As the second episode of Crime begins, Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) rushes to the scene and finds Brit’s body sitting on the National Monument. He talks about the things in life that you never become hardened to before walking up to Britney’s body and putting his coat on her legs. After that, Ray and Amanda Drummond (Joanna Vanderham) visit Angela to tell her about the discovery. She gets upset and calls them liars because they promised they would find her daughter. She immediately blames the granddad although it wasn’t him because he was in the hospital. Angela learns she’ll have to go with a police officer to identify the body. When she says she wants him to suffice, Ray promises that he will. Next, Richie Gulliver takes to the stage and speaks about breaking the bonds of a united family and the strength of a United Britain.

Once he finishes speaking, Ray and Amanda attend Britney’s postmortem. They’re told that Brit likely wasn’t dead for more than ten hours, she was strangled, drugged, and raped. Since a condom was used, there was no sperm. She had tape on her wrists and ankles for a long time so the marks remain. They found fibers in Britney’s mouth. It might’ve been from a gag or a parka the person responsible was wearing. Ray freaks out in the car and struggles to calm himself before hitting the pub nearby. While waiting for his drinks, he does what he did when he was little and repeats football stats over and over. He listens to a press conference from Bob Toal (Ken Stott) who talks about Britney’s murder. He gets a call from Trudi (Angela Griffin) after she learns about the discovery. Although Ray blames himself, Trudi reassures him that it isn’t his fault. He doesn’t want to see Trudi and pretends he is at work as the call ends.

Once he leaves the pub, he visits Baxter McClellan in hopes of getting information about Graham Cornell who isn’t expected to come back from holiday for another week. Baxter admits it was difficult to get information from Graham because he didn’t say much. Karen joins them seconds later to tell them that Graham went on a sightseeing tour of Rome last year. She concurs with Baxter while saying Graham kept to himself and didn’t say much. Baxter agrees to email Ray his work diary and finds he was scheduled to have lunch with RG. Once Karen rides out of the room, Baxter tells Ray about the crime novel he has been writing and asks whether he’d check it over. Ray agrees and tells Baxter to email it to him with Graham’s work diary. When Ray returns to the office, Amanda tells him the fibers are consistent with those used on the hoods of parkas.

She finds that he is looking at Robert Ellis. He doesn’t believe Ellis is the Confectioner because it is the same MO and Mr. Confectioner is still out there. They agree to go check Cornell’s flat while Amanda says there were no recent calls on his phone or transactions on his card for the last four days. He wants to find out where Cornell was when Stacy and Nuala were murdered. Gary Franklin (Bhav Joshi) watches them drive away from the police station. As they reach Cornell’s flat, Ray calls his old partner to talk about the Confectioner case. He tells George it is the same girl although George wants him to come work with him in security. George reminds him he told everyone until he was blue in the face that he would come back, but nobody listened to him. He insists there is no chance that Ellis was the Confectioner. Ray is warned he’ll have to decide whether it is worth it personally to go down this road.

Once the call ends, he steps inside where Amanda gives him a set of keys with RG on the tag. He explains Graham was tidy to the point of being anal while Gary enters the police station and confesses to the murders. Meanwhile, Bob and Dougie Gillman (Jamie Sives) meet with Louis Leblanc (Reginal Kudiwu) who is going to help them with the case. As they head back to the vehicle, Bob learns about Gary’s confession and begins celebrating immediately. Ray and Amanda return to the station where Bob tells them about Gary confessing to the crimes. Amanda tells the boss that the Gorman murder was 10 years ago so Gary would’ve only been 16 back then. Ray wants to go into the interview room with Gary, but Bob tells him no.

Bob says he is going to update the police committee and go to Perth to find Hazel Lloyd’s body. Once Bob steps away, Amanda tries to talk to Ray who storms into the interview room and makes McCorkel (Michael Abubakar) leave. Ray quickly tries to pick holes in Gary’s story before telling him what the people in jail will do to him. He warns him he’ll be surrounded by the monsters that he is pretending to be. It is enough to convince Gary to change his story and say he didn’t commit any of the murders. Once Gary steps out of the interview room, Amanda cautions him that Bob is going to be ticked off. Ray says he’ll have to get over his aversion to police work. Ray goes to Bob and attempts to explain his actions. He quickly apologizes for breaking the chain of command and undermining his boss.

Bob says Alex Ferguson used to manage Eric Cantona differently than the other players. He wants Ray to be Eric Cantona and not Beckham. Ray tells him about Cornell and the fact it is hard to go missing like that today. He isn’t sure whether Cornell is the Confectioner, but he doesn’t think Ellis is either. Bob tells him to focus on their current suspects instead of trying to overturn a previous conviction or he is done for. Amanda knocks on the door to tell them that Tommy Loughran (Ian Hanmore) has returned home. As they walk to Tommy’s place, Ray tells Amanda he doesn’t believe in religion although the Bible bashers are right that they’re fighting against evil. Tommy lets them inside his flat this time. Tommy sits down and begins using an oxygen mask. He is shown a picture of Britney and asked whether he saw her when he left the house. He talks to his dog Percy before saying he can only walk 50 yards down the street because of the asbestosis.

Then, Tommy admits he saw something so he begins telling them about seeing Britney (Paige Green) walk toward the white van before disappearing. He claims she was smiling as she walked past the van and disappeared. When asked whether he saw the driver, Tommy says no. He heard the side door open though. Tommy suspects Amanda hasn’t been out of the uniform for long and talks about her blouse and hair being tied up. Amanda gets upset and steps on his oxygen tube making it difficult for him to breathe. When Ray tells her, she finally relents and lets him breathe again. Ray looks around and finds a yellow notebook so he asks Tommy to write down his phone number on the paper. Amanda has to read the phone number from Percy’s collar while Tommy writes it down for them. Outside, Amanda apologizes for being unprofessional although Ray likes it and says it must’ve felt good.

He suspects they’ve hit a jackpot with the yellow paper and Tommy might be working with a group of people. They discuss having to watch child porn which Ray says is abuse. They agree it is the sounds that are so hard to listen to. When Amanda asks if the paper was yellow, Ray doublechecks it and finds that it was white. He nearly gets hit by a car and asks Amanda to say nothing about it. Then, they go to Graham’s place and find a man trying to deliver a package to him. They take the package and find sex toys inside before giving it back to the deliveryman. They decide to visit the address on the package since it is different from the one of Graham’s flat. Bob calls them to encourage them to find Cornell before apologizing for cursing in front of Amanda. As they approach the other flat, Amanda reminds Ray they don’t have a warrant and should have a full forensics team there.

She finds he took the keys with the RG tag on them. Amanda warns him that he is going to mess up their entire investigation, but he is worried the trail will go cold by the time they get a warrant. They step inside and find that the flat is covered with sex toys and devices. Ray mentions smelling sulfur before finding a rope nearby. They talk about Marquis de Sade who is the freak all the stuff is named after. He tells her that the books are more about power and less about sex. Amanda finds a dog collar with a tag that says “To Daddy RG. Thank you for teaching me.” Bob sits down with the bosses and tells them about their false suspect. Richie Gulliver interrupts to tell everyone he has full confidence in Chief Superintendent Bob Toal and his officers. He encourages the others to let them do their jobs.

Amanda and Ray go to a pub so he can grab a drink. He tells her it brings clarity sometimes before they go through the circumstantial evidence they have against Graham Cornell. Ray gets a text message explaining Graham didn’t start the civil service until after the murders of Stacy and Nuala. Amanda breaks the news that Graham was a VSO in Ghana during the time when those women were murdered so it likely wasn’t him. She encourages him to keep focusing on this case before Dougie enters with Louis. Leblanc reveals he has decided to civilize Dougie Gillman and wants help from Ray and Amanda, but they’re ready to leave. Dougie asks Ray whether he is drinking again and warns him that is a one-way ticket to the park bench. Once they leave, Dougie wonders what is going on with those partners. Although Louis believes it is innocent, Dougie suggests otherwise because Ray plays dirty when he smells nonce.

Ray grabs alcohol and sits on a park bench near the monument where they found Britney’s body. He pleads with God to grant him the serenity to accept the things he cannot change and the courage to change the things he can. After a few minutes of cursing, screaming, and drinking, Ray gets up and gives the alcohol to a man on a bench nearby. Trudi goes out with Estelle (Allison McKenzie) who reveals she is having an affair with a married man who is more exciting than her previous man. Trudi says she is worried about Ray because he is experiencing a lot of stress at work. Then, she notices their senior project director Mr. Mount McKendrick nearby with a woman who isn’t his wife. Estelle says she is a lucky woman before arguing there are some things she doesn’t want to know about. Ray sleeps alone that night and has nightmares about Britney’s body. When he gets up, he looks at the newspaper clippings on his wall and repeats the football player stats.

The next day, he shows up late just before the press conference with Angela. Meanwhile, Trudi plays with McKendrick who says he is going to be working closely with her and Estelle. He invites her out for dinner, but she insists she only goes out with her boyfriend. Before the press conference, Amanda learns the S&M den is owned by a company called East Lowden Properties and Richie Gulliver is the only director. She quickly tells Ray who remembers attending a meeting with Richie because he is a drug addict too. During the press conference, Angela tells the press how the monster took her heart away and pleads for answers. Ray says he believes it is someone they know from the community. He stands up and begins talking to the killer while the man in the white van watches the press conference on his smartphone.

He asks the killer to come forward so they can find out what he wants from them. Ray goes on to say innocent people shouldn’t die because of his pain and torment. He tells the killer he will hunt them down and find them. After that, Richie talks to a group. He says they’re unstoppable together before toasting a united, prosperous Great Britain. Ray and Amanda arrive to arrest him although Richie believes it is a big mistake. As Richie is led out of the room, Ray admits there is satisfaction from stripping someone who thinks they’re beyond the laws the rest are forced to obey.

 

Crime Review

Unfortunately, this was another long, drawn-out episode of Crime without any real heart, passion, or purpose. The acting is top-notch particularly from Dougray Scott who captivates his scenes. Joanna Vanderham, Jamie Sives, and Ken Stott are great in their respective roles as well. The majestic city of Edinburgh is a nice backdrop for the gritty thriller which is tarnished by a weak script, poor pacing, and bad editing.

While the show has worked hard to achieve maximum inclusion, it didn’t put a lot of effort into making an engaging adaptation of the novel. There is just too much nonsense going on that will either matter little in the end or not matter at all. We’re constantly getting the runaround without any real significance in any of the scenes. What was the purpose of bringing in Gary Franklin? Even the Trudi character seems like filler to desperately get 40 some minutes out of each episode.

Crime would’ve been much better served as a three or four-episode series because it is clear they couldn’t handle six episodes. They’ve hit the nail on the head with the political correctness, but Crime has not been an entertaining adaptation yet. Could it get better? Possibly, but I wouldn’t bet on it. It is remarkably disappointing because Crime could’ve been a fantastic thriller. Instead, it has been overloaded with boring filler, cringey dialogue, and a disappointing script. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Crime recaps can be found on Reel Mockery here.