Everybody Loves Julia – As the fourth episode of Sweetpea begins, Marina (Leah Harvey) gets a call from the DI in the middle of the night and adds her to the list of people she’d like to kill. She also includes people who kill and think they can get away with it. After the intro, Julia (Nicole Lecky) complains about Rhiannon (Ella Purnell) kidnapping her. Rhiannon reminds her that she bullied her until she started pulling her hair out. She wore a wig until she was 23. Julia yells that she doesn’t care about her crappy life. Rhiannon tells her she’s done. She can’t kill Julia who says this is always like her. Julia says she’s a loser who blames everyone else for her bad life. As Rhiannon walks away, she pulls more hair out of her head. She goes to the shop to speak to Craig (Jon Pointing). She takes Craig into the office and complains about him flirting with Julia last night.

Rhiannon takes control and has sex with Craig. She tells him that they’ll see each other when she says. Rhiannon grabs a USB drive on her way out. She tries to get in touch with Seren on the bus. Rhiannon goes to the office to tell Norman (Jeremy Swift) she has a scoop for him. She won’t tell him unless he makes her a junior reporter like AJ. The conversation continues when Jeff (Dustin Demri-Burns) joins them. Norman agrees to put her on a probationary trial period. Jeff claims it’s box-ticking and the reason why white men are so depressed. Rhiannon tells them about a missing woman who may be the third victim. Jeff doesn’t believe her, but Norman wants her to write the story. AJ (Calam Lynch) talks to an excited Rhiannon about it moments later. He says the second victim was a landlord of two-bed flats with like 18 people living in them. He evicted a single mom with a newborn so he could exploit a load of immigrants.

Marina talks to her boss and says she thinks this is a dead end. She’d like to join the others at the second crime scene. Marina is told to go through the CCTV. Rhiannon looks at Lucille Kinder’s social media page. She messages her about Julia before calling her. They talk about Julia missing and the fact that Rhiannon works at The Gazette. She offers to write a piece about Julia’s disappearance. Rhiannon meets Lucille and Julia’s other friends. They tell her why they’re worried about Julia. Marcus (Dino Kelly) also said Julia didn’t come home last night. They insist everyone loves Julia. Rhiannon says people like all the details. The worse the better. Marina tells Rory (Nitin Ganatra) she’s following up on Rhiannon’s statement. She finds some rowdy men on the video. Marina continues watching and sees Rhiannon’s encounter with Julia before she storms into the bathroom. Rhiannon visits Marcus to speak to him about Julia.

Marcus admits he feels useless before telling Rhiannon what he did. Marcus says everything has been good between them. Rhiannon asks him about reporting it to the police. Marcus did it this morning. He was hoping she’d walk through the door last night. Police said they’d been an eye out. Marcus helps her find a photo for the article. Rhiannon steals a bottle of wine and lingerie. She also intentionally spills a drink on a chair. Marina begins researching Julia based on Rhiannon’s statement. Rhiannon speaks to Phil about her story. He publishes her article. Saren calls Rhiannon to say Julia offered a great price and she had to make a decision. A surveyor is coming around the house today. Rhiannon rushes home where she finds the surveyor, Neil (Loris Scarpa), waiting to go inside. Rhiannon gets rid of him and hears Julia making noises inside. She tells Julia she’s going out to celebrate the fact her life isn’t crap any more.

Rhiannon warns Julia not to underestimate her. She used to think about Julia dying all the time. Julia insists she’s going to get caught. Rhiannon gags her again since he’s going out for the night. She meets AJ at the pub. They work on the quiz together. Craig catches them together. He is introduced to AJ. Craig asks AJ if he can speak to Rhiannon for a few minutes about business. Craig mentions that they keep having sex. AJ decides to excuse himself. Rhiannon follows AJ out and finds Marcus. He asks if she’s come back yet. Marcus suggests she’ll come back because she always does. He admits he lied when he said she had never done this before. Rhiannon takes him back to his place. He begins complaining about Julia before falling asleep. Rhiannon takes his phone. Then, she returns to Julia and tells her she’s onto her. Rhiannon knows she doesn’t have a perfect life after all.

She tells Julia that she’s awful and Marcus knows it. Rhiannon reads Marcus’s messages to her. He threatens to kill him because it’ll be Julia’s fault. He also accuses her of being abusive. Julia insists she didn’t do anything. Rhiannon argues that she’s cancer. Julia claims Marcus is a monster and she doesn’t know how to get out. Marina gets a call from Diana St. John. They talk about the article in The Gazette about the missing woman. Marina is shocked to learn it’s Julia. She believes she might have something since Rhiannon mentioned Julia’s name.

 

Sweetpea Review

The fourth episode of Sweetpea was pretty much more of the same with some odd dialogue choices throughout. The dialogue is definitely jarring to the point that it’ll take viewers right out of the scene. The series has only hinted at the abuse Rhiannon suffered at the hands of Julia, but the sudden empathy she has for her doesn’t seem authentic.

I really question whether a psycho would’ve changed her mind so quickly. There’s also a good chance that Marina’s investigation won’t really go anywhere before the series concludes. The series is leaning hard into the love triangle which isn’t all that interesting either.

Overall, Sweetpea remains watchable although it really lacks any emotional impact and substance. It’s also not as fun as it could be considering the kills are so few. This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10 because of the stupid dialogue and the sudden change of heart. 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. See what others are saying here.