As this episode of The Responder begins, Chris Carson (Martin Freeman) sleeps in his car by the beach while dreaming about Carl Sweeney (Ian Hart) being stabbed and killed. The attendant knocks on his window to tell him he is over his ticket and needs to leave soon. Chris shows the man his badge hoping he’ll screw off. When he finally gets up, Chris receives a call from Kate (MyAnna Buring) who admits she was worried about him. Tilly (Romi Hyland-Rylands) asked about him this morning. Kate begins talking about Ray who made her feel happy again in the moment. She wishes she didn’t need that, but Chris wasn’t there for her. Chris says he doesn’t want to talk about this right now because he doesn’t have it in him and he isn’t even angry at her. He describes it as being beaten. Kate asks about the seagulls in the background and whether he is at the beach. He tells her not to worry about where he is.

Before the call ends, Kate wonders if this is going to be the end of their marriage. Chris goes to the bathroom nearby. He gets angry, goes berserk, and completely trashes the place. When Kate shows up to get Tilly, Ellie Mullen (Kerrie Hayes) confronts her outside to ask if she has been screwing her husband. Kate apologizes while saying she wanted to tell her about it. Ellie suggests her marriage was over so she wanted to take hers. She tells Kate she carried her, helped her, and she was her best friend. Once Tilly comes out with her stuff, Ellie goes inside and immediately slams the door behind her. Tilly tells her mother she didn’t mean to say anything and she heard her and daddy last night. Kate promises it is not her fault and never will be her fault. Meanwhile, Jodie Sweeney (Faye McKeever) begins worrying about Carl who hasn’t called her in a while.

Ian (Philip Shaun McGuinness) and Barry (Mark Womack) get another text message from her and contemplate what they should do. Jodie goes to the bathroom to snort drugs while Chris returns to the carpark. He looks down and finds a small patch of blood while hearing Carl telling him he was saving his life. He covers up the blood on the ground before noticing a CCTV camera nearby. He goes over to the house and knocks on the door. When nobody answers, Chris looks around and talks to a very unhelpful neighbor. He asks the man whether the CCTV camera works, but he doesn’t get a straight answer. Chris decides to leave and come back later. Rachel Hargreaves (Adelayo Adedayo) calls Raymond (Warren Brown) to see what he is doing with the number she gave him. Ray insists they’re doing the right thing and it’ll pay off for both of them. When he ends the call, Ellie comes out and begins slapping him around a bit.

Dr. Diane Gallagher (Christine Tremarco) meets with Ian and Barry. She spends all day telling people not to smoke, yet she smokes right there where people can see her from the carpark. She apologizes for Carl, but argues it had to happen. Then, she tells them she wants them to clean up after this morning. After that, she wants them to get the policeman since he’ll know who had the gear last. As Diane tries to walk away, Ian and Barry tell her that Casey (Emily Fairn) had the drugs and must’ve switched them. Barry says there is no way the cop would’ve shown up with fake coke since he isn’t that stupid. Diane orders them to find her, find the copper, and get her drugs back. Casey searches her grandparents’ bathroom in hopes of finding drugs to deal with her withdrawal symptoms. She takes some pills and steps into the hallway where she runs into Joe (Philip Whitchurch). They go downstairs and argue whether Marco (Josh Finan) should go with them.

Joe explains he had to convince the guy to meet them so it would be disrespectful for Marco to be there. He insists they’re playing a dangerous game since people are after the drugs. Next, Raymond goes to the store where Colin Westfield (Karl Collins) is working to see if he can get his friend to check the phone number Rachel gave him. Colin wants nothing to do with him, but eventually takes the phone number. Chris begins panicking at the start of night four. He takes some pills before heading inside. Joe, Casey, and Marco arrive at the meeting point. Joe gives Casey orders to buy them some drinks, but he wants to make sure Marco isn’t drinking. He argues he knows what he is doing and Marco doesn’t.

Chris uses the computer system to see what he can find about Carl’s death only to come up empty-handed. Rachel joins him and learns he slept at the beach before destroying a crap house. As for Rachel, she spent the night at her mom’s. Then, Chris learns someone is at the front desk waiting to see him. Before Chris goes, he learns Rachel hasn’t talked to Steve. He offers to listen to her if she wants to talk. Chris finds Jodie waiting on him so he takes her to a private room. Marco annoys Joe who asks him to sit still, but the sugar has Marco jacked up. Since they’re late, Casey recommends texting them. Joe says he knows how things work and you don’t rush them. Marco learns that Joe was a burglar or safe cracker and spent time in prison. Casey takes her granddad’s billfold to go get some ale for them. Joe complains about Casey’s mouth just like her mother.

He admits nobody knows where her mother is now and nobody cares. Casey steals money and buys drugs from a stranger in the pub. Jodie asks Chris about Carl while revealing she knows what Chris does for him. She admits he was scared and wonders whether Chris killed him. Chris quickly denies that and asks who said Carl was dead. She confirms she didn’t tell the woman at the desk her name. Jodie explains she called Ian who acted like she didn’t matter so she knows Carl is dead. She demands Chris get her money or she’ll mention his name. Chris gets in the squad car with Rachel who asks about the person from the front desk. He says it was just an old job and confesses he doesn’t know where he’ll sleep tomorrow. Chris believes they’re screwed. Billy (Dave Hill) finally shows up to talk about the business with Joe. Since Billy can’t hear anything, Joe asks him to put his hearing aid in. Billy says it is shite and he can’t hear anything with it, but Marco says he can’t hear anything without it either.

Billy puts it in before asking Marco what he said. Marco claims he said nothing although Billy knows better. He threatens to have one of his boys take Marco outside and set him on fire if he says anything else. Casey is high by the time she returns, but Joe claims he has the flu. Marco takes her away. Joe says they don’t even want wholesale, but Billy insists he isn’t buying anything. Billy says he knows who the drugs belong to and they’re not here because he has known Joe for a long time. Joe quickly tries to apologize, but Billy removes his hearing aid and enjoys his drink. Chris manages to withdraw 30 pounds from his account although he has a negative balance. He hears a car driving recklessly in the distance. Rachel gets out as the car crashes nearby. Father Liam Neeson (Matthew Cottle) crawls out of the vehicle with his trousers down. Liam admits he drank a bucket full of vodka so he is leathered and doesn’t give a crap.

Chris places Liam near the front of the car. He begins searching the vehicle while Rachel checks to see if Liam has any warrants. Chris finds a bag with money in it that he sticks in his jacket. When Rachel joins him, Chris learns Liam’s church is right around the corner. They check on Liam who calls himself a weak man because he pays young men to wank him off. Chris insists nobody cares, but Liam says he cares because he was supposed to be a good man. Liam wonders what good a man is if he has no truth in him since he’d be only a shell. He pleads with them to stop this lie by arresting him. Rachel says she’ll have them clear the jail for one coming in. Chris says no because he doesn’t want to destroy a man’s life who messed up in the middle of a breakdown. He goes on to say he doesn’t have it in him to ruin this man’s life tonight. They get a report about a car on fire. Chris throws Liam’s keys down the road before they leave him on the side of the street. Joe screams at Casey and Marco for humiliating him when they only have one chance with people like that.

They get into an argument after Joe calls Casey’s mom a hoe. It turns physical until Marco punches and drops Joe to the ground. Casey screams at him that he made her and she didn’t take that road because she wanted to. Casey grabs the keys and storms out. Marco calls Joe a dickhead before following her. Outside, Casey gets the drugs from the car and tells Marco they’re going to go spend his money. Chris and Rachel find the car on the fire and it turns out to be Carl’s vehicle with Carl still inside it. Rachel believes she knows the car since she spoke to the driver the other night at the party. Chris is obviously out of it. Raymond receives information about the phone number. He decides to call one of the phone numbers. Diane picks up and identifies herself as Dr. Diane Gallagher. Ray says this is Chris Carson. Diane says she has been meaning to talk to him and she thinks he knows why. Ray asks if she is going to give him money. Diane immediately hangs up because she doesn’t think it is Chris.

Diane calls Greg and tells him what happened. As Ray searches for Diane online, Greg Gallagher (James Nelson-Joyce) tells Diane to give the phone to David when he comes around soon. Diane complains he is always doing this to her even though she doesn’t want to be involved. Meanwhile, Rachel talks to DI Deborah Barnes (Amaka Okafor) about the car. Deb checks on her since she just saw someone burning in a car. Rachel reveals she spoke to the driver of the car and he knew Chris. Although he said he was a drug dealer, Rachel didn’t see him with Chris. When Deb asks what she knows about Chris, Rachel says only what Mullen from Professional Standards told her. Deb begins laughing while explaining Ray organizes cycling proficiency tests and lollipop men. She goes on to say Ray has had a feather up his butt about Chris ever since his squad was disbanded. Rachel learns that Ray thinks Chris ruined his career and they call him Willy Wonka.

Deb recommends stopping whatever Ray has her doing. Chris tries to pull himself together. He joins Deborah who calls him Skip and says he’ll always be her Skip. He learns about Rachel saying he knew the driver. Chris doesn’t deny it although he pretends they barely knew each other from school. She urges him to watch himself. Chris is asked to notify the next of kin and get back out on patrol. As they drive away, Chris tells Rachel he is upset because she told Deborah he was mates with a drug dealer. She apologizes before asking if they were mates. Chris claims everyone looks at him as soon as something happens. They continue arguing until they arrive at the Sweeney house to notify Jodie of the discovery. Before long, they sit down with Jodie and tell her about a deceased individual being found in Carl’s vehicle. Jodie believes it is her husband. Chris asks Rachel to make them some tea. While she is gone, Chris gives Jodie the bag of money he got from Father Liam, but Jodie isn’t satisfied with it.

She wants more. Jodie asks if Carl knew what they were doing to him. He would’ve wanted to say goodbye to Lexie. When Rachel steps back in, Jodie says she’ll hear how he was a bad man and drug dealer. She admits he was, but Carl did bad things for good reasons. Before Rachel leaves, she tells Jodie that CID will be there to talk to her soon although she doesn’t have to if she isn’t feeling up to it. Chris asks her not to tell CID that they were here. Jodie sure hopes Chris isn’t messed up in this although he insists he isn’t. She says don’t forget her and she will forget him. Back at the station, Rachel invites Chris to come back to her mom and dad’s place. He turns it down and asks about Steve. Rachel believes it’ll settle down when it does like always. Chris tells her she can be happy. Rachel recommends getting back with Kate before admitting he isn’t as much of a twat as he seems to think. Before she goes, Chris tells her she did good with Jodie.

Deborah goes inside and prints off information about Carl’s vehicle. She also prints off stuff about Chris. She goes back outside where Chris asks her what the wife said. The husband is shady, but Jodie isn’t giving anything away because she has been around too long for that. Deb suggests he either killed himself or was ended for pissing on someone’s chips. It was the game he was playing. She tells Chris to get some sleep because he looks bad. Rachel meets with Ray to confront him with the Willy Wonka stuff. He says she is just stupid while Rachel argues she is tired of being lied to. She threatens to get him sacked if she hears from him again. She throws another guest’s toast at him before leaving. The guest tells Ray he owes him two pieces of toast. Chris visits June (Rita Tushingham) who asks him to sit down and hold her hand. When he does, he begins crying.

He tells her about ruining everything with Kate and Tilly. Chris says Carl is dead and it could be his fault. He reveals he could go to prison because Carl was mixed up in stuff and he is too. As he hugs his mother and asks her what to do, June tells him to fight. She urges him to keep fighting so he can’t be beaten. When Rachel goes back home, she finds that Steve has changed the lock on the door. She threatens to have him arrested since it is her flat. Steve (Philip Barantini) gets upset, opens the door, and rushes toward her. She says nothing before he shuts the door in her face. Chris calls Kate to make sure she and Tilly are okay. They say they love one another and Chris quickly ends the call. He gets out and visits the house with the CCTV camera again. He finds himself surrounded by Davis, Marcus, Ian, and Barry while learning someone wants to meet him. He is driven to the meeting point as the episode ends.

 

The Responder Review

The Responder has been an intense ride and somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. While there is a lot going on, everything is pretty easy to understand and digest. We have multiple interconnected storylines with Chris, Casey, Marco, Ray, Rachel, and others. Each storyline is equally interesting with many possible outcomes to keep the viewer guessing from one minute to the next.

Chris’s actions are beginning to catch up with him although I suspect he still has a few tricks up his sleeve. He has to worry about Diana and Greg, Rachel, Ray, and Deborah. I expect the finale to be thrilling. Unfortunately, I can’t watch it immediately since I have other things to do. Regardless, the fourth episode was very good so it scores an 8 out of 10. All recaps of The Responder will be on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support the Reel Mockery project by following this link.