Will The 'Guilt'y Party Please Stand Up?

After last week’s relatively straightforward mess, the second half of Guilt turns up the twistiness. Let’s start with a flashback, where Sheila learns Walter left his estate to her, except for his vinyl collection, which goes to his niece, but disorganized solicitor Henry McKinnon can’t locate her. Sheila offers to get in touch with the niece, whom she claims is American. Sheila heads to the pub and proposes Angie pose as the necessary relation. At first, she says no, but Sheila’s son is Angie’s boss and has told his mother the American is in dire financial straits. Sheila offers £10,000; Angie counters with double. 

Picking up where last week left off, Angie leafs through the albums, finding a note addressed to Walter’s real niece, Jessie. It prompts her to look through Walter’s medications and confront Sheila about the checks Walter gave her, accusing the woman of overdosing him. Angie wisely refuses to leave without payment, so Sheila pulls out Max’s bag of blackmail cash.

Confronted by Jake, Angie admits she arrived in Scotland six months ago to escape her abusive ex and claims after checking on her uncle, she went traveling, ran out of money, and started working illegally at the Highland pub. Jake, believing her and spurred on by his new love high, has a head full of plans: rearranging stock, setting up a website, and even thinking of moving to a better location. When Max shows up with more business paperwork, Jake asks for the store’s finances. Offering vague promises to Jake, Max starts scrambling. Alas, Cameron, the shady moneylender behind the record store's finances, warns Max not to mess with things above his pay grade. 

On his way out, Kenny confronts Max with the camera footage. He found the mechanic who fixed Max’s car, and he knows Max interfered with the paint sample. He wants Max to make him a partner in investigations/security, or Kenny will turn him in. However, the seriously criminal nature of Max’s dalliance in money laundering doesn’t become apparent until he is ambushed in broad daylight. Infamous mobster Roy Lynch (Bill Paterson) drags Max in and informs him Jake’s shop must stay open as a front for his numerous illegitimate businesses. He gives Max until the end of the day to get his brother on board. Shaken, Max finds Jake at the cemetery, standing in front of their mother’s grave. Jake lost his chance at musical fame because Max left him to mind their sick mother. Max pleads with Jake to stay the course with him. He can help Jake get what he wants, but if he refuses to go along with the money laundering, they are both in real danger. Jake refuses.

Claire leaves a message for Tina, saying she isn’t brave enough and wants to end their affair. Tina shows up at Claire’s house, but instead of the expected blow out, she declares it was just for fun. Faced with losing said fun, Claire changes her mind and kisses Tina. As Tina leaves, it turns out this isn’t actually an affair; she also works for Lynch, and this is all to keep tabs to see if Claire knows anything about Max’s dealings. She doesn’t, but Lynch wants Tina to stay on the wife.

Tailing Max, Kenny gets knocked around quite severely by one of Lynch’s heavies. He’s found unconscious and taken to the hospital, where he’s questioned by DC Stevie Malone (Henry Pettigrew), who happens to work for Lynch. He seems reluctant to talk to the victim, but the victim is reluctant to talk to him, so it works out. After the police depart, Max slips into the room to check on his “friend.” He’s run out of time to get Jake on board. He tries to reason with Lynch, begging the mobster’s guys to just scare his brother. As Jake is walking to Angie’s, he gets grabbed and put in a car.

The next day, Max storms into Cameron's shop, demanding to know where Jake is. It’s all very dramatic, except Max already knows the answer. He had Jake kidnapped before Lynch’s men could get to him. Jake’s not pleased and thinks there’s a way to break free of Max’s mob connection. But when Kenny shows up looking the worse for wear, he tells Jake to listen to Max. After all, the man has been a little clever; he’s figured out Roy Lynch isn’t the highest man on the pole. He thinks if he can discover who is, he can topple Roy and free Jake. Kenny suggests asking DC Malone.

Malone points them towards Victor, an official at some consulate. (Lynch was seen discussing laundering with him early on.) Max pitches the mob boss on how to run the operation bigger and better, declaring Roy is holding Victor back. Max thinks the meeting went well, but Jake isn’t so sure, even as Max promises Jake the money to start a new life. Of course, he’s wrong; Roy isn’t out of a job; he’s taking over Max’s firm. When Max refuses to sign the business over, one of Roy’s thugs smashes his face into the table, breaking his nose. Tina returns to Claire’s house, tells her what’s going on, and asks Claire to run away with her. Claire calls Max, asking for the truth, and when he lies, she chooses Tina.

That’s when Jessie, Walter’s real niece, calls from Australia, having learned her uncle has passed away. Sheila hurriedly says Angie’s already heading home, not taking the albums, no harm done, as if that’s going to solve something. Angie is planning to head home, but first, she stops at the record store to ask Jake to come with her…only to find it burning to the ground. Jake confesses he accidentally killed Walter; Angie confesses back she isn’t actually his niece, so they’re even. Unfortunately, travel is delayed as the police arrest her.

Max shows up at the station, claiming to be Angie’s lawyer, but she ignores him, ratting out Sheila and getting herself released. Walter will be exhumed per Jessie’s request. Max corners DC Malone, insisting he needs to take charge of the exhumation. (Malone’s been reporting Max’s every move to Lynch since the beginning, so lord knows why he’d comply.) However, Tina does seem to be bent on escaping Lynch, stopping by the loan office to grab some cash for her escape with Claire. But when Claire arrives, only Cameron and Roy are standing there, and Tina is gone. The men claim not to know Tina or Max. As Claire stands outside, she gets an “I’m Sorry” text.

Kenny tries to convince Jake to pin the hit-and-run on Max, but Jake refuses. He and Angie plan to leave the country, and as they are about to set off, Max stops by to wish his brother a happy life, promises to set him up with start-up cash, and says he’s heading home, both of which are lies. Instead, he goes to Sheila, threatening to expose her overdosing Walter unless she supports his version of the story. Max took a cab home from the wedding, Jake took the car, returned it dented, and hadn’t been the same since. He assures her Jake will be fine. He’s leaving the country and will stay away once this story gets out. But Angie and Jake are in the next room and hear Max’s scheme to accuse him – Jake’s loyalty is no longer required.

When Max goes home, Claire is there and announces she’s kicking him out. She refuses to discuss it, warning him she’ll reveal his criminal activity if he tries to make things difficult. His parting shot is to suggest that things could have been different if she hadn’t left the wedding early. (Real classy, Max.) As he walks out, Jake calls, asking him to meet at Walter’s. Max heads over and pleads with Jake to get to the airport, thinking the police will soon be there to arrest him. The police show up, but they arrest Max instead. Sheila, Kenny, and Jake banded together to betray the only one who seemed incapable of admitting his guilt.