As the 5th episode of The Pact begins, Anna (Laura Fraser), Louie (Eiry Thomas), and Cat (Heledd Gwynn) head to work and run into Mandy and Gwen. After a brief argument, Mandy and Gwen leave and Louie is asked if she is positive she wants to be there. She would rather be at work than sitting at home thinking about everything that has happened. Cat admits it is going to be weird seeing Nancy (Julie Hesmondhalgh) but Anna says they should just get through the day and do it over and over until everything passes over. Cat wonders how long that’ll be before they head inside and listen to Gareth (Richard Elis) encourage everyone to keep doing their jobs to make sure Wales doesn’t run out of beer and spirits. Gwen (Gillian Elisa) takes offense with him using the word spirit so he tells her idle gossip and speculation aren’t appropriate either.

Once Gareth finishes, Mandy and Gwen apologize to Louie and Tish (Abbie Hern) gives her a big hug. Gareth tells Louie to ask if she needs anything before telling them that Nancy hasn’t swiped in. The women realize something is wrong because Nancy is never late. Anna tries calling but it only rings so this convinces Cat she is afraid to face them. Then, they decide to try calling Richard (Adrian Edmondson) but only get his voicemail message. We join Nancy in her jail cell. She complains to DC Griffiths (Ben McGregor) that they kept her waiting all night. As she follows DC Griffiths, she passes by Richard but they don’t get the chance to talk to one another. Anna drives past the couple’s house and sees the police there. Nancy’s interview begins with DS Holland (Rakie Ayola) and DC Anford (Alexandria Riley). Once the formalities are out of the way, Nancy is shown a picture of a vehicle and asked if she recognizes it.

When she says no, she is encouraged to take her time and shown more pictures. Then, she admits it might be a similar model to hers. Nancy is told that experts have examined the pictures and they’ve found the same irregularities on the passenger side and bumper of the vehicle. They also have the same spray pattern on the passenger side’s mudguard. Holland thinks it is Nancy’s vehicle and reveals Richard agrees with her. When asked to take another look, Nancy says it could be her vehicle after all. Anford reminds Nancy she previously said she took her friends home and went straight home. Then, she is asked why she went into the woods. Nancy says it is embarrassing before admitting she has a minor bladder problem and needed to use the bathroom. Since her friends would’ve been in the vehicle at the time, Holland suggests they would back up her story but Nancy says no because they were drunk.

Anna returns to the brewery and tells Gareth she had another family emergency. DS Holland asks Nancy where Jack was when her friends left the party. She remains adamant that she doesn’t remember but insists he wasn’t outside or with them. She goes on to say she last remembered seeing him inside at the bar and can’t remember what time that was. The conversation quickly turns to Nancy’s financial situation since the detectives have looked at her bank statements. Nancy insists financial issues aren’t crimes and that she never asked Jake for a raise or told him about it. She is questioned about the goods in her lockup that were there until yesterday. Holland wants to know about the brand-new items she was storing for a friend but Nancy argues they’re irrelevant. Thanks to Richard, the detectives know about the lump sum of money Nancy had and they want to know more. That question causes Nancy to shut down and ask for a solicitor.

After that, DS Holland tells Max (Jason Hughes) that he’ll have to be removed from the case since Nancy is close friends with Anna. Max argues that he can get it out of Anna if she happens to be hiding something. He is warned he’ll be putting himself in a difficult situation but he admits it is already too late for that. Meanwhile, Anna and the others realize the detectives have likely identified the vehicle and they’ll know they lied about going straight home. Anna is convinced Nancy will protect them if she can but Louie says she has too much faith in her. Cat wonders if Max can get Anna in to speak to Nancy but Anna doesn’t like that idea since he is already suspicious. When the authorities walk in, Tish listens as Anna encourages the women to be vague when questioned.

Before they’re taken to the station, Louie says she needs to get her coat and Cat tells Tish to meet her in the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, Cat promises she didn’t do anything and Tish offers to help but she needs to understand what is going on. Louie and Anna are loaded into the police car while Cat tells Tish everything that happened. Tish encourages her to use her as an alibi and say she got there right after Cat was dropped off by Nancy. She quickly goes through what they can say before Tish says the stuff in Nancy’s locker was hers. Cat doesn’t want her to take the responsibility but Tish again says it was hers. When Cat asks why she is doing this, Tish kisses her. Cat joins them outside and they’re quickly taken to the station. We see Max doing something with a roll of tape. Once they step inside, Anna asks Max what Nancy has said before he warns her she better tell him what she knows if anything.

He encourages her again but Anna tells him nothing. The women are taken inside and they quickly try to develop a strategy but Holland interrupts. Once they’re taken to separate interview rooms, Holland scolds Max for keeping them together without supervision. When Holland leaves, Max removes the cellphone he had taped to the bottom of the chair and it is still recording. He immediately goes outside to his vehicle and listens to the recording alone. The women stick to Anna’s plan and remain vague. All of them say they were drunk and don’t remember much. Nancy dropped Louie off first and Cat was second. Cat suggests it was around 12:30 and Tish might remember since she was staying with her. Then, they’re confronted with the evidence that Nancy’s car was near the woods at 12:18. Louie is the first to ask for a lawyer. She is asked if she wants to catch her nephew’s killer. She says yes before being asked why they were driving toward the woods but Louie says she can’t remember.

Cat is threatened with prison since she has a criminal record but she argues they can’t send her back without evidence. Max listens as Anna insists she told them everything she knows. Once the interviews end, Holland says they got their story straight but insists it is collusion. She tells the team to go back to square one and investigate again with the four women as their prime suspects. Then, they learn that Louie’s solicitor has arrived and she wants him to sit in on all of the interviews. Holland reminds Max that he can’t be on the case now. Later, he visits Nancy in her cell and tells her it isn’t up to him when she goes home. He knows they’re all lying and asks to know what happened for Anna’s sake. When she says she has no idea who killed Jack Evans, Max leaves the cell in a hurry and shuts the door behind him. Anna is interviewed about her relationship with Nancy Clarke.

She tells them how they met before she is asked about their recent rough patch. She pretends she doesn’t know what their argument was about but Holland doesn’t believe that. Holland wonders if the argument was about money or Jack Evans. She is warned that protecting Nancy will make her an accomplice and it is better for her to tell the truth now. Again, Anna refuses to say anything. Next, Max learns that the women are being released under investigation except for Nancy. Anna meets with the others and they discuss the possibility of Nancy cracking. Louie says she’ll have Dylan (Richard Elfyn) stay with her so they can find out what she is saying. Max tells Anna to come and he refuses to give the others a lift. Before moving the car, Max lets Anna listens to the recording before demanding to know the truth but Anna tells him she isn’t his interview subject. He doesn’t believe her when she says she doesn’t know who killed Jack.

Max warns her that they’re going to find whatever it is and nail all of them to the wall. His angry spills out as she screams at his wife for protecting a murderer. She tells him to turn off the engine before admitting to abducting Jack. She admits they took him to the woods and were going to leave him there because he had been horrible to everyone. Anna explains he was alive when they left but dead when they returned to check on him. Max listens as she admits they kept quiet and didn’t say anything about it. She insists she wanted to tell him but knew she couldn’t the longer she thought about it. Anna explains she didn’t want him to feel the guilt and fear she was feeling, but he knows and is a part of it now. Max admits he should march her inside right now but instead tells her to get out of the car.

He tells her again before screaming. Anna explains she will go to prison and Max will lose his career if she goes back in there. She says the kids will be scarred for life before asking Max what he wants to do about it. He admits he doesn’t know what they should do so Anna tells him to take her home. When they get home, Tamsin (Gabrielle Creevy) and Ryan (Aled ap Steffan) are waiting on them with Chris Skinner (Geraint Wyn Todd). They forgot that they were going to have family counseling. When Cat returns home, she finds Tish waiting for her. They hug and go inside where Cat tells her that someone else was in the woods that night. She insists someone followed them into the woods and she is worried that the detectives won’t believe their story. Cat shows Tish the scars on her stomach and insists she cannot go back to prison but Tish says she won’t let that happen. Ryan passes out drinks before the family counseling session begins. Chris says there won’t be any role-playing and he just wants to hear them talk.

First, he wants Anna to explain why she thought they needed help. She says they’ve stopped communicating but Max laughs and Tamsin claims her mother thinks it is her fault. Anna denies that but admits her daughter has always been strong-willed. She wants her daughter to know she is on her side and not the enemy while Tamsin suggests her mother never wanted her to grow up. She goes on to say that Anna wants the perfect family illusion that doesn’t exist anywhere except the movies but Anna asks why she can’t have that. When Ryan is asked about Tamsin’s relationship with his mom, he says he just wants everyone to get along. Max is asked to speak up and he begins by saying it isn’t just communication that has gone out the window. He claims it is basic trust too and waking up in the morning and realizing everything you thought about a person is wrong. He says they’ve been living a lie but Anna suggests it is sometimes better to lie to protect the ones you love.

He argues that counseling isn’t going to help anything. When he claims the problem isn’t Tamsin, Anna gets up and runs off. Eventually, Max is left alone with the counselor so he asks how much this is costing. Chris admits he is being charged 85 pounds plus VAT. When Chris leaves, Max approaches Anna and admits he is still trying to get his head around it. He warns her that Holland knows they’re all connected and she won’t give up until someone cracks. If Nancy is the one who cracks, it won’t be long before she does. Anna doesn’t know who killed him so she tells Max he needs to find out while the detectives focus on them. Max goes to the station and encounters Anford who reminds him he is off the case. He says the boss doesn’t need to know and they can pretend he is playing solitaire and solving burglaries. While Max goes to work on the case, Dylan tells Holland that his client has been through enough.

Although Holland can keep her for 36 hours, Dylan has already instructed Nancy to answer no comment to every question that comes her way. He pushes and pushes until Nancy is sent back to her jail cell. He meets her there and apologizes for pushing too hard. Dylan explains they only have 12 hours of extension and the dodgy CCTV footage so they shouldn’t hold her any longer than that. She just wants to go to sleep so Dylan leaves and Max continues working on the case. Max tells Anford they should go back to the victim and check the tiny transactions since those will tell them who he was. Holland finds him and asks what he is doing so he pretends to be working on the break-ins around the industrial estate. She wants to ask him some questions about Anna and her friends tomorrow and he agrees to do that.

The women try to cope with everything before we see Jack (Aneurin Barnard) struggling in the woods. He hears a twig snap in the distance and tries to talk to whoever is walking toward him. When Anford returns to the station in the morning, she learns that Max has been working there all night and thinks he has found something. He explains there is a pattern of withdrawals of 50 quid on most Saturdays for the last six months and nobody gets cash out like that nowadays unless it is for something specific. He goes on to say that the withdrawals always took place at the same ATM at Conwy Market and it was right across from the arcade. Max wants to know more about Jack’s personal life so he asks Anford to cover for him while he investigates it. Nancy is finally allowed to go home even though Holland thinks they’ll meet again. Anna is there waiting for her. She asks if she is okay, Nancy says she is now, and they hug. Anna explains why she came but reminds Nancy it doesn’t mean she has been forgiven.

Nancy goes home and finds Richard working on the puzzle that has a missing piece. She immediately tells him they’re getting a divorce. Anna meets with Cat and Louie before telling them about Nancy looking older and the fact she told Max what happened. Louie isn’t happy but Cat understands why Anna told him. Anna believes Max will find out who did it so they can get off the hook. She gets a call from a frantic Ryan who tells her Tamsin is gone because she doesn’t want to live there anymore. Anna leaves the others to deal with it while Max arrives at the arcade. He talks to an employee there but she doesn’t help. Then, he checks the muffin store nearby and finds a woman who remembers him. She admits Jack usually came in by himself but he brought someone every so often. He asks about the CCTV camera on the ceiling before Tish arrives at work and smiles at Cat. She tells them that the chatter at the brewery will pass before telling Cat that Gareth wants to see her.

Mandy rushes in and tries to find out why they were arrested. They insist they were only questioned and not arrested before Mandy demands to know who stole her purse. Cat gets upset and tells her nobody cares about her purse. She is called a psycho in return. Tish and Mandy leave. Then, Louie tells Cat they need to hold it together and go out there with their heads held up. Anna and Ryan visit one of Tamsin’s friends but she isn’t there. The boy asks Ryan why he never texted back and whether he wants to hang out but he says he got busy. Anna gets a call from Nancy who says Tamsin is with her. Max returns to the office and checks the CCTV footage from the muffins shop. Nancy tries to sort things out with Tamsin before her mother and brother enter. Tam says she isn’t going home so Anna tries to physically make her get up. That doesn’t work so the argument continues with Anna telling Tamsin what she is putting them through.

After a few insults, Tamsin reveals she is pregnant and she knows the test is right. Anna asks who the father is but Ryan shakes his head no in hopes of keeping Tamsin to stay quiet. Anna asks again until Tam eventually admits the father is Jack Evans. Back at the station, Max is shocked to see his daughter with Jack. Tamsin and Ryan admit that they had come to tell them on the night of the party but they saw them leaving. Anna and Nancy want to know where they went after the party. In a flashback, Tamsin approaches Jack while he is still tied up in the woods and the episode ends.

 

The Pact TV Series Review

Despite being a better episode, many likely never made it this far and many more were probably unimpressed with the episode’s biggest revelation. Although it was an interesting turn of events, it wasn’t the most surprising or shocking twist. Aside from that, the series was just too long-winded for my liking and I think it would’ve been much more impactful had it been a few episodes shorter.

The Pact spent too much time doing the same thing over and over while backtracking and wiping out any progress it previously made. I can confidently say The Pact is a good way to kill an hour but the series will likely be quickly forgotten once it is over. Now that I’ve come this far, I am eager to see how things will end for Anna and her friends.

I just don’t expect the finale to be mind-blowing but I’ll cross my fingers and hope I am wrong. The episode was a bit better than the previous ones so I’ll give it a 7 out of 10. Don’t forget to check out previous and future recaps of The Pact on Reel Mockery here.