We’re back with more Unforgotten and several mysteries to unravel at once; the central one being: how could someone named Precious be treated so much like trash? Let’s find out what we can in my recap of episode three of Unforgotten Sunny Calm after the break.
It’s a busy schoolday morning, our DCI Jesse James (Sinéad Keenan) gets her children out the door while fielding a call from her sister Debbie (who appears to be her actual sister Gráinne Keenan) who will meet her later but it will probably be messy as time management is definitely a problem for both.
DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) makes a run at leaving without saying goodbye but his pregnant partner Sal (Michelle Bonnard) stops him for at least a half-hearted kiss. They’re a lovely couple, but either he’s not really in it or she’s too understanding because they seem to be only existing on an extremely polite and distant level.
We follow Lord Tony Hume (Ian McElhinney) from UV 4, one of our suspects in the murder of our cold case victim Precious Falade, as he looks at old membership applications and pulls one for ‘M…..f…a Ali’.
Forensic analysis continues apace as we switch to Karol Wojski (Max Rinehart) from UV1 as he explains his distaste for London: it almost killed him. He became someone he didn’t even like.
Like a MURDERER??
I don’t see that, he’s too lovely but who knows about pasts. Plus, you know that’s what most people say about London, makes you all murdery.
We’re at a briefing with Jess, Sunny and the rest of the team, who would have thought Precious’ mum Ebele Falade (Martina Laird) would have a long police record including assault and a firearms charge? I guess her boyfriend Dave Adams (Mark Frost) would, what with the black eye she gave him.
Precious had a son before she died, it doesn’t sound like that was the end of the bad shite in his not-awesome childhood. Long history of criminal offenses and addiction.
We’re just about to wrap up when Sunny brings up a sticky situation. See, Jess had some of the plasterboard tested initially and was planning to entirely dump this as a very old case when it came back saying it was from the 60s. Sunny surreptitiously had the rest tested…
Jess’s face:
OF COURSE YOU DID.
But hang on, it’s weird that all the plasterboard is from the 60’s, it’s been patched from somewhere and that makes no sense. Drywall is super cheap and presumably pretty crumbly after 6 or so decades, why wouldn’t you just buy new? Instead, whomever did that used newspaper for patching and now we have a date: July 12, 2016.
Last time our mugger / thief from UV2 Jay Royce (Rhys Yates) was picked up by police for theft, now we get to watch him detox during a police interview. He sticks with ‘No comment’ all the way through. His lawyer absolutely has his back all the way, it’s just that he does some pretty horrible things. The woman he knocked down while stealing her purse in the first episode was pregnant and almost lost the baby. And then Jay went home and took the most gentle care of his addicted partner, it’s hard to rectify.
I’m sorry, WHY are they having Ebele and Dave identify Precious’ mummified body?? She’s literally been in a wall for 6 years and HAS NO SKIN, what kind of identification is that??
Ebele wails and wonders aloud how ‘they’ are allowed to keep doing this to ‘them.’ What does that mean? People of colour? People living without means? Men?
Jess shows up then and asks that very question; Ebele tries to push her off but finally answers: it was my last guess: MEN. It will have been a man who did this.
The thing is, I don’t think anything that comes out of Ebele’s mouth is true, none of it. If she told me it was raining, I’d open a window.
Sunny was called to the crime scene by forensic tech Josef Morten (Magnus Bruun), they’ve found loads of blood and can even do a DNA test!
So that person Lord Tony was looking up via membership applications was Mustafa Ali (Nana Agyeman-Bediako) with whom Tony played ping pong with the other day. Everyone looks very suspicious about this surprise visit to their private residence, including Tony, especially when he starts throwing out offers of financial support.
Mustafa’s mama Alaya Ali (Yusra Warsama) knows exactly who Lord Tony is, his previous political party is the reason their community is struggling, what with all the defunding. She hits the bullseye in one shot here.
He leaves, resigned. This is a question, he’s trying to make things right, isn’t he? Person by person? Does that count when there is so much bad in the balance? Don’t get me started on accessing private records of kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, the world is full of those helpers.
And is offering a bit of money enough? His family with at least one known rapist won’t suffer from it, nope.
Lip service.
Ebele Falade has shown up in interview of her own accord, that’s an unusual and quick move, especially when she couldn’t get rid of them fast enough the day before.
Everything sounds fairly normal about Ebele and Precious’ relationship until the bomb she casually drops almost as an afterthought: Precious was abducted by a cult at 15.
I have many questions.
- as her mother, wouldn’t Ebele have tried to rescue her daughter from an actual abduction?: You know, with police and the like?
- Or was this one of those “my daughter chose to run off with a cult’ kind of things? I don’t know, can you legally make that decision at 15?
- What kind of cult?
- Was Karol there? Was this the murdery part he didn’t like about London? Okay, he just said London, I threw in the homicidal bit
The Family of Blessed Light brainwashed young Precious, who came back a decade later and blamed it on her mum and the wheel of mother/daughter relations rolls on intact.
The leader of the cult was a 42-year-old David Bell, he’s thought to be the father of Precious’s baby Joseph and so the wheel of cult leaders and what they’re REALLY all about rolls on intact.
A difficult relationship ended in January of 2016 on Precious’s birthday when Ebele told her daughter she no longer wanted to see her. Ebele had her own struggles with alcohol and self-care was her primary focus then.
Sunny slips in a question about Ebele’s firearms charge in the 80s and this interview is OVER! She says the information is in the file but the detectives are having trouble digging it out so I guess they’ll have to try harder.
DC Fran Lingely (Carolina Main) has tracked down someone from child protective services who helped Precious in the past; it seems FASD was the root of most of Precious’s troubles. That would make everything Ebele’s fault, wouldn’t it? If we didn’t understand that Ebele was dealing with a serious addiction it took years to beat.
FASD is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and its complications are myriad. It seems Ebele never accepted this diagnosis and when Precious would lash out at her mum, Ebele would fight right back, maybe out of misplaced guilt.
By fighting back, I mean that Ebele was physically violent with her daughter, which was not reciprocated.
Jess shits all over the team for being slow on the case she tried to dump a bunch of times, Sunny has had enough. He goes to his boss to complain, he really thinks Fran should be moved up and SUNNY. Sunny. WHY are you not taking the job, again? You are so clearly the leader of this team, which is why Jess’s distracted rudeness is so irritating for you.
I don’t know what to think of Sunny swearing all the time, but I’ve been told I don’t swear enough so maybe it’s just me.
DC Karen Willets (Pippa Nixon) finds something surprising at the lawyers’ office, there’s a phone call worth highlighting.
Ohhhhh Karol was Precious’s social worker!!!! That’s brought him into the picture! He was the last person to interview Precious and what a mess that was. Precious’s son wanted her to go back into sex work again and Precious’s mom had assaulted her again. This was June 26, mere days before they think she died.
Honestly. Did Precious even have a chance?
Karol resigned the next day.
I don’t know if Karol’s having a better day today, his fiancee Elise (Claire Ganaye) is reluctant to have a baby with him because they’re just about to start a huge court fight to stave off joint custody with her ex-husband and the father of her existing children. They’re not at all on the same page, Karol wants to roll ahead full steam, but: hasn’t even told his parents yet that he has a partner.
Ohhhh Karol throws the race/social class card (untermensch) at his lady love, girl, sit down. You’re the one not telling your family AND you comparing yourself to her ex constantly while she’s trying to be realistic is a big red flag. Having a baby is not an equalization statement.
Sunny still isn’t talking to Sal, but he has found a listening ear in Dr. Leanne Balcombe (Georgia McKenzie) who misses our former DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker!) as much as he and I do. I hope that doesn’t get weird. Also, why do partners and friends always expect you to get over things almost immediately?
Sunny will soon be on his way to Paris to interview Karol, maybe that will cheer everyone up! Buck up, Karol!
Also, Jess apologized for getting shirty, so there’s that.
Ooookay remember when Karen got all excited about a number popping up at just the right time at the lawyer’s office? That’s because it was our Tony officially making his official debut onto our cold case! Welcome, Karol and Ebele will fill you in!
I mean, no they won’t.
Tony is the mysterious relative of the dead neighbour a couple of doors down from the crime scene, where he changed all the locks because he was just that sort of fella.
We’re off to Paris, which is much more of an effort from where I am as opposed to where they are, they’re jumping on the Eurostar and Bob’s your uncle. Except that Sunny didn’t tell Sal he would be away overnight and she’s possibly miscarrying. He asks frantically if she wants him to come back and loses cell connection BUT OF COURSE SHE WANTS YOU TO COME BACK.
You all know how much I love Sunny, but he has never ever treated Sal with the respect and importance she is due.
Karol makes the decision to start stealing at one of his jobs.
Jay was worried about his girlfriend Cheryl and asked his lawyer to ask his social worker to check on her, but the lawyer himself schleps out to the projects to find another vaguely European shirtless lad has taken over Cheryl’s care.
Jess rolls up on Lord Tony as he tries to get his affairs in order, he seems genial and his wife Emma Hume (Hayley Mills!!) is warm but you can see the panic behind his eyes.
He is avuncular personified, describing an unlikely scenario where he was scared of a bunch of waif-like dope-sick addicts tried to hardball negotiate him into 1000 quid, even our distracted Jess thinks that’s a bit off. Especially since he had the sole set of keys for five weeks and one of our squatters was a known sex worker.
You know I’m just waiting for the flashback.
And we have it!
I got absolutely nothing! Nothing!
Jess notes that his description of the squatters was very unlike everyone else’s, they were generally described as kind and quiet, sweet even. Not terrible people capable of anything as Lord Tony repeatedly mentioned.
He calls someone after she leaves:”what did you do?? Call me!”
Who was he calling?? Who was that? Jay? Was it Jay? No.
‘The’ bullet is recovered at the crime scene, will they connect it to Ebele and her firearms offense?
Sunny does not listen to me and instead arrives at Paris, attended to as Sunny Calm by his French driver.
Last minute snaps:
– Ebele is drinking
– Jay is Precious’s son! And he was there that night! And he saw it all! Who is he trying to blackmail with this information???
Until next time, when I’m sure it will be Sunny Angry Again! Cheers
