Summary
“Eliane” starts to feel a bit long-winded, though it continues to dispense intriguing information that’ll keep the audience invested.
This recap of The Twelve season 1, episode 3, “Eliane”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Check out our spoiler-free season review.
As is becoming the show’s habit, The Twelve episode 3 opens in the past, two years prior, as we see the aftermath of Frie losing full-time custody of Rose. Stefaan seems to have long suffered in this situation, and it’s him who goes to the police claiming to know who killed Britt.
“Eliane” also continues some of the juror subplots from the previous episode; the police are poking around Yuri and Bjorn’s construction business, and Holly’s real name is plastered all over the papers. This obviously raises some ethical concerns, but she’s allowed to continue despite some pushback from Carl.
Back in court, Frie faces further damning testimony from FJP Commissioner Helen Pascual. Through various reports and her fingerprints on a shard of glass, as well as threatening missives to Stefaan, Frie is placed at the crime scene and fingered as the culprit, though she only confesses to being present, not being guilty. Apparently she was there but not when the murder took place, which is obviously convenient. Frie was apparently wearing gloves on the night of the murder, but no gloves were ever turned up. This is also convenient.
Just as things seem to be heating up between Yuri and Holly, capitalizing on that flirtatious relationship, we return once again to two years earlier, where we seemingly get confirmation that Helen fabricated Frie’s letter. The weirdness continues to be afoot.
The Twelve season 1, episode 3 continues to be slow-paced, and not always to its advantage. As I said in the season review, it could have stood to be a couple of episodes shorter, and here, I think, is where we really start to feel that. Keeping the audience in the dark is of course a classic way to keep them watching, but this series must be careful that it maintains the realism of its case and its ultimate outcome. Playing for too much drama might undermine it in that regard, but time will tell.
