As the second series of Time begins, Orla O’Riordan (Jodie Whittaker) rushes to get the kids ready for school. Once she’s in a prison transport vehicle, Orla worries about her kids and whether they’ve been picked up from school. Kelsey Morgan (Bella Ramsey) yells at her that she’ll get a phone call later. Another prisoner yells that they’re being taken to Carlingford. Orla panics while Kelsey yells for her to stop it. On night one, Orla and the others are checked into the prison. Kelsey asks an officer to make sure she is down for 40ml of methadone. The nurse informs her they have a maximum of 30ml. Kelsey insists that isn’t enough because her heroin habit is worse this time.

Abi Cochrane (Tamara Lawrance) transfers from another prison. Orla tells an officer that she’s worried about her kids. She thinks she can get the governor to tell the magistrate to let her go. She is told she will get to call Maggie soon, but she won’t get her phone back until she is released. Kelsey is told she’s pregnant. She asks Abi later if the pregnancy tests are ever wrong. Abi tells her she’s pregnant. PO Carter tells them they’ll do their induction there and stay for about a week unless they get into trouble. PO Martin lets Orla call her mom, Elizabeth (Karen Henthorn). Orla tells her she got six months for fiddling leccy. She doesn’t want her mom to have her kids. The PO agrees to give her two phone calls tomorrow to handle it. Her mom agrees to leave now. PO Martin (Lisa Millett) reminds Orla not to call her love but she puts her in a cell.

Abi can’t believe Kelsey is using drugs she had hidden even though she is pregnant. In the middle of the night, Orla tells other prisoners she is in for fiddling the leccy. Kelsey is in for drugs and Abi is in for life for killing her sister-in-law. Orla tries to clean herself and get used to having a period in prison. In the morning, Kelsey learns there is nothing down for her. The nurse tells her she doesn’t need it since she was observed sleeping like a baby. Kelsey tells her about the truth. The nurse warns her not to do that. Marie Louise O’Dell (Siobhan Finneran) visits Orla and explains she’s a nun with the chaplaincy team. Marie thinks she should tell her kids the truth if she wants them to visit her. She takes Orla to her office so she can make a call to her mom who says she brought the kids home. Orla worries her mom will get drunk and harm the kids.

Elizabeth argues that the alternative is they’ll get taken into care and they’ll get separated. She promises not to drink until Orla gets out, but Orla doesn’t believe her. Elizabeth agrees to bring the kids to see Orla even though it’s sixty miles away. All Orla did was try to keep the kids warm. After the call, Orla tells Marie that her mom is an alcoholic. Abi sees Orla when she goes back inside. She follows Orla who asks if she can have a toilet roll. Abi helps her before leaving. Later, Abi asks Kelsey about the drugs and whether they also did a blood test. Kelsey insists she’ll get an abortion if she is pregnant. Abi reminds her that judges don’t like handing out long sentences to pregnant women. Kelsey says he has to because she had a kilo of a class A drug. Still, Abi believes the judge would go easier on a pregnant woman. Kelsey gets high.

Abi wakes her later believing she stole her hair oil and cream and swapped them for drugs. Abi steps into the hallway to tell everyone and find out who else was involved. When no one confesses, she goes back to Kelsey and hits her. Kelsey tells her she swapped the stuff with Tanya Helsby (Faye McKeever). Abi gets her stuff from Tanya’s cell and confronts her. Once she returns to her cell, she forces Kelsey to leave. Sarah Duddy enters Abi’s cell and tells her she knows who she killed. She knows it wasn’t her sister-in-law. Abi questions what she’s going to do with that information. Sarah admits it depends on how Abi looks out for her. Abi says she’ll think about it. Sarah takes some of her oil before leaving. Marie asks Abi if she’s ever tried to tell anyone why she did. She argues that Abi would be in control if she could do that.

Abi asks if she’s gay. She’s had four years of prison and had prison chaplains fighting over her. None of them have said a single thing about themselves. She questions why they’re really there. Abi goes outside where she asks Sarah for two minutes. She warns Sarah that she’ll kill her if she tells anyone. Abi is doing life so a few more years won’t matter to her. Sarah understands. Tanya attacks Kelsey in her cell. Then, Orla and the others are told induction is over and they’re proper residents now. Orla, Kelsey, and Abi are told they’ll be in Block B or Windsor. There are five rooms with two or three women in each. They’ll also have a phone in their room, but they’ll need credits to use it. They’ll have 24-hour access to the kitchen, bathrooms, and the TV lounge unless they misbehave. Orla is roomed with Kelsey and Abi.

Abi warns Kelsey that robbing from Orla is robbing from her as well. Adam visits Kelsey. Orla gets a visit from her mom and kids. She gets upset when she learns that dogs sniffed her kids for drugs. Kesley tells Adam Muller (Nicholas Nunn) that she is pregnant and she’s going to keep it to get an easier sentence. She can care for the baby in the prison. Rob Cochrane (James Corrigan) tells Abi he’s selling the house so he brought papers for her to sign. He says he’ll split the money. Abi was hoping he’d just come to see her. Elizabeth promises she hasn’t had a drink since the night Orla came in there. Then, a woman with Sarah warns Orla that her kids are sitting by Abi who killed her own baby. Abi storms out as the woman continues yelling at her. An officer offers to move Abi somewhere safer, but Abi insists she is fine. Visitation ends moments later.

Kelsey asks Abi if it’s true. PO Carter reminds them she is no different than anyone else in the prison. Moments later, Tanya confronts Abi. She tells Kelsey she wants what her visitor gave her. They rough up Kelsey and forcibly take what she has. In their cell, Abi tells Orla and Kelsey that they’ll lock the door at night. If they get up for anything, they’ll wake her because they’ll cut her throat. Next, Orla calls her boss and pleads with him not to sack her. When he refuses, she begins blaming him for her situation. After the call, Orla lashes out at Kelsey and Abi. She tells PO Martin she doesn’t want to share a room with a baby killer. The officer tells her to fill in an application. Abi gets food and sits with the others. Tanya says she got her mate to Google her and she knows her husband is a surgeon.

Tanya raised all three of her kids on nothing and loved them. Abi gets up and leaves. Kelsey is taken out of the prison for her scan. She remains handcuffed when they enter the clinic. Kelsey tells the nurse she’s on 30ml of methadone a day. She gets to see her baby’s heartbeat. Abi checks on her when she returns to her cell. Later, Kelsey tells the nurse she wants to get off the methadone altogether. Elizabeth visits Orla to tell her that the kids are in foster care because she was drunk. Orla gets up and leaves. She calls and tries to do something about it only to be told she’ll have to bring it up with the duty officer in the morning. Tanya approaches her and tells her to see the governor. She recommends cutting her arm so she can see the governor. Tanya gives her a blade before leaving.

The officers find out as Orla yells she needs to see the governor. Instead, she gets to see the deputy governor. He admits Social Services sent two letters and neither reached her. The deputy governor (Dana Haqjoo) warns her she’ll never get her kids back as long as she lives with her mother. Orla says she had a house and a job when she came in there, but she has nothing now. Abi thinks about her baby in the shower. Someone takes her towel and another prisoner refuses to let her borrow hers. Abi is forced to walk past the other inmates naked. After getting dressed, she confronts the others and tells them they’re wonderful mothers. She ends up getting into a fight with Tanya and getting the best of her. Later, Tanya removes the blade from her razor and uses it to make a weapon.

Kelsey sees her try to get into her cell in the middle of the night. The next day, she tells PO Martin that Tanya has a blade leading to Tanya’s cell being searched. Donna Mills is told to leave while Tanya is forced to stay. Once they find the weapon, Tanya is told they’re moving her. As she’s led away, she blames Abi for telling on her. Abi tells the others that she didn’t do it. Day 91, Orla tells Kelsey she is all set. Kelsey insists she’ll stay off the drugs. Orla hopes to never see them again. Donna wants Abi to check out a lump she has since she used to be a nurse. Donna catches her off-guard and slashes her with a blade for grassing on Tanya. Kelsey finds out what has happened.

 

Time Review

The first season of Time was spectacular and emotionally driven making the second a must. The characters, especially Sean Bean’s Mark Cobden, were sympathetic despite what they may have done in the past. Series two starts on a similar note with Orla going to prison for fiddling with her electricity. She is joined by a pregnant drug user named Kelsey and a baby killer named Abi.

The opening episode quickly tackled numerous social points, including criminal justice, drug abuse, and pregnancy behind bars. These things were reasonably well done considering the environment. The performances are strong with this being a bright spot for Bella Ramsey, but the others have done well in their respective roles too. The only possible hitch in the first episode is an inability to genuinely sympathize with the primary trio of inmates, Orla, Abi, and Kelsey.

The series still has two episodes to grab viewers emotionally, but most were already to that point in the first series. In particular, it seems the actions of the characters only amplify their problems and those actions aren’t always logical. As an example, Orla could’ve at least had something else planned for her kids instead of going to court thinking she’d go free. Her attitude behind bars is also a bit less sympathetic than Mark’s attitude in series one.

Abi will also be difficult to cheer for as a child killer. It’s too early to say about Kelsey although she didn’t come off as completely sympathetic in the first episode. Despite the emotional connection not being there yet, the episode was a good starting point to establish the dynamics of the prison and the characters themselves. It scores a 6.5 or maybe even a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Time can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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