As the second episode of Suspicion begins, Monique Thompson (Lydia West) meets with her friend, Princess (Princess Adenike), at the Madison Park Motel and introduces her to Natalie (Georgina Campbell). Sean Tilson (Elyes Gabel) walks in behind them and continues without acknowledging them. Tara McAllister (Elizabeth Henstridge) gets a drink at the bar while Aadesh Chopra (Kunal Nayyar) walks behind her. After the intro, we’re taken to the Bishop’s Gate Police Station in London. Vanessa Okoye (Angel Coulby) enters the interview room with Aadesh and says he has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to abduct. He is told the interview will be recorded using video and audio. Then, Vanessa gives him a rundown of his rights. Natalie goes through the same process and quickly turns down legal representation since she doesn’t think she needs it.

Vanessa says a young man’s life is at risk. She is going to be honest with them in hopes that they’ll be honest with her. If they’re honest, she can help them. Tara is asked about Leo Newman (Gerran Howell), but she doesn’t know where he is. Aadesh quickly asks if she is trying to wind him up before saying no comment when instructed by his solicitor. As for Natalie, she asks who Leo is. The suspects are shown the footage of the kidnapping and asks whether it is familiar. Tara is asked if there is a significance behind the masks. Natalie hopes they don’t really think she kidnapped him. Vanessa reveals abduction only becomes a kidnapping once a ransom demand has been made or proof of life has been received. Natalie is asked whether it is politically motivated, terrorist related, or just simple extortion. She suggests it would be stupid for her to do this without a solicitor if she was involved, but Vanessa says it could equally be construed as very smart.

Agent Scott Anderson (Noah Emmerich) watches the interview as Natalie asks when she can go home. Vanessa says they can let her go in a matter of hours once she convinces them she is a finance manager having a really bad day. Natalie explains it took two years to plan her wedding and people spent money they didn’t have to come. As a result, she isn’t okay in the least. She tells Vanessa to ask her questions and she’ll consult her fiancé who happens to be a lawyer to find out how much it’ll cost them to make this okay. Vanessa shows her two pictures of Sean Tilson and asks whether she knows who he is. She claims she has never seen him before. Aadesh is asked the same question before he shakes his head, looks at his solicitor, and says no comment. Tara asks who he is. We see that Sean is in Bangor in Northern Ireland. He sneaks into a house in the middle of the night. He walks around the house quietly before saying hello to his grandad (Ian McElhinney).

Natalie is asked for a full account of her movements from the time she arrived in America. She starts by saying she got a cab from the airport and met her sister at the motel. Monique is going to NYU. Natalie had never been over so they were going to hang out and have a hen party before she went back. Since the room wasn’t ready yet, they saw some sights and did some shopping. Then, Monique went back to her place while Natalie returned to the motel. That happened around five and she was going to meet her sister at a bar around 7:30. When asked if she left the room between then, she says she was going to go to the spa. However, Monique texted her when she was in the changing room and asked to get a cocktail together at the hotel. She left the spa to get ready to meet Monique without meeting anyone else in the motel. Natalie tells her about partying that night and only leaving her group when she needed to use the bathroom. As for phone calls, she believes she might’ve texted Joe.

Natalie isn’t sure when she got back to the motel because she drank too much. She left Monique and her friends at the club and she went straight to the airport. Vanessa reveals there is no CCTV footage of her returning to the motel that night. Natalie says there was a side door before questioning whether Vanessa believes her. Vanessa argues New York is a long way to go for such a short trip, but Nat says her sister is the only person she wanted to spend her hen night with. Meanwhile, Monique gets text messages about Natalie’s arrest and possible terrorism although she denies it. She gets a call from Joe Gibson (Ben Bailey Smith) who says the police are there searching his flat. He is going to the motel and asks her to keep in touch if she hears anything while promising to do the same.

When the call ends, a friend asks what Natalie has done. She offers to tell Monique what she thinks she has done. Monique tells her no and pushes past her. She enters the bedroom and throws herself on the bed before hearing a cellphone beeping. While searching for the phone, she finds the bag full of money that belongs to Natalie. She freaks when her mom Lydia (Clare Perkins) calls for her, but she doesn’t enter. She checks the phone and finds messages to Natalie from someone saying they need the money and she is in trouble now. Sean complains about his grandad leaving candles burning when he is sleeping. His grandad reveals his sight is almost gone so there is no use wasting money on lights. When Sean finds out that his grandad doesn’t have much food left, he apologizes for not being around. He learns nobody has been to the house beside the noisy parkers he asked to bring meals around. Sean wishes he could stay.

His grandad jokes he is glad he’ll be telling the truth when he says he hasn’t seen him this time. He suspects they’ll be coming. Monique puts the money bag and phone in her jacket as the police arrive and begin a search of the property. She pretends her uncle isn’t feeling well and wandered off so she is going to go after him. Before she goes, she asks Lydia to tell Terry to get everyone to the motel. Then, she runs right outside past the police officers. Aadesh refuses to answer questions and continues saying no comment. He is asked what he was working on at the motel and whether it had something to do with his meeting with representatives from Cooper Newman. He says no comment after being asked why he lied to his family about where he was going. Once he is asked if he knows who runs Cooper Newman PR, he says obviously since she has just been named ambassador to the UK. Vanessa reveals she is Leo’s mother as well. Eventually, Aadesh snaps and says he wasn’t doing a bloody kipping that morning.

Sean opens a bag and takes what looks like money and a phone. He also loads a gun and changes his appearance. Next, Tara says she didn’t check in until after three because she was running late as usual. The conference started at three and she was expected to be on stage at 4:30. She explains the conference was about the Cooper Newman Foundation giving money to programs around the world and the speakers talked about projects that were made possible thanks to their donations. She would expect Katherine and Leo to be there, but she missed the opening and wouldn’t know. Tara was there because their donation helped the university build a research library. When Vanessa asks why she went, Tara explains her colleagues had commitments while her domestic situation is more complicated. She eventually agrees that she volunteered to go. Since she was jetlagged, she had a quick drink at the bar to help her sleep and went to her room after the speech. She passed time talking to the barman and was in bed around 9:30 or 10.

Vanessa wants to know if she left her room again after that. Tara did because she couldn’t sleep. She regularly has trouble sleeping so she gets up and walks. She believes that helps her sort out her thoughts, but Vanessa thinks it might be the Diazepam. Tara realizes Vanessa has been in her house. Sean travels to the Bangor Marina in Northern Ireland. He boards one of the boats and calls for Nicola (Karen Hassan) who is sleeping inside. They begin making out almost immediately. He checks to make sure she is alone before asking her to take the boat out on the water. Vanessa reads a note about Tilson attacking the guy on the motorbike and his grandad saying he hasn’t been in contact with him. Natalie asks if she is going to be there all night since she is supposed to go to the Maldives tomorrow.

Natalie asks what they’re waiting for while Tara watches her speech. Vanessa doesn’t believe it was jetlag and alleges Tara was saying thanks for a present she actually hates. Tara laughs about her daughter, admits it wasn’t funny, and denies knowing Leo. Vanessa gets her to admit she knew Leo went to her school because she protested against his admission to the university. However, she claims she only questioned whether there was a link between the donation and Leo being accepted. She denies protesting it. She confesses there was an investigation that found no evidence of wrongdoing. Leo was there on merit. Tara is adamant she didn’t know Leo. Vanessa finds that strange since he seems to know her. She reveals they found Leo’s laptop and her name appears regularly in Leo’s lecture notes although she says she has no control over who sits in on her lectures. She also denies there is a connection. As for her paying homage to Cooper Newman, she says it is old news and she has more important things to worry about.

Monique finds a place to hide the bag containing Natalie’s cellphone and money. Vanessa asks Natalie about Blue Robin Holdings. Although she claims to know nothing about it, Vanessa says Blue Robin Holdings bank details were saved on her personal laptop. They make regular deposits to an account registered at a public building in Vauxhall. Scott takes notes while Natalie insists she knows nothing about it. He gets a call from Owen Neilssen (Ross McCall) who wants an update, but Scott doesn’t have anything to add. He reminds Owen there are issues over jurisdiction so he can’t question the suspects. Owen stresses the fact that they don’t have much time since Katherine won’t keep quiet about this much longer. He also reveals that the Internet just named Leo Newman as the kid in the suitcase. The fact they have nothing will soon become global news. Owen confirms they’re working on extradition although Scott admits it is had to tell if these are the right people.

Scott is urged to get in there and find out. Nicola encourages Sean to tie her up before they have sex. Once he ties her hands and prevents her from leaving, he steps out of the room and shuts the door behind him. Around 2:25 AM, Scott tells Vanessa that he wants to attend the interviews. They discuss what they know with Reuben Carson (Martin Savage) who wonders if they have enough to hold the suspects. While Vanessa says no, Scott isn’t sure about that. He believes they just need more time to push them harder, but Vanessa doesn’t need his advice. They suspect Sean is the link between the gang in the masks and whoever has Leo. Carson wants to know that they’re close to getting Tilson. Scott asks if he can sit in on the interrogations. He is told to sit in but leave the questions to Vanessa. They return to the interview room and start with Natalie. Once she is told about Scott, she is asked why she picked the Par Madison Hotel. Natalie admits she is still renting because nobody under 40 can afford to buy in London.

They ask about her staying in a luxury motel yet borrowing money from loan sharks. Natalie says they must know it wasn’t her who borrowed the money since they know about him. Once she is asked how she got the cash to pay him, Nat says she put the money aside for the trip for ages. Vanessa argues that is a lot of money for one day. Then, she is asked where she changed the money although she says she can’t remember. Vanessa wonders if she has a receipt since someone in her job would keep scrupulous records. Natalie boldly responds by saying she’d hope someone in Vanessa’s line of work would only arrest criminals. Aadesh is told he could barely go to Birmingham so he didn’t have money to travel to America. Vanessa wants to know why he’d stay in such an expensive motel. Aadesh says no comment before asking them not to make that ticking noise. They mention how he lied on his CV about his academic achievements, charity work involvement, and employment history.

He gets mad when Scott makes the ticking noise before he is called a liar. He is shown a video of Sean Tilson and told Interpol put out a red notice for his arrest two years ago because he is a dangerous individual. Sean checked into the Park Madison Hotel last money using a pseudonym. Next, we see CCTV video of Sean and Aadesh near one another in the motel. They go into the men’s room together, but Aadesh still says he didn’t see him. She argues that saying nothing is making him look guilty so he denies seeing Sean and talking to him. He promises he isn’t lying although Scott says that is likely bull crap. Scott alleges he spent the whole day casing the place and he was debriefed in the bathroom. Aadesh asks what happened with Scott not asking questions. Scott argues it was an accusation and not a question. Aadesh asks what Cooper Newman said about the meeting because he wonders how they thought it went. As Sean drives the boat, Nicola screams that nobody does this to her.

She doesn’t care if he finds out about them and divorces her since it’ll be worth it. Once Aadesh is asked what he did after the meeting, he claims he went to his room and got room service. Scott wonders why he’d visit such a great city and stay in his motel. Aadesh says he lives with several adults so nothing beats sleep. Hotel records show that he ordered an on-demand movie at 1:43 AM. Scott suggests he started a movie to give himself an alibi when he slipped out of the room. They argue about the Miami Spice movie with Scott claiming Aadesh is so ugly he’d have to watch porn. After Vanessa calms things down, Aadesh begins saying he is not a liar. He confesses he pretended to be more successful than he is because he was meeting the world’s top strategic communications agency and wanted to be taken seriously. Scott mentions his criminal record. Then, Scott asks Natalie about the bag she left in a locker at the spa and picked up at reception when they reminded her about it at checkout.

She denies leaving a bag of cash for someone to pick up later. He explains an operation like this requires untraceable cash and he thinks Natalie could get that for them. She says he is full of crap while Aadesh says he was a kid and it was only a caution. We learn he hacked the main examining board for England and Wales and gave two upcoming A-level exam papers to all his mates. He insists he came clean then and is coming clean now. Vanessa explains someone was able to disable and override the CCTV on the 15th floor at Park Madison that night and they believe it was him. He is adamant it wasn’t him. He goes on to say he wants to be a dad with a family and business of his own. Scott starts making the annoying ticking noise again. Sean drives the boat to Northern Ireland. He leaves Nicola in the boat and drives to land. Then, he uses his cellphone to blow up a bomb on the boat with Nicola. Tara is told they spoke to Steve and he never remembers her getting up to walk during a sleepless night.

She says he is lying because they’re going through a divorce and he’d do anything to hurt her. Scott finds it odd that Steve somehow got custody when that normally doesn’t happen in Maryland. Tara claims Steve was jealous of her intelligence because many men aren’t comfortable with women who know what they think. Vanessa says Steve mentioned long hours of binge drinking, texting other men, and erratic behavior in the divorce proceedings. She suspects Steve would use Daisy to hurt her. Daisy gets a message about her mother’s arrest and says there is a video of it. Tara would never neglect her daughter and everything she does is for her. Daisy watches the video of her mother being led out of the university by agents. Scott tells her that things change. He mentions making one mistake, but Tara quickly interrupts to sternly tell him not to refer to her child as a mistake. She hasn’t been seeing anyone serious since her marriage broke down but uses an app to find dates. Vanessa asks if she used the app while staying at the motel.

She says she might’ve checked it although she didn’t use it. Scott speculates that she was using the app to communicate because it has end-to-end encryption. Tara claims she has no idea and is all about sex. Meanwhile, a man pulls into a gas station in Hightown, Merseyside. While he gets gas, someone watches him from the wooded area nearby and the attendant watches the kidnapping video on his phone. When he opens his trunk, Sean approaches him and immediately attacks him. He slams the trunk on his head several times, chokes him to death, throws him in the back, and drives away. Next, Vanessa tells Natalie she will be leaving in 30 minutes. The others learn as well as they’re told anything taken in the search will stay with them. Moments later, Vanessa meets with Scott and confirms she is going to let them go. As the suspects leave, they walk past one another but say nothing. Vanessa says they’re not free because they’ll be monitored. When they trip up, Vanessa will be watching. Natalie is watched while riding in a taxi. Aadesh rides on a bus. As for Tara, she stops at an ATM and gets money.

As they watch, Scott makes the annoying ticking noise so Vanessa tells him to stop doing that. At Limehouse in London, Sean drives to the top of a parking garage with a bag that looks like a purse. In Washington DC, lawmakers prepare for confirmation hearings on the president’s nominations for several ambassadorial positions. They’ve postponed the hearing on the UK placement of Katherine Newman for the time being. When a California lawmaker begins speaking on a live stream, the stream glitches and Katherine’s face is shown. The video encourages Katherine to tell the truth or her son will die with the whole world watching. Leo is shown tied to a chair before a weird symbol that looks like a picket fence appears on the television.

 

Suspicion Review

I was hoping Suspicion would get better as it went on but felt the first episode was more entertaining than the second. For a show like this, I would expect a little more action or at least a faster-paced story, but it is unfolding at a snail’s pace, so it is starting to feel like a chore just to get through the episode. Some of the stuff is just over-the-top making the story unbelievable and the characters really cheesy.

In particular, the Sean Tilson and Scott Anderson characters are just badly written and sometimes obnoxious. I’ll admit I find it surprising that this has eight episodes in a season, but that could be one of its biggest problems. It should’ve been slimmed down to ensure they focus primarily on the story and deliver twists at a quicker pace. At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if many people don’t reach the end.

There is still time for this to right the ship and become an interesting, suspenseful drama. I sincerely hope it does. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Suspicion can be found on Reel Mockery here. Support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.