As the finale of Traces begins, Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) arrives at the crime scene and learns from DCI McKinven (Michael Nardone) that there is another attack planned. They don’t know when or where although it is planned for today. Neil thanks her for coming, but she says she is just doing her job. When he says she can touch stuff, Sarah insists she will only be advising. Azra McKinven (Laila Rouass) arrives and says they can take the hard drive and make a forensic image using a write blocker. That would give them access to the data without needing the password. The catch is that they’d have to take it away so it would take some time. She learns about Sarah being there as an advisor. When he says they don’t have time, Azra offers another option using a device, a piece of software, and a USB cord.

Ben (Kyle Gardiner) can do it here and now, but they’re going to need a password. Azra suggests the bomber would be changing his passwords regularly and wouldn’t remember them. He might have kept a record of them somewhere. Sarah says the fireworks are category three show rockets so they carry a lot of gunpowder. He has also been trimming fabric. She suspects he is making a suicide vest and would need to put pockets or partitions on a waistcoat. If the bomb is phone activated, the digital investigation team would have to find a way to stop it. DS Safi Khurana (Rohit Kumar) interrupts to say there was no license for Sam or Elliot Kielty. Sarah believes you could ride a bike with the suicide vest, but it would need to be covered by a big jacket or coat.

She has found a plan of circuitry as well. They go through the notes and find a bunch of combinations of letters and numbers. As Azra looks at them, she says some look like PIN numbers while others look like phone numbers. While going through them, Azra asks where Neil is. He is outside sending information about the bomber to Superintendent Gavin Blair (Peter Forbes) and the others. Neil believes they should look for a crowd because Sam would want to go big. Safi confirms they found his other bike meaning Sam likely isn’t on a bike. They can’t evacuate the city center but could flood the town with uniformed officers. Fiscal John (Jack Tarlton) arrives that they need to keep people safe. They don’t want to create a panic since that could make people unsafe.

Azra tells Neil you could stop the bomb by shutting down the phone mast closest to the bomber if it is phone activated. It is an encrypted system so a wrong pin could possibly render the computer useless. Neil relays this information back to the base and admits Sam wrote to look straight into the camera. Therefore, he might’ve recorded himself and told where the bomb is. Neil gets permission for Azra to begin trying the PIN numbers. Surprisingly, the first PIN they use bypasses the first gate. Now, they need Sam’s password. Neil wants to get the password for the Elliot account since there are two others. After going through the rubbish, Sarah finds packaging from a pressure switch and a safety switch. The bomb can only be armed when the safety switch is off.

There is likely no phone involved, but the mechanical bomb makes the bomber very hard to find and stop. When Neil returns to Azra and Ben, they manage to get the password for the Elliot account. They check the browser only to find it empty so Azra suggests trying another account. First, Ben tries checking another profile on the browser and finds a website for electronic equipment. Sarah finds what looks like black pills. Then, they find Sam’s media player and a video in which he says his name will become familiar today. At three in Dundee, the beta revolution will graduate to another level. It’ll be a body count to surpass all others. He knows some of them won’t be happy about it, but he never liked the V&A. Safi rushes in to say he was picked up on CCTV getting off a bus on Tay Street.

Neil tells Safi to get the bus stopped and talk to the driver to see if he saw anything. Kathy Torrance (Jennifer Spence) asks Janine (Andrea Hart) whether she saw Erika because she didn’t show up to assist in class. The Dean (Badria Timimi) wants to talk to Kathy, but she asks Janine to keep her at bay for a while. Janine suggests she’ll be able to furnish her with something useful soon although she won’t say whether it has anything to do with Euan. Sarah can’t tell Neil how many people the bomb would kill, but she suspects it is two or three times more powerful than the church hall bomb.

Then, Safi and Neil learn that Sam asked the bus driver which bus is best for reaching Broughty Ferry. Neil is asked to go to Broughty Ferry while Azra and Sarah are told to come back to the station straight away. Safi is convinced he’ll go to the V&A instead of Broughty Ferry. Sarah tells Neil the bomber will likely have the pressure switch in one hand. The safety switch could be anywhere. He won’t be able to do anything if they can keep his hands away from the safety switch. While Sam sits on the beach, Kathy contacts Erika (Krysten Peck) and leaves a message hoping she can explain what happened. At the station, DCS Tom (Tom Mannion) gives a briefing about Sam and the suicide vest.

Sarah says the bomb likely wouldn’t detonate due to impact. If the safety switch is off and they shoot the device, it will blow up. Tom wants to shoot him while Fiscal John claims they have a duty of care even to him. Azra believes Sam is running on energy drinks and adrenaline. Meanwhile, Neil tells Safi he thinks Sam is going to target families. He thinks Sam will go to the V&A and HMs Discovery because he’ll go where the people are. Sam tells himself that he doesn’t want to die while simultaneously bashing himself. He calls himself pathetic. He is encouraged to think about the women and bastards who have ruined his life.

When a dog comes over and begins bothering him, Kim (Eilidh Loan) rushes over to get her dog. She sits down next to him and wonders whether he is as sad as he looks. Kim comes here when she is sad and wants to go over there. She does sometimes but wishes she was back over here. Sam asks her to leave him alone. She tells him her name before giving him sugar. Sam calls himself Elliot. Kim is sorry he is feeling sad but believes he won’t have these feelings tomorrow. Once she grabs his name, Sam says he won’t be feeling like this in an hour’s time. He doesn’t have any friends he can call although he has somewhere to go. Sam says he has something he needs to do.

Kim believes he will be able to do it. Erika approaches Kathy to say she got her message. She wonders whether it is a joke and she’ll melt if she calls herself imperfect. Erika reminds her she is her supervisor and should support her work instead of stealing it. She argues that Kathy has little respect for her since she brushed away her complaint. Erika reveals the Dean has offered her full support if she wants to pursue an official complaint. She told the Dean she is grateful someone has her back. Neil and Safi see Sam walking down the stairs nearby so they decide to follow him. They follow him while Sarah and the others receive updates back at the station. Neil and Safi are the closest while the firearms guy believes it is too dangerous to shoot him because there are so many people around.

They follow Sam outside where he approaches a crowd of families. When Sam’s hat blows off and he reaches up to get it, Neil tackles him. The bomb is disarmed and Sam is cautioned. Erika tells Kathy she told her she was exactly what she was looking for. She was happy to come here to work with Kathy and be part of SIFA. Erika insists everyone just wants to belong before Kathy gives her a tissue. Kathy apologizes and says she acknowledged her work in the copy submitted to the brochure. Erika says nobody reads the brochure. Kathy agrees that people want to belong. She thinks that is what Erika and Euan wanted, but he couldn’t because he didn’t talk to anyone about it.

Erika wanted to come to her before although Kathy isn’t easy to talk to. Kathy insists she was just embarrassed by what happened and it wasn’t personal. Erika says it is personal when someone is mean to you. After Kathy apologizes for hurting her feelings, Erika admits she didn’t even do anything embarrassing. Kathy wishes they would’ve talked about this sooner since they could’ve avoided the dramatics. Erika explains her Santorini complaint was more about the way she was treated. It was her word against Kathy’s and Kathy had all the power. When the Dean told her about the Santorini talk, she decided to run with it since it was provable. Kathy is surprised to learn that the Dean told her.

Sarah ends her call to Janine when Azra shows up behind her. They agree that Neil is a hero. Azra says he will come back to her, but Sarah insists Neil isn’t with her. Sarah confirms she has one child. Azra and Neil couldn’t have kids because of a low sperm count. She asks Sarah if she loves him. Sarah keeps saying she doesn’t want to have this conversation. Kathy tells her students that all forensic science is not equal. She tells them about different types before Dean enters. Kathy says it is sometimes based on a human spotting the difference so there is always room for error. Neil receives applause when he returns to the station.

Azra hugs him. Then, he learns they want him to handle the interview, but they’re going to need a watertight strategy. The Dean tells Kathy she can’t avoid her with a formal complaint hanging over her head. Janine interrupts to tell Kathy something about Sarah and the Dundee bomber. Once Jean leaves, Kathy learns that they got the bomber. Janine wants her to see something before he talks to the Dean too. As Kathy looks it over in her office, Erika arrives to tell her that she feels like her complaint has been answered. She appreciates how straight Kathy was with her and admits she can be a drama queen. They agree they just want to continue doing the work together. Neil asks Sarah for questions to confirm Sam made each device.

Azra is asked to pull anything from the computer that shows the progression of his thinking. They’ve already traced him by the Dundeats logon and the black pill GIF. Neil wants to get inside his head so he is willing to go wherever he wants to go. After they learn that they have permission to interview him, John wonders if the evidence would stand up in court without Sam talking. Kathy goes to Jean to say she is the one who got Erika fired up in the first place. She also knows that Jean’s PA, Heather, used to be the old dean’s PA too. Janine and Heather are friends so Kathy asks Janine to check around. While they won’t know what was going on with Euan, they know the school didn’t help him. Kathy knows Jean inherited a report from the old dean about a problem in the school of science with students withdrawing and struggling with poor mental health.

Many were committing suicide. There was a list of students to be concerned about and Jean knew Euan was one of them. She denies it, but Kathy says she knew. They agree the old dean did a cowardly thing and left it for Jean to deal with. Jean says she arrived with her visions, but the dirty laundry was dumped on her desk first. She mentions all the HR files and disputes became her problems. Kathy alleges Jean asked Heather if they could park the problem while they were fundraising. Kathy wants her to go to the principal’s office and explain everything. If she still has a job, they’ll work out a way to support their students from now on. Jean asks if she’d come with her to help explain because it would really help.

Safi, Azra, and Ben go through Sam’s forum posts about Chads and Staceys. Safi has to explain what the term roastie means. Sarah interrupts to see if they’ve found anything about Sam buying bleach online. They have. Azra says her mother used to say that it is the quiet ones you need to watch out for. Moments later, Kathy tells Sarah not to let her see it is getting to her and get out of there as soon as she can. Kathy also tells her what she has been doing today. She encourages Sarah to hold her head high since she is one of the people who helped catch the Dundee bomber.

Sarah tells her to keep doing what she does. In the interview room, Sam confirms he denied the services of a solicitor. He doesn’t say much as Neil reminds him that he can speak to a solicitor at any time. In the other room, Sarah suggests asking how he made the devices because Sam will want to talk about that. Neil asks a similar question. Sam knows Neil is trying to big him up to make him talk. Neil says he doesn’t need to big him up before listing everything he did. Sam admits he did. He says it was only him and each bomb was part of a series so he put numbers on them. The only challenging part is buying the chemicals in the quantities you need to make the bombs. Neil goes through the meanings of blue, red, and black pills.

When shown the pictures from the plastic surgeon, Sam says he was going to get his jaw widened. He gets mad and says none of it works before the conversation turns to the antidepressant he was prescribed. He quit taking it because how he feels is a rational response to reality. Sam refuses to say whether there are many other bombs out there. Instead, he says he has been rejected by women 316 times. He says he would treasure and cherish a girl since he has so much love to give, but they would rather have some obnoxious hench guy instead of a gentleman. Sam asks Neil whether he is single. Neil says he is recently single and has had sex with two women. Sam says he wins since he hasn’t slept with anyone.

He is 23 and has never held a girl’s hand except for his sister’s. He’d be frightened to have sex with a girl now because she might turn around and claim rape. When Neil says it doesn’t happen all the time, Sam says it is and he needs to get informed since what is going on here is dark. Natural order has been overturned. When natural gender laws were followed, men went to order, women were content, and the economy was good. When men went to war to die for their country, women took their jobs. He argues that men’s status has been eroded slowly. Now, masculinity is toxic and touching a woman on the elbow is sexual assault. Helping a woman understand something is mansplaining. If you make a joke, 50 feminazis will cut you down.

He calls women snakes with tits before they take a break. Neil isn’t sure it is going to work because he is feeding on him. Azra complains that he revealed that he slept with Sarah like that was worse than how he found out about her affair. Neil says it was time to tell the truth and both of them should do it. She wants him today because he is the guy today. When he isn’t, she doesn’t want him. Azra says Sarah doesn’t want him either and that is why she is already gone. Back in the interview room, Neil claims the facts show false claims of rape are rarer than false claims of other crimes. Safi argues that toxic masculinity means the old idea of what a man should be doesn’t work now. Sam jokes he is clutching his pearls.

He doesn’t think his victims were innocent and wanted to inspire others to join the rebellion. He wanted to shake the foundations of society and subjugate the voice of oppressors. Neil begins telling him about the Moonies. Sam got into Gyno Slam which was more black pill than the other incel forums he had visited up until that point. They say he was bullied off the forum when he asked if their attitude toward women was the problem. He changed his username and joined Beta Room. Once he learned the ropes, he started posting violent stuff. Safi accuses him of hero-worshipping Elliot Rodger. He adopted the name and started saying he would outdo Rodger.

Sam reminds them that he did prove them wrong. Neil says the Moonies were a religious cult that offered an identity, ideology, and community to lost souls. Doubt is a no-no in a cult, but Sam went back for more. Neil believes he would’ve gotten away from it and ditched all the hate. Sam reveals there are no more bombs out there. Neil meets up with Sarah who thought he stood her up because of the awful things she said the other night. Neil knows he rushed her and said awful things, but Sarah doesn’t think he blew it. After he says he doesn’t expect anything from her, Sarah tells him she loves him. She’d love to be with him. Although she doesn’t know how, she needs to talk to Campbell. She just needs time.

 

Traces Review

The second season of Traces started out with a bang and ended with romance and a whimper. The series somewhat lost its way once Emma and Daniel took off to escape Phil. It had to reshuffle and refocus on new and old characters to fill the void with some things being successful and others not. The finale was messy because it kept jumping back and forth between Kathy and the bomber when it should’ve focused more on the latter.

It was neat that they decided to dig deeper into the incel community. Sam and his ideologies were likely the best aspects of the season so more time should’ve been dedicated to it. The romance between Sarah and Neil was overplayed and oversimplified. I also have to wonder what the point was of Kathy’s investigation into Euan’s suicide since it barely went anywhere.

Ultimately, the season wasn’t bad although it likely could’ve been a lot better. Since it ended abruptly, I suppose another season could likely clear up some of the unanswered questions. We’ll have to wait and see if another is commissioned. The finale scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Traces are available on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery by following this link.