Episode 3 seemingly begins with a memory from Grace Narayan’s (Anjli Mohindra) earlier years. Young Grace (Mohini Harding) is sitting in the back of Georgie Halliday’s cruiser (Issey King) outside of a hardware store. The ensuing conversation reveals that Grace’s mother, Jasmine Narayan (Renu Brindle), is being arrested for stealing paint after deciding to paint the kitchen on a whim. The way that Young Grace handles the situation and explains her mother’s illness, suggests that this isn’t a random occurrence.

Grace appears to be in a bit of a daze as she keeps a close eye on the locals at the parish. She attempts to reach Ann Fletcher (Jill Halfpenny) once again when Father Douglas Carrisford (Sam Swainsbury) interrupts and tells her not to bother because the Widow’s Whale has the entire island isolated. After some convincing, he gets to leave her post and join him to mingle with the locals.

An impromptu bar full of alcoholic beverages suggests that Lowri Bain (Lu Corfield) has other ideas to keep the locals occupied. Lowri attempts to recruit the Winter Bain’s (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) assistance with her project, but the now missing Grace is the focus of her attention. Griffith/Gruffudd Prosser (Mark Lewis Jones) jumps at the opportunity to greet Lucy Popkin (Lauren Morais) and dote on her raincoat while showing her around. Silas (Ale dap Steffan) doesn’t even attempt to hide his disgust for Griffith.

Grace is helping at the kitchen station when Owen Parry (James Bamford) appears and jokingly orders two choc ices. Grace’s focus appears to be elsewhere when she asks him how long the Widow’s Whale usually lasts. After learning that last year’s storm lasted a week, her mood becomes more urgent, leading her to share the surveillance images with him. Despite Grace’s insistence and the ‘True Way’ insignia, Owen maintains the claim that True Way is merely for the tourist. Grace isn’t given a chance to respond thanks to the sudden arrival of Winter.

Owen expresses slight frustration when he learns that Grace shared the satellite footage with Winter before showing him. Much to his and Grace’s surprise Winter provides them with a possible lead by showing them the group photos that are taken every year during the storm. Her thinking is that whoever wasn’t in the photo could have been the driver of the vehicle. Grace asks why there isn’t a photo for 2018 but Silas interrupts, claiming to have urgent news about Cai Prideaux (Charlie Thould). After Winter is forced to leave, Silas unveils his theory about the True Way’s involvement. Grace appears to be on the verge of believing him until goes on a tangent about Lord Nancarrow’s disappearance being staged.

Sometime later, Silas is attacked in the bathroom. Even after Ian Prideaux (Marc Warren) examines him and chalks the event up to an overindulgence in alcohol, Silas maintains the belief that the True Way was behind the attack. Lucy later pulls Grace and Owen to the side to blame the attack on Griffith’s jealousy. Despite Owen not taking Lucy’s claims seriously, the conversation leads to Grace learning that Griffith’s daughter, Beth Ann, fled the island two years earlier just to get away from him. Owen and Grace continue to debate Griffith’s involvement and his lackadaisical search efforts when they are interrupted by a bell/gong.

Lady Heather Nancarrow (Adjoa Andoh) has all the locals gathered for the annual song. When the tradition ends, it’s revealed that Grace isn’t the only one feeling left out. Griffith promises Minh Prosser (Tuyen Do) that he will write the lyrics down and practice with her for next year.

Sometime later, Grace confronts Griffith on several fronts. Firstly, he denies having anything to do with attacking Silas. He also denies being in Lucy’s garden but hints at knowing who is, although he doesn’t share. As far as Grace’s questions about last year’s storm, he claims he didn’t attend the gathering because it was Minh’s first one and opted to ride it out together at home. Elsewhere, Winter tries to prove her usefulness to Grace by figuring out who attacked Silas. This is all soon interrupted by Father Doug who plays a home video with Cai and Ian. Something about the occurrence or video sends Grace in search of Silas, with Owen and Winter trailing behind. He tells her that he has a file on True Way and promises to walk her through it once the storm is over. Against both Owen’s and Winter’s advice Grace goes after the file.

Despite the raging storm, Grace manages to make it to Owens and collect the file without incident. It isn’t until she’s on her way back to the parish that she encounters problems. A man in white robes and an ornate mask causes her to swerve off the road and hit a post. When she is woken by Winter sometime later, the file is gone. When Grace is gone, Griffith attempts to strengthen his bond with Owen while simultaneously trying to uncover what Grace is up to. Much to Griffith’s surprise, Owen refuses to share any information. Lady Nanacarrow’s fainting abruptly ends their meeting.

When Grace returns to the parish to get patched up by Ian, she asks if Cai knew about his involvement with Lucy. He immediately owns up to their relationship and also admits to Cai knowing, although he doesn’t know how Cai learned about it. Grace reveals that it was a link between a photo in the home video and one at Lucy’s home that led to her making the connection. Grace only becomes more convinced of Ian’s guilt as their conversation goes on and arrests him.

Silas, along with Griffith, Leslie Crowther (Jim Kitson), and most of the locals demand to know why Grace arrested Ian. Even as Griffith and the others vilify her actions, Grace maintains her silence. Lucy eventually hits her breaking point and reveals their relationship. Silas storms off upon hearing the news. When Grace steps into a side room for a respite, she discovers Lady Nancarrow convalescing on the couch. Their ensuing conversation reveals that Nancarrow is suffering from some sort of medical illness and this could likely be her last Window’s Whale.

Owen is in the middle of guarding Ian when Elan Parry (Rosie Sheehy) shows up and confronts him about the list of names of the attendants from last year’s storm gathering that she just found. He shames him for putting his neighbors and friends on the list. Grace’s abrupt arrival to interview Ian brings their dispute to an end.

Grace’s interrogation of Ian is equally beneficial. He admits to having a relationship with Lucy, despite Cai knowing about it, as well as snooping around her garden. When Grace realizes that Ian is sincerely sorry for how things played out, she shares the satellite images with him.

Elsewhere, Lucy attempts to explain her relationship with Ian to Silas. As it turns out, her and Ian’s entanglement was way before the two of them got together. Not only that but she was just 17 and ended things when Cai disappeared. Silas appears to be happy and they reconcile. Shortly after this, the storm ends and the group gathers for the annual community photo. Father Douglas offers a few kind words about togetherness and community while preparing the camera but his words only incite Grace. This leads to her revealing that there is a killer among them and she vows to find him/her and bring them to justice.

Grace’s tirade sends Lucy and Elan Parry (Rosie Sheehy) into a panic. They soon find themselves joining Mihangel Pugh (Oliver Ryan) in a side room at the parish where he appears to be in the process of trying on donated/left behind clothes. His excitement over his new attire quickly dies when Lucy tells him about the satellite images. Both Elan and Mihangel are hesitant to believe the True Way had anything to do with Cai’s death while Lucy seems almost certain. After a bit more debating, Mihangel has a solution that Lucy initially appears hesitant to go along with but finally agrees. The episode ends with them performing some kind of ceremony.

 

The Red King Review

Although this episode was not without its faults, I felt that it was excellent. I enjoyed all the little squabbles between the locals as they were forced together to ride out the storm. The community photo along with the character’s different facial expressions was hilarious and a genius addition. I am, however, not entirely certain of Grace’s play behind revealing everything she knows. Ian must be commended for his portrayal of emotions during Grace’s interrogation. Ending the episode with such a cliffhanger only made the entire series all that more intriguing and I can’t wait to tear into the next episode. I’d give this one a 5.7 out of 10.

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