As the second episode of The Tower begins, we see PC Lizzie Adama (Tahirah Sharif) walking alone while DS Sarah Collins (Gemma Whelan) talks to Tim about going public with her name. When DCI Tim Bailie (Karl Davies) asks for Steve’s advice, Steve (Jimmy Akingbola) believes it would be wise for Tim to make a public appeal to her while wearing a uniform. Since Carrie and Younes aren’t talking to the detectives, Tim still believes Farah was a crazy girl who got herself killed and killed an officer. Tim promises to help bring in Lizzie if Sarah leaves Shaw (Emmett Scanlan) alone. Lizzie walks past a police car that flips on its siren yet continues. Younes (Nabil Elouahabi) watches a new report with video of Farah (Lola Elsokari) walking with Ben (Rex Parry) toward Portland Tower. Tim meets with Kieran at the station to tell him about the public appeal.

Tim asks whether there is anything else going on. Kieran says no. He insists he just doesn’t want to lose another officer. Moments later, Sarah meets with Julie Woodson (Camilla Beeput) who has a different opinion regarding Farah. She doesn’t like the way the media has been calling Farah disturbed because that is wrong. She explains that Farah was kind and often looked out for the weaker kids that were bullied. She goes on to say her father was a driver for a British NGO in Libya and they supported his asylum application. However, Farah had to spend two years in a refugee camp and her mom died around that time. She suspects Farah would’ve taken the little boy if someone had done something really bad to her. She believes she can find the answers by figuring out who hurt Farah.

Sarah calls Steve to tell him to look at the police interviews to see if he can find what set Farah off. During the police interview, Younes claims Hadley (Nick Holder) said racist things to his daughter when she got home from school. He allegedly referred to her as Little Miss Jihadi and her father as Mohammed Bin Laden. Lizzie has to calm him down by explaining his complaint will be dealt with by someone else at a later time. DC Alice Parker (Harriet Webb) read their statements and never found anything racist. Then, we jump back seven days before the fall. Lizzie meets with Hadley at the pub to tell him about the complaint against him. Hadley denies everything. He tells her about his upcoming board for the training school because he wants to get out of police work. He is worried the complaint will prevent him from being on the board. He wants Lizzie to say she was there and heard nothing.

When Kieran enters, he eyeballs Lizzie. In the present, Sarah and Steve run into Pc Arif Johar (Michael Karim) and Sarah uses that opportunity to ask him a few questions. He believes Lizzie might’ve wanted to be alone for a bit since she was so close with Hadley. As for Hadley, he isn’t surprised about the complaints since he was outrageous. On his first day, Hadley told him half of people would hate him because he is Asian although he gave him credit for trying. He admits Hadley looked out for him and he loved him for it. Back in the past, Kieran sits with Lizzie before they begin talking about the bad guy he has been looking for. When she decides to leave, Kieran offers to give her a ride. As they drive along, Kieran asks her about the racist complaint and whether she was with Hadley all the time. She admits they weren’t together the whole time.

Kieran promises it won’t be a big deal since Hadley can handle it. Then, he invites her to come with him for a drink. Arif helps Sarah load the box in her vehicle before she asks him who he loved. He says it was Hadley, Lizzie, and Kieran and he doesn’t want them to get into trouble. In a flashback, Lizzie and Kieran have sex at his flat. Sarah meets with Alice and another officer to tell them about Lizzie’s affair with Kieran although Alice doesn’t think it is a big deal. They argue about the evidence briefly until Sarah checks Lizzie’s statement. She finds that Lizzie had two statements. The first didn’t mention anything about the racist language. The second was made a few days later and it backed up Hadley’s claim that he never said anything.

She tells everyone to leave and get some sleep because they’re all tired. She is going to ask for surveillance of Kieran Shaw once again. She takes a shower while Lizzie sits in a café. Sarah watches Tim on television and Lizzie hears this as well. Since it mentions her name and shows her picture, she decides to leave the café in a hurry. Tim calls Sarah to complain about her going over his head to get surveillance on Shaw from DCS Russell. She tells him about the affair, but he reminds her that isn’t a crime. He also reveals Russell agrees with him and her request to put Shaw under surveillance has been denied. Sarah arrives at work wearing Angie’s blouse and tells Steve about Russell’s decision. They wonder what made Lizzie change her mind and finally back up her partner. We jump back three days before the fall and a man helps Lizzie break a door.

Lizzie searches the property and finds Cosmina Baicu (Adrianna Pavlovska) who has been beaten badly. Once Hadley arrives, they try to convince Cosmina to go to the hospital. Sarah visits Kieran to ask what case Lizzie was working on the 18th of April. Kieran explains that was the day Lizzie ran into Laszlo Kovacs (Alex Skarbek). Kieran says they encountered Cosmina and showed what good cops they were. Cosmina admits Laszlo is her pimp and takes more than he should. Kovacs enters and complains about her calling the police on him. Lizzie grabs her baton to defend herself and Cosmina, but Kovacs uses a handgun to take control of the situation. Kovacs takes some stuff before stealing Lizzie’s bodycam and leaving. Hadley returns and learns about his visit. They call it on. Hadley returns off his bodycam and squats down near Cosmina. He threatens to have her sectioned under the Mental Health Act if she doesn’t go to the hospital.

Outside, Hadley tells Lizzie to go to the hospital with Cosmina. Then, he asks her to add to her statement to defend him. She admits the Little Miss Jihadi thing sounds like something he would say although he denies it. She admits she doesn’t think he is racist while he says he despises racists. Hadley reminds her of the shoplifter she searched without turning on her bodycam. He told her to turn it on and do it again to follow the regulations. He backed her in his statement by calling it a lawful search. Sarah goes to Kieran to ask him about Lizzie’s second statement. He doesn’t like being accused of pushing Lizzie to add to her statement. They learn that DS Jack O’Neill (Kent Riley) is over the murder case. Kieran meets with Lizzie at the hospital and tells her well done. He believes they’ll be able to grab Kovacs too although she should be careful until then.

He asks if she talked to Hadley before apologizing and promising to never mention it again. He encourages her to go home but she promises to stay until Cosmina comes out. Alice and Sarah meet with Jack who admits the Lizzie situation is a mess. Lizzie checks on Cosmina only to find that she has passed away due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Jack tells them how Hadley managed to convince Cosmina to get into the ambulance. Lizzie told Jack how Hadley threatened to section her until the Mental Health Act. When asked about the racist language complaint, Jack says he is glad it is gone. He says boo-bloody-hoo because they’re trying to convict a killer. Younes has called to complain about them trying to turn Lizzie into a saint when she isn’t. Next, Lizzie tells Hadley that he threatened to section Cosmina. She also learned that Younes’s complaint could hurt their murder case.

He believes they’ll catch Kovacs and he’ll go down for life. He admits he was wrong to pressure her and promises he’ll be fine. That night, Lizzie adds to her original statement. She goes to Kieran to tell him what she did and they have sex in the shower. When Sarah meets with Younes, he wonders why Carrie hated him so much and whether it was his skin color, rubbish bins, or motorbike. Sarah tells him that he isn’t telling her anything so she steps outside for air. Lizzie calls Kieran to tell him she is going to turn herself in. He encourages her to talk to him first. Sarah tells Younes he’ll have to trust her to find out what happened to Farah. He says he’ll never truth British police. She reminds him that he isn’t innocent here.

She wonders why he put his daughter in charge at the station. He begins saying it was his fault. Younes finally says the big policeman took his daughter’s phone. In a flashback, Lizzie gets a call from Farah asking why she decided to add to her statement. As a result, her dad is going back in and will be charged. Farah doesn’t think Lizzie could’ve heard anything. Farah reveals she had her phone on in her pocket and she isn’t going to let her dad go down. She believes that gives her enough leverage for Lizzie to help her. Farah wants to meet at Portland Tower. Steve calls Sarah to tell her about Shaw and Lizzie getting ready to meet. She tells him about the phone. Sarah wants to get a warrant to search Shaw’s stuff and she is adamant she’ll win this time. She tells Tim about it although he doesn’t think she had enough evidence. She asks why he seems so deadest on protecting Shaw so he tells her to be careful. He refuses to give her the warrant.

Sarah says Lizzie will come forward and tell them what happened on top of the tower. She wonders what else Hadley might’ve done if he was willing to take a cellphone from a young girl. He is warned it could create a crap storm if senior officers are shown to have impeded her investigation due to racism. Tim gives her the warrant and tells her she better find the phone. Lizzie meets with Kieran as the episode ends.

 

The Tower Review

The Tower has an interesting premise and most everyone involved has given a good performance thus far, but it seems to be only going through the motions. It really hasn’t touched me as anything other than mediocre while trying to use racism to shock. There is no real suspense, no sadness for the dead, and no drive for justice.

Unfortunately, it is a bland show that pretty much follows the gameplan too closely as if afraid to take chances. While not the worst show in the world, it will likely disappoint more fans than it will impress. The second episode scores a 6 out of 10. All recaps of The Tower will be available on Reel Mockery here.