The Wheels Of Wrath – As this episode of Father Brown begins, Agnes Morris (Amy Cudden) stops Lisa (Annie Cordoni) to see where she is going. Lisa claims she is going for a stroll with Brenda (Ruby-May Martinwood). Agnes continues asking questions until Brenda arrives to pick up Lisa. Billy Turner (Jamie Bacon) and his pals arrive on motorcycles to say the fun has arrived in town. After church, Father Brown (Mark Williams) speaks to Sergeant Goodfellow (John Burton) about his singing. Goodfellow blames his upcoming inspector’s exam in just four days. Mrs. Isabel Devine (Claudie Blakley) worries about what he’ll do, but Brown suspects he’ll be surprised by how much he knows.

Agnes complains about the ruffians who haven’t been chased out of the village yet. Goodfellow reminds her that they haven’t broken any laws before leaving. Isabel has read all about the Ton Ups. Agnes calls them Vikings on wheels and pleads with Father Brown to do something about them. Brenda arrives in a leather jacket and asks Lisa what she thinks about it. Lisa tells her mother they’re picking strawberries for dinner. Agnes agrees to let her go, but warns her to stay clear of those hooligans. Father Brown and Mrs. Devine decide to introduce themselves to the bikers. Lisa puts on lipstick and asks Brenda how she looks. Brenda questions whether she really wants to do that for Billy.

Lisa explains she wants some wild stories of her own. It is her turn today. When they meet Billy, he tells Lisa not to touch his bike and they’ll follow that rule if they know what is good for them. Denny Beaton (Trevor Cooper) comes out with colas for Billy and his friends. Once Brown and Devine arrive, Billy stops Lisa from fleeing. After Father Brown asks why they’re there, Billy looks at Roger Norton (Joshua Griffin) and says they’re free to go where they want. Billy claims they’re going to leave tomorrow. He offers to buy Father Brown a drink before telling them about the record racing they’re going to do. After Roger says it is dangerous, Billy reminds him he has been too chicken to race for weeks.

Father Brown asks Roger about visiting St. Mary’s earlier. Roger recommends getting his lost sleep away from them if he cares about his flock. Brown goes inside to ask Denny about the guests. He admits they’re rough around the edges although they’re good kids. Lance South (Dominic Jones) comes over to tell Denny he dropped another burger. Father Brown learns that Denny is giving Billy and his pals alcohol after hours. Brown asks Denny if he has heard from his family. Denny says Katie writes on occasion. He doesn’t blame his wife after the way he treated them. Denny notices that all the money is missing from the register so he suspects Lance put it in the cutlery drawer.

When Agnes arrives outside, Devine tries to talk to her about her daughter’s difficult age. She thinks it is natural for the young to spread their wings. Agnes asks her to watch her gardening tools because she doesn’t want them stolen by the bikers. Brenda catches Lisa arguing with Billy nearby. Agnes arrives and gets angry at her daughter while Lance yells to ask if she is okay. Billy goes inside where he belittles Lance before stopping him. Lance gets up and says he’ll kill him. Once they’re split up, Denny suggests it is time for some racing. Roger confronts Billy outside to see what he said to the girl. They argue briefly. As the music starts, Roger says they’ll see how Billy likes being the loser for once.

He speeds away on his motorcycle. Eventually, Roger runs into barbed wire and gets killed. Billy and the others wait for him to return. At the scene, Goodfellow tries to study until he is interrupted by Chief Inspector Sullivan (Tom Chambers). Sullivan just drove this way not too long ago so the barbed wire was installed recently. Isabel and Brenda find that the barbed wire was taken from nearby. Brenda says the race didn’t start at a specific time although everyone knew Billy raced every day. They question how the killer got there so quickly since the café is over a mile away. Father Brown takes them nearby and asks Brenda to sing the song that was playing. Brenda and Isabel sing the song while everyone walks through the field.

They manage to make it to the place where the race started halfway through the song. Father Brown thinks the killer was at the café and Roger wasn’t the intended victim. When Billy is told they were after him, he says they take care of their own business. Lance comes back so Billy quickly blames him. Although Lance denies it, he has a cut on his hand that makes him appear guilty. As the inspector takes Lance away, he pleads with Father Brown to help him. At the jail, Lance tells Brown that he would never do that. Father Brown suspects he was in love with Lisa. Lance admits he was going to tell her every day for the last three years. After he says Billy came in and ruined everything, Brown worries that is a compelling motive.

Lance remembers seeing Lisa clash with Billy this morning. A flashback shows them arguing because Billy didn’t want to take Lisa with him. Lance wouldn’t kill him because he’d be gone by tomorrow anyway. He pleads with Brown to keep Lisa safe since she isn’t in her right mind around Billy. Brenda worries that Lisa could be a killer since she is the first friend she made here. Agnes tells them that no one deserves to die like that. She claims she went to the café to look for her daughter and left empty-handed. Father Brown asks to speak to Lisa since he doesn’t think Lance is responsible. They learn that Agnes is keeping her indoors for her own good. When they’re alone with Lisa, she says her mother won’t let her leave the house until Billy is gone.

They know about her plans to run off with Billy and want to know where she went after leaving the café. She says she went home after she’d built up the courage to face her mother. Lisa insists she didn’t do anything because she couldn’t hurt Billy. She asks them not to judge Billy, but she saw him stealing from Denny and giving him a hard time. That is how he looks out for his gang. Lisa should be with him, but he didn’t want her because she is a stupid little girl. Billy and his gang drive by the house to say they’re not going anywhere until they get justice for their fallen brother. Later, Brenda visits and finds out that Lisa is going to escape through the window. Lisa says Billy was wrong to turn her down and she has a plan to make him regret it.

Denny ends up at the church so Brown questions him about Billy. Denny says he has done worse things than Billy. He thought there was good in him and he’d be able to help like Brown helped him. He only asked him to race to try to defuse the situation. They talk about Roger who was in a dark place. Lisa tries to impress Billy although Brenda thinks she is embarrassing herself. Lisa ends up speeding away on Billy’s motorcycle. Agnes checks on her only to find that she is gone. Lisa returns with the bike and makes out with Billy. Lance tells Father Brown that Roger was different from the rest. When asked about the memorial candle, Lance says he was head over heels for some girl he met in Gloucester, but she only had eyes for Billy.

One night, they’d been drinking and Billy took her for a ride. She died and Roger felt guilty about it ever since. Goodfellow is thinking about pulling out of the exam because he isn’t ready. Brown tells him how he had a similar wobble during his seminary days so he focused on helping people and bringing them closer to God. He asks Goodfellow to see if Roger was linked to a recent suspicious death near Gloucester. Agnes interrupts to accuse the bikers of vandalizing her home. She admits she hid as they smashed her windows in. Once Goodfellow and Agnes leave, Brown and Devine question what they should do. Father Brown and Isabel go to the café to tell Billy that they can’t allow this to escalate any further.

Billy doesn’t want to cooperate so Brown challenges him to a race. If he wins, the Ton Ups will leave Kembleford. If Billy wins, he wants Brown’s collection plate this Sunday. Goodfellow arrives to arrest Lisa on suspicion of causing damage to her mother’s property. He has witnesses saying they saw her riding a motorcycle around the home at the time of the attack. Billy doesn’t stand up for her before she is taken away. In private, Brown reminds Brenda and Isabel that Roger came to Kembleford to mourn. He believes Lisa will need Brenda the most right now. They visit Agnes at home. Brown quickly notices that the broken glass is outside so he suspects Agnes did it because she wanted the town to be against Billy.

He asks whether it was her intention to kill Billy. She is surprised to learn that her daughter has been arrested for the crime. Agnes doesn’t want to tell her daughter the truth. Brown warns her she’ll end up causing what she fought so hard to stop. She goes to the jail to explain, but Lisa says she wanted Billy to get her away from her before rushing away. Goodfellow learned that Roger and Billy were named in a road traffic accident involving a young woman who was never identified. They found two shillings, some cigarettes, and a nurse’s pin on the body. Brown has to leave in a hurry so he can make it to the race. Midway through the race, Brown catches up with Billy to say the race is over because he is in danger.

Since Billy doesn’t want to believe him, Brown tries to rush ahead to stop him from being killed. Brown finds oil on the ground and immediately blames Denny for trying to kill Billy. He thinks Denny blamed Billy for his daughter’s death. Brown remembers he mentioned Katie wanted to be a nurse so he managed to figure it out. He believes Roger shared his grief with Denny and he turned to vengeance. Denny admits that Roger got drunk one night and started talking about the girl named Katie, but Roger didn’t know he was her dad. Brown goes through Denny’s actions after he set the trap and got back to the café before the music stopped.

Brown says Billy and Denny need to atone for their sins. Father Brown manages to stop Billy from being killed. The others are surprised when Billy stops before the finish line to let Brown cross first. Denny confesses to killing the boy. Sullivan tells Brown he bet on him to win the race because he has learned to never underestimate him. Lance talks to Lisa about Denny and what might happen to him. Lisa thanks him for caring. Lance opens the café before telling Lisa it’ll always be open to her whenever she needs it. He says the café really likes her. Once he goes inside, Lisa tells Brenda that she feels trapped because of her mother. Brenda urges her to tell her. Brenda would give anything to have a mom fighting over boys and curfew.

Father Brown asks Billy what he’d say to Katie and Roger if he could. Billy says he is leaving because this village is too rough. Brown agrees to pray for them and Billy. Before he leaves, Billy admits he’d say he is sorry. Lisa tells her mother that she won’t let her grow up. Agnes admits she felt the same. She met a boy from out of town and had Lisa nine months later. Agnes didn’t even know her father’s last name so she doesn’t know if he died in the war. Despite it all, Agnes wouldn’t change a thing. She just didn’t want Lisa to make her mistakes. Agnes offers to help her get wherever she wants to go. Lisa suggests they go home. Billy and the boys leave town. Goodfellow is glad because he needs to get to his exam.

Brown reminds him that Roger’s murder couldn’t have been solved without him. Isabel shows up wearing Brenda’s leather jacket. Brenda tries to get it back.

 

Father Brown Review

This episode of Father Brown had an interesting premise that really took viewers back in time with the wardrobe and soundtrack. The investigation was fairly interesting and the murder was unique. The characters featured in this episode were great, especially, Billy and Lisa. Overall, The Wheels of Wrath was an enjoyable experience that felt more like an authentic period piece compared to some of the other episodes.

Truthfully, this was probably one of the best episodes of the 10th series. It deserves a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Father Brown can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising with Reel Mockery here.