As the second episode of Maryland begins, Becca (Suranne Jones) wakes up in the morning and tells Rosaline (Eve Best) that she had weird dreams about mom last night. Becca wonders if Mary did it in bed with him. Rosaline is busy working on one part of the tender. Rosaline gets up and says she is going to find a café because the reception is bad at the house. Becca keeps hearing a cat until she finds it in the kitchen. She suspects the car belonged to her mom since there is a bowl nearby. Richard (George Costigan) speaks to the funeral director (Morgan Cranton-Jones) about the service. Richard isn’t much help and admits he should’ve asked these things.

The funeral director says it is common not to know these sorts of things. Becca speaks to Lauren (Rhiannon Clements) on the phone and doesn’t tell her the truth about Mary. When Becca asks about Molly, Lauren says she is fine and she should stop worrying. Rosaline has to end a call with Nick when Cathy (Stockard Channing) approaches her. Cathy tells her she was raised on a farm in Fischer, Texas. Rosaline tells her that they know about Pete. After Rosaline questions whether it was a full-on affair, she is told they weren’t exactly Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara. They were pretty sweet on each other. Cathy describes Pete as a bit of a prig. Becca looks at pictures around her mom’s house.

She visits Pete (Hugh Quarshie) and accuses him of having an affair with her mother. Pete invites her in for tea since he has a lot to say. While walking on the beach together, Cathy tells Rosaline that her mom was charming, thoughtful, and funny. Rosaline admits her sister is horrified by all of this. Cathy says it isn’t easy being a sister since her sister was a pain in the backside. Rosaline thinks their mom treated them differently. Cathy asks what she needs to know about her mother, but Rosaline doesn’t know. Pete tells Becca that her mom wanted her to know. She wanted to show her the island and the life she’d chosen. Becca doubts her dad knew. She knows that he loved her and asks Pete if he loved her more. Pete says he just loved her.

Pete says they had a shared love of history, music, and literature. When Becca questions what her mom’s intentions were, Pete says she wanted to make the move there permanently. If anything happened to her, she wanted to remain there. Becca says she is coming home. She believes Pete is just some bloke who found her mom dead. Pete says he knows her before offering to let Becca see some of her writing. She ends up storming out. Back at their mom’s home, Becca tells Rosaline about her mom’s wish to remain on the island. Becca says she can stay for all she cares, but Rosaline doesn’t think she believes that. After a call, they meet with DT Ian Quayle (Ben Addis) who confirms the postmortem results are back.

Their mother consumed a lethal amount of morphine. The sisters cannot believe it. Rosaline asks if Mary was taking morphine for pain relief. She wonders why she is the only one asking questions. Ian insists they’re doing everything they can. He explains that the amount in her stomach suggests it was taken in one go. Rosaline wants to know if someone gave it to her. Ian says they have no reason to believe anyone else was involved. After Becca storms out, Ian tells Rosaline that they’re following all leads. Rosaline joins Becca outside and wonders whether she was taking morphine because something was wrong. Becca doesn’t know and she doesn’t want to talk about it. Becca calls Jim (Andrew Knott) who is busy complaining about not having enough butter.

Becca tells him about Mary having an affair before deciding to end the call. Pete receives a card from Mary thanking him for the perfect day. At home, Becca begins putting together a pile of clothes to take to the charity shop. Rosaline argues that they need to sort this whole mess out. She decides to go for a walk. As soon as she exits the house, she calls Pete. Rosaline ends up falling during her run. Jacob (Dean Lennox Kelly) stops his taxi to help her. Once he helps her up, he gets her a drink and they sit together on a bench. He makes her eat something as well. Rosaline says her mother was living a double life and it seems she killed herself. She admits that they weren’t that close.

It was the same for Jacob because his mom was tricky, but it still hit him like a ton of bricks when she died. As the conversation turns to her dad, Rosaline admits she has no idea what she is going to say to him. He drops her off back at home later. Rosaline thanks Jacob for everyone he did for her today. Jacob says he lives in the fisherman’s cottage in the village in case she needs anything. Rosaline calls her father from the shed to tell him that Mary might’ve taken an overdose. Richard says a police officer came around saying the same thing. He knew they were making daft claims that he calls a load of nonsense. Rosaline says they have proof. Richard wants to know when she is coming home.

Rosaline recommends going to Jim’s house, but Richard claims he is fine. After the call, Rosaline goes inside where she finds Becca cleaning. Rosaline reveals that Pete and Cathy are coming because she wants to talk to them about mom. Becca doesn’t want to speak to those people. When they arrive, Becca listens to Rosaline tell them about Mary overdosing. Pete can’t believe Mary took her own life. Cathy says Mary was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Pete doesn’t know why she’d take her life since he told her he’d look after her. The diagnosis happened a year ago. Cathy believes Rosaline should’ve realized that when she talked to her, but Rosaline says she has always been forgetful.

Cathy insists Mary said nothing about not wanting to be there anymore. Pete says they had a picnic and went for a drive five days ago. It was a perfect day. Rosaline doesn’t understand that. When she exits the room, she sees Becca eavesdropping on them. Lauren calls Becca to check in and to see when she is coming home. Jim takes the phone. Becca asks when is the last time he sent a card to anyone in his family. He understands what she is going through, but he wants to have this conversation when she has calmed down a bit. Rosaline tries to get Becca to take a bath later. Once she gets in, Becca admits Mary was a bit strange the last few times she saw her. She bit her head off for no reason the other month and also put cash in the washing machine.

Becca believes they should be beating themselves over this because she is furious. As for Rosaline, she doesn’t know what she is. Becca decides that they should go out so they visit the local pub. Then, Becca says they should go somewhere with a bit more life. Rosaline admits she spoke to dad because he needed telling although he already knew. Becca begins downing drinks before asking Rosaline about her affairs with married men. Rosaline doesn’t want to tell her about it because it’ll make her feel like crap. When Rosaline goes to the bathroom, a man, Ollie (Connor Calland), begins speaking to Becca. Rosaline hears Becca singing from the bathroom stall and rushes out to find her on the stage. Becca sits on Ollie’s lap.

Rosaline grabs her and pulls her away from him. Becca tells her to just go home as their argument intensifies. Rosaline ends up leaving and calling Jim to say she is worried about Becca. Becca stays for drinks with Ollie. They end up kissing. Rosaline visits Jacob because she can’t go back to that house. In the morning, Rosaline calls to see if the results of her biopsy have come back. Jacob wonders how her sister’s head is this morning. Becca finds a message from Jim asking what she is playing at. Meanwhile, Rosaline speaks to Jacob about his father and brother. Rosaline gets emotional before telling Jacob that she had cancer. It was once when she was a teenager and again about ten years ago.

She questions how her mom could do what she did. Rosaline knows how hard it is to keep going. Once she goes back to the house, Becca complains about her interfering in her marriage and tells her not to judge her. Rosaline believes Becca thinks it is okay to judge her all the time though. They argue about Becca being needed. Rosaline thinks she is stuck at 18 since she doesn’t even put petrol in her own car. Becca says everything was about Rosaline when she was younger. Rosaline says she was sick, but everything was about Becca and their mom. Rosaline yells that this conversation is making her want to kill herself. Becca says Rosaline was her favorite and her life was derailed.

Their mom had a full nervous breakdown and she wouldn’t get out of bed for months. Becca reveals it is hard to section someone. She wasn’t allowed to tell Rosaline because she had just gotten better and had gone off to university. Although their dad did the best he could, he had to go to work and pay the mortgage. Rosaline admits she didn’t know about any of this. Becca explains that their mom was bad enough to do something stupid. She didn’t because Becca was there and she could stop her. Becca looks outside just in time to see Jim get out of his vehicle.

 

Maryland Review

Maryland wants to be more and it could’ve been, but it may have bitten off more than it can chew. The series may have been too ambitious in an attempt to tackle more topics than was necessary. With the story juggling so many topics simultaneously, nothing hits as hard as it should. A few good performances aren’t enough to turn this into a gripping tear-jerker through two episodes.

Unfortunately, there is no genuine connection between me and the story or characters so it is difficult to truly care. That may be different for viewers who’ve gone through similar experiences though. While Maryland is watchable, it feels as though the series could’ve been so much better and more emotional.

This episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Maryland are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site by following this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.