Woooo and we’ve passed the halfway mark with Unforgotten, we’re in the backinning (okay not a thing) and that means we’re going to see more of my favourite things: flashbacks! Show us some pictures, Sunny! Trigger some memories! I won’t understand anyway, but I’m always game for a puzzle. Rolling into my recap of Unforgotten S5:E04 You Win afterthe break!

What we know so far: the body of lilliputian Precious Falade has been found stored carefully in a chimney of a former squat-house and there are four main persons of interest in her death.

– Karol Wojski (Max Rinehart) the social worker who last saw her who coincidentally quit the day after that visit and left the country two weeks after that. He’s currently embroiled in another dicey situation with his lover dealing with a contentious divorce and him thinking that babies equal equality. I’ve referred to the sequences getting to know him as UV1 or Unexplained Vignette 1. I’m a big fan of how writer / showrunner Chris Lang brings the angle wide to very narrow step by step.

– Jay Royce (Rhys Yates) has just been revealed to be Precious Falade’s son! We know this because he was picked up by police for theft and called someone with a blackmail threat about ‘being there that night’. I was quite thrown hearing that because typically we get cold cases on Unforgotten but this one barely has the steam knocked off. It’s only 6 years old, so Precious’s child is actually a grown man who somehow looks older than she did when she died 6 years ago. If I was a betting woman, I’d say Jay is speaking up because his addicted ladylove is being tended to by another while he’s in the knick. UV2

– Lord Tony Hume (Ian McElhinney) is who I think Jay was calling from prison. He’s a former Tory party leader dying of cancer trying to make everything right before he kicks. He’s brought into this mess as a helpful neighbour of the squat-house who kicked out all the squatters in a possibly violent fashion. It’s just kind of random when you look at it overall, I’m not up on English politics but throwing a Tory in as a bad guy atoning is definitely a choice. UV3

– Last but not least is Precious’s mom, Ebele Falade (Martina Laird), a recovering alcoholic with an ongoing habit of addressing conflict with physical violence. It doesn’t help that she lies pretty much every time she opens her mouth. UV4

So: our suspects range from the extremely random (wandering Tory party leader) to far too personal (victim’s mother AND son) to wrong time / wrong place (social worker who drew the straw that day), who was our killer?

Trying to find out are our beloved DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and new DCI Jess James (Sinéad Keenan) whom I’m sure will reveal some redeeming qualities at any moment.

*Lighting a small candle in a high window for Nicola Walker who played DCI Cassie Stuart in the first four series and drew me to the show in the first place. I’m staying because of Sanjeev.

Onward!

Sunny is in Paris hoping to speak with Karol, the absconding social worker, but the timing could not be worse. His partner Sal (Michelle Bonnard) has been dealing with a late in life miscarriage and he is literally in another country.

Sunny has always chosen his work over Sal.

Sunny also chose not to take an oft-offered promotion to DCI, these things are incongruent and I wonder.

DCI Jess isn’t having any more fun herself in her personal life, her marriage is on the brink and her focus is diffuse, to be kind.

Ebele wakes up on the street, she must have fallen off the drinks wagon after the difficult questions about her daughter’s death. Her partner Dave Adams (Mark Frost) makes excuses to the investors looking to make her multi-restaurant chain dreams come true.

Tony is annoyed with his lovely Dr. Rashid Ghulam (Nabil Elouahabi) who isn’t a miracle worker, Tony! He can’t make the internal growths poof away!

Back at the station, Jess leads the team briefing without Sunny and we find out from DC Karen Willets (Pippa Nixon) that Ebele’s past firearm conviction was connected to her drinking and a stockbroker called Morgan Lavelle which makes DS Murray Boulting’s (Jordan Long) ears go up.

Of course it’s a huge thing to get a gun in the UK, but there’s also something weird about the security guard who called the police. What say you, Christopher Blackwell?!

We’ll wait, because Murray’s come up with some interesting stuff about Precious’s banking. She was getting payments on the first of the month for a few months, I immediately thought: child support. Although how old was Jay?? This is very confusing. He looks 40 but maybe he’s meant to be a teen. Someone else was regularly giving Precious monthly on a bi-monthly basis, her mom, maybe? Illicit lover?

DC Fran Lingely (Carolina Main) has dug up that Jay is in jail, although they keep calling him Joseph, this is all very confusing.

Karol is very worried about money, so much so that he’s started stealing from work and that’s just so stupid. There are literally cameras everywhere and he’s not exactly a criminal mastermind. Can you afford to lose this and your other jobs when you go to jail? He makes his first attempt at selling the stolen goods just as Sunny rolls up on him.

His flashback is too fast! But has something about anti-antisemitism?

And he’s a terrible liar. But he does have good background on Precious’s short and difficult life. He speaks of her son hurting her and pushing her into sex work. We skirt around the edges of some Tory-bashing when Karol’s partner’s ex-husband shows up to pick up his children. Serge (Louis Bernard) does not understand anything except that his children are near police and we can see how bad this will be for the custody dispute.

When pressed about the coincidental timing of Precious’s death and his resignation, Karol stands his ground but again: terrible liar. You can see Sunny clock it.

Dave finally tracks down Ebele at a bar, she’s defiant and not ready to jump back on the wagon but rather Dave would like to know why a London lawyer is trying to reach her?

Speaking of London lawyers, Jay/Joseph has one now too! Whomever he called (surely must be Lord Tony) has arranged for some high powered help with deep pockets, swanning about with their ten thousand pound sureties.

Sal has lost the baby and does not want to speak to Sunny right now. Undoubtedly she is thinking of his description of himself as horrified when she discovered she was pregnant.

As Karen looks up Lord Tony, the man himself is getting evidence of his waning power. His recent grant application will be refused based on vagueness, which used to carry the day. We see cracks in Tony’s new attitude as he attempts to shame the bearer of bad news to no avail. Although Tony gave Medhi Hussein (Abhin Galeya) his first government post, Tony’s old news now.

Jess and Sunny roll up on Joseph Bell / Jay Royce, that’s always a nice slow motion camera shot in Unforgotten. It’s the moment of reckoning. And the precursor to the flashback! Wait. I totally forgot that Precious ran away at 15 to a cult, which Ebele called kidnapping.

Jay’s description of his life with the cult and the abuse he and Precious suffered is gut-wrenching in its starkness.

Jay points the finger squarely at David Bell, who ran the cult, as Precious’s and his attacker. He swears he wasn’t ever violent with his mum, but while I  believe him, Karol said otherwise. I’m 100 % sure Karol is lying about almost everything else though, so who knows? And who is David Bell when he’s at home??

Back to Karol, somehow another social worker knows both the intimate details of two hate-crimes (one related to anti-antisemitism perhaps connected to his flashback?) perpetrated on Karol but also has heard a rumour as to why he resigned. He up-skirted someone? What? That’s a bit out of left field, isn’t it?

Murray has managed to place Ebele with Precious two weeks before Precious was murdered! AND placed Precious in the squat a month after Tony said he secured it. Did he lie about timing or about the nature of their association if she could still access it?

Sal and Sunny have the hard talk they’ve been avoiding as Sunny’s phone keeps ringing and ringing as he HASN’T TURNED IT OFF. Please end this relationship, Sal, you’re both lovely but he’s not what you need.

Oh

OH

OH NO.

Goodness.

You remember we first met DCI Jess James as she was learning that her husband had been having an affair? Turns out. Turns out he was shagging her sister Debbie (Gráinne Keenan). Jess makes an excellent point in saying that Debbie should have borne that shame alone and not tried to alleviate her guilt by dumping that information on her sister.

I mean, I understand the UK is small but surely there’s a wider pool to dip into than immediate family.

Karol’s theft has been discovered at work, his co-worker/ friend gives him one chance to return the fancy watches he stole before the police are called but Karol doesn’t take it.

Cameras everywhere!!!

And then he does take it.

I think.

But then it’s too late!!

Jay’s high powered attorney takes him to see Lord Tony, I KNEW IT!! Wait. Is Lord Tony David Bell?? No. It appears he is not. Tony tries to control the situation but Jay knows he has the upper hand. He even punches Tony in the face, because Tony had not considered that, like his medical situation, there are some things impervious to having money thrown at it.

Jay gets home to his girlfriend Cheryl (Hebe Beardsall ) in bed  with a friend, he understands, somehow. She needed someone to take care of her.

Sunny researches the trajectory of Jay’s brief and dreadful childhood alone, as Jess has forgotten to attend.

To be fair, she has a lot on. She talked to her mum about it, who defended Debbie based on her anxiety and depression. Those terms seem like a bit of a catchall these days.

Sunny pulls Jess aside: he can’t work like this. He needs her there, with him, working alongside. He apologizes, he hasn’t been at the top of his game lately, because of some personal issues.

You can see part of Jess wake up at this, what issues? His description of ‘my fiancee had a miscarriage of her baby I didn’t really want’ is stark and apt. Many people would have left that last part off, but that’s what makes it so complicated.

Jess shares what’s been happening with her.

And we have our breakthrough!

Murray is off to Wales to see our cult leader, come through David Bell!

Karen interrupts Sunny and Jess, we have the bullet, which has brought us to the gun, which drives us directly to Jay!

We end with Lord Tony Hume researching his own medically-assisted suicide and we’re out!

At this point, all roads are leading to Jay/Joseph which only means he cannot be the perpetrator of his mother’s murder, which leaves us with three. Until next time, everyone! Cheers.