Episode 4 of Suspicion Season 1 starts with tensions high between Scott and Vanessa. The latter is en-route to interviewing Eddie Walker. Tara also learns about Walker’s arrest, as she’s brought before a whole bunch of her students. They’ve decided to put pressure on Newman, including activist stickers reading “Tell the truth.”
Anyway, in the interview, Walker confirms that he was in New York because he loves the city. He’s cagey but doesn’t seem remotely phased by his arrest. He strongly believes he hasn’t done anything wrong and goes into explicit detail about his sexual encounter that night. According to his statement, he slept after the act and then got an early flight back to the UK.
When Eddie’s parents are brought up, his demeanor changes – which Scott is quick to jot down on his notepad while watching on his monitor. Walker reveals that his Dad is in LA and his Mum in France. Vanessa decides to let him go, keeping surveillance on him just like the others. Scott though is not impressed, believing they were just starting to get through to him.
Walker is definitely suspicious though and he heads off, buying a brand new phone. Unaware that he’s being watched, he shows up to see Aadesh. The pair discuss Vanessa and the investigation, both of which are adamant that they didn’t kidnap Leo.
Walker decides they should team up with the other two (Tara and Natalie) to join forces and go public with how they’ve been framed for this. The thing is, Walker is smart and realizes they’re being followed, so they proceed on foot, across busy markets to try and remain undetected.
Remaining undetected is easier said than done though, given Natalie is currently working with the police. It’s not like she has a choice either. Scott promises to get rid of some of her charges in exchange for communicating with Sean, which she does. They manage to arrange a meet too, although Sean does urge her not to show with decoys or anyone else.
So naturally, Vanessa and Scott work together to set up a big sting operation to catch Sean out and bring him in. With everything ready to go, Sean is clever and switches locations at the last second.
Vanessa makes a big call and decides to indulge Sean’s tactics, rerouting everyone to this new, exposed locale. Sean shows up on a motorbike, with Vanessa urging Natalie to step out the car and hand over the envelope. As she does, Sean shoots her down and then takes off on his bike, evading the police and managing to get away with the money.
Luckily Natalie is wearing a bulletproof vest so she survives but Scott is livid that they’ve managed to let Sean slip through their fingers. Katherine Newman is not happy either when she finds out, deciding to take drastic measures and put out a press conference.
Back in London, Sean meets his contact but he’s double-crossed and attacked. Sean gets the better of him though, killing the man and using his face to unlock his phone. Within this, Sean reads messages about another meeting at 10 pm and a “compromised asset.” Sean is injured in the ensuing conflict and heads to his safehouse to patch himself up, preparing for the evening.
A “maternally driven” colleague steps up and reads a statement on behalf of Katherine Newman. She’s transparent, admitting that part of Newman’s funds has come from selling an apartment in London. She apparently didn’t know the buyer had connections to the US treasury. When it came to her attention, she should have told the authorities and didn’t.
Newman also confirms that she’s written to the president and is withdrawing from the ambassador position. She also brings up how much she cares for Leo, which works surprisingly well to rile up the crowd.
Suddenly, the kidnapper shows another video about what Eric Cresswell wants. If she doesn’t speak up then Leo will die. “Time is running out.” The voice ominously declares as the stream ends.
As the episode closes, Aadesh, Tara, and Walker are all taken and thrown in the back of a black van, where Natalie and Monique also happen to be there too. They’re all taken to the airport where they’re threatened and forced to open up and reveal where Leo is. However, another car comes racing up, holding Sean Tilson inside, who shoots the assailants dead and saves their life. Only… Monique is shot dead in the ensuing skirmish.
Sean demands they all get in his car, while Monique is left behind on the runway. With armed guards on the plane stirring, they’re forced to flee together.
The Episode Review:
Suspicion returns this week with a decent episode, one that manages to deepen the ties between the various characters while simultaneously presenting the Leo Newman case as a pressure cooker situation.
There’s now a time limit on Leo’s life but that whole subplot involving Katherine and the politics detracts from the main drama and at its worst, makes it difficult to see any of these random guys from the street as the ones responsible.
What’s more intriguing is how the characters are meeting up and finally now joining forces, although Walker is essentially used as an exposition device so far, bringing the characters together but not actually providing much more to the show as a whole.
Despite that though, the series leaves things open for an exciting episode to come next week, with the plot just starting to open up and reveal more surrounding who took Leo – and why.
