A Crime Of Passion – As the finale of The Chelsea Detective begins, Rena Friedman (Ella Bruccoleri) has dinner with Jack Felton (Oli Higginson) and talks about his food business. Rena tries to figure out what he is hiding. Jack insists he wants her to get to know him. Kai Whishaw (Laurence Ubong Williams) interrupts. Neither one of them is happy to see him. Mel tells him to get out or she is going to call the police. Kai tells Jack to remember he warned him before leaving. Jack claims he has no idea what that was about. As they walk that night, Jack ignores a call from Sophie. He invites Rena to come back to his place.

Max Arnold (Adrian Scarborough) rides his bike on the same night. Sadie Friedman (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) finds Rena sleeping the next day so she wakes her. She asks what would’ve happened if Nicholas had dropped by. Rena tells her to stop worrying because he isn’t going to change his mind. Sadie warns her to be careful with the men on these apps because they’re only interested in one thing although Rena says Jack isn’t like that. Sadie doesn’t want her to go out again, but Rena promises to be on her A game tomorrow. Later, Rena doesn’t hear from Jack so she calls and arranges to meet him at the restaurant.

She calls again and still can’t get in touch with him. Rena goes to Jack’s house and bangs on the window hoping to get his attention. In the morning, Max meets DS Layla Walsh (Vanessa Emme) outside the latest crime scene. Once they go inside, Ashley Wilton (Sophie Stone) tells them that Jack had multiple stab wounds to the chest. He hasn’t been dead for 24 hours. He was killed with a small knife. They find evidence that Jack was expecting someone. Max suggests the killer let their emotions get the better of them. Connor Pollock (Peter Bankole) catches up with Jess Lombard (Lucy Phelps) and says Jack’s cleaner found the body around 8 AM. She has keys to the house but was traveling back from Spain with her family yesterday.

Jess spoke to a neighbor who heard a woman trying to get inside the house last night. Frances Felton (Catherine Russell) tells Max that she saw Jack around 7:30 AM yesterday morning. He seemed happy because his business is doing really well. When Layla asks about Jack’s routine, Caleb Felton (Patrick Walshe McBride) thinks that stuff would’ve been on his laptop. Max reveals Jack’s phones and house keys haven’t shown up, but there were no signs of forced entry. Caleb admits Jack is a bit of a player so his relationships never lasted long. Sadie tells Rena that today has to go smoothly no matter how hard it is.

Frances tells Max that she worked from home in the morning and had a meeting in the afternoon. She was out from two to four. Pete McLoud (Rhashan Stone) was at number 24 for most of the day. As for Caleb, he was with one of his piano students. Then, he stayed in all evening working on a composition. Pete thinks it’d be a good idea to let the police notify Jack’s dad since she has so much on her plate. Caleb looks at photos from Jack’s house to see if anything might’ve been stolen. Frances asks about his watch before mentioning it has an inscription on the back. At the station, Max and the others discuss that watch. Layla says she got in touch with Jack’s dad who moved to New York months ago.

Connor says he contacted the customer contacts on Jack’s computer and no one had heard from Jack since Thursday evening. Layla wants to check out the wholesale markets to see if anyone saw Jack. Connor mentions that there were many missed calls from Rena so they suggest she might’ve been the one trying to get into Jack’s house. Nicholas Levine (Adrian Schiller) tells Sadie and Rena that he is glad to help because this place means so much to the community. Max and Layla enter so they can speak to Rena. The visit causes Nicholas to leave in a hurry. Rena tells the detectives show she met Jack and says she last saw him Thursday night. She tells them about Kai coming over to their table. Rena explains why there were so many missed calls from her.

Rena claims she came straight home when Jack didn’t show up at the restaurant. Max doesn’t believe that since a lady was spotted outside Jack’s address. Layla asks her to come in to give a written statement. Once they leave, Max gets a message from Astrid asking to meet. Max and Layla go to the bar where Mel confirms Rena and Jack were there on Thursday night. She also tells them about Kai who didn’t want to pay his tab. Max catches up with Astrid (Anamaria Marinca) and apologizes for being late. She thought he should know that she has been seeing someone. Max suspects she has been dating the photographer. They argue with Astrid claiming Max always has to have the last word.

Frances approaches Caleb to see if he can think of anything that might’ve been upsetting Jack recently. Caleb reminds her that no one mentioned the argument on Friday morning to the police. Frances doesn’t think it was relevant. In the morning, Layla tells Max he isn’t a morning person. He says he isn’t this morning while contemplating apologizing to Astrid via text. They split up to look for people who might’ve seen Jack. Connor and Jess confront Kai to talk to him about the incident at the bar. He insists his parents cut him off and that’s why he couldn’t pay his bar tab, but denies borrowing money from Jack. Max and Layla speak to Frank Townsend (Michael Moreland) who sold Jack most of his produce.

Frank is surprised to hear that Jack is dead. He admits he gave him a good deal to keep him coming back and Jack would tell him about his eventful love life. Jack was one of his first customers so he came around about 6 last Friday. Frank says he had a bit of swagger because he got a girl to go home with him the night before. Kai gets a message from an unknown number but doesn’t answer. Max and Layla see Jack’s van so they chase it. Eventually, they find out that Caleb has been using the van even though he claimed he wasn’t involved in Jack’s business. Caleb says it feels like a shame to shut down the business when Jack worked so hard to build it.

Max and Layla try to get Caleb to tell them more about Jack, but he says he can’t think of anything. At the morgue, Ashley tells Max and Layla that the best estimate for the time of death is between 2 and 9 PM. At the station, Connor says Jack checked into a motel with a woman with long dark hair so it might be a new lead. The week before Jack was killed, he stayed at a hotel in Brighton with a married woman. They search Sophie Carter’s trash and find evidence that Jack had been at her place. Sophie (Shireen Farkhoy) says everyone loved Jack so she felt lucky to have been his friend. They had a very brief thing at uni although she isn’t sure that is relevant.

When asked about being at the same hotel, Sophie says they were there for a friend’s birthday. She claims she was home with her husband on Friday night so she wasn’t outside of Jack’s house. Laurence Carter (Philip Bulcock) enters so the detectives can ask him. He walks them through his movements and says Jack was Sophie’s friend. Laurence was supposed to be on a work trip so he wasn’t able to go to Brighton with Sophie and Jack. France speaks to Michael and asks him not to say anything to Caleb. At the station, Max and the others question whether Laurence believed the story about Sophie’s trip. Laurence was given a speeding ticket at 3 PM on the day of the murder.

He was pulled over not far from Jack’s road. Laurence is brought in and questioned about the speeding ticket. He admits he thought Sophie might be at Jack’s place. Laurence has her Find My Phone details so he has been checking to see where she is. Sophie didn’t even tell him she was going away. He only found out because his flight was canceled. Laurence isn’t proud of how he behaved, but he is adamant he didn’t go to Jack’s house. Outside the interview room, Layla admits there is no evidence linking Laurence to Jack’s house. As for Rena, she gave samples and left before she could give a written statement. Max suspects she is hiding something.

They found a picture of Rena with a man using the username Louismontel99 on social media. He passed away as well. Max and Layla confront Sadie to see if she knows where her sister, Rena, is. Sadie says she is out doing home deliveries. She can’t tell them anything about Louis. Max finds that odd since Louis jumped off a bridge. They spoke to his brother who said Rena took the break up very badly. Max and Layla check in with Ashley who says the food looked untouched and only Jack’s prints were found. She matched prints found in the house with Rena’s. That could support Rena’s story that she was only there on Thursday night. Fingerprints on the window show that Rena opened it from the street.

Jess tells Connor that there is nothing in the reports indicating Louis’s death wasn’t a suicide. Connor calls Max to say they found the last person Louis spoke to before he jumped off the bridge. When Sadie is brought in, she still denies knowing Louis. Connor tells her that a call between her and Louis lasted five minutes. Sadie says Louis tossed Rena to the side so he needed to know he couldn’t just go around being selfish like that. She doubts Louis cared what she thought though. Rena is questioned next. She admits she was at Jack’s place because she wanted to make sure he was okay. When she heard people walking down the street, she thought she might look crazy so she ran.

Rena tells them what she saw in the house. She explains she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to ruin the deal with Nicholas. Sadie denies confronting Jack when he tossed her sister aside. Rena tells Max how her sister looked out for her, but she doubts Sadie would’ve confronted Jack. Later, Nicholas changes his mind about going into business with them. Once they go inside, Sadie argues with Rena and reminds her she told her not to get involved with Jack. Rena alleges she is clinging onto her because there is nothing else going on in her life. At the station, Connor says he was surprised how big some of the transactions in Jack’s account were.

Jess wonders if the sequences on the company’s website were some type of code. They could’ve been advertising a different product than what was listed on the site. Max and Layla check Jack’s house to see if Rena could be telling the truth. While they’re there, they end up arresting Kai who tries to flee from the house. Max finds what appears to be drugs in his bag. Max says the gym bag was not located during the initial search. He accuses Kai of helping to run Jack’s operation.

Layla points out that someone reported seeing him at a corner store on Jack’s road at 1 PM on the day he was murdered. Kai claims Jack was only dealing cannabis when he met Frank, a coke dealer. He explains how they concealed drugs in fruit and vegetable shipments. Max identifies the dealer as Frank Townsend (Michael Moreland). Kai says Frank was onto to Jack, so he offered to clear his debt in exchange for Jack’s stash. He tells them that Frank gave him cash for a gram of coke.

It took a bit of convincing before Jack agreed to let him in but he found out where he hid his coke. He decided to return when Jack wasn’t there. Layla reminds him of Jack being murdered a few hours later. Frank denies any connection to Jack’s business. Jess accuses him of trying to help steal Jack’s drugs from his house. Confiscating his watch, she sees a personal inscription by Frances to Jack.

Layla claims Frank told detectives that Kai stole Jack’s watch to clear his debt. Kai suggests Frank went to Jack’s after he left. He says with Jack out of the way, 100% of the profit goes to Frank. Layla points out that Frank has an alibi, but he doesn’t. Kai confesses to stealing Jack’s watch but denies killing him.

Max and Olivia Arnold (Frances Barber) discuss her overbooking mishap. Layla informs Frances of money and drugs being found in Jack’s house. Max asks Caleb if there is anything suspicious about his deliveries. Caleb claims to have recently spoken with a customer about her order but drugs weren’t mentioned. Layla suggests Jack wanted customers to try to legitimize his business.

Peter accuses Frances of being oblivious to Jack’s operation. Layla says estate agent, Easton, told them that Frances wanted to sell her house. Caleb blames his father for wanting them out of the house. Frances assures them that it is just about getting a fresh start. She says when a woman dropped Jack off, she handed him a gym bag but he told her to keep it. She identifies the woman as Sophie.

Max and Layla search Sophie’s house to find a gym bag. Sophie admits to selling coke for Jack. She claims their trip to Brighton was to sell coke at a warehouse party. She tells them where Jack may have stored his drugs. Frances confronts Pete and his disagreement with Jack. Pete suggests Jack was having woman problems.

At the Brighton Self Storage, the receptionist tells Pollock and Jess that Jack stops by several times a week. She claims a man stopped in on Friday at 9 AM looking for Jack. Looking at a photo, she verifies the man was Pete. She says he waited until Jack showed up when they got into a physical altercation. Elsewhere, Max apologizes to Astrid with a bottle of wine. He assures her that he wants her to be happy. She suggests he sign up for a dating app. Back at the self-storage, Pollock and Jess find drugs, a record of his drug sales, and a knife wrapped up in a bloody shirt. Ashley runs forensics testing on the knife from Jack’s storage.

At the station, Max and the others talk about the knife and the storage unit. Jess says Sophie wouldn’t have led them there if she hid the weapon there. They’ve charged her with possession anyway. Pete works at a garage where Frances gets her car repaired. They’ve only known one another for ten months so it is soon to be getting married. They learn there is no blood on Jack’s watch so it wasn’t stolen from his body after he was killed. They can still charge Kai with robbery. Layla learns that Pete’s real name is Paul McKenzie. He did three years for a violent robbery. Max and Layla visit Pete and Frances to tell them they found the murder weapon at the storage unit.

They know Pete accosted Jack at the car park on the day of his murder. Pete says he felt something was off about Jack’s business, but Jack wouldn’t be honest with him. Last Friday, he asked Jack about the wad of cash in his wallet. Jack blew up at him and told him to stay out of his life. Pete followed him to the storage unit and found out about the drugs, but he denies having anything to do with his death. When asked about changing his name, Pete says he was told to stay in the car. He didn’t know his friend was going to put that guy in the hospital. Pete admits he didn’t tell Frances because he was terrified he would lose her.

They make it clear that there was enough time for Pete to go to Jack’s house and kill him. Pete remains adamant that he didn’t do this. In an interview room, Pete explains why he didn’t tell them about his past. He tells them that Frances’s family is actually broke. They don’t own the house either. Frances lied about the reason they’re selling the house because she didn’t want Caleb to know he is the reason. Next, Connor and the others look at the finances. They suspect Jack might’ve started selling Class A drugs because the family’s finances were wiped out. Max says they’ve been lied to all along so they need to get Ashley to run some new prints.

Ashley only found a partial on the handle of the utility knife. She checked the bank notes from the sports bag. She found another partial print as well as some unknown prints. Together, the two partial prints got a match. Max and Layla visit Caleb and talk to him about the cost of the course he plans to take. If he didn’t find the money by September, he would lose his place. They ask if he convinced Jack to switch from selling weed to class A drugs. Caleb insists he had nothing to do with Jack’s business. They know that he canceled his session with Finn, but Caleb doesn’t think that proves anything. Then, they tell him about the partial prints.

Caleb says the plan was to go to lunch at Jack’s. When he got there, Jack was in a state because a customer had run off with his watch. He didn’t know how he was going to tell his mom. Jack met a girl he really liked and was tired of having to lie. Jack says he was done even though Caleb tried to talk him out of it. Caleb was still holding the knife. He insists he doesn’t understand how it happened. Max speaks to Frances outside. She blames herself for not telling him about the house, but they insist it isn’t her fault. Later, Layla tells Max it might be nice to try one of the local pubs on the way home.

Rena speaks to Sadie about the arrest. Nicholas arrives because he wants to have another look at the contract. Olivia surprises Max by visiting him. She explains why she is there. Max says dating two people at once proved to be more complicated than she thought. Max checks out a dating app. Olivia thought he might need a nudge in the right direction. Max says there is no harm in giving it a try.

 

The Chelsea Detective Review

The finale of The Chelsea Detective’s second series was on par with the three previous episodes. Truthfully, the series isn’t any better or worse than other British detective dramas. In particular, it doesn’t do much to set itself apart from Grace, Van der Valk, or Ridley. Each of these shows is pretty bland with a runtime that sucks every bit of fun out of the story.

The runtime cripples The Chelsea Detective and it doesn’t help that the time isn’t juggled more effectively. Each episode has been formulaic. First, we’re introduced to the victim briefly before they’re killed. Max and his partner reach the scene and learn about the murder. Then, they interview various suspects while Ashley provides insight into the forensic evidence. After a handful of red herrings, the suspect is finally brought to justice.

Each episode has a few minutes of personal drama sprinkled in to convince viewers everything is somehow tied together. It doesn’t help that you always know who the killer is going to be well before Max and his partner do. With an hour and a half runtime, it is harder to forgive the show’s issues and there is far more time to nitpick.

The finale wasn’t terrible, but the tedious pace and unnecessarily long runtime made it feel that way. The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. The Chelsea Detective recaps are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.