As the first episode begins, we see a boat out in the water near Scotland. Louis and the others on the ship joke about tattoos before one of them notices something on the radar. Their net gets snagged on something causing the boat to be pulled and the men crash to the deck. The boat begins taking water so the men onboard rush to cut the wire and free it. Under the water, we see the HMS Vigil and the crewmembers. They continue as if nothing is happening while the men on the ship above desperately fight for their lives. On Vigil, CPO Craig Burke (Martin Compston) notices something and gets permission from Captain Newsome (Paterson Joseph) to put it on the loudspeaker. They realize it is a trawler and Burke wonders if they should go above. Although the Captain says otherwise, Burke believes they should go up and help since they wouldn’t have time to radio for help.

Another man is brought in to get Burke out of there. CPO Tara Keirly (Lois Chimimba) makes fun of Burke as he is led out and she comes in to take over for him. Above, the boat is completely submerged, and Burke is told to go to his bunk. After the intro, Tara Kierly is told to head to the captain’s quarters. She tells the Captain what evidence they have regarding the sinking. When another man enters, the Captain confirms he wants Burke on this as well. They call for a doctor because someone on the ship has gone into a cardiac arrest. They work on Craig, but the paramedic believes he could be a goner. The body is hauled away as the crew members watch and a cafeteria worker cries. The Captain orders Heather Cronin (Bobby Rainsbury) to prepare to transmit a message. Next, we jump over to Glasgow where we see DCI Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) running. She is stopped by a phone call and told she needs to return right away.

Once she arrives, DSU Colin Robertson (Gary Lewis) tells her she is the only one coming. They step inside and Robertson quickly introduces Admiral Shaw (Stephen Dillane) to Silva who he calls his best detective. They sit down and Silva learns Shaw is in charge of Britain’s four Vanguard-class submarines with the nuclear deterrents. HMS Vigil is among those submarines. One of the crewmembers died of an overdose and it is alleged he snorted heroin. They only know he was found in his bunk. Since he died in British territorial waters, Silva will be assigned to the case. For 50 years, these boats have been out in the water and ready to fire within 15 minutes. Vigil isn’t coming back. Instead, Silva will be going onboard Vigil. She will be there for three days before she will leave on a raft. She learns the officer’s name was Chief Petty Officer Craig Burke.

She is introduced to Lieutenant Erin Branning (Lolita Chakrabarti) who will be the police’s point of contact and given Burke’s files. The crew has been told to cooperate with the investigation. When Silva asks if they’ve ever had drug problems on the submarines before, Shaw says they never had an overdose before. She asks again before Shaw insists there is no drug problem on Vigil. She wants to fly out Burke’s body at the same time and get an autopsy done. Shaw informs her she won’t be able to call home so she can’t get in touch with Robertson. She can receive messages but can’t send them since that would give away the boat’s position. She is given a bag that her luggage must fit in and quickly realizes they’ve spelled her name wrong. Once that ends, Robertson warns her they won’t be rolling out the red carpet for her. She insists she’ll be okay since it is only going to be three days. She already knows Burke passed a mandatory drug test in July and he doesn’t fit the profile of a drug user.

She wants a junior to speak to his colleagues and friends. She recommends DC Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie) because she needs someone who knows her. Next, we hear a news report about the Trident missile debate while Kirsten grills Silva about the job. Again, Amy believes everything will be okay since she’ll only be gone for three days. Amy explains she used to come out there a lot since Iain’s family lived down the road. She wants Kirsten to find what she can about Burke and any drug connections. He was also in a fight near the base. Kirsten jokes about sending erotic messages since they’ll be read by a lot of people before they reach Amy. Silva asks Longacre to stay at her flat so she can take care of her cat while she is away.

They pass by what appears to be a camp before finding a body in the road. When Amy checks on the woman in the middle of the road, she pops up and begins complaining about the cost of the Trident missiles. That leads to a brief argument before Amy leaves. They make it to Dunloch Naval Base and check in with the guard outside. Branning gives Silva instructions including removing her phone’s SIM card, but she has already done that. Silva tells Longacre they can use code by referencing things they’ve done before. Then, she is introduced to Matthew Doward (Lorne MacFadyen) who will be flying out to replace Burke. Before they separate, Silva says sorry to Kirsten before being told she can’t say that now. Amy leaves in a plane moments later with Matthew. She learns Matthew has not served on Vigil, but he knows a few of the people there. He is normally on Virtue.

He says Virtue is a lot less trouble, but he won’t say why that is the case since he isn’t supposed to be talking to her. As they fly along, Amy thinks about the past and her family. They reach the meeting point and Vigil emerges from the water. Amy receives instructions before being lowered down to the submarine. She climbs down the hatch and nearly slips on her way down. She is quickly introduced to Commander Prentice (Adam James) who says Coxswain will be with her shortly. She learns they’re not going to take Burke’s body from the submarine so there will be no autopsy. CPO Elliot Glover (Shaun Evans) introduces himself to Silva as the submarine sinks further into the water. She learns Burke’s body in the bomb shop and confirms she wants to examine it. She is told the submarine is a boat and the ship’s doctor is Tiffany Docherty (Anjli Mohindra). They walk past the nuclear missiles on their way to the bomb shop.

Amy is introduced to Tiffany who agrees to help her. She goes to get her equipment while Glover tells Amy he is the HR representative on the ship. When Elliot is asked if Burke meant to kill himself, he shrugs and admits it looks like it. The body is pulled from an uninsulated hold so it should be in good condition. Tiffany confirms she tried to give him CPR, but he was already gone. Engineering Officer Hadlow (Connor Swindells) who is new to the ship found him. Tiffany helps as Amy takes evidence swabs from Burke’s nostrils. Amy asks if he took any other medication before Tiffany says she gave him a couple of paracetamols about an hour before he died. He claimed to have a headache, his pupils were contracted, and there was some spittle around his mouth. Amy finds bruising and bleeding near the base of his skull, so Glover argues it could’ve happened when they pulled Burke from his bunk.

When asked, Amy says she did two years of medical school, but it wasn’t for her. She doesn’t say why. Amy asks them to make sure nobody else can access the body before demanding to see the captain right away. She sits down with Newsome and admits she thinks Burke was murdered. They refuse to believe it. She says heroin is normally shot up and not snorted. When it is, it is usually a finer white powder. Prentice doesn’t want to believe it either. She shows them pictures and says there is powder around the nostrils but not up in the nose. She thinks it was rubbed on. Prentice argues people held his nose shut during the CPR and the idea of murder is absurd. She shows them the injuries on his head and jaw and argues it could’ve caused a delayed brain hemorrhage. Prentice and Newsome don’t want to believe it since there is no privacy on the ship.

She says the boat is a crime scene and they should return to port so they can launch proper inquiries. She was promised Newsome’s cooperation, but he says his orders come from the Chiefs of Staff and the Prime Minister. He informs Amy she will obey his orders while she is onboard Vigil. He tells her to do her work, stay out of their way, and say nothing about murder. If she says murder outside of this room, he’ll have her confined to quarters. Meanwhile, Kirsten goes to Amy’s flat and lets herself in. She finds the cat and realizes it is hungry. Amy asks Glover about Burke’s fight in the pub, but Glover says it isn’t any of his business because it happened onshore. He last saw Burke at the end of his watch, but he remembers Adams (Tom Gill) having a word with him in the mess. He gave Burke CPR. Amy goes to Burke’s cabin so she can search it.

Another engineer, CPO Gary Walsh (Daniel Portman), begins cursing when he hears them, but apologizes when he sees what is going on. Walsh says there is nothing to see since Burke was a druggie and a crap sailor who should’ve been out of the Navy years ago. Walsh never saw him taking drugs, but he knows about the overdose and that justifies his statement. They step into the hallway and Amy admits she doesn’t understand why the Captain doesn’t want her to look into this. Glover knows she has a headache and explains it is the low-oxygen environment that helps slow down fires. He takes her to her bunk and tells her to try to get at least four hours of rest. She isn’t thrilled with how tight her quarters are and this reminds her of the vehicle crash with her family. Glover goes back to Prentice and Newsome to tell them where Amy is at.

He admits she is clever, and it’ll be hard to keep her contained once she starts talking to people. Prentice recommends keeping her on a short lead and offers to sit in on the interviews, but Newsome says Glover can do that. Prentice doesn’t like that, but he is soon told to leave. Once they’ve alone, Newsome tells Glover to look after her because they cannot afford a scandal. The young woman who was lying on the ground manages to sneak into the navy base. She is soon cornered and caught with Burke’s pass card. Tiffany goes to her bunk and finds Amy awake. Amy tries to take her medication, but it falls n the ground. Tiffany finds it and reminds her she can’t bring her own meds onboard. Amy admits she is taking the medication for anxiety and depression, but she’d rather go for a run and a swim.

Tiffany encourages her to come and see her if she is struggling and she wouldn’t be the first to do so. Back on land, Kirsten interviews the Dunloch base invader Jade Antoniak (Lauren Lyle). She is quickly asked why she was trying to get into Burke’s room. In her statement, she claims Burke borrowed a book from her and she went there to get it back. She claims they drank in the same pub, and she knows about him being dead, but she won’t say who told her. Kirsten tells her she is separate from the navy and knows how Burke died. She wants to know how he died, but Kirsten wants to know more about their relationship first. Jade claims he was her boyfriend, but nobody knew about it. She knows her mates wouldn’t be happy about it and doesn’t believe Burke would’ve died of an overdose. She insists he wasn’t an addict since they spent every second together. She believes the navy had him killed if they’re saying he died of a heroin overdose.

Jade tells Kirsten about Mhairi Finnea who went missing as well and argues it was a cover-up since this is what the navy does when they have a problem. Jade is given permission to leave, and she does so in a hurry. Outside, Kirsten snaps a picture of the license plate Jade leaves in before learning about the other incident. Glover takes Adam to Amy so she can interview, but she is busy eating. Adams seems in a hurry and confirms he last saw Adams in the cafeteria but can’t remember when exactly. He thinks it was around 13:10 since they did the same watch pattern. He thinks Craig was a bit off and Hadders or Hadlow saw him on 4 deck and asks about him. Then, Adams confirms he last saw Burke when trying to help resuscitate home. He went to help since he was sleeping in the bunk space nearby. After that conversation ends, she goes to Hadlow and asks him about seeing Burke on this deck.

He doesn’t remember asking Adams how Burke seemed or anything like that. Hadlow believes he saw Craig around 12:30 since it was roughly half an hour before the change of watch. He didn’t know Burke well, but he was off watch and hanging around. He explains people do that down there. He was wearing a green fleece and he shows her exactly where Burke was standing. She gets the lights dimmed and uses luminol to look for bloodstains where Burke had been standings. Sure enough, she finds small patches of blood on the ground and quickly asks Hadlow if he saw anyone else with Burke. He won’t say right now. He is asked about finding the body and admits he pulled the curtain back when he entered Craig’s bunk. Amy doesn’t understand that since sleep is so precious down then. Hadlow gets blunt with her and encourages her to write down questions so he can get back to her later.

She isn’t willing to let him go until he tells her why he went to see Craig Burke. He doesn’t cooperate and Elliot admits he can’t stop Hadlow from leaving. Next, Officer Kierly lets the captain and others listen to the audio of what could be a sinking ship. Doward argues otherwise, but Tara is sure it is a trawler being pulled down by a sub. Newsome says they should message CTF because they need to identify the boat. Amy goes to Newsome and tells him about the blood and the fact at least one crew member has a history of violence involving Burke. She wants to call his superiors, but Newsome isn’t willing to do so. She asks if anything odd happened that day and why they were on silent routine. Newsome tells her to write her report and they’ll send it although Prentice doesn’t believe that is a good idea. Shaw learns about the report, but he says it doesn’t exist until the Chiefs of Staff say it does.

He complains about the Vigil and insists there will be serious changes on there when it returns. Kirsten returns to the base so she can send a message to Amy and check Burke’s accommodation. Branning takes her to his room before she is asked to wait outside. Branning agrees to wait outside. Kirsten searches the room while Amy receives her message. Amy reads the secret message and remembers spending intimate time with Kirsten. Silva tracks down Kierly and asks about Burke and the sinking, but Tara says she wasn’t there. When Amy learns she replaced Craig mid-watch, she wants to know why. Kirsten finds a USB drive hiding in a metal chair before Branning barges in and interrupts. Branning notices something on the ground when Kirsten leaves. Amy learns about the trawler sinking and decides to ask the captain about it. He invites her in and is quickly asked why Burke was dismissed after they hit the fishing trawler.

They sit down before the captain says they didn’t hit anyone, but another sub did. He claims someone sitting right behind them did, and she is looking for someone who might’ve had a punch-up. He insists they had an enemy submarine tracking them although that shouldn’t be possible. He goes on to say the nuclear deterrence works because you have viable weapons, the enemy can’t stop you, and the enemy doesn’t know if you’ll ever use them. He admits it is very bad if they’ve been shadowed by an enemy submarine. Craig wanted to go up to look for survivors, but Newsome believes he made the right decision by remaining underwater. He says it is an illusion that they’re not at war because they’ve always been at war. The sirens begin sounding and they learn that the reactor has scrammed. Amy desperately tries to find out what is going on while Kirsten finds a video file on the USB drive. She opens the file and watches as Burkes talks about the 20 different ways you could kill Vigil’s crew.

She shuts the computer and drives away. Burke goes on to say nobody talks about it. He talks about the corruption, fear, and the men who’ve been killed. Kirsten is stopped at the gate while Craig says someone came after him and they’ll do it again. Newsome learns they’ve experienced a complete reactor shutdown and they don’t know what happened. Craig says they’ve left him dead until two miles of water and he has things to tell them.

 

Vigil Review

Vigil is clearly an ambitious television show with a lot of potential, but it has a long way to go to live up to its potential. With the likes of Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Martin Compston, and other members of the cast, Vigil won’t have any problems in the acting category.

The sea scenes are downright gorgeous enough to take your breath. Despite all of the praise I can bestow on Vigil, I am admittedly worried about its ability to maintain my interest for six episodes. I understand the show is going to take time to blossom and the first episode is really building a foundation for everything else that will follow.

My first and likely biggest concern is that they’re trying to cover too much in each episode. We have Amy investigating a death underwater, Kirsten investigating above water, possible enemy submarines, nuclear activists, Amy’s devastating past, and a relationship between Amy and Kirsten. It seems like a lot to keep track of, and I am worried this is where the show is going to disappoint viewers.

Finally, I doubt anyone could’ve ignored the episode’s multitude of cliches. I sincerely hope this gets better because I admire Suranne Jones as much as the next British television fan. For that to happen, it needs to buckle down and narrow its playing field. Regardless, the ending was intense enough to keep me interested in seeing the next episode, so I’ll stick around for a bit longer. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Future recaps of Vigil will be available on Reel Mockery here.

Please forgive any mistakes above since I started on this around 7 PM and just finished it at 12 AM. Needed to rush it a bit to get finished.