Strangers

Episode 3 of Suspicion begins right off the back of that viral video. Katherine Newman was actually on course to become the US Ambassador for the UK but after that video, “tell the truth” is trending worldwide and it’s been postponed. In order to try and squash this viral video, the US organize a press conference, where they throw Sean Tilson under the bus, with his picture presented for the world to see. Of course, the picture itself depicts him with a beard so for now, Tilson is able to evade suspicious eyes. The US authorities also claim to be working closely with the UK, but given the police weren’t aware of this conference or its details, Vanessa isn’t exactly pleased. Natalie eventually returns home and immediately begins looking for her money under the bed. Monique appears and asks her what’s going on, and what’s happening with the instructions she’s been given. With Joe on the other side of the door, impatiently wanting to know what’s going on, Natalie promises to meet her sister at the market where she’ll explain all. Together, in the middle of this crowded place, Natalie admits that she’s stolen money from companies and transferred it into her bank. She uses the justification that banks and other companies shuffle funds illegally…but unfortunately she’s been caught out. Her clients, Nemus, want her to pay back double her funds and do so by shuffling money from the other companies she’s working with. New York was supposed to be Natalie’s last cash drop but her client never showed up. The thing is, Monique actually has the cash in her bag. Unbeknownst to them, Sean and Vanessa happen to be tracking both sisters as they move through the market and beyond. Natalie heads to work but finds her computer seized and her employment status hanging by a thread given it’s now a HR matter. Seizing her opportunity, Natalie uses a USB stick to get into one of the computers and messes about with the transactions. As she leaves, police apprehend her and bring her in for questioning again. Specifically, they ask about the transaction Monique is about to engage in. You see, while this is going on Monique ends up communicating with Natalie’s contact, which happens to be Sean, and tries to meet to transfer the funds. Elsewhere, Tara has been suspended from work following the allegations. With the police keeping her phone, she shows up to see Daisy and promises that everything will be okay. Her ex isn’t exactly happy and hurries their reunion up. Aadesh is grilled by his family when he returns home too, who contemplate lodging a complaint. Aadesh just wants to drop the whole thing and get on with his life. However, a conspiracy theorist shows up at his work, wanting to talk and understand what this “truth” is. Although he says he’ll return later, when Aadesh steps outside in the afternoon, a whole plague of reporters happen to be there. Meanwhile, Joe shows up to represent Natalie at the station, confident that she’s done nothing wrong. Only, that’s not exactly true. Vanessa soon interviews her and reveals they’ve been keep track of her all this time and they know exactly what she’s been doing. As they bring up the embezzling funds, we cut across to Monique who’s saved from a pretty nasty predicament as Sean approaches her with a knife drawn and dead-set on grabbing the funds. While she’s en-route to the police station, Natalie decides she doesn’t want a lawyer and tells Joe to leave. When Monique arrives, Natalie is allowed to meet her in exchange for setting up another meet with Sean. It’s clear this is going to work as a sting operation, but Sean simply replies “Wait for instructions.” Alone, Natalie admits to Monique that she embezzled the funds for Monique so she had a good amount of money available to go to America. Meanwhile, the police broaden their search and decide to bring in Eddie Walker, a kid who may well have ties with Leo Newman and actually studied at Oxford.

The Episode Review

Suspicion returns this week with a slightly better episode, giving a reason for the show to sporadically jump between characters. Some of these players don’t have great backstories and we still don’t know an awful lot about Aadesh either. Meanwhile, Monique and Natalie get the lion’s share of the runtime as it becomes clear that Natalie refusing to have a lawyer present is because of her embezzled funds. It seems obvious that she would have been caught out eventually and regardless of how this investigation goes, surely she’s going to be arrested and charged. It appears everything is gearing up for a sting operation against Sean Tilson and after the failed attempt to get the red rucksack in the streets, it looks like there’s going to be another attempt and I’d imagine the police will lose him again. This is still a bit of a slow burn but the musical score is good and the cinematography pretty decent too. Hopefully the episodes ahead will settle down further and we’ll start to understand more about what’s happening here.