As the fourth episode of Insomnia begins, Emma Averill (Vicky McClure) thinks about her nightly routine from her vehicle. Emma visits Phoebe Bournett (Leanne Best) to ask what was wrong with their mother. Phoebe admits no one else said anything about diagnosis but she doesn’t think it’s hereditary. Emma hopes so since it’s her birthday tomorrow. She expresses her concerns before asking Phoebe what’s going on with her. Phoebe doesn’t say. Instead, she learns about Emma’s fight with Rob and that Emma is going to stay at a hotel for a few days. Phoebe invites her to stay. Emma believes she’ll be fine after her birthday. Phoebe urges her to stop thinking about it because she’ll drive herself mad.

Phoebe reveals their mom was in a secured unit at a place called Helmswood. Next, Emma meets Jane Zima. She explains she wants to know if anything in her mom’s diagnosis was genetic. Jane says Patricia complained of some insomnia and was treated for burns on her fingers. The staff at the facility considered paranoid schizophrenia. Jane says Patricia was effectively mute while she was there. She goes on to call it selective mutism. Jane does not remember her reciting numbers. Emma asks to see where her mom stayed. It is in a restricted facility. Patricia was moved to a low-secure wing 15 years ago. Emma is shocked when she hears a woman screaming. Emma is shown her mom’s room. She asks whether her mom ever hurt anyone. Jane says she only hurt herself once. Emma notices that her mother’s things are still in the room.

Jane says they do art therapy. Emma admits she never thought of her mother as a person before. Jane tells her to take a few since Phoebe did. Phoebe visited regularly until last month when the visits had to stop. Dr. Khan tells Phoebe they’ll monitor her for the next couple of weeks. He doesn’t think she’ll need a D&C. Phoebe asks how long it’ll be until she can try again. Khan says her body needs to recover first for at least one cycle. At her age, the chances of another round of IVF being successful are remote. Emma calls Phoebe after leaving Helmswood. Emma asks why she didn’t tell her about her visits. Phoebe claims that was private between herself and her mom. She admits she lied for her own sake. Before Phoebe hangs up, she tells Emma not everything is about her.

Phoebe catches up with Robert (Tom Cullen) at the football game because Will invited her. She tells Robert that Emma is staying at her place. When Julian (Dominic Tighe) arrives, Phoebe learns that Robert doesn’t know about Chloe. Robert begins putting things together before confronting Julian who is with Michelle (Jade Harrison). Rob punches him. Julian insists he can explain. Rob tells him to stay away from his family before trying to leave with Will (Smylie Bradwell). At home, Robert checks on Chloe (India Fowler) who admits she came onto Julian. He asks if she knows how much damage she’s caused. Chloe tells him he sounds exactly like Emma. Robert suspects that’s the reason Emma slapped her. He gets in touch with Emma and confronts her about it. Emma admits Chloe begged her not to say anything.

He tells her that Chloe stormed out. Phoebe checks on Rob who shows her the videos of Emma at night. Phoebe is shocked and begins panicking. Will comes in and hugs her. Emma looks at photos while Phoebe helps Will paint. Chloe meets Julian who apologizes. Later, Emma sends a message to Phoebe apologizing for snapping and asking when she’ll be back. Phoebe says she’ll be back later. She urges Emma to call it an early night. Caroline Mitchell calls Emma to take her up on her offer. Emma agrees to meet her tonight. Robert invites Phoebe to stay for dinner. Caroline (Lyndsey Marshal) invites Emma inside. Emma finds Caroline caring for her mother who says she’s tired of being a burden. Mrs. Mitchell says she should’ve just let her die. Caroline doesn’t want to have this conversation now.

Phoebe and Robert finish eating before agreeing to get a beer. She tells Robert that she lost the baby. Caroline tells Emma that it’s a council property and her dad’s life insurance went toward her mom’s care. During the accident, her mom broke her spine and she’s been in a wheelchair ever since. Now, she’s got Parkinson’s on top of everything else. Caroline reveals her mom just got out of the hospital following a suicide attempt. Emma finishes the paperwork and says Mrs. Mitchell will need to sign it. They drink more. Robert gets Chloe’s drugs to try to cheer up Phoebe a bit. Emma tells Caroline that she turns 40 tomorrow and she can’t wait for it to be over. Caroline says that merits something special. She offers her Joan’s Levoamphetamine. Caroline claims it just sharpens the mind. They snort some of the drugs.

Phoebe and Robert smoke Chloe’s weed. They laugh about the time when Phoebe wanted to live off-grid in her camper. Emma tells Caroline that her dad ran off before she was born. She really didn’t have a mom either. Emma explains her mom had a breakdown and she ended up in care. She always thought her mom was a monster until she realized she might not have been. Emma had good foster parents, but Phoebe wasn’t so lucky. Caroline says her parents wanted another child although she never wanted a sister. They snort more drugs. Phoebe and Robert listen to a record and smoke. Emma ends up telling Caroline everything going on in her life. When Caroline returns, Emma insists it wasn’t that bad. Caroline offers Emma the rest because she’ll get a new prescription tomorrow anyway.

Phoebe tells Robert she thought she had all the time in the world. She wonders why she left it for so long. Robert thinks she can still have a husband and kids because she’s only in her 40s. He says any man would be lucky to have her because she’s a catch. When Emma makes it back, she does more drugs. She parties until she has a nightmare of being in water. Phoebe walks around the house while Robert sleeps with Will. She finds a recording of Emma saying the numbers over and over. Emma ends up staying up through the night. Faisal calls to tell her that the police are at the office asking questions about her. Emma tells him what’s been going on. She remembers what Caroline asked about Phoebe resenting her. Emma finds drawings nearby and looks through them. She puts the pieces together and sees a large circle.

In a flashback, Phoebe is scolded for drawing numbers and a circle on the wall. Phoebe continues listening to the recording until Robert gets up and joins her. He feels weird that Emma isn’t there for her birthday. Phoebe needs to tell him something about Emma. She says Emma seemed fine most of the time in the care home as if what happened with their mom didn’t touch her. Then, she would act out and do weird things. Phoebe claims she woke up one morning and found Emma with a pen in her hand scrawling numbers on the wall. It’s the same thing their mom used to do. Phoebe says Emma is doing everything their mom used to do. Rob asks if she’s capable of going further. Phoebe suggests it’s possible Emma did something to their mom and doesn’t remember it.

Emma calls Jane to ask what she meant when she said her sister’s visits had to stop. Jane says Patricia got agitated and she hit her. Jane won’t tell her anything else. Robert can’t imagine Emma doing something like that. Phoebe doesn’t think Emma should come home. She offers to stay and help with the kids. Emma calls Phoebe to ask when she’s coming back. She hears Will in the background and realizes Phoebe is at her home. Emma goes there only for Phoebe to lock her out. When Phoebe comes out, Emma tells her she found her mom’s paintings. She knows Phoebe attacked her mom and wants to know if she killed her. Phoebe tells her she can’t come in before the police arrive. DI Hildreth (Michelle Bonnard) arrests Emma on the suspicion of Patricia’s murder. Will watches it all through the window.

 

Insomnia Review

The fourth episode of Insomnia wasn’t as strong as the third considering a lot of the episode was wasted on drugs and partying. The core story remains intriguing and the performances in this episode were strong. With so much going on though, it feels like some plots are being lost in the chaos.

For instance, it seems that Emma and Robert completely forgot about their daughter running away from home. In many ways, the series is really formulaic since it’s so much like other shows. Did the series really need a murder and did Emma really have to be arrested for it?

How many times have viewers seen that? Then, the show had to add an angle where Phoebe seems to be taking Emma’s family. Again, that’s been done so many times. Insomnia has so much potential with a genuinely creepy premise and a very strong cast, but the writing just isn’t as good as it could be.

The series isn’t terrible by any means, but the episode didn’t do much to differentiate the series from so many others. The enjoyment one receives from the series may depend on how many similar shows they’ve watched. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Insomnia can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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