Black Spots In The Garage – As the third episode of Sweetpea begins, Rhiannon Lewis (Ella Purnell) returns to the crime scene. She gets spooked when a cat jumps down and begins eating the victim. After the intro, Rhiannon remembers Julia bullying her when they were younger. She says Julia made her want to be dead. In the present, Rhiannon sees Julia (Nicole Lecky) celebrating with her colleagues. She keeps an eye on Julia as she goes home to her partner. Later, Rhiannon watches a movie and gets the idea to store a body in her deep freeze. She goes to Tommy’s Transformations to get supplies. Craig (Jon Pointing) finds Rhiannon there and speaks to her. He apologizes for being a knob recently. Rhiannon admits she hasn’t read the agreement yet. Craig insists he wants to honor Tommy.

They discuss the possibility of going out together. Rhiannon tells him she’ll text him before leaving. She goes to the store to pick up supplies. When Rhiannon asks for a bag, the clerk throws one at her. Rhiannon tells Donna that she’s going to kill her school bully so he needs gloves. Rhiannon puts the woman’s phone in her drink before leaving. Later, Rhiannon calls Julia to say she did a big cleanout. She asks if Julia is free this evening after work. Julia says she can come around tomorrow. Rhiannon tells her that’s perfect. Then, she texts Craig to say she can meet tonight. Rhiannon goes to work where Norman tells her she’s a bit late and calls her sweetpea. Rhiannon checks the Carnsham Gazette and finds the article about Ryan terrorizing his colleague. Rhiannon asks to speak to Jeff in private. She complains that her name is hidden in the newspaper article.

They argue about it briefly. Once Rhiannon is alone, she decides to put milk of magnesia in Jeff’s drink. AJ thanks Rhiannon for the pastries. He asks her to try them to prove she didn’t poison them. Ryan’s mom barges into the office to complain about the story they wrote. Rhiannon argues that Ryan was a bully and he deserved what he got. Ryan’s mom gets upset and leaves. Before long, Rhiannon finds out that Jeff is having problems in the men’s restroom. Norman sends him home and tells him to focus on getting better. Later, AJ finds that Rhiannon has put on makeup. She tells him she’s going out for a work thing for her dad’s business. Rhiannon meets Craig who asks if she brought the agreement. He wanted to talk her through it. Rhiannon didn’t because she’s been so distracted. Craig explains they need to take advantage of the rich people moving out of London. He also talks about doing videos.

Rhiannon tries to change the subject. They leave and Craig jokes that they didn’t pay for dinner. They end up kissing and having sex. In the morning, Rhiannon receives a call from DC Marina Farrow with the North Berkshire Police. Marina (Leah Harvey) says they’re asking people to come in and help with their inquiry into the incident on Meadowlane Lock on the 9th. Rhiannon goes into the station to speak to Marina and Rory (Nitin Ganatra). She tells them that she didn’t see anything that might help. Rhiannon explains her dad and dog died so she was out. She tells them about her night out. Rhiannon claims she was out with Pidge, Anni, Lucille, and Julia. She says there was a group of lads and they were always in the way on the dance floor. Marina speaks to Rhiannon alone about singing karaoke the other night. Rhiannon asks if her boss never really sees her like that.

Marina admits she does. Rhiannon has the same problem. As Rhiannon leaves, she calls Julia to say she can’t do it tonight. At the office, Jeff says there is another body. The victim was killed using the same weapon. On the bus, Rhiannon contacts Craig about hanging out. He says he’s working late. Rhiannon goes to the office only to find Craig with Julia. Julia reveals she’s putting in an offer because she might flip it. She asks Rhiannon not to freak out. Rhiannon gets upset and leaves. She ends up slashing Julia’s tire. Then, she sits and waits for Julia to leave. Craig ends up leaving before Julia realizes that her tire is flat. Julia eventually agrees to accept a ride from Rhiannon. They talk about music on the way back. Rhiannon takes her to her house so she can show her black spots in the garage. Rhiannon tells her she wasn’t home last night because she was having sex with Craig.

Rhiannon confesses to killing those two men. Julia notices she has a knife. Rhiannon says those men were bullies just like Julia. She complains she’s ruining her life once again. When Julia tries to run, they get into a fight. Julia slips on something in the kitchen and gets knocked out by Rhiannon seconds later.

 

Sweetpea Review

The third episode of Sweetpea was okay, but there isn’t enough here to make it special. There really isn’t a single character worth cheering for at this point. This obviously isn’t a series that should be taken seriously because there are too many plot holes and such. Furthermore, Sweetpea is stuck in the middle of two genres.

In one way, it wants to be a dark comedy. In another way, it wants to be a serious thriller. In actuality, it doesn’t do any of those things well. The story is just too shallow for this to have any significance and it easily could have. Not to mention, Rhiannon probably would’ve been locked up by now.

The reasoning behind her murderous spree wasn’t explored enough leading to a fairly mundane killing spree. Who are we supposed to be cheering for her? If we’re supposed to be sympathetic toward Rhiannon, the show should’ve built her that way. It needed more time to really delve into the abuse and whatever else she had going on.

After all, the Rhiannon in the book is much different and her issues are fleshed out much more. As for the television show, it really feels like they just want us to cheer because a young woman is killing men with awful pop songs scattered throughout. The series is watchable, but it’s not nearly as thought-provoking as it could’ve been.

This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Sweetpea can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss Sweetpea with others here.