The Marlow Murder Club Season 1 Episode 2 Review

The Marlow Murder Club Season 1 Episode 2 quickly brings the series into the realm of an ensemble drama, giving Susie and Becks more to do and making the police (a bit) more competent.

For being roped randomly into these investigations, Susie and Becks both quickly get on board with becoming a team, and prove they have their own skills to offer.  They also form a fast bond, running to check on Judith after an attack.

As connections are made between Stephan and Iqbal’s deaths, suspects multiply in both the form of an “art collector” (he has a Nazi-themed room) and our friend Elliot, whose wife was the one to throw a brick into Judith’s home to distract the investigation.

We learn that Elliot’s father left a painting not to him but to Stephan and that the painting is now missing. We also learn that Judith’s ex (or dead) husband got into shady business himself, once pulling her into giving him a fake alibi.

With only four episodes to work with, the series has to focus a lot on pacing. So far, it’s doing that very well. The first of the season sets our characters and central crimes, as well as a couple suspects, and the beginning of longer plot development.

This second installment builds on that significantly. Though we still have plenty of questions at this stage, the connections between the cases are laid out well, and each major character gets enough screen time to expand on their backstory.

Given how reluctant Becks and Susie are when being respectively either drawn into the case by Judith or forced in by the death of a friend, they become enthusiastic in their support of both their work and each other very quicky.

Compared to the steady progress of the rest of the plot, that might feel a little rushed, but it’s necessary and welcome here. All three, especially Susie, have personal and emotional reasons to want to hasten the hunt for justice.

It’s also nice to see that DS Tanika Malik is now proving to be an ally as she sets aside her initial doubts about the other three. Though she remains somewhat reluctant to listen to Judith, she’ll be doing so actively soon.

The rest of the police force is still a mixed bag. Judith gets a man to leave his post at the entrance with only the slimmest of excuses, slipping inside to offer her own insight. I’m okay with experts being outsmarted, but don’t want it to reach slapstick levels.

The case itself is worth in-depth narrative—fitting, as these stories are adapted from a book series. I still think Elliot is likely to be a red herring, if only because we’re working hard to make him look just a bit too suspicious.

I’d be all too happy if a man who just happens to collect Nazi propaganda were a killer, but that’s likely to be too easy as well. If this show is like most others, having police rush in on him prematurely is never a true sign of guilt.

There are a couple tension-inducing moments in this hour, most notably Judy being struck by a hidden, fleeing attacker. As we enter the second half of this drama, I’m sure we’ll see more as we walk (or stumble) towards even more answers.

 

What did you think of this episode of The Marlow Murder Club? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Marlow Murder Club Season 1 Episode 2, connections are drawn between two murders as well as our amateur sleuths and the police. airs Sunday at 9/8c on PBS.

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