Conflicting Stories
Episode 2 of The Bay Season 2 begins with Lisa’s kids unhappy with their Mother for shutting their Father, Andy, out of their lives. Both kids begin disagree over the best way of dealing with this. Lisa eventually heads off to work and helps calm Oliver as he helps draw up a composite sketch for the killer. Only, things take a turn for the surprising when Oliver mentions another person was with the murder – someone on a bike. After a brief recap on the events last episode, Manning and the others meet again and discuss the tattoo Oliver spotted on the murderer. Eventually they settle upon flags – specifically that of Serbia, Russia and Albania. Manning decides to settle on men matching those backgrounds. Manning tasks Med with heading down to the law firm and seeing if he can find anything out the ordinary. Well, Med hits a brick wall with Mark at the office. He refuses to divulge any details on his cases – especially as they’re classified as sensitive information. CCTV appears to be another dead end too, eventually bringing Lisa and Med out to the scene of the crime. Together, they find a small alleyway out of sight, leading to a back street away from the house. This could be the route the biker used. As the pair examine the cameras for those streets, they eventually find a hooded figuring cycling away from the crime scene. On the way, they seemingly dump something in the bushes. Clinging to hope that this could be helpful, police race to the scene and scour the area. While they do, Lyn shows up with a USB drive full of all the files Stephen was working on. Lisa decides they can’t use it as this needs to be authorized, otherwise it’s omissible in court. Ironically, Manning decides to break protocol and look himself. As they open the files up, alarm bells immediately ring for Lisa. Her Father used this law firm and his details aren’t anywhere on the list. Given this drive apparently holds details for all the clients, why isn’t he on there? Something doesn’t add up. At the office, Med begins collecting up all of Stephen’s personal effects while Lisa takes the opportunity to talk with Lyn. She quizzes the girl over the files, who admits that was all the information she was given by Bill. Bill is the one who holds the records so could he be the one responsible? Anyway, back at the crime scene the police find a firearm with no fingerprints and a silencer attached. Forensics confirm that the bullets are a match to those that were used on Stephen. This is definitely a murder weapon. This also means the cyclist is a key person of interest in this case. While Rob heads out for a bite to eat with his Father, Lisa spies him at the seafront and stops the car. She purposefully storms over and tells Andy to leave as a rift begins to grow between them. Andy instead visits Abbie while she’s at work but she can see through his façade and wonders exactly what he’s doing there now. According to him, Lisa told Andy to stay away and keep out the kids’ lives. Med heads back to Bill’s house and begins sifting through the mountains of files lying about in the spare room. There’s also numerous post-it notes lying around drawn up by Stella. Bill however, scoffs at the notion and claims he doesn’t need the help. Speak of the devil, Stella shows up at the police station and tells Lisa that Stephen wasn’t exactly the easiest guy to be married to. She claims Lisa would have been his type if he was still alive too. This off-hand remark is a clever one, reinforcing the issues Lisa went through and reminding her to stay professional. Lisa does just that and struggles to digest what she’s learned. This stomachache manifests itself in the form of inconsistent stories from the family. Stella claims Stephen was a workaholic while Lyn claimed the opposite, saying he was a family man. Who is telling the truth? Tensions continue when police are called to the scene of a domestic dispute. After stopping a girl called Cassie, Manning takes her down to the station and begins interviewing the girl. Given her bike matches the description of that seen in the CCTV footage, things don’t look great for her. However, she has a completely nonchalant attitude toward the whole thing. The officers eventually agree to keep her in for 8 hours. In the morning, Manning interviews Cass and tells her that she’s looking at a charge of aiding and abetting a murder… unless she speaks up. She decides not to say anything but clearly knows more than she’s letting on. Will Manning be able to crack her in time? Eventually Lisa meets Andy down by the beach and asks outright exactly what he’s doing in town. It turns out his Mum died and now he’s had a change of heart and wants to try and make amends with the kids. Lisa is having none of it though, especially after how long it’s been since he was in their lives. Andy promises to be there for the kids this time but Lisa is not so sure he will. As the episode closes out, the officers begin sifting through the company finances and settle on a man named Chris McGregor. He was paid £2000 to look through the accounts. He tells the officers they found discrepancies in the company’s finances. Someone within the family has been stealing money. Who could it be?
The Episode Review
With Lisa and Med back on the same side now, episode 2 serves up another subplot obstacle for Lisa to tackle in the form of her returning ex, Andy. The exposition in the police car with Med explaining who he is feels completely unnecessary though and is the one blemish in an otherwise enjoyable episode. However, the case itself continues to bubble up nicely with lots of drama simmering away between the different characters. Bill seems to have quite the temper on him too but whether that’s just a coincidence or a key character trait that will become invaluable to this case further down the line remains to be seen. What is clear though is that someone within the family is responsible and all fingers seem to point toward Mark. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case of course butt for now, The Bay is just starting to get interesting!
