Now we’re talking. This episode ratcheted up the tension nicely, while presenting us with some tantalising mysteries and a few much-needed answers. Chief among those answers was the apparent name of Linda’s US air force lover. He was called Logan Bradley. He was spirited away from the UK the day after Linda died and he is still a serving soldier. But what makes Logan so special? The obvious answer is that he is the son of the mysterious US official who threatened Heather alongside Sir Alastair, and this is all about covering up a rich boy’s misdeeds. But I’m not sure it is quite so simple. Present-day Logan appeared to be a pretty ordinary soldier, and I wondered if he even knew Linda had died all those years ago. Could it instead be the case that she died at someone else’s hand, but the powers that be knew Logan was seeing her and removed him from the equation to stop him kicking up a fuss?
Our heroine
It was a tough week for Emma, so tough in fact that she considered giving up the day job altogether. Luckily you can’t keep a good campaigning lawyer down, and after a tense confrontation with Yusef (who did indeed prove to be a bad egg) and a temporary truce with Olivia, Emma rediscovered her mojo, confronting Tony Pullings, finding out the name of Linda’s lover and flying to America to have it out with him. She even cleared US customs with surprising ease, despite Dominic’s doubts (“With your record and your clients do you really think the Americans will let you in?”). Once in the US she managed to squeeze in a bit of nostalgia, visiting the grave of the man she loved, who is almost certainly the father of the child she never had. It turns out that his name was Nathan Isnardi, he was 32 when he died and his gravestone reads “Fearless”. Ooh, interesting. How did he die? I’d lay money that police violence and/or protest was somehow involved.
The conspiracy
What exactly is Matthew Wild’s role in all this? We saw him meet Heather this week and they clearly knew each other, which suggests he was more than just an ordinary soldier turned MP. But he was also quick to emphasise that the original murder was an American rather than British error, so I’m guessing he was involved in the cover-up of Linda’s death in some way but wasn’t the perpetrator. Elsewhere we learned that Sir Alastair is capable of bringing pressure to bear on a trial – how I hope we see more of Michael Gambon in the last two episodes; he effortlessly steals the scene every time he appears – and that there are limits to what the increasingly impressive Olivia will do to preserve her career.
The rest
Everything got a great deal darker this week – and not just because the episode ended with our heroine banged up in a US military prison. Kevin’s defence collapsed amid revelations that he might not have had a car but that he did have the keys to the school van. He was subsequently pressured to accept a plea of manslaughter in the mistaken belief that his son would understand the truth. Instead Jason rejected him as a liar, which led him to walk out in front of a speeding van in a genuinely sad and horrifying scene.
Kevin’s attempted suicide served as a stark reminder to Emma that her clients are people as well as causes. Unfortunately, she was so caught up trying to put things right with that case that she forgot about her duty as a solicitor to Miriam. (I suspect this will come back to bite her in the most horrible way.) Poor Miriam might be a dead woman walking now that her husband has revealed himself to be a zealot more interested in the caliphate than the wife and child he disowned. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in despair at Emma’s no-show, she killed herself and if a guilt-stricken Emma then ended up raising her son.
Additional notes
• Dominic might be my favourite person on this show. I love the fact that he is both understandably sceptical about most of Emma’s actions and still supportive of her in a brotherly way. Plus he at least understood why Jason was so angry with his father: “He’s just a kid.”
• The scene in court where Kevin couldn’t think how to answer the question about the keys was almost unbearable to watch.
• Heather is definitely not someone to underestimate; that was a very smart spot about the keys in the photo.
• The scene between Yusef and Emma managed to be both tense and hammy, despite the best efforts of all involved. I cringed when Emma stated: “It’s how you fight. I won’t have any part of it. None.” Not even the wonderful Helen McCrory could sell that line.
• The scene with Wild and Heather was filmed as though someone was spying on them – quirky filming or plot point? And if the latter, who was it?
• I also think Heather was out of order to suggest that she swept in to save the day. After all, it was her leaking of the photos that gave Emma something to go on in the first place.
Most rebel with a cause moment of the week
Pretty much the entire interrogation of Tony Pullings, especially the hilarious line: “Fuck my ethics.” I’ve been waiting for her to say that for weeks.
Quote of the week
“I care passionately about the law.” Emma, if there’s one thing this series has shown us it’s that that’s definitely the case.
So what did you think? Did Logan kill Linda? What was Matthew Wild’s involvement? And will Emma remember she’s supposed to have visited Miriam? As ever, all speculation welcome below…
