I Lay Waiting – As the episode opens, older Dolours Price (Maxine Peake) questions older Gerry Adams’ (Michael Colgan) motive. Gerry asks Father Reid (Ian McElhinney) if he was followed. Reid says he is paranoid. Dolours never approved of Gerry’s new friends. Revealing a manila envelope, Gerry asks if it will get him executed. Reid calls him a “survivor.” Gerry says some believe his willingness to negotiate is the same as treason. Reid suggests he is referring to older Brendan “Dark” Hughes (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) who has suffered greatly. Gerry confirms it is Brendan. Reid says they must realize the IRA is underachieving and stresses the need to stop them from killing. Gerry claims they are achieving nothing but killing off his voters. He knows negotiating will cost him friendships and hands the envelope to Reid. Dolours explains how the envelope would pass through the catholic church to the hands of Gerry’s rivals. Later, Gerry tells a U.S. immigration officer (Lorna Lowe) that he is a negotiator for the peace talks. Finding his name on the Exclusion List, she asks him to follow her. He claims the American President approved a waiver for him. She sees he has been Cleared For Entry and stamps his passport.

Mackers of the Belfast Project (Seamus O’Hara) asks older Dolours to explain what happened in April 1994. In a flashback, Dolours has been living in Dublin since her marriage to Stephen Rea ended. At Talbot Pharmacy, a clerk (Marty Breen) declines to fill Dolours’ Valium prescription because the prescribing physician’s signature doesn’t match. Dolours denies being a drug addict and forging the signature. She makes a scene, snatches up the prescription, and walks out of the pharmacy. She receives a call from older Marian Price (Helen Behan) informing her of a meeting at the Felon’s Club. She says Gerry and the Brits are in peace talks. Later, Albert Price (Stuart Graham) tells Marian and Dolours that war ends when one side surrenders or reaches a settlement. Dolours assures him that Gerry will never surrender. They greet Mackers when they spot Dark across the pub. Marian claims he is living at the Divis flats. Reading from a HQ statement, a man says the IRA is calling for a cessation of all military operations at midnight and Sinn Fein will be treated like any other political party. The club fills with applause. The British government has agreed to reduce military presence and decommissioning will be the first step as the peace talks continue. Older Jimmy (Tony Devlin) warns that the Brits will confiscate their weapons. Sinn Fein One (Andrew Steele) says the war isn’t working. Jimmy argues that it is surrender. A man insists Gerry screwed them over. People get upset and leave. Dark tells Dolours that Gerry sold them out.

Dolours recalls Albert telling her that he killed someone when she was six. He says it will be worth it when they achieve a united Ireland. Marian and Dolours agree they got nothing from the war. Dolours says Gerry was always intended to end up on top and calls him a coward. In the U.S., Danny (Daithi O Haragain) tells Gerry that he could earn a Nobel Prize if he pulls it off. Gerry asks how the IRA hardliners and Dark. Danny says they have amped up his security and Dark left the meeting early. A White House aide (Tebby Fisher) escorts Gerry to a room where he will meet with the Vice President.

Older Helen McConville (Laura Donnelly) does an interview with Ulster Talk Radio host (Killian Donnelly). Jean McConville (Judith Roddy) was abducted from her home 25 years ago. Older Michael McConville (Paul Mallon) listens to her interview while holding a pigeon. Helen claims 10 IRA insurgents took Jean. She speaks out against the IRA peace talks and asks where is the justice for Jean. Later, Seamus McKendry (Keith McErlean) tells Helen that he is proud of her. She receives a call from Michael who is upset about her radio interview. He claims to have seen one of the intruders in a restaurant but didn’t say anything. Seeing an old man (Edmund Dehn) pull up in front of her flat, she ends the call and walks outside to confront him. He tells her that his son, Eamon Molloy, disappeared in July 1975, and believes there are more.

Dolours is working when a show about the Disappeared airs on the TV. Helen says there are nine families who lost their loved ones to the IRA. A photo of Jean pops up on the screen. Gerry watches the show from a different location. Helen asks Gerry where are the bodies buried. Later, Gerry emerges from a car to be confronted by the media. A reporter (Eoin Lynch) asks how the peace talks are going. Gerry claims they are making steady progress. Helen offers Gerry a scone which he accepts. He says a great injustice has been done and he is asking for anyone with information to come forward. She asks why he called Jean a “tout.” He denies any connection to her death. Seamus asks if he visited his mother’s grave. Gerry says yes. Helen stresses the need to bury Jean. He vows to do everything in his power to find her body but warns against doing anything that could jeopardize the peace process. He later calls for an investigation into the Disappeared. Frank (Gerard Jordan) asks Dolours what she knows about Jean. She denies any knowledge of what happened to her and suggests he question Gerry. He warns her to be cautious about what she says. In the present, Dolours tells Mackers that Gerry always said if Ireland was to be at peace, it would cost them their silence.

Marty (Frank Laverty) tells Gerry that Eamon’s body was found. He says Eamon was an informant responsible for Gerry’s 1973 arrest. Gerry asks if anyone checked on Eamon’s wife, Kate. Frank agrees to pay her a visit. The Gravedigger (Christopher Dunne) says rumors allege Jean is buried in Dundalk near the sea. Later, Dolours and Marian attend Gerry’s book signing. Scanning the novel, Dolours sees Gerry mentioned them driving him home. Marian urges her to drop it. Dolours gulps down some wine before asking Gerry why he never mentioned the London bombing that they planned together. She asks if she spent eight years in prison and her Aunt Birdie lost her eyesight for him to have a big book deal and a house. Pushing a book in front of him, she demands he make it out to Aunt Birdie. He offers to get her help and reaches out to touch her. She shoves his hand away, curses him, and walks away. Marian tells her that the lads are going to do something about it because talking is getting them nowhere. She invites her to the meeting. Dolours professes to love her and says she is too old to get involved in it. Marian wishes her good luck and gets into a car with several guys. In the present, Dolours tells Mackers that she always followed orders.

While driving down a lone road, Dolours imagines seeing Ian (Bill Jones) and Seamus Wright (Frank Blake) sitting in the backseat. Startled, she stops, walks around, and gets back in the car. She talks about things and asks questions she didn’t back then. Seamus takes a call before telling Helen they think they’ve found something. Helen meets the other family members at the scene. She speaks to Archie, Agnes, and others. Helen talks to her family about Jean. They talk about her pin and other things. Agnes says she keeps wondering if they hurt her. Jim says she was interrogated and you’d admit to anything then. Agnes doubts Jean could tell the Brits anything since she never left the flat. An excavator begins tearing up concrete. They find a dog’s skull. Helen and the others believe they’ve been turned into a laughingstock. Dolours calls Helen later. She hangs up when Danny interrupts. Dolours visits Brendan Hughes. She says she’s happy that the killing stopped. Brendan believes it’s rotten and she agrees. Dolours admits she keeps thinking about the operations. She often wonders what it was all for. Brendan says not one death was worth it. He tells her about a disaster of an operation that he ran called Bloody Friday. They realized the explosions were too close together. Brendan knew a lot of people were going to die that day.

He says it was nine. Gerry didn’t plan it but he could’ve stopped every bullet from being fired. Now, he’s saying he was never in the IRA. Brendan claims Gerry is being selfish. Dolours asks if he’s ever thought about going public. Brendan claims he couldn’t. He begins telling her about Mackers who is doing an oral history project. Brendan admits he tells him everything. He explains that no one hears it until you’re dead. Brendan says it feels fantastic. Mackers visits Dolours and tells her she’s got full protection through the project. Once she agrees to it, Mackers says she’s doing a brave thing and giving people access to their actual history. A dog finds something near the water. A man inspects it. Later, the coroner tells Helen and the family that the remains have been identified as a woman. The coroner is asked about a pin. He confirms it’s there.

The family realizes that they’ve found Jean. They’re approached by a detective who says there was a bullet lodged in her skull. There were two more close to where she was found. Helen says they want to press charges. The detective says they don’t have immunity because the IRA didn’t lead them to the body. He admits someone will have to talk for them to find out who killed her. Dolours tells Mackers about driving across the border and carrying explosives. She delivered people to the men on the other side where they would be executed. Mackers asks if they’re going to be talking about Jean.

 

Say Nothing Review

The episode reveals how Gerry betrayed his fellow IRA members, including Dolours. There is so much that could have been done to make the story more interesting. It bounces between Dolours’ personal struggles, the IRA peace talks, and Helen’s fight to find her mother’s body. It’s unfortunate that vital details of what led up to Jean’s murder are omitted from the story.

It gets tiresome watching Dolours’ pity party. She took part in heinous crimes and the audience is supposed to sympathize with her. The episode deserves a 4 out of 10.

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