The Marlow Murder Club Season 2 Episode 2 Review

On The Marlow Murder Club Season 2 Episode 2, Peter Bailey’s killers are exposed. Whether you suspect the most or least guilty-looking person, you’re right.

The trio first sets out to prove that Tristram killed his father with the aid of his girlfriend, Sarah. But just as Peter’s new will emerges, conveniently giving everything to Jenny and accusing Tistram, Sarah turns up dead.

The too-obvious conclusion seems to play out. Jenny is persuaded to act as bait, but when Tristram gets to her anyway, Becks and Suzie accuse Judith of playing with her life and storm out. It gives Judith just what she needs to persuade Jenny to confess.

Jenny killing both Peter and Sarah is only the beginning. She and Tristram were in love and plotted to have her seduce his father and get his money. But when Tristram wouldn’t leave Sarah, Jenny had her killed, too. Yikes.

 Peter was already dead when the cabinet fell on him in a complicated setup involving loose hinges and magnesium tape wired up a heat duct. For someone who fell for the ladies’ act so easily, Jenny is quite the sophisticated killer.

And the crossword puzzles Judith was tracking down clues in? They’re mercifully less scandalous. A man was leaving them for his wife, allowing them to do a little play acting of their own and bring a bit of intrigue into their marriage.

I’m not entirely convinced that cutting the number of episodes meant to cover each of Robert Thorogood’s book is the best decision, because these are lots of plot twists to throw at people in approximately two hours of screen time.

The upside of that is that we don’t have to sit too long with the borderline-incestual creepiness of the whole affair. The downside is the rate at which we speed past important details. Poor Sarah goes from accomplice to victim in just a few scenes.

I will give points for creativity—and for acting prowess. Jenny may lay it on a little thick, but she convinces even Judith of her innocence until the climax. In turn, the act meant to lure her into letting her guard down goes off without a hitch.

Rushed story aside, we’re also still getting the usual good balance of dramatic tension and comedic antics, topped off with more heartwarming character dynamics when Judith and Becks visit Suzie after her daughter goes off to university.

Speaking of characters, while the strength of all our heroines is as empowering as ever, the need to have a crotchety male detective doubt their work is feeling a bit clunky and unnecessary. Have these men not been paying attention all this time?

The B plot of the crossword puzzles may be my favorite part of everything (it was in the book). It’s nice to see Judith be surprised, to get a break from crime, and to get to know some of the quirky minor characters of this small town.

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The Marlow Murder Club airs Sundays at 9/8c on PBS.

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