As the second episode of Inside Man begins, Beth Davenport (Lydia West) goes to the prison to show Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci) and Dillon Kempton (Atkins Estimond) the picture she received from her friend. Although Beth claims they’re friends, Jefferson doesn’t believe that so he asks for the truth. Beth says they’ve met for coffee several times during the last few months and she is confident the picture was a cry for help. Jefferson finds it odd that she came to a convicted murderer on death row instead of going to the police. Beth blurts out that Janice Fife (Dolly Wells) is a good person who might be in trouble. Jefferson believes Beth thought her friend’s disappearance would give her a chance to watch him in action and write about it. After Beth denies that, Jefferson offers to let her sit in on his next case. However, he won’t take Janice’s case and he never wants to hear Beth speak about her again.

A new case is coming in today. Beth wonders if this is a test to see if she’ll sell her friend down the river. She accuses him of being an evil piece of crap and he doesn’t deny it. Beth agrees to sit in on the case and not mention Janice again. Jefferson says poor Janice before agreeing to speak to the warden. Harry Watling (David Tennant) takes a pillow and blanket to Janice. He asks her to handcuff herself to the pipe next to her. Harry insists they’re reasonable people and will be able to sort this out. She puts on the handcuff and still believes the child porn belonged to Harry’s son. Harry swears it wasn’t Ben (Louis Oliver). Janice wonders if he’ll believe her if she says she believes him. Then, he might let her go. Harry gives her the bedclothes and says there is no reason they have to be uncivilized. Janice throws a plastic bag full of bodily fluids at him before asking for more plastic bags and toilet paper.

She is surprised he is wearing his collar even though Harry claims he is wearing it for himself. He wanted him to remind himself that he has standards to live up to. Janice gets mad and yells that he has no right to keep her here. Harry says it is only until he can prove that he is telling the truth. Janice tells him that she needs to call her sister at a specific time because she never misses it without a good reason. Otherwise, they will start looking for her. Harry believes she’ll be home by nine tomorrow. When Harry checks on Mary, she admits she has been thinking about how you actually kill someone. He has never thought about it and he isn’t thinking about it now. Harry believes she is being emotional as she pours another drink. Mary warns him that Janice will go straight to the police if she leaves this house, but Harry claims they don’t know that. Mary thinks she has no choice but to go to the police.

Therefore, they have no choice but to stop her from leaving. Mary is concerned about the headlines and attention they’ll get after Janice goes to the police. Harry believes they have more options since he is going to talk to Edgar first. Mary has been using Google to try to find out how to kill someone, but can only find stuff about sex. Harry asks her to stay calm and stay out of the cellar while he tries to find Edgar. Jefferson watches a video of a real estate agent who is involved in his newest case. The man walked off the stage and was never seen after that. Jefferson wants to know the time of the day before learning they were going to have drinks after it. He never showed though. Jefferson asks the daughter if she convinced her mother to come here today. She admits she did because no one else is interested anymore. Jefferson thinks it is obvious where he went according to the video or should be once they get some train schedules.

Jefferson admits where he is now is a little more complicated. He thinks the fact that nobody saw where he went tells them everything they need to know. He begins talking about how he loved his wife and vice versa. Jefferson has a theory about where he went, but he isn’t ready to share it with others just yet. Beth is asked to check Hannah’s hands because they’re about to have a difficult situation. Jefferson asks Hannah if she has thought about the possibility that he might be about to find her husband. He thinks he is likely dead after five years. Frannie thinks that’d be better than what they have at the moment. Once they leave, Beth asks if he was showing off or if he actually has a theory. Beth claims he gave a bad speech and disappeared into the night, but Jefferson says that didn’t happen. Jefferson explains that the man walked off during broad daylight. He asks Beth if she’d mind doing some research for him since she has a car.

Harry visits Edgar’s mom in hopes of tracking him down. Then, he goes to the Beehive to look for him. Edgar (Mark Quartley) sits down with him. Harry shows him the flash drive and asks if he wants it back while recording the conversation. Edgar gets emotional but doesn’t say whether it is his or if he wants it back. Edgar eventually denies that the flash drive belongs to him. Harry keeps pushing him until Edgar yells that he is lying and is going home. Mary grabs one of Harry’s golf clubs. Edgar follows Harry to his car to ask him what he wants. Harry claims he wants to help him. After Edgar gets in, Harry decides to take him to the church. Jefferson instructs Beth to visit Barney (Cokey Falkow) and pick something up before calling him back. He gives her something and tells her to deliver it to wherever Grieff tells her to. He also asks her to tell Jefferson that the subject is supposed to make a Skype call at 9 PM tomorrow.

When Barney goes back to his computer, we see that he has been researching Janice. Mary approaches Janice because she thinks it is time they talked. After sharing a drink, Janice confesses she thinks Mary is going to kill her in the end. Janice believes the actual killing won’t be difficult and suspects Mary has already Googled it. Janice suggests she can help her since she is the only person who can help her get away with her murder. She tells Mary about the Skype call with her sister tomorrow and how she can’t miss it. Mary learns how everything will start if Janice misses the call. Janice explains she’d have to email her sister to cancel the Skype call and it’d have to come from her account. It can mention that she is going on a walking trip since she goes on those often. Janice thinks they can keep Ben safe and get away with murder if she helps them, but Mary doesn’t understand why she would help.

Janice wants something in exchange for her email password. She tells Mary to think about it because she wants to go to sleep right now. Mary leaves the whiskey. Janice tells her not to mention any of this to her husband. She hates him and never really liked him anyway. Mary finds Ben standing near the door. He begins asking questions about Janice’s bag and why she locked the cellar door. Ben says he’ll phone her because he needs to talk to her anyway. He calls and leaves her a message. When he goes to his room, Mary checks Janice’s phone and finds a message from Beth. The screen is broken so the phone doesn’t work. At the church, Harry gets dressed and asks Edgar to sit in one of the pews. He begins asking Edgar about the flash drive again. Edgar claims he doesn’t know what is on it and has never seen it before. Harry warns him that the police will be able to find out who it belonged to.

Edgar tells him to take it since he doesn’t care. Harry urges him to confess his sins to God. Once it looks like Edgar is going to confess, Harry sets his phone up so he can record him. Edgar has been looking at things he shouldn’t and he knows it is wrong. Harry tries his best to get Edgar to say it but he won’t. Edgar begins wishing they would just let him die. Harry takes him into his office and asks him to put the stuff on his computer to make it look like it is obscure. He wants him to make it look like it is his and he has been hiding it. When Edgar asks why, Harry refuses to tell him and leaves the room instead. Jefferson tells Beth to go to the conference center where Connor disappeared from. He believes the man left and went to the station so he asks her to watch the video again and pay close attention to the moment the video pans to the audience. He can’t understand how a man wearing a tux and carrying an award could walk through the city unnoticed.

He asks Beth to turn the sound up and watch the video again. She hears Beethoven playing in the background so Jefferson explains that was four minutes before the end of the symphony. Jefferson says a concert has just finished and the station should be filling up right now. Since the station is so crowded, it is hard to imagine the man could’ve gone unnoticed. Jefferson says you may not notice the man in the tux because he is among the orchestra. They only need to know which trains were leaving within the next five to ten minutes. He has already checked. When she asks what it was, he says it was a coincidence and what he was looking for. As Harry drops Edgar off at home, Edgar admits he doesn’t understand why he is doing this. Harry says he just wants to do the right thing. Harry tells him to never go anywhere near that stuff again. He hopes Edgar will remember what he did for him and stop. Jefferson asks Beth who’d be the most likely person to murder her.

Once she reaches the destination, she is told to go say hello and take the envelope. Jefferson explains that most people are murdered by people they know. The first train Connor could’ve taken was his train home. Hannah opens the door seconds later. Harry returns to Janice who reminds him that there is nothing reasonable about this. She offers to cancel the Skype call to give him more time because she doesn’t want him to do anything rash. Janice reveals that her password is password even though Harry claims he doesn’t need it. Then, Harry tells Mary that everything has been fixed and Ben will be fine. He knows she’ll be angry about what he has done. Hannah asks if Beth is going to show her what’s in the envelope. She is shown it before putting it down on the table and walking out of the room. Jefferson finds it interesting. Beth looks at the picture and sees the award that Connor was given that night. Jefferson suspected she buried the award with her husband.

They give the same award every year so it was easy to get a picture and photoshop dirt on it. Jefferson wants her to go back to England because he needs someone on the ground there. He tells her about Janice’s Skype call and how he is interested in knowing what is going to happen. She is surprised he is taking the case. Harry tells his wife how he is going to take the blame if Janice accuses Ben. Edgar wouldn’t survive this while Ben thinks he will. Harry doesn’t want people to think he is a pedophile, but he doesn’t know what else he can do. Mary thinks they should cancel the Skype call to give themselves more time. Edgar’s mom goes into his room where she finds him dead. On a piece of paper, it says don’t believe the vicar is a pedo because he is protecting someone else.

 

Inside Man Review

The second episode of Inside Man led to more half-baked ideas from Harry as he attempted to prevent his son from being turned into a pedophile. While Harry’s plan is silly, his wife’s plan is sinister since she believes it would be best to kill Janice. Meanwhile, Beth went on a side adventure to see how Jefferson works only to find out that he will take Janice’s case after all.

Edgar helped Harry frame himself for the child pornography but killed himself later that night so he won’t be able to vouch for Harry later on. Inside Man has a lot of issues. The show’s credibility is questionable although I am not sure it wants to be taken too seriously. It has a sarcastic side that may or may not sit well with viewers as well as many eye-rolling moments.

With a serious story, the show might’ve hit some higher notes but it is just too silly right now. On the plus side, there have been some good performances so far with Mark Quartley shining bright during this episode. The camera work is good and the soundtrack has been well-selected. Inside Man isn’t terrible even if it doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be so it is a shame it’ll likely be forgotten with some viewers giving up before the finale.

The second episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Inside Man can be found on Reel Mockery here. Using ad blockers and still want to support our work? Find out how to do so by following this link.