After chasing down a suspect who really is not the smartest bad guy on the planet, Alex and Gene discover a floating body in the Thames, one which has signs that the victim was tortured before being thrown in the water. Identifying the victim as Colin Mitchell, Gene tracks down his father and wife and, after a funny scene involving a small and generally ineffective neighborhood watch scheme, we find that the victim used to work for sleazy loan shark named Trevor Riley, that up until that point has been working under Gene’s radar. That’s something that Gene is not pleased about at all. Peeling back layer upon layer of lies and deceit, the team find that the eventual killer is the person they least expect (spoiler: Colin’s dad) and although every character goes through Gene’s own personal interrogation process, it’s the love between father and son and the piles of guilt that eventually lead to the conviction. While the convoluted plot is very well developed, the whole process of deductions is somewhat clichéd and arduous, a sort of ‘who-dunnit’ with a pile of suspects, motives and secrets all piled together. Anyone could have done it and really it would not have mattered as the whole process was quite un-engaging and a little dull. The only real highlight of the episode was Gene’s special way of getting a confession and conviction from Riley the loan shark that involves a Triumph Dolomite, a car crusher and unpaid parking tickets. Overall this was a pretty bland filler episode and even the comedy moments felt a bit flat. From Ray’s comment on Riley’s car to Gene’s rampage, this is all stuff we expect and have already seen done better before. With only two episodes left to resolve the series, hopefully the show will up its game and keep the quality as consistently good as the rest of the series rather than following this rather damp squib of an episode. Check out our review of episode 5 here.
