Episode 3 opens with John Rebus (Richard Rankin) trying to guess what it was that led to Kai (Craig McLean) getting his finger cut off. Now patched up and fully conscious, Kia remains silent for most of the conversation. It isn’t until Rebus brings up the irony of suppliers robbing their dealers that Kia chooses to point out that Rebus can’t help him either. Rebus responds by pointing out that he’s already helped him by taking him to the hospital. Rebus is shocked by Kia’s next response which is the very quote he said to Michael earlier that day, ‘There’s no gangster in Edinburgh, only people who think they are.’

The phrase immediately sends Rebus to Keir Hardie Gardens in search of Michael Rebus (Brian Ferguson). Chrissie Rebus (Neshla Caplan) not only tells him about Michael leaving early with Andy Rolland (Terence Rae) but she also tells him about Michael’s moving Andy into their flat. Rebus doesn’t have much time to digest this thanks to an unexpected call from Siobhan Clarke (Lucie Shorthouse), requesting a ride to work.

Michael tells Andy about Shaun Strang (Aston McAuley) taking Jack (Seamus McLean Ross) and Kai while they spend the morning watching him and Darryl Christie (Noof Ousellam). Although Michael’s plans are not revealed, he tells Andy that he doesn’t want him to do anything that will risk him going back to jail. Andy’s response is that Michael helped him out and he wants to return the favor.

Rebus picks up Siobhan and meets Kirsten (Ami Okumura Jones), Michael and Andy follow Darryl to some sort of storage area where they ambush him. Michael holds him at gunpoint and tells him he’s going to have to pay penance for what he did to Jack, Kai, and Jimmy McJagger (Gilly Gilchrist). Darryl is quick to claim he had nothing to do with that mess and offers Michael money to let him. Michael doesn’t show any interest until Darryl mentions knowing about a stash house.

Siobhan thanks Rebus for picking her up but he’s clearly more interested in teasing her about her late night. He also learns that Kirsten works in Public Relations for a local theater. When they finally arrive at the station, Rebus quickly rushes after spotting Gill Templer (Caroline Lee Johnson). He spins a somewhat close-to-the-truth story to tell her about finding Kai and his suspicions that Jack was working on Shaun’s order. She authorizes him to question Shaun.

While Michael and Andy meet with Neil MacKenzie (Andrew John Tait) and Gary ‘Cammy’ Campbell (Cassidy Little) at what appears to be a storage garage of sorts, Rebus returns to the MMA gym. It doesn’t take Rebus long to ruffle Shaun’s feathers. The meeting turns out to be more of an intimidation tactic. After leaving the gym, Rebus fails to Michael again but notices Shaun’s sudden departure from the gym. At this time, the footage goes back to Michael, who is now Darryl blabbing all about Ger Cafferty’s (Stuart Bowman) stash house that gets a weekly delivery from Northern Ireland.

Rebus continues to harass Shaun by following and confronting him at the storage warehouse where Darryl was ambushed. Chrissie receives a surprise visit from Rhona Moncrieffe (Amy Manson) that starts fairly well but ends badly once Rhona offers to help her financially if she should ever need it.

Michael and his crew continue to plan out the details of the robbery while Rebus switches tactics. After relieving the Custody Sergeant (Wendy Seager), Rebus speaks with Jack (Seamus McLean Ross) in his cell. He starts by telling him that he’s only interested in the robbery. By the Rebus finishes speaking with Jack, he has all the confirmation that he needs to know Michael was involved.

After receiving a verbal berating for questioning Jack without his solicitor present, Rebus steps into the stairwell to call Michael. While leaving a message, he also happens to see Malcolm Fox (Thoren Ferguson) in the stairwell, making his way to the detective’s floor. This eventually leads to him learning about Siobhan and Malcolm’s relationship. He doesn’t get much time to discuss the discovery with Siobhan because he’s called back into Gill’s office. This time it appears to be good news as Gill has just received the file on Derek Christie’s suicide. As it turns out, it was George Blantyre (Sean Buchanan) who investigated the incident.

George is half drunk and right in the middle of watching his wedding video when Rebus shows up to question him about Derek’s suicide. Rebus doesn’t get too far because George only appears to be interested in hearing if Rebus has found out who Maggie Blantyre (Michelle Duncan) has been sleeping with. Rebus’s claims that Maggie isn’t sleeping around only make George angrier. When George eventually passes out, Rebus puts him to bed and tells Maggie that Cafferty knows about their involvement. Although he claims he’s going to take care of it, he encourages her to take extra precautions and be careful.

While out at dinner, Siobhan and Malcolm discuss Rebus finding out about their relationship. Siobhan fears that she’ll be judged unfairly only assuming she is involved to get a better position. At one point, he alludes to her making a career move to Professional Standards but she doesn’t appear to be too interested. She later mentions Cafferty and Rebus’ relationship and immediately regrets it.

It doesn’t take Michael and his crew long to raid the Dalriada Shipping Offices and successfully locate the drugs. Everything goes off without a hitch until a guard surprises them and Michael shoots him in the head.

After George sobers up a bit, Rebus learns that Derek Christie’s suicide was a murder, committed by Jimmy McJagger. According to George, Derek was an accountant for Cafferty who made the mistake of telling George about a flat where Cafferty was hiding money. George helped himself to some of that money and once Cafferty discovered it was Derek’s fault, he had Jimmy kill him. As the lead detective, George was leveraged into ruling the death as a suicide.

When Michael and his team return to Cammy’s garage, they learn that the boy he shot was UDA, meaning he was highly trained and connected in Cafferty’s organization. Apparently, this doesn’t concern Michael as much as it does Darryl. It is only much later that night that Michael turns on his phone and learns of the messages from Rebus. Chrissie also confronts him about his actions as of late and says that she’ll help him as long as he tells her the truth about everything. He agrees.

The episode ends with Rebus visiting Cafferty and telling him Darryl had Jimmy killed out of revenge for his father. Rebus says that he’ll deal with Darryl if he agrees to leave George and Maggie out of it. Cafferty tells him that he had his chance.

 

Rebus Review

A very intriguing episode, indeed! There were some parts, of course, but the reveals were epic. After 3 episodes, everything appears to be shaping up rather nicely. I’ve said before that the story felt simplistic and although it certainly isn’t original, it is much more complex than I gave it credit for. Rebus and Michael both do an excellent acting job as does most of the cast. I’d give the episode an easy 5.6 out of 10.

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