This episode of Rules of the Game begins in the police station interview room where DI Eve Preston (Susan Wokoma) checks on Sam since she has found two people dead. When she is asked about her mental health, Sam (Maxine Peake) begins laughing. She says the world is on fire, kids are in cages, the government is in shambles, and we’re all going to die due to climate change or a mutating virus. More than 200 women are killed every week yet they’re told to flag down a bus if they feel unsafe. She believes everyone is struggling with their mental health. In the past, Sam makes her daughter Gemma (Megan Parkinson) come to work on her birthday. Once inside, Sam immediately visits Brian Weston (Charles Dale) to ask about the company’s entry records. Since she is looking for something 10 or 12 years old, she’ll have to search through one of the filing cabinets nearby.

She grabs a CD and checks it on a computer while Brian tells her about Maya (Rakhee Thakrar) harassing him to tell her who has been late. He talks about Maya being an attractive Nazi although she isn’t his type. Sam finds that Amy Dixon (Amy Leeson) returned to Fly Dynamic after leaving the pub. After that, she joins a meeting with Anita (Alison Steadman), Owen (Ben Batt), and Gareth to say they can announce the IPO soon. Then, they can go on a two-week road trip to impress investors that Anita wants Owen and Sam to handle. As for Gareth (Kieran Bew), he is told to stay here and not touch anything. Anita instructs Sam not to mess this up. Once they’re alone, Sam tells Owen about the entry record she found showing Amy returned here before she died. Owen wonders if she just left something here like her key fob or coat.

When she recommends turning it over to the police, Owen says he’ll handle it. He asks if there is a digital copy before telling her to keep the CD-ROM safe and get it to him when she can. Sam is instructed to leave the past alone and focus on the IPO. Although Owen thinks they’ve done enough bonding for the day, Sam says they’re just getting to know each other despite being together for decades. Meanwhile, Maya and Tess (Callie Cooke) enjoy a yoga session together. Tess reveals it has been ten days without booze. Maya says Lucy got back to her and she is happy to meet with Tess at an AA meeting together. She keeps pushing until Tess agrees to come to one meeting. Carys Jenkins (Katherine Pearce) meets with a divorce attorney who says she will be entitled to spousal support, division of assets, and substantial child support if she divorces Gareth. When the attorney learns they’re going to float the company in a few weeks, he recommends waiting a few weeks to get more money.

She is urged to do some digging because men like Gareth tend to hide things. Owen asks Gemma what she is interested in. She begins listing a number of things, including animal rights, environmental activism, destruction of the patriarchy, and dismantling white supremacy. Owen suggests they have a lot in common. He tells Gemma about going to school when people would hassle others for being different and this is something they don’t do anymore. He thinks they’re showing that in their advertising. Gemma is told having someone like her on the team should shake things up around here. Owen believes it would be better to get a job here instead of going to university and getting into debt. Gemma isn’t interested because she is more into revolution. Things get awkward when Owen puts his hand on her shoulder and begins showing her something on the computer. Sam enters as Owen moves his hand. Owen tells Gemma to get out of here before Sam gives him a preliminary timetable for the roadshow.

She admits she made a few changes. When her phone rings, Owen recommends taking the day off. She refuses to go home and instead recommends going through the timetable. A beautician walks in to see if Vanessa (Zoe Tapper) can feel the numbing cream working. Vanessa is going with the laser skin tightening treatment because she wanted to step it up a bit. She is told she could leave the treatment for another year, but she doesn’t want to hear that. Vanessa decides to go through with it anyway. Sam watches a news report about Amy’s death being labeled as death by misadventure. Dave (Rick Warden) says the people who gave Amy drugs and alcohol should take responsibility for her death. Rachel (Jennifer Hennessy) says her daughter didn’t do drugs and she didn’t have a phone at the time. Sam remembers what Hugh (Rory Keenan) said about her calling Gareth all night.

A flashback shows that Amy borrowed Sam’s phone so she likely called Gareth. She gets a call from the school learning Adam (Isaac Lancel-Watkinson) did something bad forcing her to leave. Before she leaves, she sees Owen leading a blindfolded Gemma into another room. She rushes in only to discover that everyone has thrown a birthday party for Gemma. In the car, Sam tells Gemma things were different when she started working there because you had to do what your boss wanted. Sam doesn’t want her going through the same stuff she did although Gemma believes she can handle herself. When Gemma says she is going to have a dog instead of kids, her mom hopes that dog craps all over her dreams. Sam goes inside and confronts her son for sending pornography. Meanwhile, Gareth tells Carys he is going to go to the pub for a drink. When he gets money from her bag, he finds the business card for the divorce attorney.

At first, she lies. However, she eventually says she knows about Gareth’s relationship with Sam. Gareth claims Sam is like a sister, but Carys is adamant that their relationship isn’t working. Carys suggests they take a few days apart and forces Gareth to find a place to stay. Meanwhile, Gemma pokes fun at Adam looking at pornography in school. Sam sends her away before telling her son that the stuff he was looking at isn’t how adults treat each other. She has restrictions on every screen in the house leaving her to believe someone else showed it to him, but Adam won’t say. Maya drives Tess to the AA meeting before giving her a present which turns out to be The Bhagavad Gita. Lucy Collins (Shelley Longworth) greets Tess when she enters the room and gives her advice to stay away from the creepy guys. Tess looks around and notices Hugh in the room.

Gemma receives a text message from Owen so she sends one back saying she is doing okay. Gareth visits Sam and forces her to let him stay for a few days. Gemma wants to talk to her mother about something, but she says she forgot when she sees Gareth downstairs. In the present, Sam tells Eve how close she is with her bosses since she has known them for 20 years. Gemma babysits for them and Adam has sleepovers with them. Eve asks whether it was worth it. When Sam asks what, Eve says whatever she had to do to get into their good books. At the AA meeting, Hugh talks about using drugs and snorting coke while Tess ridicules him throughout his speech. He talks about his failed suicide and feeling like an idiot for being unable to take his own life. Tess blurts out that he should tell them how he got fired for sexual harassment.

She wants to know why he threw her under the bus at the inquest. Lucy takes her outside to calm her down. Hugh follows them and asks Tess if she wants to go to the nearby coffee shop to talk. She doesn’t since he had a long time to talk to her and never did. He knows he used her and acted like she didn’t exist. He says there is no excuse. He talked himself into believing she was the type of woman who wouldn’t take any crap. When Amy died, he couldn’t look her in the eye because he was ashamed and disgusted. She curses him and leaves. Meanwhile, Maya tries to convince her mother to return home. She soon finds out that her mother invited Luke over although she isn’t happy about it. Once Luke enters, her mother uses an electrical socket that is broken so the breaker trips. Since Maya doesn’t know where the breaker box is, Luke agrees to help her find it.

Luke shows her where it is and how to turn it off and on. He offers to take her for a drink. Although Maya doesn’t want to go, Luke and her mother push until she does. Carys smashes a family picture to the ground and finds a key behind it. She uses the key to open Gareth’s safe and finds provocative pictures of a young girl. The box also holds a condom and USB stick. When she checks the USB stick, she finds a video of Amy with Gareth who is talking dirty to her. As Luke walks with Maya, he tells her he has been seeing a lovely girl. He has learned a lot about himself and his mother is now in a hospice. He tries to talk her into letting him come back, but Maya says no. She wants him to sign the papers so they can sell the house. He says he is hurt and not ready to let this go. He pleads with her to talk about it.

Luke goes on to say she walked out of him and his mom is dying with cancer so he is stressed. She says she is sorry. He questions whether she really is. He grabs her arms and asks who is going to put up with her. He ridicules her job history, cleaning obsession, and the little ball sack cat wandering around. She screams in his face and curses him before walking away. The next day, Maya’s mother leaves in a taxi. At work, Duncan (Dominic Vulliamy) asks Sam if she is going to sign up for the charity run. She says no. Then, she is asked why she isn’t in the meeting. He promises to find out why they wouldn’t need her in the important meeting. When Sam rushes into the meeting, Owen tells her not now because they’re in the middle of something. She goes outside where Gareth tells her it feels like she isn’t putting in 100%.

He says they’re not going to take her COO spot, but she really needs to stop ticking him off. Liz and Vanessa meet with Carys at the school. They talk about Gareth moving in with Sam. Seconds later, Sam arrives and screams for Adam to come. Carys stops Sam to ask if she is having an affair with her husband. She continues pushing until Sam admits his penis has been in her vagina. It was on and off. Once Carys asks why she didn’t marry him, Sam reveals he isn’t the type of man she’d want to have a family with. She gives Sam the thumb drive and says she isn’t the only person he cheated on. Sam apologizes, but Carys doesn’t want to hear it. Maya returns home to find that someone has broken into her home. She goes inside cautiously and begins looking around. When she enters her bedroom, she finds a picture of herself and Luke on their wedding day sitting on her bed.

Liz finds her outside and checks on her. When Gemma babysits Danny (Braydon Bent), she finds him locked in his parents’ bedroom using his mother’s laptop. He shows her his YouTube video before she finds a browser window in the background with pornography on it. When Vanessa and Owen return home, Gemma tries to tell them about their son watching porn. When she accuses him of spreading it around school, Vanessa asks where he would be accessing this material. After Gemma says she found it on her computer, Vanessa says she is just like her mother. Gemma tells Vanessa how hard her mother works for that company while she sits at home doing nothing. Owen laughs before offering to get her an Uber. She tells Owen he can stop texting her because she is 17 and that is really messed up. Once Gemma is gone, Vanessa tells Owen she has a point about the leching since it is getting obvious in his old age.

Maya gets a visit from a police officer who recommends filing a restraining order. He also gives her a tech SOS phone so she can get in touch with them with the push of a button. As Tess walks by the spot where Amy’s body was found, she freaks out. Meanwhile, Sam makes sure Gareth is sleeping before she looks at the video on the thumb drive. She hears Gareth telling Amy to leave the camera because he wants to see what she looks like when she cums. She closes the computer just before Gareth enters the room. Sam tells him she knows about him and Amy who was only 16. Gareth is forced to admit that Amy came to see him before she died. He goes on to say they had a little fling, but it wasn’t a big deal. Sam complains that everything is lying. Gareth claims he broke it off with Amy and she didn’t take it well. Since he ignored her, she called using Sam’s phone.

When she arrived, she was wasted and kept throwing herself at him. He told her it was over and she took off. Gareth admits he feels bad about letting her leave alone. He admits he is a scumbag. However, he can’t let her call the police because they’ll reopen the case and nobody will believe him. Once he asks whether it is worth risking everything, Sam says she needs to think. Gareth says he feels guilty and it has messed his head up for many years. At work the next day, Maya takes some of her pills. Tess arrives two hours late. Maya tells her she stinks and can smell it from that far away. They talk about the AA meeting and possible triggers before Maya tells her to come with her. As they leave, Tess waits and steals some of her pills. Eve tells DS Peter Alan (Dario Coates) that the toxicology results came back and the victim had alcohol and Alprazolam in their system.

Although it wasn’t in the toxic range, it would’ve made them uncoordinated. Tess and Maya visit Brian who makes them wait while he prepares his lunch. Brian checks and finds that Tess clocked in at 11:49 AM. Tess lies by claiming she came in with a bunch of other people earlier. Brian believes she is lying too. Maya tells her to go upstairs and she’ll join her shortly. Once Tess is gone, Maya asks Brian to filter out Tess’s entry records for the past month or so. He tells her about the CD-ROMs that he was going to throw away until Sam asked about them. She tries to find out more about that, but he won’t say much besides it was 10 years ago. Maya goes to Sam’s office, searches through her desk, and finds a CD-ROM with a label that says entry records 2011. Khalil enters and asks if Sam knows she is in her office. Maya says she will know before walking out. Maya returns to her office and checks the records until she finds that Amy returned to the office after leaving the club.

Once Sam learns she was in her office, she rushes in to confront her. Maya accuses her of spearheading a corporate coverup although Sam says there is a simple explanation. She tells Maya how she got it and insists it isn’t an HR problem. Sam explains Amy had a crush on Gareth so she came back to the office to see him. After he rejected her, she ran into the night. Sam claims that is what happens when you’re a young girl and you don’t look after yourself. Then, she says she didn’t mean it like that. Maya is encouraged to talk to Owen and Gareth about this. After Sam pushes and pushes, Maya agrees to wait a few hours so senior management can get involved. She wants everyone in her office at six. Maya hides the CD in her Jane Eyre book. Khalil stops Tess in the hallway to ask if she is okay, but she says it is too late for that. She rushes to the bathroom and begins drinking alcohol and taking pills.

She remembers coming to the bathroom with Amy and giving her drugs. Moments later, Duncan finds Tess passed out on her desk. He wakes her up to warn her she is going to get fired if she is caught in that state. She won’t cooperate despite Duncan telling her multiple times. He says time is up and leaves. Sam tells Gareth and Owen that this isn’t that bad because Maya is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and Gareth did nothing wrong. She believes the police would take the records and not even look at them. Owen says it is a mess so they need to get Maya to sign a non-disclosure agreement tonight. Sam doesn’t think Maya is going to go through with it, but Owen says she has to. He warns her she’ll be out of a job if she doesn’t get the non-disclosure agreement signed. Eve asks Sam to go over this morning again. She says she didn’t take Gemma with her to work because she had a high temperature.

Sam gets upset because she wants to go home. Eve pauses the recording and tells her to retrace the steps in her head. That morning, Sam gets up, puts on her pajamas, and leaves Gemma in bed. She drives to the Fly Dynamic building and heads inside. Once she walks through the door, she sees something that concerns her. She removes the earbud from her ear and sees Maya dead on the ground in front of her.

 

Rules Of The Game Review

While Rules Of The Game could’ve been an interesting exploration of modern corporate workplaces, it is too bloated and overloaded to enjoy. It is interesting at times, yet tiresome at other points. It is just too big, too bold, and not good enough to get its point across. Unfortunately, I think a lot of things that are happening likely won’t matter at all in the long run.

I still don’t understand the need for kids to be discussing masturbation and graphic pornography. The episodes just drag on for far too long keep the viewer engaged throughout and the dialogue isn’t interesting enough. None of the characters are sympathetic although I think Maya was meant to fit the bill. The biggest question I had was who was actually found dead at Fly Dynamic and this episode finally answered that question.

The only thing left to find out is who is going to be held responsible if anyone. The final episode will hopefully wrap everything up and deliver all the answers we deserve for sticking with this through four episodes. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. All recaps of Rules Of The Game can be found on Reel Mockery right here. Interested in supporting the Reel Mockery project? Find out how to do so by following this link!