As this episode of Vigil begins, Amy Silva (Suranne Jones) and Kirsten continue running from the gunman. Kirsten Longacre (Rose Leslie) keeps him distracted until Amy can sneak up behind him and throw a rock at his head. The man quickly overpowers Amy, but the cops arrive before he can shoot her. The gunman jumps over the edge into the water below. Amy speaks to Colin Robertson on the phone about Sabiha Chapman (Hiba Medina) and Kirsten. Amy and Kirsten know they should’ve done things differently. Kirsten has to go home now. Amy is informed they’ve found a phone. Amy checks in on Sabi at the hospital to get information about the man who did this to her and her father.

Sabi didn’t really see him because she hid when her dad got shot. Amy tries to get her to talk about her last few weeks at the base in Wudyan. Sabi isn’t sure why they came back suddenly, but her dad went to a conference in Dubai for a few days. He didn’t tell her anything. When Amy starts pressing her about taking her phone, Sabi refuses to elaborate on the matter. Amy asks if they can talk about the hours before the attack. Sabi says her dad went somewhere and didn’t say where. He can’t tell her about work. Amy shows her pictures of drone equipment. Sabi is adamant that her dad didn’t do anything. Amy says her dad worked on an R-PAS weapons program and those drones are being rested in Scotland today. Someone used one of them to kill several people on a testing range.

Sabi’s dad has been identified as the person who was controlling the R-PAS. Sabi wants to go back to Wudyan. Amy goes to the station where she speaks to Colin (Gary Lewis) about Sabi. She tells Colin that Mr. Zaman is not being very cooperative. Paul Townsend (Noof Ousellam) says they’ve been looking at the GPS that gave them Chapman’s location and something came back from the R-PAS manufacturer. He begins explaining how signals are sent when operating an R-PAS as well as the latency rate. The latency rate shows that the R-PAS was being controlled from Wudyan so it couldn’t have been Chapman. Marcus Grainger (Dougray Scott) is brought in so they can explain this to him. He asks if they can explain why Chapman lied about having cancer.

Amy admits they can’t, but they need to visit the base in Wudyan. Marcus argues with Amy about her wish to go to Al-Shawka base to investigate. Marcus suggests this would be better handled by intelligence. He argues they have to be careful not to cause an international incident. Emma thinks Sir Ian should share MI5’s intelligence. He says they have information from Wudyani intelligence about Firas Zaman. The Wudyanis spoke to a man named Mohammed Rajab this morning who confirmed his links to Mr. Zaman and Jabhat Al’huriya. He also said there was a plot to disrupt the UK-Wudyani relationship. Amy tells Ian that Rajab wrote prescriptions for Zaman. They think they might’ve been used as a way to pass coded messages.

She asks about the Bahrat Wud which was listed on the prescriptions. It doesn’t. Ian tells Marcus that cooperation is important. Once Marcus agrees to make the arrangements, Amy asks if she can get an interview with Rajab. Ian says one step at a time. At home, Poppy Silva (Orla Russell) seems worried that Amy is going to Wudyan because they put gay people in prison. Amy calms her before joking about it with Kirsten. Amy tells her they’re looking at Chapman for colluding with a dissident group. Kirsten tells her to be careful. Amy says she’ll be fine since she’ll be surrounded by people with guns. On the plane, Sabi notices Amy looking at Callum Barker’s picture and asks why. Sabi knows who he is. She complains that Amy doesn’t just talk to people. Sabi asks if Amy thinks someone on the base killed her dad.

Amy admits she doesn’t know. Meanwhile, Daniel Ramsay (Amir El-Masry) tells Kirsten they’re going to be working together. He shows her that one of the prescriptions was on the date of the attack. They correspond with every major test 109 Squadron did in the last six months. Someone on the base is passing information to a terrorist group. Once the plane lands, Amy gets a text from Kirsten who says MI5 is actually useful. She receives pictures of the dates. Security guards stop Amy and Sabi to check their bags. This continues until Eliza Russell (Romola Garai) arrives to get them. At the base, Amy learns they’re checking every vehicle now. Once inside, Amy is introduced to Colonel Ali Bilali (Nebras Jamali) who wants to speak to her today. Russell tells Amy she’s already checked Chapman’s quarters and nothing was found.

In private, Russell argues that they should send Sabi back to the UK. Amy tells her that Chapman could’ve been framed. They found evidence that a group called Jabhat Al’huriya have been receiving information about their weapons program. Russell can make Barker available to Amy. Kader isn’t Air Force so that’ll be more complicated. Amy will need to speak to Colonel Bilali about Kader since he’s a Wudanyi national. If she wants to speak to the main guy at Alban-X, she’d have to talk to Wes Harper. Russell warns her that her visa will be revoked if she jeopardizes these operations. Kirsten and the others learn the owner of the van has been located. She is 26-year-old Arlene Royce. She got back from visiting her parents in Fort William, noticed the van was gone, and reported it.

Townsend shows them a picture of the rifle used. The owner had the barrel marked with Smart Water so they know it came from the Lochduin estate. That’s where Arlene cleans. Colin tells Kirsten this one is for her and Ramsay. As they leave together, they talk about the gunman in the woods. Amy sees Sam Kader so she approaches him outside. Moments later, Kader joins Barker and the others as they prepare to help troops approaching Bahrat Wud. Amy enters and asks if they’re running an operation against Jabhat Al’huriya. Russell says they’re providing operational support to a Wudanyi mission to apprehend Wudanyi citizens. Russell gets sick of Amy’s questions and threatens to have her escorted out if she doesn’t shut up.

Amy keeps an eye on the operation as the combatants leave in a vehicle. Before long, they end up losing the vehicle. Russell scolds Barker before he is sent out with Amy. As they share a beer, Amy questions Barker about the weapons test. Barker says the wing commander took off even though he was supposed to be running things. It’s standard for them to leave their equipment in the cabin before the Alban-X guy, West, comes and picks it up. Barker thinks someone properly trained could’ve used the R-PAS to take out the observation tower on the first attempt. He doesn’t think anyone there would be responsible because the program is on the verge of being shut down as a result. Once the interview ends, Sabi is waiting on Barker because she wants to know what happened.

Barker insists he can’t help her. Sabi asks if anything he said was true. He thinks she should try to get some rest because that’s what he is going to do. Wes shows Amy around the armory. He believes he saw Barker and Kader following the test. Wes (Jonathan Ajayi) shows her three consoles since there are two for the tests and a spare. He insists the spare was always there. When he opens the case for the spare, he is surprised to see that the equipment is missing. Wes decides to check the camera footage. He thinks she should check their competitors. They are surprised to see 13 minutes or so missing from the footage. Chapman erased the footage when he got back from Dubai according to the log.

Amy tells Russell that Chapman and someone else could be involved. Meanwhile, Kirsten speaks to a woman at the Lochduin Estate. The woman admits she kept the keys to the van under the seat and any guy she went out with knew that. Sean moved to Spain and she went out with Ross last year. Ross was ex-military and would unload if he thought someone was after him. Kirsten wants to know where Ross lives. Bilali speaks to Amy about their operations. He admits their intelligence led them to the location of today’s raid. Amy says she wants to speak to Rajab. Bilali will help because he’d like to see Anthony cleared of any wrongdoing. Daniel and Kirsten search for Ross. Kirsten climbs over the balcony to reach his apartment. Amy learns that Rajab has been tortured and she believes it is because of today’s incident.

Once they’re alone, Rajab wants to write something. He writes something before Bilali returns and says the meeting has to end. Kirsten notices that the toothbrush is still wet so she orders the flat to be watched. They find pictures of Anthony Chapman and Sabi. Kirsten calls to ask about the DNA found on the phone in the woods. She calls Amy to say the phone belonged to Sabi. They begin theorizing that Chapman was protecting his daughter. Amy goes looking for her. Ross Sutherland (David Elliot) returns while Kirsten is still in the flat. When he confronts her, Kirsten says they can help him. She tells him someone is trying to frame Chapman for a crime. Ross says it isn’t his job to kill her before fleeing. Kirsten watches him go. Sabi keeps an eye on Barker while he plays basketball with Sam.

Amy comes outside and sees her approaching them. Sabi stabs Barker in the arm.

 

Vigil Review

The second episode of Vigil’s second series was pretty dull with lots of dialogue to slowly push the story forward. The series probably didn’t need six episodes since a lot of the information in this episode will amount to very little when all is said and done. The dialogue remains bad with simple things being explained to viewers as if we’re idiots.

Not everything needs to be explained so thoroughly, especially since no one would talk like that anyway. Other aspects of the dialogue can be cringe such as Amy’s electric vehicle snide and being safe because she is surrounded by people with guns. The latter worked so well in the last episode. The episode became very predictable midway through with the missing R-PAS, missing footage, and Sabiha potentially being involved.

The first two felt like jarring clichés that really dumbed down the story. Then, you have a pregnant Kirsten running around investigating terrorism and dealing with some of the most dangerous people in the world. It just doesn’t ring true. There isn’t really any chemistry between Amy and Kirsten. Instead, their relationship seems like filler to drag out the story and to add in some sense of concern that the baby will be lost which is again a cliché.

I’ve been hesitant to continue this series and I think it is clear why. The season has been particularly dull and even a bit silly so it is hard to continue. This episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Vigil are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.