As the second episode of The Sixth Commandment begins, there is a funeral for Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall). Ben Field (Eanna Hardwicke) stands up and recites one of his poems for Peter. Liz admits she doesn’t think Peter would’ve consumed an entire bottle of whisky. She never saw Peter drunk or smelled it on him. Ben tells Sue (Amanda Root) he hopes they’re not upset that Peter gave him such a large share of the house. Ben admits he doesn’t have the money to buy their shares. He suggests selling it so he can buy a flat if Ian would be okay with that. Martyn Smith (Conor MacNeill) tells Ian he didn’t know Peter had left him 10,000 pounds.

He says he feels terrible, but Ian (Adrian Rawlins) insists it wasn’t his fault. Martyn promises to do some good with the money. Ian asks Sue if she thinks he meant to do it but she doesn’t. Ann-Marie Blake (Annabel Scholey) calls Ann Moore-Martin (Anne Reid) and speaks to her. Ann tells her niece that she is having tea with Ben. Once they sit down outside, Ben tells Ann that he is looking for a place to stay. He loves being churchwarden and doesn’t want to give it up. When he mentions all his stuff, Ann agrees to let him use her garage. Ben questions why she never got married. She explains that she loved teaching and she was caring for her mother. She believes she was too old after that, but Ben says he doesn’t see age.

Ann makes it clear that he is always welcome there. Later, Ann-Marie visits her other while Ben arranges to meet Martyn. Ben goes into Ann Moore-Martin’s house and looks at pictures while she is at the church with her niece. Ben looks through the house. When they return home, Ben has to escape the house without being caught. Once he does, Martyn helps him move into his new flat. He prepares to send a postcard to Ann. Martyn agrees to put it in the post for him. Ben calls St Abigail’s Theological College to book a place on Ordinand’s Open Day. He hangs out with Ann later that night. Ben kisses her on the cheek before leaving. Later, Ann Moore-Martin tells her niece where her instructions are kept for when something happens to her.

Her niece isn’t ready to read it yet. From home, Ann-Marie Blake calls her aunt to say she won’t make it over this weekend. Ben agrees to take her to church on Sunday instead. Ann-Marie Blake wants to say hello on the phone, but Ben is too bashful and will have to do it another time. Ann Moore-Martin goes outside and tells Ben that she might be jealous. Ben suggests not saying too much about them because she might not understand how it is. Ben kisses her. Later, he tells Ann goodnight and that he’ll bring her a cup of tea in the morning. She is told to look at the poem or letter on her bedside table. Ann-Marie speaks to her husband about Ben. Ben and Ann begin getting closer.

Ann gets wobbly when walking down the stairs. Ben comforts her and offers to get a glass of water. At the church, Ben asks Martyn about Liz. Ben needs Martyn to do him a favor. He has told Ann he is lecturing in France. He wants Martyn to deliver some postcards or letters to her. The envelopes are numbered and they need to be delivered in order to make sense. Ben tells him that they’re in a relationship. Ben asks if he is getting any sex before saying they need to do something about that. He tells Martyn about his next speech for Peter. Martyn begins delivering the postcards to Ann. Simon and Ann-Marie come over to visit Ann who tells them that Ben is away. She is asked about the dizzy spells. Ann says she went to the doctor and it has nothing to do with her heart.

Ann-Marie says she wants to check the house. She looks through the window and sees Ann playing outside with the others. Ben takes pictures of himself shirtless. When he returns, he brings Ann a present. It is a picture of himself. Ben admits he may be going somewhere. It is only when he is there that he thinks life is worth the pain. Later, Ann finds a message on her mirror telling her to pray for Ben because he loves her. She finds another cryptic message moments later. After going out, she comes home and finds more messages. She wakes up on the bed and finds Ben stirring something into a glass of water. He claims it is just vitamins. Ben says she wasn’t very well. He came in and found her and that’s why he made the drink.

Ben asks her to stand up and look in the mirror. He asks if she sees how astonishing she is. Ann-Marie meets her mother to check on her. Ann explains that she feels great sometimes and not so great other days. She goes on to say Ben is a wonderful man. Ann confesses that Ben is more than a friend. Ben has asked her to marry him and she is going to say yes. Ann-Marie admits she isn’t happy with that. Ann asks if she thinks she is just a silly old woman. Anne-Marie explains she can’t be happy about it because she doesn’t know Ben. Ann gets upset. At home, Ann wants to write a letter to Ann-Marie to explain about the house. Ben offers to help and suggests she can say how she has been feeling sad and tired all the time.

Ben gives her communion wafers and says they’ve been blessed. Before he leaves, he deletes a voicemail message from Ann-Marie. In the middle of the night, Ann-Marie wakes up and says something is wrong because she didn’t call her back. She goes over to her aunt’s house and finds that the lights aren’t working. Once Ann Moore-Martin is found, she is taken to the hospital. Ann-Marie fixes the bed and has the fuse replaced to get the lights working again. Ann-Marie and her husband run into Ben who asks if she is dead. She refuses to discuss her aunt with him. She tells him that it is inappropriate for him to be there so he should leave now. He is asked to leave his key to the house.

Once Ben leaves, Ann-Marie says she thinks she needs to talk to the police. She speaks to DS Natalie Golding of the Thames Valley Police. Ann-Marie doesn’t care about the house. She just wants her aunt so Ben can have the house. She wonders if her aunt has been poisoned. Later, Ben comes over to pick up his stuff. Ann-Marie won’t tell him how Ann is doing, but she says he has a folder of documents to return. He returns them and says he brought some presents for Ann. Ann-Marie asks if he got her aunt to change her will. Ben says yes. He also thinks he is in love with her. When she says if he might need help, Ben says yes. Ann knows the police are coming back and they’ve been there a lot. Later, Ann-Marie meets Natalie and asks if she was told about the white powder.

She says yes and they’ll start searching for traces in the house. Later, Ann learns that she did get her will changed back since the solicitor came to see her. She says Ben didn’t ask her for anything. She just seemed to want to give him all of it. Ann-Marie claims he was manipulating her. Ann explains why she feels ashamed. At home, Ann-Marie gets a call from the matron at the care home. Simon asks what they should do now. Ann-Marie tells Natalie that she kept thinking about her aunt’s dog Rosie. She wonders if Ben was practicing on her. She tells Natalie about Peter. Ben visits Martyn and Liz. He thought they could drink to the memory of Ann.

 

The Sixth Commandment Review

The second episode of The Sixth Commandment exhibited a noticeable quality drop compared to the first episode. Many scenes in this episode felt unrealistic and some were even cringey, such as Ben trying to be scary with the sword. That was pointless considering he never killed anyone that way and was added for dramatic effect.

This was supposedly written to showcase the victims, but it has been difficult to genuinely empathize with them. That could be related to the fact that there are only four episodes and one episode each for the victims. Really, it is hard to even know who Peter and Ann were because the show only focused on Ben deceiving them.

Most of the scenes are obviously dramatized to the point that many of them are awkwardly unrealistic. The performances are mostly fine, but the story and characters don’t have enough depth. The Sixth Commandment only skims the surface and never lets viewers get too close to the actual story, the characters, or what they went through.

The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Sixth Commandment can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here.