As the episode begins, Prof Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) uses her computer while learning the Dundee Times has decided to publish the letter. Many found that surprising because of the letter’s racist content. Her daughter reads a section that says we’re pure and they’re not. She suspects the writer was lefthanded based on the memes all over TikTok about it. After her daughter imitates an explosion, Sarah finds an email from Emma Hedges (Molly Windsor) letting her know she won’t be in today or tomorrow because she has left Dundee. After the intro, we see Kathy Torrance (Jennifer Spence) putting her dog in her vehicle. When she arrives at work, she learns from Janine Muir (Andrea Hart) that there is an emergency summit in Sarah’s office.

Janine explains Emma has emigrated to love island and Sarah is losing her crap about it. Janine gives her the parcel that looks like a new pillow. Once Kathy enters Sarah’s office, she listens to Sarah complain that Emma asked her to keep her lab coat for her like she is some research director on sabbatical. Kathy says she is young and they do whatever they want although Sarah argues life doesn’t work like that. Kathy wonders if Emma thought Sarah would get it since she has guided her through all of this. Kathy reminds her that Phil went free and walked into the city where Emma lives. She believes Emma was scared and angry so she was not thinking straight when she bolted from the city.

After Sarah calms down, she promises she is alright. Janine comes in with drinks and snacks. Kathy excuses herself because she has a scene out at the Loch Lee regarding body parts. Before she leaves, Dean Jean Bruzzi (Badria Timimi) enters and asks Kathy if she could run up a time allocation survey because she wants to see how she allocates her professional time. After the dean leaves, Kathy is clearly distraught by having to do the survey although Sarah insists it won’t be that bad. Sarah learns about the pillows. Kathy asks Erika (Krysten Peck) what size shoe she is. She explains she is going on her first field trip so she will need some waders. A jawbone has washed up and Kathy believes it is the perfect opportunity for the study.

Erika is told to pack a toothbrush since they’re staying overnight. Once Sarah tells DCI Neil McKinven (Michael Nardone) about Emma doing a runner, Neil suggests Phil only has six months as a free man. He got lucky once, but he has the other trial to worry about. They claim he has no chance with the next trial. Sarah confesses she feels toppled by Emma’s decision and needs to have a word with herself about it. Neil understands that it hurts because he was there for her too. Then, they begin talking about the letter and the fact that Kitty believes the author is lefthanded. Sarah promises to get the black pill result to him later today. Neil insists Emma was lucky to have her.

Sarah kisses him quickly, laughs, and walks away. Superintendent Gavin Blair (Peter Forbes) complains about the Dundee Times spouting BS about moral responsibility to print. He says some of it is apparently a Mussolini quote. Although Neil says they don’t know that the author of the letter is the bomber, John (Jack Tarlton) says they don’t know it isn’t either. They’re waiting for lab results while counter terrorism is checking out racist cells. They’re checking alt-right chatrooms and whether it was from a group or individual. DS Safi Khurana (Rohit Kumar) says the Dundeats thing is virtually an algorithm since there is no name, face, address, or anything. He got in touch with someone from a call center who could tell him which riders were working the area on Sunday.

He didn’t want to give up the names because he claimed the information was classified. He contacted the riders who will have to voluntarily come to them. Neil complains they’ll have time to cover up for themselves. He is adamant that they need to talk to the riders today and find out who was delivering food near the bomb locations. They also need to find out how long they worked for Dundeats and whether they knew any of the victims. Blair says the victims were legal while Safi says they only had each other.

They grew up in a children’s home in Vietnam before moving here. They had no known enemies and some of their clients left praise for the victims on the salon’s social media page. As they drive along, Erika tells Kathy she has never been out of the city. Kathy would go insane if she never got out of the city. She reveals she lives in the middle of nowhere outside of Dundee. She doesn’t get lonely since it is all she knows. Her parents were farmers although not entirely by choice. It was a mixed-race marriage in Edmonton in the seventies. Meanwhile, Neil tells the others they need to flag them down and do whatever they can without getting run over. He recommends keeping it light and friendly because they need the riders to open up.

He gets a call from Sarah who reveals the contents of the black pill was Prazodone which is an atypical antidepressant. It is branded as Serapaxin. Neil says they can try to find out who is being prescribed it. Sarah recommends looking at all CCTV footage they have after the bomb because spree bombers sometimes come back to the scene to revel in their work. Kathy tells Erika about the missing kids with one of them being 16 and missing for eight months. She goes on to say young men usually go missing every year up here. They take off into the wilds to prove something or get away from something. It is devastating, but identifying the remains gives the family so much since it is an opportunity to know what happened.

Kathy suggests they allow the family to move on in some sense. Once they reach their destination, Kathy gets a text message from Pia Salvador (Joana Borja) asking if she wants to Facetime later tonight. After changing outfits, they join Charlie who shows them where the jawbone is located. Kathy explains to Erika that the jaw is usually the first part of a body to wash up since its shape means it’ll get caught on branches and other stuff. They’ll check dental records to see if they get an immediate match. Kathy puts Erika in charge of logging all other body parts, but Kathy will be responsible for picking them up. Erika is instructed to flag it, measure it, log it, and photograph it. Kathy tells her she’ll be fine although Erika doesn’t seem confident about that.

Sarah returns to Louise (Anna Leong Brophy) with fragments that were taken from one of the victims. They find glass shards from the store window and some from the glass jar that held the bomb. Sarah wonders how they can prove it is the actual jar that held the bomb since the jury would need to see that. They find a few pieces that fit back together like a puzzle. Kathy and Erika continue searching for pieces of the body. They find another bone that Erika manages to identify as a metacarpal. As they approach the riders, Neil says he wants contact details, pictures of the riders, and pictures of their bikes. He also wants to see their reactions when they see the picture. The riders tell them about the half an hour online training they get and the fact that people deal drugs out of these boxes.

Another says having a Dundeats box doesn’t mean they’re dealing food for Dundeats. One rider admits to blacking out their boxes because he didn’t want to promote the company’s name. Kathy pulls a part of the body from the water. She admits it isn’t just a lost kid since a rope has been tied around the ankles. After it is out of the water, Kathy says they’ll get it back to the mortuary to see if the body was dismembered. If the body went in whole, this is how it would behave. However, the rope on the ankles changes everything. They agree it is suspicious until proven otherwise and to hold off on the divers. Erika approaches Kathy to ask whether this is a murder now. Kathy says not necessary, but it is not for them to hypothesize or judge.

Sarah tells Louise there is black on the glass now that she has cleaned away the blood. There are two layers of black and a thin line of the incinerated condom. The condom is indistinguishable from the latex rim they found on the lid. They also have potassium chlorate residue from the bomb, but there isn’t much left since everything burns so hot and fast. Sarah points out that there is a third layer of black ink so they need to tell the sorters to look for other pieces of curved glass like this. Neil complains that the interviews with the riders gave them nothing besides some unhappy riders. He says they have someone wearing a uniform that lets them open doors.

When they go somewhere, nobody recognizes them. Erika finds another bone on the ground. Since it is the same length as the other one, she suspects it might be from the other hand. Then, they find a skull in the water with a missing jawbone. Neil wonders if the riders being angry could’ve been a motive for something bigger. Now, they know that having a Dundeats box doesn’t mean they work for Dundeats. Therefore, they’re going to need a list of every food delivery rider in the vicinity of the nail bar. Their list of suspects has just tripled. Gavin enters to say they’ve got a list of people who were prescribed the antidepressant drug. Neil’s wish for a short list is ruined when he learns it contains 9014 names. He believes they’re staring into the abyss.

Safi gets word that the results are back from the lab. There were no prints or DNA on the letter. When Safi asks how there can be nothing, Neil blames it on the fact that someone knows what they’re doing. Neil meets with Sarah and Louise to talk about the letter. Sarah admits there is always a chance of ruin once you test for DNA or prints using ninhydrin. His lab was thorough meaning there isn’t a single stroke of ink that hasn’t been drenched in the stuff. They cannot do ink analysts or comparisons on the letter as a result. Sarah asks him for five minutes to show him something. Kathy gets done so she sends Pia a message asking to chat later. Then, she tells Erika to come on because it looks like she could use a drink.

Sarah wants to recreate what the witnesses saw outside the nail bar so they can see it for themselves. She sets off the explosion and they watch it together. Later, Azra (Laila Rouass) joins Neil who says he is drowning in this stuff. He has asked for help, but she knows what that means. Azra reminds him that he has her. She offers to become his new master of data. He says that is great news. Kathy talks to Erika about any recent flooding in the area. Erika finds something about a landslide at the top just above the loch near the falls. It was blocked for a few days, fishermen loved it and there were no walkers. Kathy theorizes the landslide might’ve caused floating body parts to move from point A to point B.

She knows it is a big deal to experience your first day in the field so she wants Erika to know support and counseling are available. Erika is told to knock on the door if she feels spooked later. Kathy rushes to her room when she hears the phone ringing. Although she was expecting Pia, it turns out to be Sarah. Kathy tells her about the pair of feet and head they found. Sarah admits she called because she wants to ask her something. She doesn’t get the chance because Kathy quickly hangs up when Pia calls her. Pia breaks the news that she isn’t coming on Friday after all. She explains she went on a date and had a nice time with the girl in question. Kathy insists it is fine since it was just a holiday and friends hanging out for a bit.

She says she is fine before the conversation ends and she begins freaking out. She takes some Diazepam pills and tries to keep herself calm. She takes more with alcohol. Moments later, Erika knocks on the door to see if she is awake. When she doesn’t get a response, she goes to the manager to see if he can get Kathy to open the door. He unlocks the door and they rush inside where they find Kathy facedown on the bed. Erika turns off the music before splashing water in Kathy’s face. They find out she is okay so the manager leaves. Erika stays with Kathy to ask questions about how much she drank.

She couldn’t sleep so she knocked but didn’t get an answer. Kathy admits she was hyperventilating because Pia got a new sweetie. She says she is an old sweetie before going back to sleep. Erika puts a cover over her. Meanwhile, Sarah goes back to work. Erika steps outside where she checks on Kathy and hopes she had breakfast with lots of protein. Kathy doesn’t have time for idle chat so she tells her to get her waders. Sarah calls Neil to say she might have something after testing the residue on the curved glass fragments. Some of it came back as traces of potassium chlorate, some were the condom, and there was another mark too. It is black ink and the same kind that was used on the black pill and to write hashtag one.

Neil has good news too since Azra is on board now. She will be taking over all the data analysis on the case. Sarah responds by saying that is great. Katy tells Erika they’re still missing number one, torso, hips, and all of the upper limbs. When Erika asks why males always go missing up here, Kathy claims women start low and work their way up. As for men, they start high full of expectation and promise. Erika nearly slips. Kathy tells her to be easy before saying they should go to the spot where the landslide started. Once they reach the spot, they find a tent as Kathy urges Erika not to touch anything. Safi reads one of the hate messages sent to Father Nkusi. It says something about not being Ladybird and not wanting a google in his community centre. Safi explains that trolls replaced the offensive word with something else to bypass the blockers.

Lady Bird Johnson was Lyndon Johnson’s wife and she discouraged the use of the N-word. Neil notices one of the letters on his desk looks oddly similar to the one sent to the Dundee Times. He tells Safi to get the super. Sarah begins gluing some of the glass shards back together while Neil opens the letter which contains three pages. Since the writing is different from the envelope to the letter, Neil suggests there is more than one person responsible. The letters are full of racial vitriol, eugenics and purity of white skin. Safi is ordered to get it tested without drenching it in ninhydrin this time so Sarah can run an ink analysis on it. Kathy finds something in a blue bag and yells for Erika to get Charlie. Before long, we see that it is a severed head that has been preserved.

Sarah gets the bottom of the jar put back together. Neil tells Blair that the bomb has #2 on it so this is a campaign and there will be a third bomb. We someone wearing gloves taking a cellphone apart. Neil watches the footage from the crime scene until he spots a guy riding by on a bicycle. He calls for Safi while the bomber works on the third bomb. He listens to a report about the bombing while we see newspaper clippings on his walls. He looks up SIFA when he hears it on the radio. When he finds Sarah’s name, he begins researching her more. Erika asks which head owns the feet, but Kathy can’t tell her since it’ll be up to the mortuary day to sort that out. Erika is happy to be a sounding board for Kathy since they’re not at work right now.

Kathy isn’t interested in opening up about Pia though. The bomber uses a dating app to send a message to a girl named Holly. Then, he puts the lid on bomb #3. Once Erika is dropped off, she thanks Kathy and invites her in for a drink. Kathy refuses while claiming she is late picking up her dogs. Safi tells Neil the lab managed to get DNA from the envelope of the second letter as well as a name and address. As they drive to the address, Safi tells Neil that the man’s name is Anthony Gemmell and he was arrested in 2018 for putting stickers around Dundee saying “diversity is white genocide”. He got into trouble again for spitting on a policewoman during an alt-right march in 2019. The bomber hides the new bomb in a bag.

Safi says Gemmell is retired although he used to manage an electrical showroom. His wife was a Latin teacher but retired as well. As the man with the bomb puts it in the bag on his bike, he hears a knock on the door. Safi stays in the front while Neil goes around to the backdoor to check. The bomber opens the door to let someone in who wants to see Jo. The police are not out there. The guy with the bomb rides away while Kathy arrives at home with her dogs and pillows. Erika gets something dropped off while the bomber watches Sarah leave. He places the bomb in a trash bin around the corner and closes the lid before the episode ends.

 

Traces Review

By removing Emma and Daniel, Traces feels like a typical police drama. The first two episodes were good because they had enough content to maintain the viewer’s interest throughout. When the bombing investigation slowed, Phil’s trial filled the void. Without that aspect of the show, the third episode felt like a drag. Parts of the episode were still interesting while others were just annoying and silly.

We can see where the writers are going with Kathy, but I am not sure I care or why Erika would have anything to do with her. Combine that with the relationship between Sarah and Neil and Traces transforms into a soap opera. The alt-right storyline isn’t original or interesting considering we’ve already seen this in so many recent television shows and movies.

Many things in this episode of Traces were taken pretty much verbatim from 4chan. In a way, it is good the writers did some research. On the other hand, it seems like a lazy attempt to be relevant today. I suppose we’ll see how it turns out, but the first two episodes were better than the third which scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Traces are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support Reel Mockery by following this link.