Tout – The episode opens with Jean McConville (Judith Roddy) forbidding Helen McConville (Emily Healy) from going out. Peader (Gerry Cannon) is standing in the walkway when Helen returns to the complex. Hearing a child scream, she races to the flat to find her siblings distraught because Jean was abducted. Archie McConville (Isaac Heslip) suggests it had something to do with her helping the injured British soldier. She sends Susie McConville (Sarah Gordon) to bed and leaves Michael McConville (Rylee Neilly-Large) in charge while she and Archie go search for Jean. They enter the pub where Seamus McKendry (Keith McErlean), Joe Lynskey (Adam Best), and other IRA members are having drinks. They tell a man (James Doran) what happened. After briefly speaking with Seamus Wright (Frank Blake), the man claims Jean was an informant. Archie says he is lying. Elsewhere, Teenage Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew), Brendan Hughes (Anthony Boyle), and Jimmy Dooley (Ryan McParkland) but there are no weapons. Francis (Art Parkinson) asks Kevin McKee (Paddy Towers) if he has a weapon. Kevin reluctantly places a spud gun on the table. Jimmy teases him. Kevin sarcastically brags about having ammunition, a potato. Dolours gives Dark Joe’s pistol.

In the present, older Brendan Hughes (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) explains to Mackers (Seamus O’Hara) of the Belfast Project how he would prepare for a robbery or plant a bomb. In the past, younger Dark and Jimmy find their hidden guns missing. They come under fire and a shootout ensues. They manage to escape. Upon returning home, Dark insists someone told Brigadier Frank Kitson (Rory Kinnear). Later, Kathleen (Emma Canning) tells Dark that Seamus disappeared after Aoife McGuire’s funeral. She shows him a letter from Seamus who is working in London. She claims he told her that Kitson was threatening him with murder charges and insists he had no other option but to inform. Later, Jimmy helps Seamus escape. Seamus explains how Kitson talked to him for days and gave him the option of prison or a new life in London. He admits to identifying every member of the IRA. Irate, Jimmy threatens to shoot him while Brendan restrains Kathleen. Seamus says Beaky is another one of Kitson’s informants. Later, Brendan and Jimmy interrogate Kevin. In a flashback, Kevin is brought into Palace Barracks for stealing a Union flag. He denies being IRA but recognizes Kitson’s Mauser C96. Kitson offers to let him hold it but he refuses until they are alone. Dark fears Gerry Adams (Josh Finan) would kill Kevin and Seamus if he knew. Jimmy asks which one of them wants to die first. Kevin claims to have told them where the IRA guns were hidden and Seamus gave Kitson names. Dark offers to let them live if they spy for him.

Seamus and Kevin hide guns in the Call House. Seamus warns him that Dark will kill them. Kevin suggests they find ways to be useful to Dark to stay alive longer. They inform Kitson of the guns. Two officers (Paul Tinto, Eddie Elks) collect the guns and give them a key to the firing range. In the present, older Dark tells Mackers that Kevin snooped on British intelligence. Back in the past, Kevin learns British intelligence is utilizing 4Square Dry Cleaner vans to conduct surveillance around Belfast. He informs Dark, Jimmy, and Gerry of how the intelligence officers are performing forensic testing on the dirty clothes to determine which Catholics are firing guns. Once alone, Gerry insists Seamus and Kevin be punished for informing. Dark urges him to let it be a lesson for them. Elsewhere, Private Sarah Jane (Amy Molloy) collects a load of laundry from an older Catholic woman (Nicola Sloane) while an officer inside the van snaps her photo. Watching from a nearby car, Dolours recognizes Sarah Jane from the pub. Jimmy and Dark are hidden in the backseat. She and Marian know about Kevin and Seamus and believe they should be dead. The following Thursday, the IRA attack the British intelligence officers. Sarah Jane flees inside a flat. The driver is killed and the officer in the back of the van is injured. At a pub, Dark lets Kevin and Seamus back into the IRA. Upon returning to the Call House, he finds them missing. Gerry stresses the importance of killing Kevin and Seamus to discourage others from becoming informants. Eyes filled with tears, Dark pleads with him to not do it. Gerry says it is over.

In the present, older Dark tells Mackers that Dolours drove Kevin and Seamus down south. He claims to have believed in Gerry and went along with whatever he said. He would have done things differently. In the past, Kevin asks Dolours if they are going down south to train. She says maybe. Seamus asks if she is a chauffeur for Gerry. Kevin gets sick. Dolours pulls over to let Kevin vomit and threatens to shoot Seamus if he gets out. Later, they meet Jimmy on an isolated road. Seamus writes Kathleen a letter and gives it to Jimmy. Several IRA insurgents escort them to a shallow grave where a priest is waiting. Jimmy orders them to kneel. Seamus obeys and assures Kevin that he will be okay. They are executed. Jimmy tosses Kathleen’s letter on the ground. Someone covers it with dirt. At Palace Barracks, Sarah Jane informs Kitson that Seamus and Kevin went missing before the attack. He says they are dead before explaining how informants were killed in Kenya. While listening to a group singing on TV, Aunt Bridie (Eileen Walsh) suggests someone should remind them of the war. The episode ends.

 

Say Nothing Review

It was revealed how ruthlessly the IRA dealt with informants. Gerry felt Brendan was too soft on Kevin and Seamus, so he stepped in and had Jimmy execute them.

The content is very repetitive. An incident is revealed, dropped, and picked back up. For example, Jean was abducted by the IRA in the pilot episode. It was picked up on several occasions and viewers still know very little about what really happened. It would be more effective to dedicate an entire episode to Jean. I’m sure more will be revealed in future episodes.

The series could have easily been slimmed down to five episodes. The present-day scenes add very little to the story. The episode deserves a 5.8 out of 10.

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