We’re kneedeep in the British mini-series mystery Retribution (also known as One of Us, which I can’t say without chanting), how are you liking so far? There are so many familiar faces that I’d like to thank IMDb for not making me ask all around me: “Who is that guy? The one with the hair! He was in that…thing…with the woman with the…eyes, you know!” Rolling the penultimate episode after the break!

We’d better refresh, it’s been a little while. Here’s the S1:E02 Beneath The Surface recap, ping me when you’re done, I’ll go getta cuppa.

All caught up? Great. So last week we found out that Adam, the man murdered in his flat with his new wife Grace, called his estranged dad Peter Elliot (Adrian Edmonson) just before he died, so Peter is right now driving towards the rest of his children. Rob (Joe Dempsie) and Claire (Joanna Vanderham) are probably not going to be very happy to see him and neither will his ex-wife Louise (Juliet Stevenson).

Meanwhile, Rob is entertaining the police with his girlfriend Anna (Georgina Campbell), whose rapist has filed a complaint against Rob for following him. An extraordinarily Scottish policeman advises Rob to leave this behind, to move forward because if he continues on, he’ll be liable for prosecution.

Rob is very angry.

Anna is very sad and would like Rob to not make this about his anger, as it was her rape and that is how she is choosing to handle the assault on her own person.

Rob is still angry and thinks that his reaction to the rape of his girlfriend is more important than the wishes of his girlfriend.

Rob is probably not as good of a boyfriend as he thinks he is.

Don’t be Rob.

On the other hand, Rob is under quite a lot of stress, having maybe murdered his brother’s murderer this weekend and definitely helping to get rid of the body.

The policeman (James McAnerney) and policewoman (Sarah McCardie! That name was so familiar, I had to go check immediately. Ed McCardie was the showrunner of one the best shows I’ve recapped: Spotless. He’s her brother! That was a nice surprise) leave after Rob calms himself and we’re off to the pub where blackmailing farm worker Alistair (Gary Lewis) is meeting Moira Douglas (Julie Graham).

I KNEW they were having an affair!

But it’s over, and she’s burned his letters and that’s that. I think he loves her, though, he believes the storm ripped them apart. She allows herself to be talked into a drink and then the humping commences.

Somehow I thought an illicit hotel room romp in Scotland would be different than elsewhere, but there’s not even a climbing vine to distinguish it. I do love the fact that we’re seeing grown people bang the gong slowly (then much more quickly), but have to laugh at the always-present sheet preserving everyone’s modesty in that completely unnecessary scene.

Peter calls daughter Claire mid-trip, he’s trying to work up the nerve to drive the rest of the way to see his kids. Claire is not especially welcoming, subjecting Peter to a DadTest about Adam, which Peter fails, of course.

You guys don’t mind if I skip gifs, do you? They don’t seem to add much. We can just chat a bit every once in a while to break things up. Everything going well? Great, back to it!

LSD-slinger by night and important police detective by day Juliet (Laura Fraser) gets a worrisome call and rushes home to her daughter Maddy (Isis Hainsworth), who is upset because a friend of hers from school jumped off a balcony. The friend sent a picture of the drugs she was going to take, which Juliet recognises as the Papa Smurf LSD she sold in bulk to a dealer.

Juliet was selling those drugs as a way to pay for an operation to save her daughter’s life, this has all gotten out of control but you wouldn’t know it by Juliet’s collected demeanor later.

Holy shite, Peter calls Claire, who isn’t picking up as she’s walking towards the water, so he leaves a message apologizing and walks directly into traffic, where he is immediately killed.

I thought Claire was the one about to commit suicide!

But no, she’s just rowing out the middle of Glenarvon Loch to get rid of the murder weapon.

Okay, just one gif, it was very pretty.

Rob, Anna and Claire meet up at the train station, she’s devastated and feeling guilty about Peter’s death.

Claire confronts Rob about the bloody knife she just threw in the loch for him, he denies knowing what she’s talking about. He’s very convincingly astonished, but Claire doesn’t believe him.

Juliet and detective Andrew (Steve Evets) are headed back to the farms, waking up Louise with their condolences about Peter. And more questions about what they were doing at the Douglas farm the morning they said they didn’t leave their place. Juliet’s also noticed that the SUV the supposed murderer was driving is gone (buried in a pit now), what’s going on there?

Juliet is not a great liar, going on about a special walk for Adam and Grace, and I think she’s hungover, which would be unfortunate as she’s in recovery. She calls immediately over to the Douglas residence, but the only person in the house has his headphones on and is mooning over Claire making fun of his amorous attempt the previous evening. There is no time to let the Douglases know what to say.

I think Bill Douglas (John Lynch) pulls it off, but nope. He said they went in an opposite direction that Louise did.

Juliet suspects vigilante justice, she knows better than most the things people will do to protect and avenge those that they love.

Rob’s sensed that Anna isn’t very happy with him, he just wanted to protect her! She doesn’t want protecting! Then he accuses her of hiding the knife in the room and she walks away, even angrier.

Bill tries to calm Louise down, Alistair shows up and drags him outside. Alistair wants more money.

So.

Alistair is screwing Bill’s wife AND putting the screws to him again for money? You have to admire the nerve, anyway. The problem is that Alistair’s wife Sal (Kate Dickie) wants him to ask for more money but Bill’s shutting it down. He’ll take his chances with the police.

Claire is back at work with her favourite patient Meredith (Anne Kidd), who suggests she discuss what’s troubling her with her Facebook friend Sam.

Since we know Jamie Douglas (Cristian Ortega) will be reading all those messages, I don’t know if that’s the BEST idea, but it works for Claire.

Juliet and Andrew have been poring over everything they can find on the Elliots and Douglases, no smoking guns, just a gut feeling on Juliet’s part.

Claire cries and watches Adam and Grace’s wedding video, which is sure to have some clues, right?

Side note: I hate weddings. I hated them before I was embroiled in a divorce, even, and the reason is just what we see here. Alistair and Sal giving marital advice to Adam, never mind at least Alistair is stepping out on his missus. They’re a massively expensive monument to hypocrisy, everyone pretending to be happy. Well. Except YOUR wedding, of course, I meant except that one.

Her far-away boyfriend texts just then and she spills everything over Facebook while Jamie reads along.

Everyone is ready for the funerals (I fink?), Claire suggests maybe Peter had something to do with Adam and Grace’s deaths and I sure hope not since he’s dead.

Lots of help is needed for everyone to get ready, Bill and Louise are the most affected.

In the city, minor drug dealer catches the police about to raid him and makes an escape, calling Jay (Chris Fulton) as he goes. Wow, that is not a good idea at all, that’s only one degree of separation between Juliet and this minor dealer, I don’t like her odds.

Especially when Jay heads straight to Juliet’s house to sit with her daughter, if he goes down he’ll be taking her with him, FYI.

Oh shite, Jamie sent a screenshot of Claire’s Facebook chat to the police! It’s not admissible but it’s enough for a warrant, so we’re about to get got.

We’re at the funeral while the police descend on the Elliot farm, there is no way they won’t find absolutely everything.

Three weeks ago all these same people were gathered at Adam and Grace’s wedding and now they assemble for their funerals. What a mess.

Bill takes a moment to fire Alistair during afters, that was…abrupt. Rob and Claire try to figure out who stuffed the knife in the fireplace, maybe Anna? There’s a darkness to her since the attack, he can’t figure it out.

Jamie’s been drinking steadily all day, Moira takes him aside to yell and he coughs up that Bill has been lying: he has Parkinson’s disease.

The police have found Lee Walsh’s body.

Last gif: that was also visually stunning!

The police came right to the funeral after-party, and it’s time for the truth. Both families are interviewed separately at the station and since we already saw what happened in real time, let’s go make a cuppa.

Okay, we’re back in time to watch Rob admit to killing Lee, which means he still thinks he’s protecting Anna. Jaysus.

Jay is picked up and now we know Juliet is on the wire. She’s so cool.

Claire, Louise and Anna will be kept overnight and charged with Perverting the Course of Justice (love that term), everyone else is released. Jamie wants an apology from his parents: see, he didn’t do it and they all thought he did!

Moira is mad that Bill didn’t tell her he was dying, what kind of bloody marriage is this?? Every single time someone does something to “protect” someone on this show, they drive a bigger and bigger wedge between themselves and everyone else. Okay, characters, do you, but don’t pretend keeping important stuff to yourself is for anyone else’s benefit.

Bill’s furious that Jamie was hacking into Claire’s Facebook account, that is pretty gross. I don’t think you ever find out anything you want, anyway, do you? All he read was a bunch of shite about himself, oh and the bit about the murder weapon. Bill is goaded into an attack of shaking, which shocks everyone.

It’s a subdued ride home from the police station and after Claire cleans at the Elliot residence, the wedding tape still playing. We see Bill giving Adam a bunch of money outside, what’s going on there? I knew that tape would come in handy! Bill shouts “carry on, you’ll go straight to hell!” at Adam’s retreating back, what could that be about?

Claire wants to know too, she goes right to Bill and just as she asks him…it’s over.

Woot, that means all will be revealed next and final episode! Who’s ready? Me too! Until then, you might have noticed that I was pretty frustrated with all the protecting, but look how muddy it’s gotten. Louise and Claire not reporting the knife being found, then getting rid of the evidence (that might have exonerated their family member Rob) then him saying he did the murder because he was protecting Anna (who might not have done it) and it seems like nobody but Juliet and I want to know what actually happened! PLUS: we don’t even know Lee was Adam’s and Grace’s murderer, OR why he had their post code! Well. Someone knows, but so far they’ve been keeping it to themselves.

Cheers!