'Guilt' Season 2's Premiere Returns to the Guilty

In Guilt Season 1, we met Edinburgh lawyer Max McCall (Mark Bonnar) and his brother Jake (Jamie Sives). It all began when Jake struck and killed an elderly pedestrian with Max's car. Desperate to avoid a scandal, Max insisted they carry the deceased pensioner back to his nearby home and hoped that, when he was found, the police would assume the victim died of natural causes. Instead, Max was convicted of covering up a case of accidental vehicular manslaughter, for which he was incarcerated for two years and was also disbarred. His corrupt business dealings and association with dangerous mobster Roy Lynch (Bill Paterson) also emerged. 

As Season 2 begins, we are dropped into the middle of a dinner party of complete strangers, all toasting Adrian's (Robin Laing) sobriety. However, his wife Erin (Sara Vickers) doubts he'll remain on the wagon. That night, Adrian sneaks off in a cab, enters an exclusive-looking club, and returns home with a gym bag full of cash. The bag's owner comes after it posthaste and shoots Adrian. Erin, hiding in the shadows, disables the stranger with a golf club and then shoots him with his own gun.

Smash cut to Max being released from prison. With his wife, home, and business gone, all that's left is his brother Jake's flat. (Jake moved to America with Angie.) Max visits his old office where Roy Lynch (now played by Stuart Bowman) runs the show. Max demands Roy give him a piece of his business since he stayed quiet about their illegal activities in prison. Roy insists his dealings are above board now, and Max should consider that he's still living a gift.

Max visits another associate from the past, his private investigator, Kenny Burns (Emun Elliott). Kenny attends AA meetings regularly and makes new friends like Yvonne (Rochelle Neil), whom he likes very much. Kenny has also earned a certification in legal services. He knows Max is only interested in working with him because he can return to a semblance of lawyering. Though tempted by Max's expertise, Kenny hesitates to join forces with an ex-con who previously took advantage of him. He proposes that if Max is serious, he should submit to a trial run — refurbishing Kenny's office. Max begrudgingly accepts Kenny's terms and repaints the office.

Back at Erin’s, she’s calling in cleanup services from her estranged father, Roy Lynch. He comes over immediately to lend her his expertise. Roy fills Erin in on his plan: a missing person's report will be filed on Adrian while the stranger (apparently ex-army) will be made to look as if he died by suicide. Daddy'll make the physical mess disappear and get the bag of money laundered for her. Erin insists she doesn't need it but soon reconsiders when she discovers the extent of her husband's debt in her name.

The following day, Kenny shows up at the office with a spring in his step and big ideas for his renamed business, Leith Legals. An offer of moderately priced wills will draw customers. Surprisingly, the first punter through the door is Roy Lynch with a bottle of wine and a "request" for Max to launder a troublesome stash of cash. He needs to identify to whom the money belongs. Kenny isn't keen to allow shady dealings in his shop. But once he finds a tracker in the bag, the investigator in him is awakened, and they decide to plant it somewhere and see who comes looking for it.

Max pays a cold call to the cash’s recipient with an owl-festooned business card; he informs Erin she is the sole beneficiary of a sketchy blind trust created at the behest of Roy Lynch. Pretending she doesn’t know who that is, Erin wonders aloud if she should call the police. Max takes the hint and beats a hasty retreat. Afterward, Roy visits Erin to let her know that the laundered money is now available to her — not his money, but a silver lining left by Adrian. He also tries to convince her that she is more like him than she would like to admit.

Lynch’s inside man, Stevie Malone (Henry Pettigrew), has been promoted from DC to DS since we last saw him and tasked with filing the missing person report on Adrian. He’s also the boss of Kenny’s AA pal, Yvonne, and was promoted over her because word about her drinking reached the higher-ups. However, he made some glaring errors, and Yvonne agrees to fix them.

Erin visits her mother, Maggie (Phyllis Logan), who lives in a small flat in a retirement community, a far cry from her ex’s lavish bachelor pad. Erin confesses she called her dad for help, but that will be the last time. Maggie doesn’t seem too bothered, noting Roy has his uses. As Erin leaves, Maggie confronts a shady salesman she notices visiting her neighbors. He claims to offer legit investment opportunities for new property complexes in Leith and menacingly tells her to mind her business. Next thing you know, Lynch pops up at the property investment salesman’s door, and the visit is not friendly.

As Kenny observes a man with a “Stanton Shoots Jesus Saves” bumper sticker on his car retrieving the gym bag containing the tracker, an elderly man and his son are informed their loved one was found dead, the cause being ruled a suicide: it’s the intruder in Erin’s basement. Max, out for a jog, stops at a random bench, sits down, and begins to randomly ramble at a lady with a dog. He gives her a flash drive.