In episode 1 of Down Cemetery Road, we met Sarah, an art restorer at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. She was having dinner with Mark, her husband; Gerard, a potential investor in Mark's business; Paula, Gerard's wife; and two of their neighbors, Wigwam and Rufus. That's when Maddie's house, which was right behind Sarah's, exploded. Maddie died, but her daughter, Dinah, survived. She was admitted to South Oxford Hospital, and when Sarah tried to visit her to see how she was, she was prevented from doing so. Why? Through a meeting between Hamza, an intelligence officer from the Ministry of Defence, and a mysterious gentleman named C, it became clear that the explosion was actually part of a larger conspiracy to kidnap Dinah.
And Sarah's curiosity was becoming a big problem for them. Unable to solve this mystery alone, Sarah contacted a veteran detective, Joe, who decided to get fully involved in the case because he had nothing better to do and needed the money. Joe "bribed" the nurses at the aforementioned hospital with liquor and learned that Dinah was going to be discharged and moved to a secret location.
Stars: Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson, Adeel Akhtar
Sarah rushed to the hospital to prevent this, and while she was trying to distract the man she believed was kidnapping Dinah (mainly because that man had been following her around Oxford all day), Amos, an employee of C, took Dinah and a nurse away. Furthermore, when Sarah returned to Joe to inform him of how the situation had escalated, she found that he had committed suicide in his office.
In the previous episode, when Zoe said that she and Joe were technically married but not legally, she wasn't joking, because in episode 2 of Down Cemetery Road, we see her getting ready after a night of partying with a man who is not her husband. That doesn't mean she's apathetic towards Joe, because when she learns of his death, she almost faints and then rushes to the police station to find out the reason for his death. Zoe's conversation with the officers, one of whom is Officer Plod, turns out to be quite unproductive. The only useful thing the officers end up revealing is that the knife was found in Joe's left hand. Since Zoe knows that Joe was right-handed, she deduces that he didn't commit suicide; he was murdered. All she has to do is find out who was responsible for killing him and then make it look like a suicide.
Leaving the police station, Zoe sees Sarah, and thus discovers that it was she who found Joe's body. Speaking of Sarah, she's clearly traumatized, but what is Mark doing? Comforting her? Making her feel comfortable? Telling her everything will be alright? No, he's scolding her for hiring a private detective to investigate Dinah and the explosion (I hate Mark). Even when Sarah tells him that Zoe, Joe's wife, has been widowed, Mark doesn't care; he just keeps driving while Sarah breaks down beside him. Fortunately, Zoe's mother-in-law is much more concerned about Zoe's situation, as she wants to get in touch with her to find out exactly what happened to Joe. She even invites Zoe to a family gathering so they can pray for Joe. However, it seems that Zoe isn't in a grieving mood, at least not until she finds out whether Joe's death was murder or suicide.
Sarah has taken a day off work to get over the sight of Joe's dead body. For a second it seems like Mark is taking care of her. However, while looking for a blanket for Sarah, when he finds Paula's scarf, which Sarah couldn't return to Gerard, Mark diverts the entire conversation to talk about how he can use that scarf to re-establish his connection with Gerard. The worst part is that, instead of taking it to the dry cleaner himself, he wants Sarah to do it because it's her day off. Sarah explicitly says that she's grieving, and yet Mark mocks her feelings. And when Sarah gets upset and leaves the house, Mark acts as if he's the victim and Sarah is the one overreacting (Mark is unbearable). No, Sarah isn't going to the dry cleaner's simply because that's the errand Mark has given her; she's going to Oxford Investigations, probably intending to meet with Zoe so they can both share their traumas. Instead, she comes face to face with Amos, who basically advises her to stop trying to unravel the mystery surrounding Dinah's disappearance, and now Joe's death, because it won't end well for her.
Sarah doesn't take Amos's threats lightly and leaves Joe's office immediately. It turns out that, in addition to C and Amos, Zoe is also investigating Sarah. She's seen at The King's Arms pub chatting with Professor McGrath about Sarah, as he was her professor when she studied at St. Magdala. McGrath doesn't remember anything particularly memorable about Sarah. That said, when Zoe mentions a student who apparently committed suicide but miraculously survived a fall from the university roof, something sounds familiar to him, and he says that girl was something of a genius. Furthermore, McGrath comments that he still goes back to the university from time to time, as if to analyze the "crime scene." In the previous episode, we saw Sarah visiting her university, so it's obvious that McGrath is referring to her. What was the reason for her suicide attempt? How did she survive? Did the head injury permanently alter her psyche? I guess we'll find out everything in the coming weeks.
Zoe heads to Sarah's neighborhood to investigate the house that exploded. She meets Lenny, an old man from the neighborhood who lives with his chickens and knows Sarah, and they chat about chickens and eggs. But what catches Zoe's attention is that Lenny uses gas cylinders for cooking instead of piped natural gas. That's when Lenny mentions that the council cut off the natural gas supply a long time ago and that almost everyone uses gas cylinders. Now, from the conversation between C and Hamza, we know that the explosion wasn't the result of a gas leak, but that's how Zoe also finds out.
Speaking of C and Hamza, the former seems annoyed because, despite telling Hamza to avoid further casualties, his man has killed Joe. Hamza assures him that it will be the last one. Hamza also tells C that Amos has threatened Sarah, that Dinah and her nurse have been moved to a safe house, and that their "target" (who is supposedly the man in the gray van) has disappeared, but that they are close to catching him. C tells Hamza that there can be no more mistakes because his superiors are worried about the whole situation. Incidentally, Hamza's assumption that Amos's threat has had an effect on Sarah is wrong, as she is still clearly thinking about Dinah and Joe and talking about it with Wigwam as they walk through their neighborhood.
However, instead of believing what Sarah says, Wigwam advises her to let it go and accept that the explosion was due to a gas leak and that Joe's death was a suicide. Sarah, unable to accept that even Wigwam doesn't support her, is momentarily lost in thought. It is then that she sees Lucy and Gracie, the little girl who saved the butterfly from being crushed by Sarah's bicycle. In the previous episode, there was a misunderstanding when Sarah asked Wigwam what Dinah looked like and how Wigwam described her, leading Sarah to assume that the missing girl was Gracie. But Gracie clearly hasn't disappeared, and Sarah realizes that she has been looking for a girl without even knowing what she looks like. Therefore, she decides to get drunk, curl up on the sofa, and sleep it off.
Now, in Sarah and Wigwam's defense, Gracie and Dinah do look alike. When Hamza goes to the safe house to check on Dinah, Steph (the nurse), and Amos, we see the girl for the first time, and it's perfectly understandable why Wigwam thought Sarah was describing Dinah when she was actually talking about Gracie. After making sure that Dinah is relatively well, Hamza asks Amos how he plans to catch his "target." Amos simply says that Dinah is the bait and that he knows his secret agent will be able to guide the "target" into the trap. Hamza isn't very convinced by this plan, so he decides to leave. Meanwhile, Sarah regains consciousness, and the first thing that comes to her mind is to go back to her old university, climb onto the roof, and try to commit suicide again. Fortunately, Zoe, who had realized that Sarah was the one who had attempted suicide in that same place during her college years, is there to stop her. And she manages to convince Sarah to help her avenge Joe and find Dinah instead of jumping off the roof.
On the way back to Sarah's house, Zoe and Sarah exchange all the information they've gathered so far, from the man in the gray van to the bombing that was made to look like an accident caused by a gas leak. Zoe also gives Sarah an envelope with the invoice for the work Joe had done on her behalf. Just before saying goodbye to Sarah, the latter expresses how sorry she is about Joe's death, which triggers a very emotional reaction in Zoe. So, to compose herself, she uses the bathroom at Sarah's house and finally heads home. The next day, Sarah remembers that Mark was filming footage of the exploded house and that she saw the man in the gray van, and upon reviewing the footage, she confirms that she is indeed being followed by someone; she's not imagining it. Of course, it would have been great if Mark had given her space to talk about it, but as always, he starts rambling on about his problems, how his deal with Gerard has been canceled, and how he wants Sarah to stop worrying about Dinah.
After Mark leaves for London, Sarah notices a bloodstain on Paula's scarf and goes to the police station for the third time in three days. What's the reason this time? Well, she believes the blood on Paula's scarf belongs to the killer because the scarf got caught on the doorknob of Joe's office when she went in. If Joe had committed suicide, there wouldn't have been blood anywhere else. But if the killer injured himself while trying to murder Joe, and that blood belongs to the killer, then the police will have to reinvestigate the incident from another angle.
Officer Plod says he can't guarantee positive results, but he'll send the scarf to the forensic department anyway. Since the tests will take some time, Sarah goes home. Obviously, Hamza finds out about this and tells Amos to send his violent henchman to kill Sarah. When Sarah gets home, she notices that the balcony door is open and paranoia overwhelms her. She runs out and finds Rufus and Wigwam, who convince her to go back inside. Rufus offers to stay with Sarah until she feels safe, and Sarah instantly accepts the offer because she's genuinely terrified.
Once inside, Rufus helps Sarah make sure no one is there and that all the doors and windows are locked, and then they pour themselves some drinks to relax. We see a brief scene between Janice, Joe's mother, and Zoe, where they talk about the importance of grieving, and then the episode shifts back to Rufus and Sarah, who has also told Rufus about her investigation. To further the conversation, Rufus goes to get more wine, while Sarah looks at Joe's "bill," which isn't exactly a bill, but a letter from Joe, in which he tells Sarah about all the evidence he's gathered. Since Sarah is too overwhelmed to read it, she gives it to Rufus, who reads it and simultaneously reveals that he is Amos's hitman. He's the one who caused the explosion at Maddie's house, and he's the one who killed Joe. His name isn't Rufus; it's Axel, and he's there to kill Sarah.
At the end of episode 2 of Down Cemetery Road, Axel uses dental floss to try to strangle Sarah, but Sarah bravely fights back and keeps Axel busy long enough for the man in the gray van to break into her house and fire a shot. Now, of course, there's no way I can give concrete answers, but I'll speculate anyway. To begin with, is Axel or Sarah dead? Well, Sarah is one of the main protagonists of the series, so I think Axel is dead.
If not, perhaps the man in the gray van fired a warning shot to prevent Axel from murdering Sarah. Why wouldn't he kill him outright? Because he knows something about Amos and who he works for. If Axel is dead, the protagonists will lose an important source of information. If he's alive, they can torture him until he confesses the truth. Is the man in the gray van a good guy? Well, this mysterious individual has been identified as Downey, and yes, he seems to be on the side of justice. I have a feeling that Downey is Dinah's real father.
He's probably discovered some or all of the illicit activities the UK government is involved in and has been trying to expose the ministries. That's why people like C, Hamza, and Amos have been using his family to silence him. Finally, is Wigwam also a secret agent? There's a good chance she is, or perhaps she knew Rufus was a mercenary and was trying to prevent Sarah from investigating the case because she knew it would lead to her death. In any case, for now, it looks like Downey will be joining Sarah and hopefully Zoe as well to rescue Dinah from C's clutches.
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