As the third episode of Karen Pirie begins, Grace flees Tom’s house when the police arrive outside. River Wilde (Emer Kenny) lets Phil (Zach Wyatt) comes inside. As Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) listens from upstairs, Phil tells River that he tried to call first. When Karen interrupts, she learns that Tom Mackie (Michael Shaeffer) has been hospitalized after an overdose. There was a break-in too so Phil is going over to Glasgow right now. Karen and Phil rush over there and learn about the police officer seeing someone inside. Phil argues they should’ve arrested them yesterday before wondering if they pushed them to this. Karen suggests it might not have been intentional or self-inflicted since there was a break-in at the same time. They have his mobile and confirm that the last calls were to the police, his ex-wife Elena, and Alex Gilbey.

Karen wants to speak to Tom as soon as he wakes up. Lynn (Marnie Baxter) asks Alex (Buom Tihngang) if he has heard from Tom, but he hasn’t. In a flashback, Ziggy reminds Tom that he nearly died. Tom says he is done with all of this. Tom isn’t sure what good the pact is to him right now considering they’re the boys with the secrets. Ziggy argues they still need to protect Alex. Tom complains that everyone loves Alex and that has always been a problem. He hopes Ziggy knows that he is never going to love him back. The only reason he invited Rosie to the party was because he wanted to impress him. Tom asks Ziggy what he thought would happen and whether he believed Alex would realize he was the one all along. When Ziggy storms off, Tom tells Alex that he is stringing him along and it is cruel. As they continue talking, Tom questions why Alex hasn’t told him about Lynn.

He accuses him of keeping it secret just like he kept his relationship with Rosie secret. Alex eventually gets upset and tells him to shut up. Jason Murray (Chris Jenks) calls Karen after hearing from the lab. He reveals that semen belonging to Alex was found on the cuff of the cardigan. When they try to arrest Alex, he pleads with them to do things differently because he just had a baby. They refuse to cooperate with him. At the police station, Alex tells Karen and Phil that he was at home all night and they’d have to check his phone to see who he called last night. He begins wondering what happened to Tom. Phil tells him about Tom’s hospitalization after mixing pills and alcohol. Alex asks them to tell Lynn since Tom is her brother. Karen wonders if he attacked Tom because he was worried he’d tell about his relationship with Rosie, but Alex denies it.

He goes on to say that they didn’t have a relationship. Karen confronts him with the DNA evidence found on the cardigan. Alex insists he didn’t do anything to her and would never hurt her. Alex admits that he was seeing her and was in love with her, but she didn’t want anyone to know. Although she’d ignore him in public, Alex says that didn’t make him angry. It made him sad like he wasn’t good enough. Ziggy knew about it. In a flashback, Ziggy tells Rosie (Anna Russell-Martin) that Alex is a good guy so she should tell him one way or another. She tells Alex that she can’t stay long. They go to a private spot to have sex. Rosie knows she hasn’t been straightforward although she’d never changed her mind about him. While she doesn’t want to leave Alex, she feels like she has to get out of there because she is stuck. Rosie doesn’t know if they’re on again or not, but she has to leave. Alex believes she is ashamed of him because she doesn’t want anyone to see them together.

He asks why her family won’t approve of him, but Rosie insists it is about her and not him. Since he thinks it is racist, he wants her to take him home right now. Rosie argues it isn’t and he doesn’t know her family at all. Their argument continues until Rosie leaves. In the present, Alex tells the detectives that was the last time he saw her. He wishes he’d followed her and begged her to stay. Ziggy thought it was best to say nothing about their relationship because he was scared for him after seeing how the police treated him. Alex doesn’t think the fear that they’d pin it on him because of his race is unfounded. Once he lied, he wasn’t able to change his story and it has impacted the rest of his life. Alex gets mad when he learns that Karen is going to try to get his detention period extended. Karen tells Jason what happened and how Alex said he didn’t see Rosie after 2 AM.

Forensics has looked at the carpet fibers, but they still need a car to crosscheck them with. Jason was told to check the International Car Carpet Database, but there isn’t one. Karen goes through their current problems before learning that her girlfriend is here. Bel (Rakhee Thakrar) wants Karen to buy her champagne since he has found an eyewitness for her. She wants something in exchange for her information though. Karen thanks her to convince her to send the details. Then, Karen talks to the eyewitness who was a taxi driver for 33 years. He says he was driving his cab on June 27, 1996. It was around 2:15 in the morning and he was dealing with Japanese golf tourists. While he was waiting for them outside, he saw a girl on her own and thought that was strange. When it started raining, the girl pulled up her hood before a car stops next to her. The eyewitness claims it was a BMW and possibility a 3 Series with an older body shape.

It was grey or possibly black, but he thinks it was a 325i. Although it took him a while to realize it was Rosie, he went to the police with this information. Once Rosie took a look at the driver, she kept walking. He starts following her and talking to her. Rosie eventually stopped, they talked for a while, and she got into the vehicle with him. The eyewitness says the driver was white although he isn’t sure of his age. There was no one else in the car. He could’ve spoken to Barney when he called the police. Karen visits DCS James Lawson (Stuart Bowman) and learns about Loch Leven. She tells him about the eyewitness who spoke to Barney. James is surprised she found him because they couldn’t and thought Barney had taken it to the grave. Tom was still in the Audi and Alex doesn’t match the eyewitness’s description of the driver. James suggests Tom could’ve stolen another vehicle when the Audi ran out of petrol.

Karen asks Jason to get the lab to crosscheck the fibers with those you’d find in an 80s or 90s BMW 325i. She also wants a list of anyone who owned a BMW 325i in Fife in 1996. Karen explains that he’ll have to call the DVLA because they’ll have records. She wants him to check reports of stolen vehicles from 96 and to only each one egg a day. Jason wakes her up later with coffee to say he didn’t find any stolen BMWs. After looking at the pictures again, Karen asks if the paint on the cardigan was ever analyzed. Jason says no because Archie Duff was a painter and decorator and Rosie used to help him from time to time. They thought it was an old stain, but Karen says it wasn’t in the picture of Rosie with Ziggy at the party. It must’ve happened at the second crime scene. At home, River wakes up Karen who says David Soanes. He is a forensic paint guy. River knows him so Karen wants his help.

At the station, Karen and Jason talk to Simon about the evidence they have right now. The DVLA came through with a list of 35 similar cars in Fife at the time. Tom is still comatose so they cannot question him. Simon wants to know if they can charge. River calls Karen seconds later to say David can have a full analysis done for her by tomorrow. He looked at it under a microscope and believes it could be a fiberglass paint that is commonly used on boats. They question Alex again as he explains Rosie said she was going back to the pub. When he is asked about the paint, Alex insists he doesn’t know anything about it. He says they never went to a boathouse or anything like that. Rosie never mentioned a boat either. Karen asks about Tom stealing cars. Alex heard stories that Tom and Ziggy did it for fun back in Kirkcaldy, but they always put it back. Once Karen asks about the BMW, Alex suggests they have something and just can’t connect it to him.

He accuses them of just wasting time. Karen reminds him that he has been wasting their time by lying for 25 years. He believes he would’ve been charged with murder years ago if he had been honest about their relationship. He protected himself and they protected him too even when they were under great pressure. Alex isn’t sure it would’ve made things better to tell the truth back then. He suggests they could be serving life for a murder they didn’t commit. After Alex is sent home, Karen lies on the floor. Jason joins her and reminds her that they still have options. Karen is convinced it was someone else besides the boys. Jason asks if she has a number for Grace since she didn’t show up for the DNA testing. Karen tries to visit Grace only to find that nobody is home. She finds a case for guns that has been opened. Grace sneaks up behind her to say they were her father’s guns.

They go inside and begin discussing the recent arrest. Grace thinks she should know before Twitter does and Karen agrees. She insists she doesn’t want to keep anything from her. Karen tells her about Alex’s arrest and subsequent release, but she can’t tell her anything else right now. When asked about missing the DNA test, Grace says her adoptive father doesn’t know about any of this. He is in a rest home and isn’t well so it doesn’t feel right to find out who her real dad is without telling him first. Although Karen says it could really help, Grace believes they’re focusing on the wrong thing. When Karen gets back to the office, Jason tells her that he has spoken to 18 BMW owners and two are dead. Nothing has helped and Grace has changed her mind too. As Alex returns home, someone stares at him from outside.

Janice is brought down to the station so Karen can question her about Barney and the prior investigation. Janice says Barney mentioned the eyewitness to her the day he died when they were all at the pub. He told her that he wanted her to come with him to interview a witness, but he didn’t tell anyone else or write anything about it down. Jimmy was trying to track down the witness when Janice was moved off the case. She was taken off the case because of her relationship with Colin and she suspects Jimmy had some personal issues with them. He had a thing for her. Janice went to the caravan he was living in at the time to talk to him about it. He takes her off the case because she is in a relationship with the victim’s brother. Jimmy got another murder case and solved it quickly. Once interest from the press waned, Rosie’s case received less and less attention.

Janice tells Karen why she left the force before asking Karen to keep going even though Colin and Brian don’t trust the police. Alex goes out in the middle of the night and someone follows him in another car. Grace eventually confronts him with a rifle. She wants to know what happened to Rosie and doesn’t believe that he doesn’t know. Alex claims he loved her and didn’t kill her. When he tries to take the gun away from her, she shoots him. Grace finds the baby in the car. Karen goes home where she tells River that something is not right at the heart of this. She goes through the evidence that causes her to think this way. They wonder whether Jimmy is a bad cop or if he might be covering for someone. River shows her the paperwork saying that the paint on the cardigan was Marine primer. Once she learns that the paint is found on caravans, she believes it might be connected to Jimmy.

While Jason continues calling BMW owners, Karen tries to find out where the caravan might be. She eventually suspects it could be in Loch Leven. Jason interrupts to tell Karen about a call he had with an old woman who was moved into a car home. She had one of the cars up until 1996. She lived in St. Andrews at the time and her son was a copper. He is surprised when she guesses that her son is James Lawson. Karen asks him to pick her up early in the morning so they can go to Loch Leven. In the morning, they argue about doing this because Jason doesn’t want to lose his job. Lynn notices that Alex isn’t home so she tries to get in touch with him. Phil gets a call about it so he begins working on it immediately. Once Karen and Jason arrive, she tries to get a man with a boat to help them. The man agrees to give them a lift and show them the old caravans around.

He drops them off at an old caravan that has been here for years while a police officer finds Alex’s vehicle. Karen begins scraping paint from the caravan while Jason argues they should call forensics. Jason gets a window open before helping Karen climb inside. She eventually finds primer on the door. Karen thinks he was waterproofing the door after a repair. She is convinced that Lawson killed Rosie. Phil learns that there is no sign of the baby. Alex is taken away on a stretcher while Grace sits with the crying baby. Karen gets a call from Phil on her way back and learns about Grace taking Alex’s kid. They agree to meet at Grace’s place. While Karen drives, she tries to call Grace. Before she goes inside, she tells Jason to make sure news of this gets back to Lawson. When Karen steps through the door, Grace holes her at gunpoint and tells her to shut the door.

Jason tells Lawson to tell him what is going on. Karen tries to get Grace to show her that the baby is okay. Karen offers to tell her who she thinks did it if she shows her the baby. She says it wasn’t one of the three boys. Phil and other officers arrive outside so Grace makes Karen call them to tell them to stay back. Once Karen sees the baby, she is allowed to move it to the window so the officers will know they’re okay. Karen begins telling her what they know about Rosie getting a life with someone she knew. Once she sees Lawson outside, she says she is going to do something risky and go arrest Rosie’s murderer. She wants Grace to be there for it. Karen tells her that he is outside. She tries to convince Grace to put down the gun because they only have one chance. Karen takes her outside and tells the officers she is disarming the gun.

Then, she arrests Lawson and tells him forensics is on their way to Loch Leven right now. After Grace is arrested, evidence is collected from the caravan. Lawson is taken to an interview room where Karen goes through the evidence against him. She says he was sleeping with Rosie when she was 15 and underage so he couldn’t have that coming out. Rosie went away to have the baby in secret, but told Lawson that it died. Karen accuses him of ruining his daughter’s life by not owning up. She believes he watched Rosie for years to prevent her from being with anyone else. When she wasn’t in the pub that night, he went looking for her and found her. In a flashback, he offers to take her up to the high street although Karen doesn’t think he took her there. She goes on to say he took Rosie to the caravan and took her inside.

Karen suspects he strangled her, but she wasn’t dead and he didn’t take time to check. She explains why he used a kitchen knife to cut Rosie. She thinks he got rid of the evidence and left the cardigan because it was misfiled. Karen asks if he used his mom’s car to dispose of a body. Karen wonders if Barney was already onto him thanks to the eyewitness and that is why he died just before. Lawson insists Barney’s death was an accident and he tried to save him. He admits he underestimated her. She believes that is why he gave her the job. Then, she speaks to Grace who talks about her mom and the podcast. She thought it was going to help until she looked at the crime scene photos and stopped being able to see her mother.

She confesses to following the boys and getting mad when she saw their big houses and careers. Grace made a split-second decision to end the wrong man’s life. Tom meets with Alex as they embrace. Grace will never forgive herself because she is just like him. Karen thinks there is a difference since she confessed and he didn’t. She doesn’t want to meet him because she’d like him to spend the rest of his life wondering what she is like. Instead, she meets Colin and Brian. Next, Karen talks to Simon about how the case was bittersweet. He praises her and tells her to get back to work. She receives a card and gift from Bel who talks about the case on her podcast. She sits down with Jason, Phil, and River. They briefly talk before Phil leaves with her.

 

Karen Pirie Review

The finale of Karen Pirie could’ve been better. While it was hard to predict the ending and eventual killer, it really didn’t make a lot of sense either. Instead, it came out of left field and felt like it was pieced together at the last minute. Around the point when Karen went into Grace’s house, the whole thing was beyond cringe.

The acting didn’t help in this regard either because there were many overacted moments that just didn’t work. The ending was pretty farfetched to the point of eye-rolling. Sadly, it was difficult to connect with the lead Karen Pirie because the character was downright obnoxious at times while Jason seemed to do more of the work. The series somewhat seemed low budget considering there were only a few detectives involved.

We never got to see any of the forensics or anything else besides Karen telling Jason what to do and Karen talking to witnesses from time to time. Unfortunately, there is nothing out of the ordinary in Karen Pirie that sets the series apart from so many other cookie-cutter police dramas. If I had to compare the two, I’d probably rate The Chelsea Detective significantly higher since it was at least not obvious half of the time.

There was likely a message in the first season of Karen Pirie, but it really got overshadowed by the silly twists and turns up until the ending. Viewers who haven’t watched a lot of British television may find Karen Pirie moderately enjoyable, but many will be annoyed by everything from the bad acting, unrealistic twists, and obnoxious characters.

The finale scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Karen Pirie can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our independent entertainment website by following this link.