Hi everyone! Welcome back to Rose and Maloney with the stunning and incomparable Sarah Lancashire. She never lets us down; rolling right into S3:E2 after the break!

We open with a beautiful woman crying at a gate in the dark; a man drives up next to her and recognises her right away: isn’t she Annie Sorenson Johnson (Tara Fitzgerald) from the telly? She doesn’t answer and he drives on through while we watch someone gas an entire household full of people?? We see Annie Sorenson in present day and I think she’s in jail.

Back at the CJRA, Joyce (Nisha Nayar) has set up an obstacle course: it must be a team building exercise in trust! Someone fall backwards! Rose (Sarah Lancashire) and Maloney (Phil Davis) have differing views: she thinks this is shite, he figures he gets paid either way, so why not? Lots of eye-cuddling between Joyce and Wally (David Westhead), hey? Hmm

Rose refuses to play; poor Maloney is left shouting her name all by himself.

Joyce is some kind of a big shot now? Rose has to explain herself to Joyce and Wally in his office; how would she define herself? She says a bunch of words to describe herself, but here’s the important parts: age 39, not dating presently, no place to stay right now. Do you think we’ll get another Anne Reid pop-in?? That would be AWESOME!

She stomps out of the office while Maloney calls after her: since they are living together, wouldn’t it be good for them to travel home together, perhaps? Don’t wait up, Maloney

Wally comes over to Maloney; let’s talk about Rose! Let’s not, suggests Maloney. Okay, then here’s this case of Annie Sorenson who was convicted of gassing a woman and her daughter, let’s talk about that instead! Annie was infatuated with the husband of the woman who died, that was the motive, but there was nothing forensic. Wally’s in a rush because Annie isn’t doing well in prison; the killing of children is always the most vilified in prison.

Rose tiptoes in the door at home, to be caught by Daddy Maloney waiting up. She’s tipsy and doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Wally’s manipulation, she sees right through that, fank you very much. She’s heard of the “Celebrity Bunny Boiler Case” though and that reminds me of Happy Valley! Rose calls Annie a “media creation” and I can’t wait to find out what that means! Meanwhile, Rose thinks Wally can suck it.

Maloney storms off while Rose drinks wine and listens to the neighbour cry.

The next morning, Rose and Maloney are off to see Annie, who looks awful. She still swears that David Terry (Anthony Head) loves her, but she hasn’t heard from him since before the deaths. She received a letter from him breaking things off. She didn’t keep that letter and when Maloney asks why: she asks if he’s ever had an adulterous affair? Because you don’t keep evidence in an affair, that’s Infidelity 101. Maloney DID have an affair, though, and DID keep the evidence, Rose and I are flummoxed.

Annie asks Maloney to pass on a message to David; she wants to thank David for the riot he caused in her heart and soul and a whole bunch more but the upshot is: she loved him then and loves him still. She asks for his help if he loves her. I know she’s probably not supposed to feel like that about someone who is already married and wouldn’t it just be awesome if we all only did what we were supposed to?

Maloney heard the crying again, so the next day he goes over and asks if there’s anything he can do for the recently widowed Maggie (Elizabeth Berrington). She COMPLETELY misconstrues his meaning and shoos him away, ahahaha. Ah Maloney, you were only trying to be nice.

Rose and Maloney meet the detective on the case at the Terry house; Detective Robben (William Ivory) is eating his lunch as he takes them ’round the scene of the crime.

Detective Robben interviewed Dr. Terry right after the tragedy, he was dismayed to find that Annie had been on the scene.

I already have my mind made up that Dr. Terry killed his own family so he could be with Annie, but that’s probably too facile of an explanation.

There was another suspect, a Duke Rothermere (Perry Benson) who has a posh name but not much else. He had tampered with the gas in two other houses in the area, but was in jail when they went to question him about the Terry residence.

Usually we have Rose insisting on innocence and Maloney wanting to wrap everything up; this time Maloney is the pusher. He believes Annie was waiting at the gate for Dr. Terry, not just any car that would let her through the gate.

Back at the office, we find out why Annie is a celebrity, it’s because of her dad Ronnie Johnson (Donald Sumpter), “the richest hippie in the land.” He doesn’t seem the least bit hippie-like (and I know hippies), he looks and sounds more like a retired copper. He asks Rose to keep an open mind about his daughter then leaves.

Rose isn’t buying it, she will not be bullied into treating Annie any differently than everyone else! But, as I opened my mouth to say something, Maloney got there first: she already IS treating Annie differently.

Rose and Maloney head over to interview Dr. Terry; Rose doesn’t buy that he and Annie were even having an affair, she thinks it was just obsessive behaviour and he was the unlucky recipient. Dr. Terry thinks exactly that as well.

Dr. Terry scorns the idea that Annie loved him; to think that she killed his family out of love is unendurable. Maloney challenges him; Dr. Terry is that sure Annie did it? There was no evidence placing her in the house? Dr. Terry says the phone call convinced him; the one his wife placed that night; it was ruled inadmissible by the judge. His wife had called him asking him to come home and remove Annie from their house. He didn’t get the message because his phone was switched off.

His phone was switched off for why? What was he doing?

Maloney calls it a case of daddy issues gone wild, Rose doesn’t think that’s a thing.

And as a matter of fact, his adulterous affair was with someone OLDER, fanks, Rose, which makes her ask if she reminded Maloney of his mother? HAHAHAHA. Any chance Rose is going Maloney’s way in Maloney’s car? No, but she can drop him off!

Ronnie Johnson is in with Wally; Rose bursts in to find out that Annie tried to commit suicide in prison. She saw that Rose didn’t believe her and felt as though her last chance was gone. Her mother also committed suicide, right in front of Annie when she was seven.

Maloney’s working the case file at home; watching the videos of Annie that her dad gave them. She gives a heartfelt speech in one about reaching out again and again as being what life is all about and it twigs something in Maloney. He goes back over next door and tries again.

It’s raining cats and dogs out when Dr. Terry leaves his practice, to have Ronnie Johnson jump into his car and demand he start telling the truth. Then Ronnie punches him a few times before getting out and ramming the doctor’s car from behind.

Maggie has been through the rough since her husband’s death. None of his friends came ’round at first and then a bunch started texting for a shag and she’s just MISERABLE. Would he like a shag, maybe? Would he? I wouldn’t say “GOD NO” Maloney, but that hug was kind of unavoidable.

Wally and Rose are having a very awkward conversation during drinks; ahhh Wally is married. And semi-detached, whatever that means. And he’s not hitting on her.

Well that was a lot all at once, wasn’t it? I was hoping they’d get together and then there’s a wife and he really WASN’T hitting on her and all right.

She goes home to find no Maloney; he’s next door shagging the neighbour, sorry, love. That’s what Rose hears through the walls this time instead of the crying!

Rose makes the mistake the next morning of teasing about the merry widow next door; Maloney is in a foul mood indeed after. There’s no need to make fun of someone’s sex noises, Rose. He shouts that maybe she should check out the wife that was killed, yeah? Instead of already having given up? They make up after a minute, good, I HATE IT WHEN MUM AND DAD FIGHT!

Maloney pops next door to talk to Maggie, but he bollixes it up. She looks kind of happy, but he ruins it by saying that he doesn’t know what that was. He phones Joyce to get the transcript of the phone call and heads back over to see a now-crying Maggie. He doesn’t want to be parted from her, if that’s all right? Awwww. okay, maybe I teared up too.

Rose has come to see Annie alone; she still doesn’t buy that there was any sexual relationship between Dr. Terry and Annie. Annie goes on and on until Rose brings up that call. It went slightly differently than what Dr. Terry said, but it was all the same in the end. Annie was being a stalker, in her own words she admits it, I’m not sure why she thinks that’s a defense.

We’ve got a second opinion of life inside the Terry home now; Ronnie Johnson has tracked down a former nanny and her story is very different than the ones on the books. The Terrys had a rotten marriage, Dr. Terry used to beat his wife and both the parents ignored their daughter.

Rose finally makes it into the office with a few of her things and realises why Maloney was acting so oddly… Maloney looks very content in bed with Maggie and his nipples out. They’re discussing Round 5 when Rose calls and Wally takes over: they’re expected in a review meeting on the Annie Sorenson Johnson case right NOW

The meeting is all over the place; Rose knew Annie was in the house which counteracts the news he’s trying to sell about the transcript not being clear that it was Annie that Mrs. Terry wanted removed from the house. Rose finally is allowed to jump in and tell the rest of what she knows. And then Maggie shows up and is brought into the meeting.

Oh boy

She leaves crying and Rose admits she hasn’t anywhere else to live anyway, so…

Ronnie is in to see Annie; she doesn’t want to hear about the bad Terry marriage. She’s still wrecked by the death of her mother, she thinks it was about her, that her mother didn’t love her and she ruined her mother’s life. Even now, he doesn’t quite believe she didn’t kill the Terrys. He begs her to answer, but she’s still trying to buy his attention.

Rose and Maloney fight some more (I hate it!); she thinks Maggie will dump Maloney as soon as she’s feeling better, but Maloney isn’t about to hear that from someone who’s “pushing 40” and sleeping in his spare room.

He pushes her to investigate the felon with the posh name. Had he ever met Dr. Terry? And where is he now that he’s out of prison?

Rose and Maloney are back on Dr. Terry’s doorstep; it turns out Duke Rothermere HAD met Dr. Terry while in the bin. Rothermere even threatened Dr. Terry, which apparently was a habit of the young man.

The guard who worked closely with Rothermere remembered him well, Mr. Hawkins (Kenny Ireland) calls him a pain in the arse, but you know… HIS pain in the arse. Oh. Oh well this is a massive hole that could have been plugged easily: it seems Duke Rothermere took himself on furlough for 111 days without being  picked up. DURING the time he had it out for Dr. Terry. I mean. HOW could this have been missed?

Maloney’s off to see the man himself, he isn’t answering the door but his house is a shrine to his dead mother. He pops up with something heavy in hand just as Rose leaves a message on Maloney’s phone to approach him cautiously. Rothermere’s mother died right before the Terrys were killed; he has a shrine to them inside his closet.

Rothermere confesses: he didn’t know anyone was in the house! He just wanted to get back at Dr. Terry for not letting him out to see his mother; there’s no love in the world.

I was worried for Maloney just then, but Rothermere is removed by the police without a fight. Dr. Terry admits that he lied about Annie, they were very much involved. Rose knew that, of course, because Dr. Terry mentioned how Annie’s mother died and we already heard from Annie’s father that she didn’t talk about that with anyone.

Dr. Terry wasn’t in love with Annie, however. He slept with her for two years but eventually got tired of her emotional crises. He didn’t love her and Rose thinks that’s what he wrote in that letter Annie wouldn’t show the court.

I had just been thinking: ANNIE wasn’t married, why wouldn’t she keep the letter? It’s not as though she had to keep anything hidden, especially if the letter was negative.

Maggie is going to see her folks, selling the house, starting back to work and she’s sorry she used Maloney.

Maggie was in a state of extreme distress, though, why did Maloney need HER so? That’s what I’m wondering. I understand why she would reach out, but why could he not bear to be parted from her? Is he lonely? I could understand that, for as exciting as Rose is: she’s entirely an island alone. She is kind, though.

Annie is looking well on the outside, her dad sits with her as they contemplate the hugeness of the open sky and we’re oot.

From a strictly Sarah Lancashire point, this series three is very good: she handles the layers of her character with aplomb and looks fantastic. From a show standpoint, I’m enjoying the mini-film format of this set as well. The music, though. They have this light and airy theme music that plays at all the emotional moments of the show, including things like someone ramming the back of someone’s car. It’s jarring and odd and doesn’t make sense to the overall narrative. Until next time, which is the last time (with George Costigan from Happy Valley!!), cheers and odd horn music out!