Rhiannon’s Likeliest Victims After ‘Sweetpea’ Episode 1

The premiere of Sweetpea, “Sorry for Your Loss”, has a pretty simple mandate – justify why Rhiannon Lewis would stab a man to death for no reason at all. In just 45 minutes, Episode 1 does a good enough job of this, helped along by Ella Purnell’s wide-eyed performance, that I wasn’t just unsurprised by her committing murder, but actively thinking about who she could murder next.

In a way, this is the structure of the Starz drama. It opens with Rhiannon listing who she’d like to kill aloud and ends with her making a start. To that end, I’ve decided to format this recap as a list of potential second victims arranged roughly in order of likelihood. And there is no shortage of candidates.

Victim Number One

First, let’s just get the obvious out of the way. The young man Rhiannon stabbed to death by the canal was, unfortunately for him, in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no connection to Rhiannon and hadn’t made her list of desired victims. He just so happened to urinate on her at precisely the wrong time, awakening a growing desire to take revenge on everyone who has wronged her.

So, while this guy is a nobody, he’s very important in Rhiannon’s personal arc, since this is clearly the turning point where she realizes not only is she capable of murder, but quite likes it.

R.I.P. needlessly threatening young drunk dude. We hardly knew you.

Julia Is At The Top Of the List

Julia was Rhiannon’s high school bully and made her life miserable for years, pretending she was invisible – in other words, completely unworthy of any attention or acknowledgment at all – and driving her to such misery that she would reflexively pull out her own hair with the stress. It got so bad she had to wear a wig.

Julia wouldn’t be as likely a victim if she didn’t breeze back into the present-day plot, but unfortunately (for her), she’s the estate agent who is trying to sell Rhiannon’s late father’s house, which has been bequeathed in his will to Rhiannon and her sister, Seren.

So, Julia is going to end up dead, for sure, both for the high-school torment and for trying to sell Rhiannon’s home out from under her. Speaking of which…

Seren Is A Likely Victim – And She Deserves It

Rhiannon’s sister Seren is awful. She lives in France, constantly ignores Rhiannon’s efforts to reach out to her, and in the immediate aftermath of their father’s death wants to sell his house – despite the fact that Rhiannon still lives in it.

I don’t think this will be one of Rhiannon’s first kills since it’ll take some experience and enthusiasm to off her own sister, but I do reckon it’s coming down the line. Sweetpea Episode 1 presents no evidence to suggest that Seren is a remotely nice person, and her connection to Julia only exemplifies that.

Readers, she’s getting it. It’s just a matter of when.

AJ Narrowly Avoided Becoming Rhiannon’s First Victim – He’s Still A Candidate

AJ was introduced in the Sweetpea premiere swooping in to steal a junior reporter position that Rhiannon had applied for. A “nepo baby” – his parents know Rhiannon’s boss, Norman – who inadvertently stymied Rhiannon’s attempts to stand up for herself like her father had instructed her on his deathbed, AJ has no idea that he was on the verge of becoming Rhiannon’s first victim.

However, just because Rhiannon backed out at the last minute doesn’t mean that AJ isn’t still on the chopping block. She’s going to have to see him at work every day, after all. However, he’s a bit further down the list because I do anticipate that he might become a complicated love interest of sorts, alongside…

Ella Purnell in Sweetpea | Image via STARZ

Rhiannon Might Kill Craig Like A Praying Mantis

I don’t think Craig necessarily constitutes Rhiannon’s “ex”, but they definitely had a sexual encounter in the past. Ever since then Craig has only responded to her texts with emojis, and he goes out of his way to ignore her whenever they cross paths. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by Rhiannon, who lists him among the people she’d like to kill at the top of the episode.

I do expect a slightly empowered Rhiannon to rekindle a physical relationship with Craig, if only to prove a point, or perhaps to position him as a kind of love rival to AJ. But like praying mantises, the females of which eat their mates to provide their children sustenance, I reckon Rhiannon will eventually turn on Craig and do him in.

Everyone At the Gazette Is In For It

I could have put AJ here, but since I think he’ll take on a slightly more prominent individual role, I’m lumping the rest of the Gazette’s staffers together. This includes clumsy Jeff, who burned Rhiannon’s hands with tea by not paying attention, and obviously Norman, Rhiannon’s boss who just disrespectfully keeps her around as a dogsbody.

Killing colleagues is a bit risky, which is why this entry is so low down, but it’s very likely. It’d be fun if this took the form of some kind of career coup for Rhiannon, moving up the ranks of the paper by murdering her way through its personnel, but that could be a bit ambitious.

Rhiannon’s Mother Could Be The Root Of Everything

One of the most significant events in Rhiannon’s life is her mother having abandoned the family, walking out one day without telling anyone where she was going, and never returning.

This is, admittedly, my most outside-the-box suggestion, but once Rhiannon really gets comfortable with serial killing, wouldn’t her own mother make for the perfect final victim? After all, her life would have likely been very different if her mother had remained in her life, and Sweetpea Episode 1 confirms that she still harbors a tremendous amount of resentment for her.

I’m not sure how it’d work logistically, but she made Rhiannon’s list, so she’s also going to make mine.