At the beginning of the episode, Emma (Molly Windsor) and Daniel (Martin Compston) leave his apartment holding hands. Emma eventually makes her way back to Skye’s place. Emma tells her friend about Daniel and her feelings for him. Then, the conversation turns to Emma’s father Drew (John Gordon Sinclair) and the picture. Emma wonders how her father knew she had seen it. Emma asks her friend if she told her mom but Skye denies it. After that, we attend a strategy meeting with Trina (Morayo Akande), Neil (Michael Nardone), and the others. It is asked if there is a connection between Shuggie (John Clyde) killing Howie and the fire that killed the other two people.

There is no connection. It is believed that Brock killed Howie to get out of debt. He locked the door and set the fire to hide the murder. Once the found out the other two were dead, he killed himself by jumping from a bridge. Neil speaks with his boss about the photo of Emma’s parents. The boss says that they need to follow up on the dismemberment statement and not the picture. Emma goes to work and joins Louise (Anna Leong Brophy). They continue testing the drugs. Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) checks on in them briefly. She tells them that she won’t be around this afternoon because she has to discuss the fire report.

Next, Sarah sits down with Kathy (Jennifer Spence) and work on the MOOC stuff. Since the body was buried for a lengthy period of time, they wonder how much the others had to work with. Emma leaves work and meets with her father to talk about the picture. He isn’t sure why she wouldn’t ask him about it. She tells him about the strange man who visited his house and banged on the door. Dad explains that he went to visit his girlfriend that night because she was feeling a big jealous. Drew admits that they had sex together and Izzy took the photograph. They never completely stopped wanting to have sex so they kept doing it. Emma begins burning a candle on the table while the conversation continues.

Drew explains he was on the rig when Marie was killed meaning he couldn’t be responsible. Emma wants to know who told him about the photo. He doesn’t answer and he wants her to drop it. Drew asks Emma not to tell Jimmy (Phil McKee). She says she hasn’t but she has told the police. Drew believes she’ll come to regret that. Later, Emma gets a call from Neil but she doesn’t answer it. Daniel meets up with her seconds later. They get into Daniel’s car and start talking about love. Moments later, Daniel gets a call from his father (Vincent Regan). They chat about the fire and protecting their construction business. Patrick is going to meet with them at 4 o’clock.

After the call ends, Daniel and Emma chat about the nightclub Secrets. Daniel was the foreman on the job so detectives will want to speak with him. Neil follows up on the evidence before calling Kathy. Trina enters and tells him that someone is waiting for him at the front desk. The call ends and Neil meets with Drew. Emma returns to work late and Louise doesn’t care. Emma makes up for it by offering to do the cleaning up tonight so Louise can leave early. Drew gives Neil the photograph. He also tells him about the affair and Marie’s reason for having one. Drew denies that Izzy ever joined in with them. Before the meeting ends, Neil asks if they can get this done in statement form and take a DNA sample from Drew.

Drew doesn’t hesitate to say okay. After that, Kathy prepares to be filmed. The photographer asks her about Pia and the postcard sender but Kathy pretends she doesn’t know what he is talking about. Neil calls her and asks for her opinion about Marie’s case. They agree to chat about it later. Sarah joins the meeting about the fire report and learns about the victims’ families and their opinions about the case. Some want to sue. Most of the blame is shifting to Daniel’s construction company. They want to prosecute Daniel and his father for the fire. During this time, Daniel and his dad speak with a lawyer about their situation.

When Sarah returns to work, Kathy tells her that Marie’s remains were examined by a trainee pathologist. Some of the bones were never removed and they might’ve missed more. Daniel sits outside of the Secret nightclub. He receives a voicemail learning he is going to be charged with culpable homicide. Then, he speaks with Emma. Daniel tells her that he is going to go home. Next, Jimmy gets a visit from Trina and Neil. They speak about the murder and Jimmy reveals he never saw the bones after they were discovered. He doesn’t remember anyone mentioning dismemberment until Emma did. He says she hasn’t seen Izzy in many years and she looked like a street junkie when he saw her. Jimmy claims Izzy was a bad influence on Marie.

Neil tells Jimmy that Drew says he slept with Marie while they were together but Neil doesn’t believe it. He has to accept it when he is shown the picture. Julie (Neve McIntosh) calls Emma. Julie goes nuts about Emma speaking with the police and causing them to bring the case back up. After that, Daniel and his dad, Philip, go to court for their initial hearing. After it concludes, they’re allowed to leave. Patrick tells them that he cannot work for both of them. He tells them not to discuss the case and that they could end up in jail. Moments later, Neil and Trina visit Julie. She tells them that Marie was drunk so anything could’ve happened with anyone.

She also thought Marie might’ve run away until the body was found. Julie agreed to take Emma after that. Meanwhile, Emma tells Louise about the results from the drug testing. Julie tells Neil that she believes they would’ve found the answers already if they were any out there. She doesn’t believe Jimmy was involved although they argued. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. She says it couldn’t be Drew either because he was out on the rig. She only found out about the affair and she blames Drew for that. When Neil and Trina leaves, he tells her that they need to speak with Jimmy about that argument. Kathy tells Sarah about the evidence she has been asked to look over for Neil.

She says it is depressingly bad. Kathy finds out where Pia is so she rushes over right away. She apologizes to her and asks if they can meet up that night. Pia says no since she has found other people to hang out with. Emma tells Daniel he is a good person before offering to introduce him to Skye. They go inside and Skye confronts them with a knife. She suspects that they’ve come for the bed. Emma is forced to get her belongings and leave. Once they leave, Trina takes a DNA sample from Izzy. She tells them how difficult it was to lose Marie before looking at the photograph. Neil asks her about the dismemberment statement but Izzy pretends she doesn’t remember anything about it.

Emma cries as she drives away with Daniel. She tells him that Skye was her best friend. She defends her friend and says she is scared of what she might find out about her mother. Emma tells him that the tattoo on her hand is for her mother. Daniel asks about the bed and learns it is connected to Emma’s father. Neither understands what is going on. Emma moves in with Daniel for the time being. She shows him the picture of the bed. Then, she explains that Skye lied about speaking to her mother about the bed. This convinces Daniel that it might have evidence on it. Daniel encourages Emma to call the police before they can destroy the bed. He says he’ll back her up.

 

Traces Review

I am not a big fan of Traces. I just can’t find much to like about it. The show is lifeless just like the characters. While it isn’t the worst show I’ve watched, there is nothing that makes it stand out. It is cliché from the top to the bottom. Cliché from the story down to the out of control PC agenda. I understand that these shows are going to have PC slants. When that goes wrong, it turns a bad series into an unbearable series.

It really takes away from the realism factor but that isn’t even the biggest problem here. There are too many to mention. Not much has changed with Jennifer Spence. She is by far the worst actress in Traces but I am starting to think Molly Windsor isn’t too far behind her. I really like Laura Fraser but she has appeared in some real duds recently. She is too good for this show and needs to choose her roles more wisely.

There is nothing that compels me to continue watching Traces. I have no empathy for the characters or the things they’re going through. I don’t care about Emma’s relationship with Daniel because they’ve only known one another for a short period of time. I could care less about Kathy’s relationship with Pia. The show is a bit too ambitious juggling two cases simultaneously and neither one is remotely interesting. Finally, the show isn’t realistic at all. Emma is supposed to be this smart forensics researcher or whatever.

Yet, we’re supposed to believe that she is a party girl from a bad family who is constantly making terrible decisions. The character’s actions make her seem like a teenager. I’ll finish the season but I don’t think it’ll get another. The show had potential but the execution is far from perfect. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Previous recaps of Traces can be found on Reel Mockery!