Alright, here we are at the beginning of the end of Unforgotten series 5: whodunit and why? Do you have your theory? I sure have mine! Let’s roll into my recap of Unforgotten S5:E06 Legacy after the break and high five each other because we all know who killed Precious Falade:
Lord Tony Hume! (Ian McElhinney) or Karol Wojski (Max Rinehart), I will take either. But hold on, to backtrack, we’ve just found out that Precious was murdered alongside her son Joseph Bell, whom we’ve thought all along was this guy named Jay Royce (Rhys Yates). Turns out NOT, because there is another kiddo. AND that Lord Tony Hume? That was Precious’s grandad, not her sugardaddy. Precious’ mum Ebele Falade (Martina Laird) is also a suspect but. But. Karol is my wildcard and backup murderer because I just have no idea who he is and how he acts under pressure. He’s kept rather a lot hidden, like his illegal propensity for up-skirting colleagues and women on public transportation.
So let’s find out!
While remembering how unbearably tragic it is that Precious’s whole life wasn’t fair, from start to finish. From FASD to two violent parents to a violent child, she never had a chance, not once.
We’re in a garden at night in the dark with DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan (Sajeev Bhaskar) and DCI Jess James (Sinéad Keenan); Dr. Leanne Balcome (Georgia Mackenzie) identifies the body they found as a young male with two bullet holes in his melon around the time Precious died.
Lord Tony is at Gatwick Airport on a plane, I always want people to get away, you know? I just don’t understand where he’s going…he is dying and suicidal and erm, not to suggest but I mean. Agatha Christie knows what I’m talking about!!
He doesn’t get away, boooo, DS Murray Boulting (Jordan Long) grabs him right after the carryons are stowed.
DC Fran Lingely (Carolina Main) and DC Karen Willetts (Pippa Nixon) find out that even though Precious was blackmailing Karol by withholding his laptop full of illegal pictures, he got his laptop back without paying the 2k she had demanded. He took it out of the bank the day she died and then put it right back a couple of days later BUT got his laptop. Weird!
Outside of all this murdery stuff going on, we’ve got a lot of personal problems mucking about our lead detectives. Jess, for one, has just recently discovered her husband Steve (Andrew Lancel) has been shagging her sister and that’s just not on. He did a speech about not being happy and them needing to sort things out but once she found out it was her sister…anyway. He’s back at the house wanting a chat.
But.
But.
He didn’t screw her sister? Steve says there was kissing and an emotional connection but no sex. Jess and I are confused: why would her sister lie to make herself look WORSE?
But sisters, well, sometimes it’s like that.
Jess can’t figure this out right now, she’s got a case to wrap up!
Across town in a very posh part of town Lady Emma Hume (Hayley Mills!!!!!!!!!) is learning all the hard truths she didn’t want to hear from her husband Tony, Ebele has shown up at their mansion to introduce herself as Tony’s daughter.
It’s not one of those “omigoodness, welcome to the family, you’re one of us now!” conversations, nope, rather Ebele explaining how much she loathes Tony and now Emma. She does a bit of a murky tie with Tony’s austerity practices (he was a Tory leader) but really, really hates him and everything he stands for.
I did not like it when she swore in my lovely Hayley Mills’s face.
Also. Where the body of Precious’s son Joseph was found? The garden of a flat rented by Ebele.Interestingly, she’s the only one of our suspects not currently in jail.
Jess and Sunny bring Karol into interview, he connects his taking stealth pictures of unknowing women’s private areas with a deepening depression and two antisemitic attacks that happened closely together.
Another bullet is found at the original crime scene!
Jess confronts Karol with the 2k withdrawal/deposit, how did he get his laptop back?
Too late, we’re on to Jay now! He mugged a woman named Sophie Carlson the first time we saw him; she was pregnant and ended up in hospital where Jay brings her some flowers.
Hm.
That was off-brand for him.
Everything Jay has done has been to help his heavily addicted girlfriend cope, he justified a lot of means for those ends.
Okay, we’re back to Karol, who says he found a bloody spot on the floor and his laptop sitting unprotected. He saw an old man with a mop and bucket and now! NOW I’m thinking Tony was cleaning up after Ebele murdering Precious.
Because it’s most likely not Karol after all.
Now we’re on to Tony in interview. Sunny is able to place Tony at the house the night of the murder and Karol placed him at the house the next day so Tony moves from believable bald-faced lying to ‘no comment.’
I wish someone would say this lawyer’s name so I could look him up in IMDb, he’s got a decent sized role but literally nobody has addressed him even once!
Tony consults with his lawyer and decides to come whatever version of clean he’s come up with. This would be much more believable had he not just lied over and over with a straight face.
He does have a lovely voice, though, he melodically takes us through his distant and mostly financial relationship with Ebele, Ebele’s mum and eventually Precious. When he gets to Joseph Bell shaking him down for money, he seemed to be less inclined to take that and involved Ebele in meeting at the house the night Precious was murdered.
To hear Tony tell it, Joseph was threatening Tony with a gun, Precious lunged at her son, then somehow shot HIM, then turned the gun on herself. Tony was in pieces so buried Joseph’s body in Ebele’s garden, but not to implicate her, by calling the police station to report it the night before, oh NO!
Well. Isn’t that CONVENIENT.
How would Ebele be able to lift Precious into the fireplace?
I’m Jess right now.
I mean, I don’t even think his anonymous lawyer bought that one. Why has Ebele not been brought in yet??
**Slight plot hole here, we first learned about Tony because was supposedly rousting Precious and her homeless brethren from the house on Waterman Road where her body was found but to hear him tell it, he put her there for safekeeping. I suppose it could have been OTHER homeless people he was rousting and he decided to put her in there after but. It smells.
Jess gets home after a long day of people lying directly at her face to find her estranged husband moved right back into the house he indignantly stalked out of, Jess’s mum Kate (Kate Hopkins) defends this. The kids need him.
Surely the kids could need him somewhere close by without her having to deal closely with this shitebag, couldn’t they?
We’re back in interview with Ebele, yay! She tells the tale of her mother meeting Tony, an immigrant pressured to drink, followed by rape and the eventual biological outcome of Ebele.
One of the first things we saw Tony do was severely castigate his grandson for this exact type of rape (he was almost not going to get his expulsion reversed – oh no!), was that to show a changed man, a genetic propensity for sexual violence about murder or that this story is not true?
Ebele has a letter from her mother who committed suicide immediately after writing it. She also tells a very different story than Tony with regards to the ongoing support he was providing, she did eventually have to strongarm him with threats of going to the media to get the money train moving.
Now about that night…Tony told Ebele the same thing he told the police about the deaths, the body disposal, now, that was tricky. She had to hide Precious in the house because after spending all night rocking the body and apologizing to it, there were workmen outside and she couldn’t just go traipsing outside with it.
How does Ebele not know about Jay Royce? I believe they confirmed his DNA was a match to Precious.
Sunny and Jess head right over to Jay’s flat to ask exactly that. Sunny offers to help Jay tell his story.
Because Jay was there that night, he’s the only one still alive aside from Lord Bloody Lying Tony Hume. As suspected, Tony tried to flex his power and physically assaulted Joseph before the gun came into play. Precious did try to take the gun from Joseph but was herself shot before Tony got the gun from Joseph and shot him in the head.
BOOM!!!! WHO WAS RIGHT??!! WOOOOOOOO!
Tony admits to everything, the rape, the murders, all because he couldn’t stand to look at who he really was. That’s why he was trying to make amends these last six years, trying to make things right as though he could.
It’s very moving.
Jess accuses Tony of trying to shore up his legacy, to improve his wikipage.
She tells him his legacy is that of a rapist who murdered his own great-grandson, she hopes they throw away the key.
Ebele finds Jay and introduces herself, he tells her the shocking truth. Tony was actually telling the truth, Jay decided to exact some revenge on the right dishonourable Lord and here we are.
Okay so maybe I wasn’t right, but I was in the ballpark!
There’s only one minute left and we’re not going to find out about Sunny’s relationship with his former fiancee Sal (Michele Bonnard)? Okay fine. I need to eat anyway.
We end on an upward note, Jess apologizing for her unprofessional behaviour to Sunny, who is now allowed to call her Jessie. As in Jessie James. Tony will be charged with the 57 year old rape of Ebele’s mother and the murder of Joseph Bell. I think we’re supposed to feel bad for him.
We’re out for series 5.
Hm. Overall, I enjoyed it but. The writing was unwieldy. So was Tony a villain intent on pinning the murders on Ebele with that anonymous call? That emotionally led us to thinking he was lying about how Precious and her son died. But then he had the chance to implicate Ebele and chose not to. Maybe I’m still salty because I thought I was right and was not but honestly I think it’s the extra brother who grinds my gears the most. I call bullshite on this type of magical plot device, but I have to say I liked the series in its entirety very much.
I loved seeing more Sanjeev Bhaskar in a more complex role, even Carolina Main ramped up a notch! As for our new DCI, what were they going to do? If they’d put in someone without all these complicated shenanigans going on, all we would have focused on was the loss of our last DCI, played by the marvelous Nicola Walker for whom I have still lit a small candle in a high window for. Until next series! Cheers, everyone.
