Hi guys and welcome to the weekend, I hope everyone had a great week (i.e. not mine) and is ready to dive right into our disturbing mystery on Unforgotten, let’s roll episode 5 after the break

We open in Sarah Mahmoud’s (Badria Timimi) attic, she’s looking for something to prove she was abroad at the time of David Walker’s murder. Hassan (Adeel Akhtar) pops up to give her a hand. I can’t get used to seeing her sans headscarf! And it’s not as though she’s got moving parts under it, just messy hair like me, it just seems verboten.

Colin Osborne (Mark Bonnar with the swoon-y Scottish accent – what IS it about not being able to understand what someone is saying + spittle everywhere? Dreamy) drops Flo (Any Jayne) off at school and finds a smirky Tyler (Josef Atlin) waiting by his car. He tries to glower Tyler away but this particular predator knows a popcorn fart of a bluff when he sees it and skips away merrily to be seen again on Wednesday to pick up the cash.

Marion (Rosie Cavaliero) gives her hubs Tony (Nigel Lindsay) the good news about Zoe (Jodie Tyack), she’s been found unconscious but alive at a B&B. The bad news is this is what she’s been keeping from him: this is what she does to relationships. Kills them.

Jason (Will Brown) is mad at his mother Tessa (Lorraine Ashborne) for staying married to a child molester, and sometimes…adult children….She asks where he’s going then, to his prissy little flat and pretend friends? He can forget about beer with Cassie’s kids, I’ll tell you that, after slapping their mother like a rented mule.

He always thought she smothered him for his sake, now he can see that she was hiding in that as well. He suggest she take some time to think about who she is and what kind of person she thinks she is.

Adult children

DCI Cassie (Nicola Walker hay gurl hay!) and Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar) are updating their boss DSI Clive Andrews (Colin R. Campbell) on the investigation; they’re focusing on tracking down the house that David Walker and his pedophile friends used for The Gatherings back in 1980 and 1981.

They’re also trying to suss out which of their suspects was in care or vulnerable, we know of at least two: Sara and Marion. Since we’re already being led down the path of a female murderer, I’m going with Colin.

At least Sunny and Cassie make up!

And Cassie has a sniff of something: she wants to bring Colin, Sara and Marion all together into the same room at the same time, what if they all knew each other? THEY DO!!! They DO know each other!! We saw them!

DS Murray Boulting (Jordan Long) is checking out the Maria Gonzalez who charged Colin with rape when he was a banker; her placement was unusually timed. Her address also brings up Murray’s ears, but it’s her references that send Murray running back to the office.

It was our David Walker who referred Maria to Klein, Edgerton, hmm. She was a stripper for Walker for 18 months and then only at Klein, Edgerton for two days before she charged Colin with rape. So. Looking at everything, Cassie comes to the conclusion that David Walker wanted Colin out of the picture and had he not been in banking in the 80s, he would have been. So why was David going after Colin?

DC Fran Lingley (Carolina Main) is about to ask Colin just that! Just as Murray makes a move to pick up Sara and Jack Collier (Lewis Reeves) snags Marion. Party time at ye olde police station and you three are the guests of honour.

Ellen Price (Maggie O’Neill), one of the victims of child abuse at the hands of David Walker and his friends, is able to identify which house the gatherings were held in, these evenings were called “prayer meetings” and as much as I find it difficult to believe a storyline with multiple child predators: it happens. Subway Jared and his friend / helpmate? Jerry Sandusky? It’s unbelievably tragic and it really does happen.

Ohhhhhhhhh while Ellen is giving the information to Cassie about The Gatherings, she mentions a woman that she thought was David Walker’s wife showing up and screaming at him: so Tessa did know. Ellen’s willing to look at their suspects, might as well.

This is very hard on Ellen, she’s not talked about this with anyone. Cassie is gentle, so gentle, but we know she’ll be relentless in her pursuit of the real story underneath.

Sunny calls just then; Colin could possibly have gotten out of his psychiatric facility at that time if he tried hard enough, but there isn’t any record of such. Same with Sara, they’ve got record of her flying to Rome, but what if she came back? Too many airlines to check.

Cassie’s back at the Brentford house knocking on the door, but nobody’s home. A helpful neighbour gives her a bit of background: who she wants to talk to is Ken from the Consulate who was there for donkey’s years. But he’s dead, no interview today.

Everyone’s been brought into the station for questioning, Colin, Sara and Marion are all carefully left in the waiting room together while Ellen stares at each of their photos. She doesn’t recognise Marion, isn’t sure about Sara and cries when she sees Colin. She thinks Sara was at those parties.

The detectives are watching their suspects in the waiting room, completely ignoring each other. Tessa’s there somewhere too.

Cassie starts with Marion; how did Sinead Quinn came up with David Walker’s number and Marion’s parents address? *flashback to Marion kissing Walker?* Cassie asks about her childhood; any time in care? At Juvie? At parties at Brentford? Well no, because she was 14 at that time and also: living in Ireland.

Sunny is working with Tessa, who’s still claiming she didn’t know anything about David’s nasty proclivities. Flashbacks show her a liar, but of course we knew that. Sunny uses the old “wives know” line and you know what? They don’t always. Sunny suggests she followed him after work one night, seeing her husband outside after a party with a child. Maybe she took the child back to her care home and had it out with her husband.

Tessa denies it, but Ellen has remembered so very much specific detail about the woman who drove her home, and the car she drove…you can see Tess finally crumple under the weight of all of that and it’s terrible and also strangely satisfying. TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED! Stop lying! It’s awful, but you weren’t one of the victims there, Tess.

Murray’s tracked down Maria Gonzalez (Avital Abregan) who gives the usual line about not pressing charges with the police re: her rape accusation and I’ll do my best not to shout but it’s shows like this that show false rape accusations as leverage *coughWentworthcough* that make me angry. Do you know how rare it is that there is a false rape accusation made? Well, nobody really knows, but it’s considered rare. Guess who many times we hear about it when there IS a false rape accusation? All.the.damn.time. I get it. Rape is a difficult crime to prosecute, I just wish it wasn’t written into so many scripts as A) a plot device and / or B) to show women as wily tricksters intent on bringing men down with their most ruinous false accusations.

Cath (Bryony Hannah) makes a move to befriend Jason, but the sounds of his weeping coming from his room warn her off.

Maria Gonzalez came clean with Murray; David Walker paid her 5 grand to get heavy-drinker Colin Osborne drunk and then tore her clothing elsewhere and blamed him. She couldn’t bring herself to repeat that false accusation to the police, and the detectives find that David was trying to shut down a nosy Colin who was asking too many questions.

Adam (Jassa Ahluwalia) is studying when the police bring his grandad Martin (Peter Egan) home, is he drunk? He’s lost his wallet.

Cassie is interviewing Colin, who is so very ashamed of that night. He doesn’t remember anything of that whole evening, but he thinks it’s the worst thing he’s ever done. He was having blackouts at that time and wasn’t even out as gay to himself. Hm. Maybe that was why the drinking. Oh Colin’s face when he hears that he didn’t do it and that Maria was paid by someone to accuse him. We cry.

He doesn’t have any idea why David would want him shut down, and he never attended any parties in Brentford, he’s from Scotland. The first time he left Scotland, he was 19, so he couldn’t have been at those parties. I believe that, and I believe him but then he immediately lies about not knowing Marion and Sara, so throw me a bone, Colin!

He terminates the interview and checks his phone to find several missed calls from Simon (Charlie Condou): he forgot to take Flo to ballet.

Colin, I know you are at a crossroads in your life but I really don’t think this is the right time for you to adopt anyone.

A man is at the Mahmoud house, he’s seen the photoshopped images of Sara being sent around, he thinks she’s his daughter.

Whuuuuuut? Didn’t her parents die? Wasn’t that why she was in care?

Cassie is interviewing Sara at the same time as Hassan is chatting with Sara’s father: only her mother died in that car crash, why would she lie and say both parents died? And that was when she was 12, not 20 as she tells Cassie.

Did her dad…?

Her dad gives Hassan a laundry list of Sara’s typical teenage rebellious behaviour while Sara sticks to her straight and narrow story for Cassie. Her dad didn’t know what to do with her, so he kicked her out at 13. Her dad found out about the abuse she was suffering.

Sara’s had it with Cassie’s questions and pictures of the Brentwood house, she wants her solicitor. Hassan escorts Sara’s dad out and heads back up to the attic to look for evidence from that time period while Marion makes a run into the cancer ward to see Zoe. She’s dragged out kicking and screaming, guuuurl.

Charlie has been thinking. He knows that Colin isn’t being honest with him and as such, he doesn’t want to make Flo’s life any more difficult than it is. He’s going to call the social worker and tell her everything and then they can make whatever move is best for the wee girl.

Woot, alright, Hassan’s found exactly what’s needed to clear Sara of David Walker’s murder! He shows up at the station with a shoebox full of dated memorabilia that clearly exonerates Sara.

He has some things to share with her at home. Cassie officially gives up: they know everyone is lying, but they don’t know WHY. Might as well go for a pint. Meanwhile, Marion got a text from Zoe saying “the usual place” so she’s waiting out at their smoking spot.

Marion apologizes for taking everything out on Zoe, she shouldn’t have but also: she thinks of Zoe as the daughter she never had. Many tears.

The pedant in me spent a good minute staring at Cassie’s giant glass of wine when I distinctly heard her ask for a large vodka. Was that for Sunny? And how was his date, anyway? He is not answering AND is drinking a pint. Is she flirting? He is adorable.

An angry and distraught (drunk?) Marion comes home fully loaded for bear; she accuses Tony of fathering her sister’s children and kicks him out. He agrees, far too quickly and uses the past tense when saying he “loved” her but that kicking him out is exactly the right thing to do. He wants too much from her. He’ll call her sister and mum to see that she’s taken care of and then he is gone.

I can’t be the only one that thought maybe SHE should go, right? He looked very comfortable, sane, etc. She needs to be with her family or in an institution and getting help.

Cassie and Sunny are knee deep in the booze now, talking about dating at their age “you sort of forget why you might be attractive…to anyone” and TESTIFY, sister! You know, if no-one’s telling you and you don’t go ’round telling yourself. Sunny thinks Cassie’s attractive! She’s funny, clever, kind and..pretty. THEY ARE SO GONNA MAKE OUT

He and his dreamy eyes make a move towards her lips, awww, she rabbits. Good call, Cassie, with your working relationship, but he really does have beautiful eyes.

She runs outside and if you tell me you didn’t think of the glorious River and immediately start looking for Stellan Skarsgaard, I’ll call you a stinking liar!

She has an epiphany! She comes up to Sunny, whose

move shall be put aside for now, she’s thought of a way it all works together! And if she’s right

Oooh! So, hmm hmm. What could it be? How did a bit of night air and a reluctant cabbie lead to a break in the case? If there are more bodies, was it more of a Strangers on the Train scenario rather than a Murder on the Orient Express? Wherein people killed people for other people so they couldn’t be caught for motive and then they killed other people in return? Hm.

Because of course, the only one whose motive we’ve firmly established is Sara, who absolutely cannot have done it. Colin sort of could have killed David, but since he didn’t know David set him up for that false rape accusation, and wasn’t possibly in attendance at those parties, he had no motive. Marion could have absolutely done it, but again: no way she was at those parties and what was her motive? She clearly had one, trying to get the IRA involved in an attempt to have David killed, but what was it? Does it have anything to do with her inability or unwillingness to have children? Her husband talked about that a lot. Sometimes abortions can affect ability to reproduce, especially if you’re somewhere where they’re illegal, like Ireland. And finally: Tessa. Did she kill her monster of a husband once she realised that he wasn’t only a victim but a predator himself?

We’ll find out next week! Last episode of the series next week, I hope we’re ready! Cheers