"Fool for Love" Concludes with Friendships in 'Ridley'

Last week’s episode of Ridley started with the murder of Oliver Grant, heir to the directorship of the family property development business; however, it's now expanded to incorporate a drug-dealing enterprise operated from a go-kart track in Manchester. Worse, Carol’s son Jack is implicated in both the murder and the drug deal, leading to a surprise twist when DI Carol Farman was taken off the case, leaving Ridley paired with geeky DC Darren Lakhan. Riley's not fond of Darrell, but plugging away at his keyboard, Lakhan turned up multiple expensive purchases Oliver made, including a ring engraved with an “A” and an apartment, using money transferred into his account. 

In addition, matriarch Sarita Grant has now pinged visiting Matt Brandon’s go-kart track/drug establishment. Naturally, Ridley and Darren’s first stop is to visit Sarita and her surviving son, Lewis. Sarita admits transferring money from the company account to Oliver’s to cover his spending and claims to have visited Brandon to pay off Oliver’s debt. Lewis did not know; she didn’t trust him. She bought the apartment to encourage Oliver to marry Amelia and stop him from becoming his philandering father.* 

Ridley finds Amelia in a nearby church, grieving for her dead fiancé, and gently questions her. He’s curious about her relationship with Lewis and her decision to confide in him; why not Sarita? Amelia explains that Lewis wanted her to leave Oliver and marry him instead; Sarita is more interested in a business alliance with Amelia’s family than anyone else’s feelings. She feared Lewis' idea might lead Sarita to switch grooms without warning. Amelia also seems confused when Ridley mentions Oliver purchased an apartment and her engagement ring is a family heirloom. Was the ring maybe for Ava, the organizer of the rave, instead? Ridley leaves, only for Lewis to show up, but Amelia ignores him.

(*No, I don’t see the logic of this either, but this is a very odd family.)

Ridley's next stop is to see Ava, who admits to a fling with Oliver and says he encouraged her in her career as a model. She knew Matt was Oliver’s supplier, but she was under the impression Oliver had gone to the rave to confront him. At loose ends with no case, Carol starts to worry that she hasn’t seen Jack since yesterday, so she heads to find Ridley at Ava's, where she sees Jack exiting the apartment instead. She tries to reason with him and see it her way: He’s too young for this; the other players are older and more dangerous.

As for Ridley, he's gone to therapy, fretting at Dr. Larsson about his feelings for Annie, whose relationship with Harry Bentham is still going strong. Ridley has always doubted Harry; sure, he’s turned the bar around, and Annie is grateful, but Ridley’s instinct is not to trust him. We know Harry is a bit of a creep, but Ridley listens to her advice to keep his cool, assuring Harry he’s happy for them both before heading to work on the boat, where he finds the bag Jack hid, which contains a gun. He contacts Carol, who insists on bringing Jack to the station herself. She's not in the room in an official capacity, but she does join Ridley in impressing upon Jack the importance of telling the truth. 

Sadly, Jack refuses to talk, leaving DCI Paul Goodwin little choice but to arrest him as Carol watches a video feed in another room. Having identified the gun as the one Oliver owned, Ridlry and Paul try again, and Jack breaks, admitting he didn’t know the gun belonged to Oliver; it was given to him by Matt, who was reeling him into the organization, choosing him for errands, and building his trust.

With Jack's testimony, the police raid the go-kart facility; in the raid, Matt is seriously injured and claims it was Lewis. Ridley and Darren visit Lewis, who admits it's true: he hit Matt with a wrench. However, it's not lost on anyone Matt didn’t reach for or fire the gun, and Lewis further adds Matt was angry when "Oliver’s girlfriend betrayed him." Riley stares at him, realizing Lewis can't mean Amelia: Matt never met the fiance. He meant Ava. Darren returns to the rave footage and finds Ava holding the bag from the boat. Jack admits he took Ava's bag into safekeeping, assuming it contained cocaine. When he discovered it held a gun instead, he was too scared to tell Ridley, so he stuck it on the boat, hoping it would turn up.

In the end, Ava, still wearing the ring engraved with an "A" on it, murdered Oliver to maintain her luxurious influencer lifestyle. She and Matt realized they could help each other financially; she introduced him to new clients at her events. Ava gave Oliver cocaine, getting him hooked; despite insisting it was love, she didn’t want Oliver's money. But Matt threatened her, so Oliver confronted him. Matt, in turn, ratted out Ava, calling their relationship all a sham. She shot Oliver when he tried to break up with her as a result, and, not realizing who his mother was, implicated the new kid, Jack, assuming his major crush on her would keep him quiet. He’s released on bail with the promise that the courts will consider everything. 

That night, Annie comments that Ridley seems happier, and he obliges with a song. He also looks at the paperwork Harry has produced.... and that good mood suddenly looks like it vanishes.

Ridley Season 2 continues with a final case aired in two new episodes on Sunday October 27 and November 3 at 8 p.m. ET on most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. PBS Passport members will have access to all episodes of Ridley Season 2 to watch as a binge (or as initially intended, i.e., as four two-hour-long episodes). As always, check your local listings and streamers.