As the episode begins, DI Karen Renton (Katherine Kelly) guides Laura (Joanne Froggatt) through the police station. She walks by a table and removes a cup displaying a picture of Ian (Kieran Bew) on the table. They head toward the interrogation room while Laura tries to find out what Ian was arrested for. Laura’s attorney gives her advice for dealing with investigators during the interrogation. Once they arrive at the interrogation room, Karen remains just as smug as ever and Laura’s attorney tries to keep her calm. Next, Katy Sutcliffe (Zoe Tapper) rushes through the hospital before a colleague ridicules her for being late and delaying the patient’s treatment.

Another colleague, Nick, realizes she is drunk and encourages her to go home for the day. She ends up leaving while Karen questions Laura about Andrew’s vehicle. Laura accepts her attorney’s advice and doesn’t answer that question. Their conversation turns to the boathouse incident and Andrew’s keys. Laura isn’t sure how they got there but she suspects someone put them there. Karen intends to leave Laura in a cell for the rest of the day and she doesn’t care what Andrew did. Laura is returned to her cell before she gets angry and beats on the wall. Rory (Danny Webb) and Karen chat about Laura being locked away. She suspects Rory doesn’t believe Laura was responsible for the murder.

They run into Rory’s boy Greg but Karen doesn’t seem interested in getting to know him. We jump back three weeks and see Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd) eating on a boat. His friend Oliver arrives moments later. Oliver is confident that nobody saw him but he admits he dropped the key. Andrew says it is fine before he learns about Luke (Jamie Flatters) being rushed into the hospital. Andrew gets upset and rushes out of the boat with the intention of going to the hospital. Andrew convinces his friend to take him to the hospital so he can see his son. Carl (Howard Charles) watches from a distance as both men leave the docks. In the morning, Laura gears up for another round of questions.

Instead, Karen tells her that she is going to be released on bail for four weeks. When she is released, she finds herself surrounded by journalists. She believes Karen set it up. Rory arrests Ian moments later. He explains that he believes Ian was involved in the disposal of Andrew’s body. He gets a call from Laura but he can’t answer since he is being arrested. Liam (Richie Campbell) arrives at the station to pick up Laura. He warns her that journalists will be at her place too and he doesn’t like her calling herself a victim. Liam is confident Laura can get off since they only have circumstantial evidence. We jump back and see Oliver take Andrew to the hospital. Katy gives a security guard advice for getting a second date with a woman he likes.

During this time, Andrew sneaks into the hospital and looks around for his son. He evades detection for finding Luke and speaking with him. While Luke doesn’t say anything in return, Andrew makes sure to tell him that Laura is to blame for everything. Katy arrives forcing Andrew to hide. She comes and goes without noticing Andrew who has armed himself with a scalpel. Andrew tries to leave the hospital while Laura is surrounded by journalists at home. Laura is asked about Ian killing Andrew. Laura goes inside, sits on the ground, and tries to call Ian but he doesn’t answer. He is being interviewed by Rory and Karen. Ian believes they want to use him against Laura. Ian is asked if he helped Laura move the body.

They know about Alexander Slater so they believe Ian could be capable of murder. He is reminded that he beat Slater so badly that he put him in intensive care. Then, he is asked about Andrew’s key being in Laura’s flat with traces of his blood on it. Ian is told that the key had his fingerprint on it too but he doesn’t believe it. Ian’s attorney arrives a bit later. Meanwhile, Laura speaks with DI Vanessa Harmon (Shelley Conn). Vanessa explains that she had to tell her bosses about the boathouse incident. Laura wants her help so he can find out about Ian’s criminal record. She says she really liked Andrew but had no idea who he was. Laura tries to convince Vanessa to tell her about Ian’s criminal record. After that, Katy stays at home and drinks.

She gets into her vehicle moments later and her bottles fall over. She tries to pick them up and nearly runs down a woman and her child. Katy returns home and tries to get rid of the alcohol bottles quickly. Then, she places a call and tells someone she needs their help. Carl gets a visit from Winnie who reminds him that he missed their session. She also says that she was Andrew’s victim and not him. She apologizes for missing the session before returning to work. We jump back and Andrew returns to Oliver’s vehicle. They go to Laura’s place and Andrew begins telling his friend about Luke in the hospital bed. He blames Laura for everything before sneaking into her house. Oliver watches outside as Laura arrives and enters her home.

Andrew pulls out the scalpel and prepares to attack her. She listens to a voicemail about Andrew before Winnie arrives outside. They decide to go to the pub together to talk and that prevents Andrew from making his move. Andrew steals a necklace before leaving as well. Vanessa meets with Laura again and tells her about Alexander and Ian beating him up. Laura doesn’t want to believe it. Laura also learns about Ian’s fingerprints being on the car key. After that, Liam checks in on Katy and finds out that she has been drinking more than normal. She has been drinking to get through every day. Liam promises to help her sort herself out. Katy pleads with him not to tell Laura since she has enough to deal with. She is encouraged to call Laura.

Next, Laura calls Ian before they meet up and begin chatting about Alexander and other things. Ian admits he beat him up but says he didn’t mean to hurt him so badly. He also claims he was searching through Laura’s dresser when he touched the key. He remembered getting a delivery of a bottle of champagne for a client that day. The investigators tracked down the courier and his alibi checked out so he didn’t kill anyone. Ian can’t believe Laura doesn’t trust him or anyone else. He wonders if they should go separate ways until she can start trusting people again. After that, Rory meets up with his son. Greg and Rory decide to go to the pub so they can discuss things. Carl watches Karen speak on the television. He learns that there might be a new prime suspect so he grabs his toolbox and checks on Winnie.

He goes to the building by the docks and throws gas on it. He starts a fire and does the same with the boat. Laura wakes up while the fire department arrives at the docks. We jump back three weeks and Andrew and Oliver return to the docks. Oliver asks Andrew if he would’ve killed Katy but he denies it. He says he is a lot of things but not a murderer. Oliver tells him to get on the boat before Andrew wonders if there is a way out of this. Oliver pleads with him to run while he still can. Andrew apologizes for dragging him into this before they say goodbye. Andrew gets on the boat before Carl confronts him. He explains that he knows Andrew and knows what he did to his wife.

 

Liar Review

The writers have really thrown reality of the window with the second season of Liar. Are we to accept everything that is happening? It is tough to do so when a lot of it is so unbelievable. Ian managed to touch the car key and that explains his fingerprints but there is blood on it too. That seems a bit odd. Plus, I don’t remember Carl from the prior season at all. Why did they feel the need to throw new characters into the mix and potentially point the finger at them? There was no Winnie or Carl last season so it feels like they’re making things up as they go.

There is too much going on simultaneously too. I am not at all interested in Katy being a drunk, Liam coaching her back to normalcy, or Vanessa either. These things are causing the show to drag out unnecessarily. Then, we have the outrageously obnoxious Karen Renton character and the show has jumped the shark after one season. I wasn’t blown away by the first season but it was far better than this one. The episode was tedious. It scores a 6 out of 10. Previous recaps of Liar are available on Reel Mockery.