As this episode of The Responder begins, Chris Carson (Martin Freeman) finally gets out of bed when his alarm goes off. He picks up a dress before attending a meeting. Ben (Shaun Mason) talks about a book about a fella who used to be in the army. Chris blurts out when this works. Father Liam (Matthew Cottle) asks him if he wants to be there. Chris says he tried therapy and even bought a book in a charity shop the other day. He asks when it kicks in. Chris visited his father who he describes as gobshite. Chris complains he’s making the same mistakes over and over again just when he thinks he’s moving in the right direction. Father Liam suggests he’s progressing since he’s recognizing the mistakes now.

Chris questions whether he’s just a twat since his old fella used to say he’s making trouble for himself. The others end up changing the subject. Next, Chris calls his boss to see if he’d reconsider or if he knows of anything else. He catches up with Kate (MyAnna Buring) at Tilly’s football game. Kate tells him she got the London job, but she is going to reject it. She knows Chris is important to Tilly. As for Chris, he hasn’t got a start date yet although he doesn’t think it’ll be long. Kate isn’t happy to see Jodie Sweeney (Faye McKeever) arrive. Once Kate leaves, Jodie tells Chris to walk with her. She tells him how Lexie has changed since Carl died. Jodie wants Chris to go to the dock and pick up some drugs for her because Barry and Ian can’t get them. Jodie is broke because she bought the dessert shop with the stuff he gave her.

He can get past the port police. Jodie says there is money in it for him, but Chris doesn’t want to do it. Chris leaves and finds Rachel Hargreaves (Adelayo Adedayo) waiting for him because she wants to check on the gun. She thinks they need to plan and think about what might come back on them. Chris says he chucked it so they shouldn’t have to worry about it. Marco (Josh Finan) does the laundry with Adele next to him. Adele’s mom calls to tell Marco she got eight weeks. Marco complains to Moira he can’t look after the baby for eight weeks. Although he says she beat up a pedo, Moira admits he wasn’t a pedo. Marco suggests he’s going to have to call the Social. Moira threatens to stab him if the child goes into care. A social worker will be in touch for a visit so he can’t let the child down. The call ends abruptly.

Franny (Adam Nagaitis) confronts Rachael and Chris to ask about his gun. Chris pretends not to know what he’s talking about. Franny says he owes him ten grand now because he had to pay someone to deal with Hodgkin. He insists that’s the last thing he wanted. Franny doesn’t think they would be in this position if Chris and Rachael had done what they were supposed to do. Chris says it was supposed to be a gun and no one mentioned drugs. Franny is adamant that Chris owes him ten grand. He shows them the incriminating video before saying that’s 15 grand. Once he leaves, Rachel worries about what Chris has gotten her into. She thinks they’ll go to prison if anyone sees that video. Chris says they’re not going to do anything.

Chris visits DI Deborah Barnes (Amaka Okafor) to tell her that Hodgkin is dead. He explains that they found a gun during the search and some guy is saying he owes him 15 grand. Deborah asks him to just pay the money. Chris calls her a moral coward. Marco takes the baby to Casey who learns he lost his job as well. Casey reminds him she told him not to biff her, but he went and ruined his life anyway. She asks him not to bring her down tonight because they have the meeting. She’s going to the club with Jodie. She promises to sort things out with Adele after that. Kate tells Raymond (Warren Brown) about Tilly’s football game. Raymond says Kennedy basically told Chris to his face that he’s not getting the gig. Chris watches the St James’ Docks.

Jodie messages him saying it has to be tonight and it’s Dock 7. Rachel looks at a picture of Steve with his new girlfriend Lorna. Rachel tracks down Lorna and watches her through the window. Chris calls her to ask her to call in and say she can’t come to work because she’s got the craps. Rachel says she’s coming in and they’re going to sort this out together. Chris reluctantly agrees to that. Rachel admits she isn’t okay but who cares. That night, Rachel and Chris work out the details of their plan. Rachel agrees to do it because they need 15k. They stop and confront a man who seems to be having mental issues. He doesn’t know who he is. He keeps asking where the sun has gone. A woman approaches and tells Chris where the man’s house is. A few years ago, the man was in a coma. She agrees to show the police where the man lives.

Once they reach the house, Chris finds that it’s empty. He finds a note on the mirror saying, “Your name is Neil.” Chris brings Neil inside and tries to sort everything out. Rachel spoke to a neighbor who saw the wife leaving in her car about an hour ago. They’re checking hospitals for her and looking for the vehicle. Neil reads what he wrote about losing his memory. A neighbor complains about Marco’s baby crying. Marco says she hates him. The woman comes in to help him. Marco tells Brenda he wants to be a good dad. She tells him he’ll get the hang of it, but he needs to keep an eye on the nappy every hour or so. Brenda agrees to watch the baby while he gets more diapers. Casey and Jodie speak to the club owner about selling drugs in his club. Barry (Mark Womack) takes a call. Jodie and Casey try to convince the club owner to work with them.

He asks how much is it in for him. Outside, Barry tells Jodie and Casey not to be celebrating. Bujar called to say the ship is sailing in high tide because they can’t keep pretending their engine is knackered. Jodie tells him to relax because the bizzie, Chris Carson, is going to get it for them. Casey learns that they’re relying on Chris. Jodie calls Chris to tell him he has to be there by 1:30 because the boat is sailing. After the call, Chris tells Rachel. Neil keeps them busy so they can’t leave just yet. They end up taking Neil with them. They go to the dock and have trouble with the guard. Once they get through, Rachel jumps out and Chris continues. Rachel tries to keep the guard, Gavin, busy. Chris leaves Neil in the car while he tries to retrieve the drugs. It appears the boat is already gone.

Casey shows up behind him. She says she bunked over the wall and asked the captain. Chris eventually gets Neil, Casey, and the drugs in the vehicle. Rachel questions what Casey is doing with them. Col calls Chris to say someone is there for him. Colin Westfield (Karl Collins) questions Marco about stealing baby diapers. Marco asks why his baby should have a sore backside just because he’s poor. Once Chris arrives, Colin tells him that Marco needs to get him to his baby. Chris agrees to take him home. Marco is surprised to see Casey with him. Chris tells him he’s going to take him home this one time for his baby. Colin comes out with supplies for Marco and tells him he’s barred from the shop. In the car, Chris gets a call about their colleagues in Lancashire.

They’ve found the missing wife and are transporting her back home. Jodie gives Chris what appears to be drugs and tells him to sell it to get the money. Chris takes Neil home and notices he’s written down their visit to the docks. Chris takes the page before Neil admits he’s scared. He asks Neil if he wants to see his wife, Lisa. Lisa tells Rachel she had to get out because the house became like a prison. Rachel tells her she doesn’t have to live like this. She wants Lisa to look at places for Neil. Jodie tells Casey she wants the drugs sorted before Lexie sees them. Casey asks for money since she set it up and got the gear. Jodie gives her 100 and tells her not to be stupid with it. Barry tells Casey they want what she makes or they’ll tell Jodie she’s the reason Carl is dead. Casey gives him the money. Marco returns home.

Chris contacts someone to arrange a meeting. He tells Rachel he’ll take care of it himself. He meets Kate who says Ray told him that he lied about the job. He claims he got an office management role working for Deb. Kate admits it might change the plans if he is telling the truth. She wants the start date. Then, Chris meets Franny and tries to give him the drug. Franny says he’s off and he owes him five grand. Franny agrees to give him 570 quid but gives him 600 instead. When Chris tries to make up the difference, Franny tells him he’s off his head. He insists the video is gone and they’re done. Chris asks about the day job Debs promised. Franny says he can deliver anything. In exchange, Franny wants him to speak to two old ladies and get something back for him. He gives Chris a phone and says he’ll text him the details.

Rachel continues spying on Steve and Lorna.

 

The Responder Review

The second episode of The Responder’s second series was a bit better than the first because it wasn’t all over the place. Instead, the story was presented in a straightforward way without introducing a lot of side characters and side stories. Despite stronger storytelling, the episode was a bit dull overall.

Marco remains the most interesting character of the series while Chris and Rachel continue digging themselves deeper and deeper. In a sense, this feels like a rehash of last season with the characters repeating mistakes to create interest and move the story forward. There’s definitely a credibility problem, but that was the case with the last series as well.

There are only so many times Chris and Rachel can do something incredibly stupid before The Responder becomes annoying. This was a better episode than the first though and it appears to be slowly building up to the climax. It just needs to bring everything together and end on a high note to make the series worthwhile. This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Responder can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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