Who has two thumbs and is feeling incredibly vindicated after episode 1.5 of The Stranger? That’s right, ME! WOOOOO! We got to see a little bit of Richard Armitage‘s humourous side last time, too, I’m looking forward to more of that. Without further ado, let’s dive further into this compelling series from Harlan Coben, Netflix and the Red Production Company! Rolling The Stranger S1:E1.6 after the break! A heads up: there are ALL the spoilers after this break. All of them!
We open where we left off, with Adam Price (Richard Armitage) staring into the wreckage of his client Martin Killane’s (Stephen Rea) flat where a body has just been found.
WHICH I TOTALLY SAID HE DID!!! HE HAD BODIES IN THE BASEMENT WRITTEN ALL OVER HIM!! WOOOO!!
Okay, sorry, sorry, I’m sure it’s awful and do you think it’s his missing wife who may or may not be the mother of The Stranger (Hannah John-Kamen)? I went pretty deep into conspiracy theories.
I’ll say one thing: Killane knew how to tidily wrap a body. Probably not his only.
He’s taken to jail and processed, Adam following in disbelief. I’m staring at the size of Killane’s cell, did he score a double? That’s the biggest jail cell I’ve ever seen. Is he in the cafeteria?
Adam’s waiting because technically he’s Killane’s lawyer, although only representing him in a civil suit. Killane was doing everything he could to not sell his flat, and now we know why. (I knew why AGES ago, that’s a credit to Stephen Rea that he got across that serial killed/body hider vibe so well)
DS Johanna Griffin (Siobhan Finneran from Downton Abbey! I can’t believe I’ve been leaving that off her work roster) asks Adam for assistance, Killane will only speak to him.
But what do you say to someone you just found out is totally a murderer?
Killane wants to confess to Adam his sins of long ago. It’s a story as old as time, man meets woman, admires her spirit and beauty and courage then SMOTHERS IT IN A CAGE OF HIS OWN MAKING. Okay, just kidding, Killane thought his wife Natasha was gorgeous, thrilling and demanding. (Demanding? Did she not want to be buried, wrapped up tidily in black plastic and then stuffed in a wall for twenty years while you talked about how “difficult” women are?)
Lovely Natasha was stepping out on the hardworking police officer Killane, but she convinced him that she only wanted him, really, and they should have a baby (is the baby now a Stranger?). Killane adores parenthood, he was made for this shite! Natasha: not so much.
She tried to sneak out with the baby one day, Killane lashed out and before he knew it, it was over. He never thought he would be capable of such a thing. But he did have a lot of other practical knowledge.
He hid Natasha and went on with his life. Natasha had been quite vocal about her plans to leave Killane, so that eased the way for him. People felt bad for him, what kind of mother leaves her child behind?
Adam listens in horror and now I’m thinking of something even worse: that’s pretty much exactly what is going on with Adam’s wife Corrine Price (Dervla Kirwan) who is missing. She and Adam had a fight about her possibly faking a pregnancy to potentially head off an affair and she disappeared. She didn’t take the children and there was this alibi of a fight….but we know for sure Adam didn’t kill her so did someone else hurt Corinne? We’ve been with Adam all the time, we know he didn’t sneak off and hide Corinne in his wall.
Back to Killane, he quit his job and devoted his life to raising his child, Chris, only to be shut out for the last few years.
- Careful use of gender-neutral name “Chris”
- Always calling his child “child” or “toddler”, never son or daughter
- Estrangement because of finding out your dad killed your mum is exactly what The Stranger alluded to
In fact, it’s so pat that I have to assume The Stranger is not Killane’s daughter. Boooo. I have to wonder about his quitting his job to take care of his child. You can’t…really do that. Does that have an affect? As in, did he start this blackmailing business to finance being a stay at home dad? Like dad, like daughter?
Okay, so Adam was on the same tack I just jumped off, he thought that Killane killed CORINNE and that’s why this at the construction site.
Killane swears he just meant for using Adam, awww, now I feel even worse for Adam, he was sitting there the whole time thinking that was his wife he saw. Killane is not happy that Adam is making this about him and HIS missing wife, this is about him and his child! He thought Adam would understand!
All Adam understands is that Killane raised his child with their mother’s corpse in the wall. Adam’s all done helping this particular client.
Across town, a different murderer/police officer is investigating something else. We met Patrick / John Katz (Paul Kaye) when he murdered one of The Stranger’s blackmail victims, Heidi Doyle (Jennifer Saunders). I think it’s safe to say that he’s obsessed with finding out as much as he can about The Stranger, right now he’s hanging out with Laurie Powers (Anna Swan) and her husband Larry Powers (Matthew Douglas) who are launching an Ethical Investing app. Erm. Okay.
AHHHHHH okay. Katz has been trying to find The Stranger for disguy, he’s working a side hustle. There must be some pretty good coin involved, he risked his whole life to murder Heidi for no good reason. Well. Katz is working to pay for his daughter’s medical bills…but we saw last time his wife Leila (Kim Vithana) was secretly disposing of rat poison and the like, so maybe there’s a Munchausen by Proxy situation of which he’s not aware.
It was Katz who planted Corinne’s expired key fob at the crime scene, of course, yes. That makes sense. Another thing that makes sense: Mr. Powers was the Sugar Daddy to Heidi’s daughter Kimberley (Callie Cooke), who was his SugarBaby. This would look very bad for the developer of a church-related investing app.
There are literally only three police officers in the Greater Manchester area, so Johanna is working ALL of our crimes at once. She’s at Killane’s apartment, meeting Adam and Johanna’s partner, the infant, DC Wesley Ross (Kadiff Kirwan – it’s his birthday today! Happy birthday!). Johanna takes pity on Adam and lets him know Corinne’s car has been found, she brings him with her for the stakeout. They’re going to watch it and see if anyone comes near it.
Adam’s son Thomas (Jacob Dudman) has been colluding with other neighbourhood teens Daisy Hoy (Ella-Rae Smith) and Mike Tripp (Brandon Fellows) to cover up their alpaca murdering shenanigans at a recent rave/bonfire.
#JusticeForLouie
The same night as the bonfire, a young man named Dante Gunnarsson (Kai Alexander) was found unconscious and unclothed after being chased through the woods. Daisy had laced Mike’s drugs with PCP because she thought he’d hacked into her younger sister’s phone and sent around fake nude photos. She thought that because Katz’s (you remember Katz up above, right? Murderer as police officer, on the case of The Stranger and killing anyone in his way) daughter Olivia (Humera Syaed) told her that.
The teens want to ask Olivia why she lied to them (Mike has an awesomely detailed alibi) but since Olivia’s been dealing with some stomach issues (like an allergy to rat poison?), they haven’t been able to. Also, her mom hates Tom because of his mum, the missing Corinne.
No, that’s not convoluted and confusing at all, fanks!
Adam’s in a contemplative mood, wondering aloud to Johanna if Corinne faked her pregnancy out of fear of him falling in love with someone else. I’m curious as to why he’s opening up to this police detective he met three times under not ideal circumstances, but she’s got good advice.
We do. Even if we don’t mean to, even if there are reasons. We all mess up.
They pull up to Corinne’s car on a deserted side road, it’s close to the airport but not a parking area by any means. DC Marisa Desford (Tamica Greenaway) is helping Johanna, who gets the keys from Adam to open up the trunk of Corinne’s car. It’s sparkling clean! The whole car is spotless, save for one of her earring stuck in the back car seat.
I mean, this isn’t the type of car you mess around in, it’s tiny.
Adam is at his breaking point.
Daisy and Mike angrily confront Olivia at her house, hmm, it wasn’t a “hey, I heard Mike was the one who put up those pictures” it was a targeted attack on Mike specifically TO Daisy wherein Olivia stated positively that she saw Mike do the deed.
So…Daisy just happened to have a joint laced with PCP kicking around that she decided to use for revenge? Well. Mike did say last time that there were drug dealers at the rave, so I’ll stand down. FOR NOW.
Olivia cries, so Tom sends Daisy and Mike out to the car, wielding a little soft soap instead. Ah, it was Olivia who sent those pictures from Daisy’s little sister Ella’s (India Brown) phone because she likes Mike and thought she saw him with Ella.
That makes very little sense. Ella is 14. How does blaming Mike for attacking Ella make Mike like her?
Also: I think Tom being awesome and understanding and going on and on about just wanting to help is going to make him Olivia’s next target.
Adam tells Johanna everything he’s found out about The Stranger, he thinks she is the crux of the matter and he’s not wrong.
DC Desford comes back to the house with Adam and leaves with Corinne’s passport, outside The Stranger is watching from cover.
Johanna’s starting to ask the right questions at the police station, who found Corinne’s expired fob at Heidi Doyle’s crime scene and why isn’t it logged?
I can help with that, it’s the same guy who didn’t file the Missing Persons report Adam put in! Katz!
Jeez, if you’re going to be manufacturing evidence and rearranging things, Katz, at least follow procedure.
Adam goes over to the Hoy residence, where his boys and Vicky Hoy (Jade Harrison) and her girls are about to eat. You can see the relief in his whole body at the chance to relax for a moment, to be with people.
Johanna brings a picture of Corinne’s fob to Heidi’s cafe, neither of Heidi’s workers remember seeing it that night. Jenna (Aurora Burquart) did see Heidi talking to The Stranger and her partner Ingrid Prisby (Lily Loveless), though! Get the CCTV and do not ask Katz!
She calls Wes, who takes the notes and damnit, KATZ walks up and steals it. For the love of
Katz queues up the footage and Wes walks in, yay! Then Katz shoos him away and he goes! Come ON!
It’s almost midnight when the Price boys get back to their house, young Ryan (Misha Handley) is worried about homework because he’s a good kid, yes he is! Tom wants to run a theory by his dad, he thinks his mum has run off with someone else. That’s what people do, that’s what happened to Daisy and her mum and dad.
Adam tries to reason with his kiddo, but he is steadfast in his newfound belief, suddenly seeming old beyond his years.
Adam is having flashbacks of good times with Corinne constantly.
He misses her.
Johanna shows the CCTV footage to the right person: Kimberley (Callie Cooke), Heidi’s daughter. She’s the only one who knows what The Stranger and Ingrid Prisby told Heidi the night before she died. Kimberley spills and Johanna seizes on the important link: who are the men Kimberley has been seeing?
We know one! She didn’t know names or phone numbers, though, just through the app. Two men expressed concern when she told them about her mum, the other did not AND didn’t show up for their planned date that night.
Johanna takes Kimberley with her as she investigates and suggests she meet with the men again to see if they received a visit from The Stranger as well.
Would that make Kimberley bait?
She agrees to entice the one recalcitrant SugarDaddy with “what he’s always pestering for”, I really hope the police used to protect her will not be KATZ.
As it turns out, Katz pushing so hard and not taking any time off works against him. When username Malbec40/Larry Powers gets a provocative text from Kimberley/SugarBabyKitty, he calls Katz right away but his phone is dead and he’s asleep so no heads-up is given. Malbec40 is in!
We’re back at school with Mike and Daisy, he keeps having strong PCP flashbacks about killing poor Louie the alpaca. What’s really worrying him is that he doesn’t remember anything about Dante, who was hurt that night too. What if he hurt Dante while he was off his head?
Daisy’s got her own problems, besides feeding Mike the PCP, she was the last one seen with Dante.
Wes wakes up Katz in his car (THANKS) then hands him a phone charger so he can make the briefing with Johanna about the SugarBaby sting. For the love of
Katz makes some disparaging comments about Johanna’s investigation style then slips out to call his SugarDaddy client. Larry isn’t picking up, he’s got a hot date with a SugarBaby about to give up the A. We saw him kiss his pregnant wife goodbye and everything.
The sting is in play at the Bolitar Hotel, Katz frantically texting Larry over and over. Wes can’t help but notice, but I’m fixated on a drink discrepancy. Someone get Continuity on the line!
How did that drink fill itself in those seconds??
Katz manages to create a diversion to warn Larry just as he comes in, Johanna is so frustrated that she sends him home for today and tomorrow. Wes sticks up for Katz, blaming it on JOHANNA being unprofessional and too close to the case. Wes just watched Katz shotgun a double vodka while on duty! After frantically texting on his phone for half an hour then moving out of position in the middle of an operation!
Adam goes to the construction site / burial site of Killane’s house to find his dad Edgar Price (Anthony Head) spinning like a top. All of the construction is shut down because of the crime scene investigation, does everyone know how much this is costing him?? Adam finally tells him that his wife is missing, they decide that Killane is probably involved.
The police call then: Martin Killane just tried to commit suicide. Adam races off to the hospital while his son Tom goes to Olivia’s house again.
Ah HA!! Olivia has been getting ill all the time, nobody knows what’s wrong with her but her mum is studying to be a nurse.
You know, medical knowledge is usually the background of most perpetrators of Munchausen by Proxy, as is not wanting the sick child to see another doctor, as Corinne had suggested to Olivia.
There’s one key point in MbP, though, the caregiver usually has a very high profile with regards to the illness, showing about the sick child so everyone can admire how well they care for their wards. Olivia’s mum seemed much more private about her care.
There’s a noise, Olivia sends Tom into the garage to hide where he finds just loads and loads of medication and rat poison. It’s Katz come home to get his car, he may be a murderer and a shit human being but he adores his daughter and really does want to help her get better.
He drives off with Tom hiding in the backseat, erm, and The Stranger at the hospital where Martin Killane is under observation after his suicide attempt.
Adam’s there, too, he misses seeing her by a nanosecond, COME ON! The police officer on duty kicks him out of the area while The Stranger grabs a laundry cart and makes her move.
Does Tom fart in Katz’s car? Are you kidding me?? Maybe he’s cramping up. Either way, Katz knows he’s there and he’s armed.
The Stranger walks behind Adam, who recognises her in the reflection of the vending machine.
We’re out! Only two more left, have you figured anything out yet? There’s definitely something to do with apps and computers, not just for investigation but also for directing of people. I’m wondering about what the kids called the Anon*mous App which had to do with the bonfire/rave, the alpaca.hit and also perhaps the persecution of Dante. Hm.
Until next time! Which is the second to last time, yay! Cheers
