As the second episode of The Suspect begins, Catherine McCain (Tara Lee) approaches Dr. Joe O’Loughlin (Aidan Turner) at the hospital because her arm is bleeding. She apologizes and explains she wanted the pain to help block it all out. Joe insists she’ll have to come see him professionally if she wants his help. In the present, he says it was clear that the self-harming was getting worse when Catherine came to see him. She was his client for ten months. Although the process was slow, the self-harming did stop. DI Ruiz (Shaun Parkes) suggests it only stopped when she accused him of sexually assaulting her under hypnosis. He was suspended because that is a normal part of any allegation. Joe can’t explain why she made the allegation although it is common for some clients to become infatuated with their therapists. He tells them how she started wearing perfume and tried to kiss him once.

Once, she tried to undress in the room, but Joe claims to have stopped her both times. DS Riya Devi (Anjli Mohindra) asks if he has a habit of befriending his clients. Joe says no. Then, they begin talking about Cara (Bronagh Waugh) who is an ex-client of Joe’s. He claims Cara is helping with research. Riya says she is attractive and damaged like Catherine. Vincent wants Joe to tell them about Friday the 23rd which is the day Catherine disappeared. It was a usual morning and he has clients until about three. At four, he went to the hospital to meet Dr. Owens who confirmed his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Joe recalls leaving around five. He just went walking because he was trying to take it all end. Joe eventually ended up in Soho where he went to a few pubs, but he can’t name those pubs. It was a bad time for him so he got stupidly drunk. Joe claims he stayed in town for a few hours before getting home around midnight.

Vincent asks if he had any communications with Catherine since she made those allegations five years ago. Joe confesses Catherine applied for a job to be his receptionist several weeks before any of this happened. DI Devi puts him under caution and tells him his rights before Joe begins trying to explain why he didn’t say anything earlier. He says it didn’t feel real and it was coming on top of his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Vincent wonders if there is anything else he hasn’t told them. Joe says no. When Devi asks why a woman who accused him of sexual assault who apply to be his receptionist, Joe admits he doesn’t know. Joe and Vincent argue about it briefly before Joe admits it sounds crazier out loud. DJ (Tom McKay) checks out the pipes while Julianne (Camilla Beeput) watches. She has to step away when she hears the phone ringing. Joe tells her that everything is fine even though none of them understand it.

Once the call ends, Joe tells his attorney that there might be a possibility one of his patients is involved in this somehow. He is warned he cannot withhold information in a murder investigation and he has already set off alarms by not saying he recognized the victim in the morgue. Joe doesn’t have any evidence so he isn’t ready to break doctor-patient confidentiality just yet. He thanks Simon before leaving. At work, Bobby Moran (Bobby Schofield) tells Joe that his father went to work and didn’t come back when he was eight. They’d go to the football games sometimes. When fights would break out, police would charge in on horses. Bobby knows he should’ve been scared, but he wasn’t since he was with his father. He denies that his father abandoned him and tells Joe he knows nothing about him. As for his mother, he doesn’t want to remember her because he hasn’t seen her in years. Bobby is glad that she is dying of cancer.

His mom would stay out late while they’d wait up for her. His dad died little by little. Bobby describes it as death by a thousand cuts. He believes his mother should die like that because it would be slow and painful. Bobby confesses he’d like to watch, but he’d say nothing to her. Joe questions how many times she’d have to stab herself before she died. He suggests she’d only get to stab herself 21 times. Bobby insists it is just a random number. He shows Joe the whale carving that he made and explains it helps keep him calm in situations like this. He gives the whale to Joe before leaving. Dr. Owens (Adam James) tells Joe he had to tell them about the accusation because it is a murder infestation.

He asks Joe to sit down so they can try another finger exercise. As Joe begins exercising his fingers, they talk about Bobby who seems overwhelmed with violent desires to harm women. The way he wants to watch his mother die mirrors Catherine’s murder. Owens makes him admit that he doesn’t know of any connection between Bobby and Catherine. Once he asks about the whale carving, Owens warns him that doctors can become obsessed with their patients too. Vincent suggests searching the canal since it runs right along the murder scene. They’ll let him spend some money on the case now that they know she is a nurse instead of a prostitute. Devi reveals the last two sightings of Catherine are at Euston Station at 3:27 and 4:17. The latter sighting was from a street camera half a mile away. Cameras show Joe entering and exiting Soho pubs alone. No footage shows Catherine in the Soho area that afternoon or night.

They discuss her roommate saying he thought she was seeing a man in London although nobody knows anything about him. A purse is pulled from the canal. Joe returns home where he finds his daughter Charlie drawing a whale and using her goldfish as a model. Julianne explains that everyone in class is making something for the school auction tomorrow evening. Later that night, Julianne and Joe talk about Bobby and everything else. Joe finds it odd that Catherine applied to be his receptionist and her body being found in the cemetery on the one day of the year they’re there. Julianne reminds him that it is the police’s job to find an explanation. She thinks they need to find time for their problems. Julianne confesses that she feels bad she wasn’t there when he got his diagnosis. She felt hopeless when she couldn’t get in touch with him while he was drinking himself stupidly. Joe gets a call from Dr. Harry Webster (Joshua Parris) from East Middlesex A&E because he has Bobby Moran.

Joe learns that the police found a battered Bobby lying on Waterloo Bridge. Julianne doesn’t think he has to go, but Joe says he does. As Joe prepares to leave, Julianne notices that the goldfish is dead. At the hospital, Harry tells Joe that Bobby upset the other patients and kept saying he wanted to wash the blood from his hands. Joe approaches him to ask what he was doing on the bridge.  Bobby claims he was going to bed with Jenni who is his fiancée. He is worried that she won’t marry him. When Joe asks if she is okay, Bobby insists he wouldn’t do anything like that. Bobby tells him about the windmills and how you can hear them if you put your ear to the ground. He was listening to them on the bridge. He hears screaming as the blades cut the air. Bobby might hurt people in dreams, but he thinks Joe knows he isn’t bad. He goes on to say hate is nothing and this woman keeps turning up. Joe asks if she has self-harming scars. Bobby blurts out, “Bobby, don’t tell lies!”

Joe tries to get answers from him, but Bobby says got a warning and needs to return to work. As he leaves, he denies that the woman’s name is Catherine. Joe believes he smells Chloroform coming from Bobby so he asks the doctor about it. Joe calls Vincent to ask if he missed something on the pathology report. He asks if they found Chloroform on Catherine. Then, he questions if any other women have been reported missing in the last 24 hours. Vincent tries to find out what is going on, but Joe ends the call without saying. The next day, Joe approaches Eddie Barton (Gary Oliver) to talk about Bobby’s psycho report for his sentencing. He gives him the paperwork and hopes to ask a few questions. Eddie says it’d drive him over the edge trying to understand Bobby and others like him. He doesn’t ask his clients to tell him the truth or expect it. Joe asks if he had a history of violent behavior because he worries Bobby is hiding his past from him.

As far as Eddie knows, it is his first offense and he refuses to speculate. Joe asks who is paying for him since he isn’t in the legal aid business. Eddie refuses to say. Later, Julianne and Joe attend the school auction. Joe bids it up to 100 pounds until the auctioneer receives a sealed bid of 500 pounds. Joe wants to bid more, but Julianne refuses to let him. After the auction, Joe approaches the auctioneer to see if he can find out who bought his daughter’s picture. The auctioneer won’t tell him. Julianne has to pull Joe away when it gets heated. She claims it was just a generous parent wanting to help the school before encouraging Joe to take some time off for work. She urges him to tell Charlie too. Vincent continues watching CCTV footage of Joe before Devi says they interviewed two men who were with Catherine the night she disappeared. They talked to her in a pub about half a mile away from where her body was discovered.

Catherine supposedly left the club between 10:30 and 10:45 and was going to meet someone. Vincent gets a message confirming Catherine’s body tested positive for Chloroform. They question how Joe knew. They meet with Joe at the hospital the following day because they want to know about the Chloroform. Joe doesn’t want to break patient-doctor confidentiality, but Devi says he has to if a client communicates plausible intention to do serious harm. Joe suggests otherwise. He tells them about smelling Chloroform on the patient on the night he called Vincent though. Joe won’t tell them his name although he explains why he is suspicious. Vincent threatens to arrest him for perverting the course of justice. Joe relents, shows them Bobby’s files, and says he has an appointment later today. Vincent says Bobby is a seriously disturbed individual if Joe is right. When Bobby arrives for the appointment, the cops pick him up in connection with the murder of Catherine McCain.

Joe watches and asks Vincent not to tell Bobby that he tipped him off. Vincent promises he won’t. Joe tells Dr. Rachel Fenwick (Sian Clifford) that means they’re done with Bobby now. She is glad since it is not a good look for the practice having clients dragged away in chains. She asks him about the wedding speech and pleads with him not to back out. Fenwick insists you can’t save all of them. Joe visits the cemetery and remembers Catherine telling him she has been writing about him in her journal. It sometimes seems like he is the only person who listens and cares. At home, Joe tells Charlie about his condition. When DJ arrives, he asks Joe for help with the boiler. They carry it inside as DJ tells him about the warranty. As they try to carry it down the stairs, Joe falls back but says he is okay. While watching Charlie play soccer, DI Devi arrives to arrest Joe on the suspicion of the murder of Catherine McCain. As Joe sits in a jail cell, Julianne watches a report about his arrest.

DJ has to run off a photographer. When he returns, he tells her there is a real nightmare under her floorboards. If he doesn’t deal with it right away, she is going to have a flood on her hands soon. Julianne insists she is okay just before DJ leaves. In an interview room, Vincent accuses Joe of serving up Bobby to divert their attention. He says the notes don’t make any sense because Bobby doesn’t have a job or a fiancée. He claimed Joe pushed him into telling him about a woman named Catherine who self-harmed. The A&E doctor said only Joe smelled Chloroform on him. Vincent says Bobby couldn’t have killed Catherine because they have numerous witnesses who can verify where he was when she disappeared. Bobby told him about the number 21 a month before the murder and he kept pushing him about it. Vincent asks where he was after ten that night. Catherine’s phone records show the last call she ever made was to his office at 6:37.

Joe learns about her bag being found in the canal and her phone. She had an appointment on the night she disappeared with a JO which they believe is Joe. Vincent thinks she was intent on ruining him because she didn’t get justice, but Joe denies assaulting her. Joe says they have nothing. They have to let him go because CPS don’t think they have enough yet. Vincent wants to check his client list to see if he abused any others or if they’ve gone missing. When Joe gets home, he accuses them of jumping to stupid conclusions. Julianne admits she didn’t see him pick up a spade and move it from his mother’s grave when they were at the cemetery. He says he did. She also lied to the police about him coming home around midnight.

She woke up at 4:30 and he was in the shower. She doesn’t believe he spent the whole night alone drinking. Julianne didn’t say anything before because she was scared he was having an affair, but she believes he met with Catherine. Joe says he met with Cara. He wanted to talk to someone about the diagnosis and couldn’t face telling her. He goes on to say he just wanted to destroy everything. She accuses him of having sex with her, having a shower, and getting in bed with her. Julianne asks if he used a condom before slapping him. She kicks him out so Joe moves in with Jack who pleads with him to go to the police and tell them where he was. Joe thinks it sounds bad and that no one would ever believe Cara. Joe refuses to give them the satisfaction of humiliating him. He is convinced Bobby is involved somehow. When Joe goes to work, Fenwick tells him that the partners would like to meet to talk things over with him because they heard about his arrest.

Meena tells him she just came to get her things since yesterday was her last day. Joe is surprised to see Bobby waiting for his session. When they go into Joe’s room, he tells Bobby he hasn’t been honest with him. Bobby gets aggressive and mentions what Joe told the police. He has been advised by his solicitor to sue for breach of confidentiality. He is there to make up his mind. Joe asks what he knows about Catherine, but Bobby is adamant he knows nothing about her. Joe wonders if someone is manipulating him and making him do bad things. Bobby says he is going to make his brief sue him before leaving. Devi tells Vincent that she is reading Joe’s book and learned he went into psychology to help people with common phobias because he watched his mom die in a house fire at 14. Vincent says Joe will need a new plan now that setting up Bobby didn’t work. He’ll try to convince everyone that he is being set up, but he’ll slip up and they’ll have him.

 

The Suspect Review

The second episode of The Suspect disclosed new details and further tightened the noose around Joe’s neck regardless of his innocence or guilt. Joe was convinced that Bobby was responsible for Catherine’s death, but Vincent believes otherwise because everything in Joe’s files about Bobby was wrong. Bobby was either lying to him or Joe has been concocting evidence to clear his name. At home, Julianne is beginning to doubt Joe’s innocence. At the very least, she suspects he slept with Cara on the night in question.

Truthfully, there are many possibilities here. Joe could be guilty and just trying to cover his tracks by placing the blame on Bobby or someone else. Bobby may be guilty and pointing the finger at Joe to clear himself. On the other hand, there is a possibility that someone else entirely is pulling the strings to get back at Joe for something he did. Personally, I have suspicions about the receptionist for some reason and maybe even Dr. Fenwick, but I think there is more to the receptionist angle.

As for the quality of the episode, it was mostly good. The performances from everyone were solid while most of the cinematography and camera work were great. There are moments when the camera tilts to an angle. I question the effectiveness and even purpose of that although it is different. It is a good way to transition into other scenes as long as it doesn’t focus on that for too long. Viewers will likely criticize the believability of the show and that is completely understandable since it is hard to imagine something like this happening.

It’s not quite gripping yet, but it is quickly getting closer to that. With a few more episodes, twists, and turns, this could get a lot better. The second episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Suspect can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work at this link.