As the second episode of The Catch begins, Ed (Jason Watkins) has a dream about a fellow member of the Navy before waking up. He meets with Bob (Ian Pirie) who heard about what happened at the restaurant. When Bob mentions his red hands, Ed shows him the graffiti. He also gives him the photo that was left on the boat last night. Bob questions why someone would leave a picture of Ed in the navy. At home, Phyllis (Brenda Fricker) throws her porridge to the floor and says she wanted cornflakes. Claire (Cathy Belton) deals with Phyllis who thinks they’re staying at an awful hotel.

Abbie (Poppy Gilbert) enters and asks if her dad has returned yet. Once she says she doesn’t know where Ryan is, Phyllis mentions his dad’s favorite place. As Abbie rushes out to look for him there, Claire tells Phyllis she is brilliant. As Ed cleans up the graffiti, he tells Bob about the drunken crazy stuff they got up to. Bob asks if he thinks one of them did it. Ed can’t imagine it was a Pendrick. When Bob says he can’t imagine he’d kill anyone, there is a flashback of young men in the navy. Bob reminds him that they put salt water in the engine so he doubts it is linked to Ed’s time in the navy.

Bob knows he blames himself for what happened to Josh so he thinks someone is just pushing his buttons. He reveals he saw George walking to the boat with a bucket in his hand. Abbie catches up with Ryan (Aneurin Barnard) and tells him he can’t just disappear like her dad does. He knows he should’ve told her. After he apologizes, Abbie says she should’ve trusted him. Ryan says her dad is never going to stop him from loving her. She blames the Josh situation so Ryan suspects Ed has PTSD. Ed confronts George (Morgan Palmeria) to ask him about the security camera footage. George denies it before he learns about Ryan picking up the woman he served with in Afghanistan.

George doesn’t think Ryan even went to university. Claire approaches Bob who tells her that she just missed Ed. It looks like he was there all night. Claire worries that he is going to lose Abbie. Bob offers her tea, but Claire has to go because her mom is in the car. Ed goes home and looks up Craig Pasarrello on a tablet before someone enters the house and interrupts him. He quickly hides everything. Claire and Phyllis come in to complain about what happened. Once Phyllis is escorted out, Claire warns him that trying to control their daughter could be damaging. Ed promises that he has stopped and he’ll apologize when they arrive.

When he is alone, Ed calls Craig to leave a message saying he thinks they knew each other back in the day. Ed receives a letter from the Marine Management Organisation. He learns that he has to pay an expensive fine for water violations. He suspects someone must’ve been spying on him. Ryan and Abbie return moments later. Ed apologizes and admits he thinks he got it wrong. Ryan believes they both got each other wrong. He promises he would never do anything to hurt Abbie. In private, Ed tells Abbie that George told him that stuff. She wonders why he’d believe George. He asks if she wants the drawings and insists he is just trying to help if she’ll let him.

She learns what George said about Ryan not going to university although Ed says it doesn’t matter. Once she finds out about the fine, she asks Ed what he is going to do. He admits he doesn’t know, but he won’t let Ryan help. Abbie tells him they’ll get through this. Bob and Ed talk about the violation. Ed says they must’ve worked out that they were bringing in extra fish to sell to the restaurants. Bob mentions that Abbie was working on the boat at that time so she could’ve said something to George. Craig calls Ed and learns about the photo of the four of them left on the boat. Craig says his wife called him and now Ed even though they said no contact.

Ed tells him about someone painting the word “killer” on the deck of his boat. Craig (Cameron Jack) reminds him that they said no contact before hanging up. Back at home, Abbie finds Josh’s knife while sorting through the stuff she is going to take with her. They discuss how Josh begged for it for weeks. Abbie offers to take out a loan if he needs money to pay the fine, but Ed says they’re going to fight it. She insists she didn’t say anything to George about them going over the quota. Ed suspects he might’ve turned them in since he blames Ed for Abbie dumping him. Later, Ed contacts Sue to talk to her about Arthur who has gone missing.

After the call, he tells Bob that he was talking to the wife of one of his mates in the navy. He received a photo as well. When Arthur went to see another member who was dying with cancer, he never came home. He has been missing for three weeks. Bob argues they need to find out who is doing it quickly because it’ll do his head in. Abbie approaches George and mentions that her dad saw him kissing another girl. George claims Ed just said that so she’d break up with him. He explains he is only looking out for her, but Abbie doesn’t want him doing that. Pauline Davies meets Ed who wants her to locate a man he served with.

He learns that it’ll cost 50 pounds an hour and there is a 500-pound down payment. He leaves without agreeing to work with her because it is so expensive. When he walks back to his vehicle, he finds the navy picture waiting for him. Bob manages to get the boat back up and running. Ed gets a call confirming that Daz died last night. Abbie shows Katz (Jade Jordan) the items she will recycle. Once she finds some of Abbie’s old stuff, Katz reminds her it isn’t too late to change her mind about Australia. George tells Ed that he put a tracker on Ryan’s car. Ed tells him to stop. George argues he already lost one kid because he couldn’t be bothered.

Ed punches him in the face before warning him to stay away from him and his daughter. Abbie packs her stuff and gets ready to leave. Claire thanks Ed who says that is what dads are for. While packing in boxes, Ed looks at the stuff in Ryan’s office. While he is alone, he snaps a picture of Ryan’s graduation certificate. He sends it to George and tells him he was wrong again. He finds a medal as well. Once Ryan comes in with a box, Ed asks him about the certificate. Ed leaves. Ryan notices that Ed has been looking through his drawer. Outside, Ed asks Abbie about sending time together on the boat. She can’t because she is so busy, but she says he can ask Ryan.

When Ryan joins them, Abbie asks him for her father. They agree to go out together tomorrow. George sends Ed a certificate he just made to show him it could be faked. Abbie finds a stuffed kangaroo from Katz with a note telling her it isn’t too late. Ryan approaches her to say something is missing. When Ed gets back, Claire tells him Abbie phoned because Ryan’s medal seems to be missing. Ed denies taking it, but Claire doesn’t believe him. She throws a bottle of wine against the wall. Claire warns him that he is risking everything including her and Abbie. When she walks out of the room, Ed removes the medal from his pocket. Ed has a nightmare so he gets up and retrieves the picture he hid earlier.

On the back of the picture, it says “guilty”. Ed practices Claire’s signature. The next day, he meets with Pauline and gives her what she needs to investigate. He just knows that someone is trying to ruin his business, him, and his family. Ed needs to know who it is. Later, Ryan arrives to join Ed on the boat. Abbie thanks him for doing this and asks if he has seen the medal. Ed denies knowing where the medal is. Ryan admits he was intimidated by Ed because of the way Abbie was talking about him. Then, they begin talking about the military. Ryan says he liked being part of something. Ed left because Claire wanted to start a family.

As for Ryan, he got shot so he didn’t have much of a choice. Ed mentions the medal he got. Ryan says one of the first things Abbie pulled out at the house was a photo of Josh. Ed says he was 12 and went out to sea even though it was too rough. Ed thought he was in his room. If he had checked, he might still be alive today. George calls to tell Ed there were five Ryan Wilsons who graduated from the university. There was no Major Ryan Wilson serving in Afghanistan at the time Ryan says he was there. Ryan ends up slicing the palm of his hand while gutting fish. George tells Ed it is a complete lie. Ed checks on Ryan and agrees to head back.

They tell Abbie what happened. Ed says he patched him up and he shouldn’t need any stitches. Ryan asks Ed if he’d mind driving his car back for him. Ed tells Bob what happened before walking up to the car. He calls Claire to tell him what happened. Ed promises he’ll be there for the appointment. George approaches him to see if he asked Ryan. He says he can find out who Ryan was before he changed his name, but he’ll need a passport or driver’s license. Ryan tells Abbie that it was just a stupid accident. He laughs at the idea that they got into a fight. When Ryan drops off the vehicle, he decides to go into the house.

Claire calls him and complains about him being late. Craig watches her from his vehicle. Ed wipes his fingerprints off the medal and puts it back in its box. Ryan catches him and admits he knew it was him.

 

The Catch Review

The second episode of The Catch upped the intensity while pushing Ed even closer to the edge. The performances remain consistent with Jason Watkins and Aneurin Barnard countering one another pretty well. Even though The Catch is only four episodes, there is a lot going on and tons of possibilities for the eventual outcome.

Those who read the book will obviously already know the outcome so that may take away from the experience a bit. Nevertheless, the story is interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention through the episode. In some regards, there might be a little too much going on and that can create some believability issues.

Despite having a lot going on and countless possibilities, the story is pretty easy to follow and digest. The similarities between this and The Holiday which was also based on a TM Logan are pretty clear. Although The Catch has some issues, the story is strong enough to justify finishing the season. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Catch can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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