Love – As the opening episode of Until I Kill You begins, Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell Martin) gets up and leaves in Kentish Town, London in 1991. She makes it to the hospital where she puts on her nursing outfit. Then, she begins looking for Lillian Ashman who needs to see the doctor. Dr. Gavin Lane speaks to Delia later about Peru. The other nurses think she should make a move on him. Imelda Dunning (Sophie Ford) thinks Delia is such an oddball. Leah tells her to be nice. Later, Leah asks Delia if she’d like to join them for a drink. Delia ends up going even though she knows the others wouldn’t want her there. John Sweeney (Shaun Evans) watches as Delia dances nearby. Leah asks Delia if she wants to leave, but Delia ends up staying without her.
Delia speaks to John who says he’s a carpenter and spends most of his time in Germany. Delia tells him how she was born in Australia and lived in Canada and America. She wanted to be a ballet dancer, but it just didn’t work out. John suspects she’s a free spirit. Delia goes to the bathroom. When she returns, she invites John to come back to her place. Once they arrive, they talk about Delia’s travels and her souvenirs. As for John, he’s only been to places in Europe. Delia explains why she doesn’t have much furniture. She gets upset when John spills tea on her rug. Delia thinks he should go. John apologizes and asks if she wants to go out another time, but Delia claims she won’t have time. At work, Delia tells Leah about her date. She admits she’d be too embarrassed to talk to John again.
She might write him a letter saying she didn’t mean to be rude. Delia writes him a letter offering to meet if he still wants to. At the Nieuwmarkt Police Station, Melissa Halstead’s father, Jack Halstead (Mitchell Mullen), goes to the police station where he plays a voicemail message to the police. He filed a missing person report a year ago and called repeatedly, but they don’t get back to him. Jack is convinced no one there cares. He shows the inspector the last photo they have of Melissa. Jack says it’s not like Melissa to vanish without a word. Delia gives the letter to John when he’s in the pub. John invites her back to his place this time. Delia jokes it might be safer. At his place, John admits he always goes his own way. Delia has felt like an outsider her entire life. She says he’s 40 while John claims he’s 34. He insists 40 isn’t old before they kiss and have sex.
Three months later, Delia takes John to see Janice Rainsworth (Stephanie Street) for her birthday. Once they go inside, John is introduced to Leah and Manuela. Dr. Lane comes over to tell Delia she’s wearing a fantastic dress. Later, John talks to Delia outside about the experience. He asks if Leah is a lesbian. John warns Delia to watch herself. He thinks they’re a bunch of stiffs and Delia cares too much about what people think. People inside watch as John urinates in the plants outside. As they leave, Delia complains because that was her boss. John says screw them all and dances on top of a vehicle. They end up making out. At work, Delia tries to smooth things over with Janice. She tells Imelda she just can’t stand that she’s got a boyfriend. Then, Delia asks Leah if she likes John. Leah believes it only matters if John makes her happy.
Delia says hello to Mrs. Wilson on her way home. John shows up behind her because he wants to fix her door. Once he fixes it, Delia invites him to move in with her. John quickly agrees and claims he’s going to take care of her. Inspector Stilma (William Brand) tells Astrid De Vries (Sallie Harmsen) that a woman’s body has been found in a suitcase in Leidsegracht canal. The hands and head were removed. The time of death was between six to twelve months ago. Astrid looks at the paperwork which confirms the victim was between 25 and 35. John begins moving into Delia’s place and tells her about his pet tarantula’s food. He asks Delia to feed it while he’s away since he’s going to be in Germany for a while. He invites her to come, but Delia can’t since she has to work.
John mentions that his last girlfriend was American. He shows Delia a picture of her and explains she was a model. John reveals her name is Melissa. Five months later, John and Delia arrive in Skelmersdale so they can meet his mother. As they eat, Delia tells everyone that she works in the surgical ward at St Paul’s at the moment. Delia’s father mentions Freddie Mercury who died of AIDS. Then, he asks his son if he could’ve worn something good and clean for Christmas. Delia asks if Freddie Mercury was gay before explaining she doesn’t have a TV and doesn’t read newspapers. Later, John and Delia end up at the working men’s club. Delia hears a song she likes so she asks John to dance with her. John seems upset when he tells her to sit down. In the bathroom, a woman tells Delia she hopes she has better luck than John’s wife.
John tells her he was 18 in 1979 and was married for five years. He also has two children. John asks if she wants to break up with him. He asks her to stop being a nag. Inspector Stilma and Astrid still haven’t identified the victim. When Delia gets home, she gets upset that John is making a bed. One night, Delia wakes up and finds John choking her. She breaks free before John rolls over and goes back to sleep. In the morning, John admits he never remembers his dreams. She tells him what happened. He apologizes. One year later, Delia goes to work and speaks to Leah. They go to a restaurant where Delia complains about John. She’s told him more than once she wants him to move out. Although he says he will, he never does. Delia admits she’s a little scared of him because he has a bad temper. Leah says she made some bad boyfriend choices too.
Delia asks if that’s why she became a lesbian. Leah confirms Manuela is her girlfriend. Delia tells her about John trying to strangle her when he was having a bad dream. Leah urges her to finish with him, but Delia isn’t sure how since he won’t leave. Leah tells her to change the locks. When Delia makes it home, she learns John is already there with a present for her. He learns she had a couple of drinks with Leah. Delia claims he doesn’t love her and she doesn’t want his pincushion. She wants him to move out. John says they should have dinner. If she still feels the same way, he’ll leave. Once she finishes eating, Delia asks him to go. John asks to draw her so he’ll have something to remember her by. As he begins drawing her, Delia asks what happened between him and Melissa.
He shows her the picture he drew of her that makes her look like the devil. John says that’s how he sees her. Delia yells for him to get out of her house although John says it’s a council house. John says he’s going for a drink and she shouldn’t wait up. When Delia is alone, she looks at John’s drawings. She finds one of a woman without hands, feet, and a head. John gets upset when he finds out what she’s doing. He reveals he killed Melissa in Amsterdam, chopped her up, and put her in a canal. John comes after her with a knife. Three days later, Delia’s coworkers wonder why she hasn’t arrived yet. Leah calls her. John hears the phone ringing and it looks like Delia is restrained to the mattress.
Until I Kill You Review
The opening episode of Until I Kill You feels very familiar although the series may separate itself from other true crime dramas in future episodes. Anna Maxwell Martin portrays Delia Balmer who inadvertently finds herself in a relationship with a killer, John Sweeney (Shaun Evans). The first episode was mainly spent setting up the characters and building the relationship which will obviously go awry.
Delia meets John Sweeney in a pub and they end up hitting it off. Before long, she notices his behavior changing until he finally confesses to killing another woman and attacks Delia. Again, the story is pretty typical because it’s told in probably 98% of true crime stories. The opening episode offered nothing out of the ordinary no matter how startling the story will be in the end.
Woman meets a psycho who slowly turns until the psycho lashes out at said woman. Truthfully, the opening episode didn’t do much to hook me but the story itself is interesting. The actors and actresses portraying the real-life people barely resemble those individuals which is a real shame. It’s understandable that they wanted to cast big names, but neither really looks like the person they’re portraying. Tony Curran would’ve been spot-on for the role of John Sweeney.
This episode could’ve been sliced in half since a lot of it focused on needless topics that are necessary for modern shows. Then, the actual relationship between Delia and John was rushed to the point that it made no sense why she had even fallen for him. We can put together the pieces, but more time should’ve been spent on this instead of a coworker’s sexuality and Freddie Mercury’s death.
The performances are mostly strong though and the story has the potential to get much better as it continues. We can only hope it isn’t just Delia’s story because there are two confirmed victims who lost their lives to Sweeney.
We know nothing about those victims yet and we’re being fed the same old story we’ve heard countless times before. This was pretty much a copy-and-paste episode that left a lot to be desired. It scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Until I Kill You can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.
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Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
