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WhatToWatch
Entertainment
Sean Marland

The Tourist season 2 episode 2 recap: What is Lena's plan?

The Tourist season 2 episode 2 recap.

* The Tourist season 2 episode 2 recap contains spoilers *

As Helen continues to look for Elliot Stanley we get a little more back story on the O'Donnell's war against the Cassidys, with Jamie Dornan's character receiving some big clues about his family... 

What is Lena's plan? 

Frank MacDonnell is on his way to the funeral of a young man, however it’s soon clear he’s not welcome. “He’d be alive if it weren’t for you! Your filth he stuck in his arm!” says one woman when he arrives. As he leaves he receives a call from someone telling him that Rian has been killed. 

Helen witnessed the crime and calls Detective Slater to tell him all about it. He leaves "Mary" behind and sets off to the crime scene, but not before a neighbour accosts him complaining about the smell coming from his house. What smell could that be? Does he need to get his pipes looked at or is he hiding a dead body in his house? We’re not sure if we trust Detective Slater. 

Meanwhile on the plane from Australia, Ethan gets to know Lena a little better and she reveals that she sent a message many months ago that went unanswered until recently. “There’s a man in Ireland and I’m going to surprise him..” she says. “By making him pay for everything he’s done.” Talk about a conversation killer. 

Who does that skeleton belong to? 

On the island, as Elliot desperately tries to get some reception, Donal heads back to the mainland to get his face looked at, leaving Orla and Fergal to track the escapee down on their quad bikes. 

Elliot finally manages to get through to Helen, but telling her he’s “on an island off Ireland” proves quite tricky with such terrible reception. She also doesn’t hear his advice to be careful, which is a real shame — because she does need to be careful. 

Later on Elliot bumps into Fergal at an old house, which has a skeleton in the cupboard. In their struggle, Fergal falls down into the basement and twists his ankle. Ouch! But who does that skeleton belong to? 

Fergal then fills Elliot in on the history of the house, explaining how it was the scene of a big shoot out between the O’Donnells and the Cassidys several decades ago. Frank’s uncle decided the dead should “rest where they lay”, this might explain where that skeleton came from, but could it belong to someone who died more recently?  

Frank MacDonnell is furious with Donal  (Image credit: BBC)

What did Niamh Cassidy take from Frank? 

Frank heads to Rian’s place, where he finds Niamh has written ‘Cogadh’ — which means ‘war’ — on the wall of his house. He scrubs it clean before Detective Slater and Helen show up asking questions (or not asking questions, in Slater's case). 

Later on he heads to the "Kilgal Museum" where he finds Donal in a lot of pain due to his run-in with Elliot. Frank tells Donal his cousin Rian is dead, before castigating him for starting a war with the Cassidys. We thought Frank might have been the mastermind behind this whole abduction, but apparently not. 

Could Donal have been contacted by Lena, with the pair bonding over a shared desire for revenge on Elliot, before hatching a dark plan together? We shall see. If that’s the case then Donal isn’t letting on just yet. “We did it for your birthday!” he says, explaining how he planned to use Elliot to make Niamh give back what she took from Frank. But what did she take? 

Helen has some questions for Niamh Cassidy (Image credit: BBC)

What does the DNA evidence in the report say? 

After trying and failing to question Frank at the murder scene, DS Slater takes Helen back to the station and fills her in on the battle between warring criminal families, the O’Donnells and the Cassidys. 

Helen says someone in the Garda is taking bribes, which could well be the case, as DS Slater explains that any investigation involving the two families is soon shut down. However later on he discovers an engagement ring in Elliot’s bag. Was Elliot going to propose to Helen? 

Helen finally plucks up the courage to go and talk to Niamh, who tells her a war has restarted between the O’Donnells and the Cassidys. But it’s not until she gets back to the Garda station and goes through the files on Elliot’s kidnapping that she starts getting somewhere. It’s clear there’s some crucial DNA evidence from the report that DS Slater hadn’t been telling her, but what is it? 

All those questions quickly go out of Helen’s mind when she enters his house and finds a dead body in the basement… 

Why is Fergal helping Elliot? 

Fergal then tells Elliot that he’s a Cassidy. So should he be Elliot Cassidy? Whoever he is, Elliot is desperate to know what he did to enrage the O’Donnells so terribly, but Fergal won’t say. He does tell Elliot about Frank - and his mother, Niamh Cassidy, though.

The pair then hatch a plan to get Elliot back to the mainland, which involves the fugitive hiding on the O’Donnell’s boat while Orla takes her little brother to get treatment for his ankle. But why is Fergal helping Elliot? Is he fed up with his family’s war or does he have other reasons? “If you tell anyone about this we’re both dead,” says Fergal.

Elliot then sets off to find Frank at the distillery museum, where he finds a section all about ‘The Disappearance of Elliot Stanley’, leading us to believe his name isn’t Elliot Stanley at all. We already know that everyone thinks he’s a Cassidy, but what does the DNA in the Garda file say?

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