As this episode of The Rising begins, Neve Kelly (Clara Rugaard) continues running from William Wyatt (Nicholas Gleaves). She enters a house and begins looking at belts in the dresser until she hears someone moving around downstairs. Alex (Nena Neururer) shows up with a weapon because she thinks Neve is a burglar. Neve returns to the dresser in hopes of finding the belt because it might help her remember more of what happened. Once she realizes he wouldn’t just leave it in the drawer, Neve argues they need to get out of there since it isn’t safe for either of them. She tells Alex that she died at the hotel, she felt him strangling her, and then he was there.

Alex doesn’t want to believe that her father killed Neve. When asked why she thought it was him, Neve explains she saw it in his face. He tried to stop her, but she managed to get away. Alex believes whatever is in the woods is messing with her head and making her see things that aren’t real. Neve believes it was William although she doesn’t remember him. She blames that on the fact that she was drugged. Alex tells her she can’t keep accusing someone based on a feeling like she did Joe, but Neve believes this is different. Neve says he attacked her in the room so she needs Alex to talk to the police. William meets with Christine (Ann Ogbomo) and apologizes for being late.

She asks whether everything is okay and what has happened. Neve goes to Tom’s place, but he is busy talking to Maria (Emily Taaffe). Tom (Matthew McNulty) admits he doesn’t know where Neve is right now because she comes and goes. He would see Neve if she walked in here and she looks the same as before. She is as solid as them so she isn’t a ghost. Tom admits he doesn’t understand it either. As he tries to explain it, Maria wonders what makes him so special. Tom wishes he knew. He grabs her hand before admitting he wanted to share this with her. Once she pulls her hand back, Tom confesses he worries about Neve since she has seen things nobody should have to deal with.

She was at the lake when her body was pulled out and in the morgue during the post-mortem. Neve thinks she can’t remember what happened because she was drugged although Tom thinks it is something else. When Maria asks what she does when she is here, Tom admits she is trying to understand just like they are. He knows this sounds insane. Katie (Robyn Cara) checks on Daniel (Alex Lanipekun) who is busy working on the computer downstairs. Daniel tells her that Maria texted to say she is going to stay somewhere else tonight. Katie believes she needs to cool off because of her. Daniel regrets checking his emails for the first time in days.

Once Katie goes back upstairs, Neve walks in and tells Daniel that she is scared and doesn’t know where else to go. She tells him goodnight as he leaves even though he doesn’t hear her. In the morning, Neve visits Tom to tell her about William Wyatt. She tells her father everything about William attacking her at the motel. Neve believes William knew how good she was and didn’t like it. Tom doesn’t believe he’d do all this for motocross, but Neve says he is obsessed with Joe and motocross. Neve doesn’t think they can go to the police since they’d look crazy. Instead, she suggests Joe and Michael might know something. She wants him to question them. While Neve leads him to them, Daniel returns home with the family dog.

Maria is there getting some clothes. Daniel gets upset when he learns that she spent the night with Tom. She stayed in a spare room although she isn’t sure why she stayed at Tom’s place. When she says Tom is the only one who knows how it is, Daniel argues that Neve was his too. He was the one picking her up from school, going to parents’ evenings, and patching her up when she fell off her bike. Daniel has done everything he can to support her so he is sick of her treating him like a bystander in this. He needs to know if Maria isn’t coming back to them because he can’t see the kids go through that again. Maria says she knows before asking how the kids are.

Daniel tells her that she doesn’t get it both ways. He asks her to come home so they can try to sort this out. Alex enters the room and sees a drawing of a belt buckle on Christine’s computer. Christine doesn’t want her to look at it though. When William enters, they ask Alex to sit down since they want to chat. Once she sits down, Christine says she knows that she was drinking last night. They think it would be good if she saw someone because she has been acting erratically. Alex doesn’t think she needs to talk to anyone and only had a few drinks at the club. She doesn’t know where this is coming from. Alex explains she barely talked to William last night since he left after they talked about the hotel.

He asks where she has been. Alex says she just goes walking while complaining she has spent enough time staring at walls. When William questions where, she says the woods mostly although she doesn’t think it should matter. William mentions that she has been having full-blown conversations with herself and that isn’t normal. Alex calmly insists she doesn’t need professional help before leaving the room. She pretends she goes outside but stays to eavesdrop on their conversation. William wonders if being here is the problem. He recommends Christine talk to her sister to see if she’ll take her for a bit. She isn’t sure about sending her away since they just got her back.

William doesn’t like it either, but he doesn’t want to let this get out of control. Moments later, William finds her searching through the storage building while claiming she is looking for a screwdriver. She lies about the hinge on the rabbit hutch being loose. He tells her that the screwdrivers are right there. She notices a cut on his hand that he blames on scratching himself. Alex asks where he went last night after he left the club. William claims he went to pick up her mother. He offers to sort out the hinge for her so she jokes that he is worried she is too unstable for sharp objects. Meanwhile, Tom and Neve go to speak to Michael (William Ash) and Joseph (Solly McLeod). Tom thanks Michael for the talk yesterday and reveals he hasn’t had a drink since.

Once he finds out that William isn’t around, Tom admits he wants to talk about him just between them. Neve instructs him as he asks Joe about William not being at the party. Michael didn’t see him because he was out of town for a meeting about the hall. Tom claims he is just trying to remember before asking where William was that night. Joseph suggests he was at home while Michael thinks it would be best for Tom to be at home when he is withdrawing. As Tom apologizes to Neve, he blames his splitting headache for being unable to think straight. Neve tells him to go home and sleep it off. Next, Neve runs into Alex who admits she believes her now. Alex wanted his approval her whole life, but she can’t bear to look at him now.

She says she wants to help finish this. William walks through the woods while calling Neve’s name. He gets a call from Joe asking whether he has talked to Tom today. Burns (Edward Judge) is at the police station when Tom arrives. DS Diana Aird (Rebecca Root) approaches Tom to see what he wants to say. He claims he remembered something from the night of the party. He tells Diana that it was William Wyatt. Diana suggests he had an alibi and was at home, but Tom insists he was with Neve. He pleads with Diana to check out the alibi and leaves in a hurry. Joseph tells William that Tom was asking questions about him. William suggests the poor bloke is losing it since he found him passed out on the park bench the other night.

He mentions that Tom still sees her although he believes that is just the guilty. He’d be the first to admit he wasn’t much of a dad. William can’t imagine what else he is capable of so he asks Joseph to stay away from him. When William makes it home, Christine asks him to sit down for a minute because she wants to talk about that night after the championship. She asks what he remembers. William says they had dinner, watched a film, and went to bed. Then, morning came and all hell broke loose. Christine wants to say something, but William stops her by saying he doesn’t think they should bring this up. He doesn’t think it is good for her living with the case 24 hours a day. Alex enters with Neve.

William says they’re not going to do this here. Neve says otherwise because she wants Alex to hear it all. William grabs his keys and heads outside. Alex follows him while arguing that he can see her. Neve calls him a murderer while William says he isn’t going to let Alex put her mother through this. William drops his keys before Alex quickly steps on them. He manages to get them back. Christine hears him screaming for them to stay away from him. Neve thanks him because she needed them to see that as he prepares to leave. Back inside, Alex tells Christine that she believes her father had something to do with what happened to Neve. She tells her mother that he had lied before and made her lie about the accident.

Alex tells her how Joe kept telling her to drive faster and covered her eyes before the accident. William said there was no point in both of them getting into trouble and Joe had too much potential to throw it away. They talk about how Alex feels before she tells her mother not to trust him because he is hiding something. She believes her mother knows something. Christine admits she woke up and William wasn’t next to her on the night that Neve was killed. When Alex leaves to answer the door, Neve kneels down next to Christine to say that she knows. Diana joins them and tells Christine about Tom coming forward to say he saw William at the party that night. Christine says there is something she needs to tell her.

Moments later, William is arrested while Neve watches from above. When Tom returns home, he tells Maria that William Wyatt killed Neve. He says the police are looking into it and this isn’t his way of keeping her around. William is questioned by Diana and Detective Sally Monkford (Danielle Victoria Westwood) at the police station. When asked about the time Christine woke up, he claims he was in the bathroom. Once he is asked about being with Neve that night, William says this is bloody ridiculous. He suggests Diana is embarrassing himself and Christine. He thought Diana was supposed to be her friend. Diana says she is and she never understood what Christine saw in him because she knows what kind of man he is.

Burns tells Michael, Joseph, and the others what Tom did at the station. Michael decides to go down by himself. Joseph tells them about Tom coming around while Nicky (Oliver Huntingdon) asks if William was around that night. One person doesn’t remember seeing him. Burns wonders if Tom is actually guilty because he killed Neve. Nicky doesn’t think that is a good idea since they could make things word. He tries to stop Joseph from going, but he goes along with Burns and the others. While Maria talks to Daniel on the phone, Tom goes outside to check the trash for alcohol bottles when Joseph and the others drive by. Joseph reminds him that William wasn’t at the party. Tom says he was and he killed Neve, but Burns quickly blames him.

Tom says he only cares about the club and Joe. Nicky tells them to calm down. Joseph hits Tom a few times before Maria runs out and screams at him. Nicky and Maria manage to stop Joseph. When Maria threatens to call the police, they decide to leave. Alex tells Neve she doesn’t deserve any sympathy. She wonders why they’re still talking about him since they’re free now. Neve thought she’d feel that way, but she doesn’t feel anything. Alex decides that they should take the car for a drive. They go to the edge of a cliff and scream.

When Neve breaks down and starts crying, Alex comforts her until she laughs instead. They begin kissing as we see a flashback of them kissing at the party. Neve remembers Alex giving her the GHB at the party. Alex says she didn’t want to, but she kept asking and wouldn’t drop it. Alex claims they took the same amount. Neve believes that GHB was the reason she couldn’t fight him off. She never told Neve because she knew she’d feel like this. Alex promises that she can trust her. Neve begins walking away. She turns around and her hands start turning into dust.

 

The Rising Review

Although The Rising has been watchable, the series hasn’t managed to break out of mediocrity until this episode. Midway through the episode, it just seemed to gain its footing and up the intensity significantly. In particular, Nicholas Gleaves was exceptional and finally got to stand out from the crowd. Still, many of the same problems persist. The series would’ve been better served by six or four episodes instead of eight.

Some of the minor characters are decent while others need a little more practice. The Rising is just a bit too slow and tedious for its own good, but I think a lot of that is caused by the fact that there are eight episodes. Despite everything I could complain about, the episode was surprisingly good thanks to Nicholas Gleaves. It scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of The Rising can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us here.