin reveals that Julie was found intoxicated floating in the camp pool. Although Steve was questioned, he was never charged and left a week later. Talbot had a train ticket to Canvey Island so he must’ve worked it out. Robin theorizes that Steve killed Margot before moving and his girlfriend was found drowned at Baxton’s.

 

CB Strike Troubled Blood Review

The third episode of CB Strike Troubled Blood had some great, moody moments, but the script still falls flat in many places. The scenes leading up to Joan’s passing were bleak with the atmosphere shining. Those moments were probably the most effective through three episodes even if they can’t make up for the disappointing cold case investigation.

Certain aspects of the case just don’t make a lot of sense so the season is disjointed and somewhat of a mess. As the series has progressed, the victim count has climbed in an effort to make the story even bigger but there is no ah-ha moment. Even the way Robin and Strike figured out where Louise was buried fell flat because it was forced and rushed.

The side stories have been far more entertaining than Margot’s case. For instance, Strike’s interaction with the homeless man and Pat’s reaction to their mess was a genuinely clever moment that proved this season could’ve worked. Sadly, this may be the weakest series so far. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of CB Strike Troubled Blood are available on Reel Mockery here. Consider supporting our independent, unfiltered site by following this link.