Summary
Criminal Record Season 2 achieves a new high-water mark in “Safe”, a blisteringly tense and thoroughly aggravating hour of television.
Some television is designed to be aggravating, and it has been obvious since the start of Criminal Record Season 2 that this is very much that kind of show. But even so, I was unexpectedly annoyed throughout Episode 4, “Safe”, an hour threaded with the exploitative, bigoted ranting of a truly insipid villain, a galling institutional indifference to tragedy, and a flesh-eating fourth estate. With the tension ratcheted up to match, especially concerning Billy’s predicament, all the pieces are in play for the back half of the season to really be something.
Part of this season’s power is how feasible it feels. Cosmo Thompson’s “nobody died” campaign is cruel and thoughtless, and exactly the kind of tinfoil-hat conspiracy that people would believe if they were angry enough about public policy and a so-called “invasion” of their once-great cities. At one point, Hegarty describes the truth as “old money”, which is to say it has no real value. Nobody cares about the truth if the lie is more convenient, and Cosmo is telling lies that people want to believe.
This makes the police’s already difficult job even harder. Their official policy is not to give rumour-mongering any oxygen, but that means staying quiet at a crucial time when people need to be reassured. If they speak, it has to be verifiable truth from an unofficial source, which means putting Zaynab, Rohaan’s mother, through the wringer of a press conference in which she’s expected to prove that her dead son existed. It’s an awfully dehumanising process, with every detail – including whether it’s better for optics to have Zaynab wear a headscarf or not – compounding the pain caused by Cosmo’s disinformation campaign.
One of the ideas at play in Criminal Record Season 2 is that the way institutions work lends credence to the rhetoric of someone like Cosmo. His stab-in-the-dark claims that the Suffolk Square photo was doctored have validity, because it was altered to remove the face of a child. The motivation wasn’t what he’s claiming – the police could have pixellated the original image to protect the kid’s identity, but even that would have looked oddly suspicious – but it almost doesn’t matter. The image was altered. Cosmo was, at least on that level, correct. And the real lies make the made-up ones more convincing.
“Safe” allows the frustration of this predicament to really manifest, especially for June and JP. The former is having to deal with the indignity of marriage counselling while being unable to think about anything other than her job, and the latter is trying to function as Billy’s handler while he remains sequestered in his apartment, increasingly unstable on account of Cosmo having taken his medication and terrified by the prospect of his informant status being exposed. Both June and JP are appalled by the open bigotry of Kim, frustrated by having to parade a grieving mother around, cognizant of the fact that there’s at least some merit to Cosmo’s claims, and annoyed that the higher-ups, including Hegarty, seem reluctant to move on new information.
Of particular note here is a partial print on the handle of the knife that killed Rohaan, identifying the potential culprit as a former fusilier named Marco Rivelli, who, at a glance, doesn’t have anything to do with Cosmo’s operation except for the fact that the knife was found in a locker at the gym. Rivelli could be arrested, but without a firmer connection to Cosmo, his gang would continue unchecked. And through Billy, the team is able to confirm that Cosmo is in possession of the missing detonators and does intend to use them. It’s up to June to reconcile the fact that the greater good must take precedence over Rohaan’s death, even though his death is what is resonating with her most profoundly.
With all this, it’s really no wonder that June and JP fall into bed with one another. Of course, this is precisely the moment that Leo decides to wholeheartedly apologise to June and make a concerted effort to save their marriage, giving her yet another moral dilemma to worry about. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s the least of her problems, especially since at the end of Criminal Record Season 2, Episode 4, Kieran recognises her from the safehouse, seemingly blowing Billy’s cover.
Since Billy’s predicament is the most consistent form of tension in the season, his being rumbled is a major deal. I was already convinced that Cosmo leading him to the boat containing the detonators was somehow going to lead to his demise, so now his inside-man status is confirmed, he cannot be long for the world. And the police don’t even know he’s compromised! We’re only halfway through the season, but even so, it’s difficult to see how the good guys are going to win this battle. And I’m starting to worry that the point of the whole thing might be that they can’t.
