St. Clair & Harry Spin Out as the Victims Pile Up at 'Sherwood's Midpoint

The Sherwood Season 2 premiere showed how entangled the Nottingham community is. The second-week episodes make an even bigger mess of those entanglements by throwing in some miscommunication. No one is talking to anyone, or if they are, they are talking to the wrong people. As expected, things will get a lot worse for the police department, the Sparrows, and everyone around them. 

St. Clair, try as he might, is brought back into the force to help after the double homicide at the Bottomleys. He's adamant that he's not staying full-time, but he's already all in on this case and making an impressive amount of headway. 

The first significant wrinkle in the investigation is the discovery of Kaia Branson's body in the unmarked van near the Bottomley residence. He is conveniently discovered while St. Clair and DCS Harry Summers have Ann and Roy in for questioning. The crime duo are shaken by the reveal that their nephew is dead, especially since they just told the cops that he was with them at their niece's birthday party. Ann pivots quickly and demands police protection because clearly, the Bransons are a target now. (They're not.) This forces St. Clair to treat them like victims when he and Harry are pretty sure the Bransons are responsible for the Bottomley murders. 

We viewers all know the Bransons are guilty, but we also know who killed Kaia, and that's the next wrinkle in the investigation. With the Bottomleys dead, Stephie needs to be taken care of. Her older brother Ryan is staunchly against that when he's informed of what's happened to his stepmother and uncle. He convinces St. Clair and the social worker to let Stephie stay alone at the house; he'll have people look out for her. 

When the brother and sister are left alone, Stephie confesses that she's the one who killed Kaia. Ryan couldn't be prouder, and he's motivated to do anything it takes to look out for Stephie, including consulting with Season 1's serial killer, Scott Rowley (Adam Hugill), on setting up a criminal empire that can protect his sister from the inside. 

Ryan isn't the only one going down a dark path. The Sherriff of Nottingham, Lisa Waters, receives a file that indicates Franklin Warner was Margaret Thatcher's inside man during the mining strikes, and that's how he made his millions. If she goes public with this, the news will destroy the Warners' plan to re-open the mine. That's what Lisa wants, which is why she should have taken it to the press rather than confronting Franklin directly. 

Their conversation about the mine and what it would mean for Nottingham exemplifies everything Sherwood does so well in showcasing a battered community that refuses to be treated as stupid simply because it's been through a hard time. However, that conversation also puts Lisa on Franklin's radar in a far more negative light, and by the end of the episode, she's getting death threats to her work e-mail. We don't know if it's Franklin or a random troll, but we're deeply concerned that the sheriff is in big trouble. 

The Sparrows are also in trouble. The cell phone Daphne gave to Pam Bottomley was discovered on Kaia's body in the van. It pinged to the Sparrow farm, bringing St. Clair to the Sparrow doorstep. Rachel (Christine Bottomley) is also approached by Harry and DI Marcus Clarke (Jordan Myrie). The combined pressure of both cops and the news of Kaia's death convinces Daphne and Rachel to come clean. They all convene at the Sparrow farm to figure out how to make the charges against the Bransons stick. 

They need to figure out something quick because Ann and Roy already know that Daphne and Rachel have turned. Ann once again proves that she's the mastermind in this terrifying family because when Roy asks which Sparrow they need to kill as a warning, Ann says they must destroy all of them. This woman is an absolute terror, and she's ready to drown Nottingham in blood before she sees her and her husband go to jail. 

There are so many times in American shows when people are coerced into committing crimes, and you spend multiple episodes screaming at them to go to the cops and get some help. Sherwood doesn't make you do that. The Sparrows do go to the cops, and you see very quickly at the top of Episode 4 why they were hesitant in the first place. They have a voicemail and confirmation that Ann and Roy Branson were in the sea village where the Bottomleys were murdered, but that's not enough. St. Clair tells the Sparrows that someone is going to have to wear a wire to get the Bransons to confess, which is a suicide mission. 

Daphne volunteers to take the bullet for the team. Even though she swears she knows how to get people to open up, she is an absolute mess at trying to get Ann to open up. The crime matriarch is too intelligent to go rambling about murdering two people in the middle of a public pub, especially with her police protection watching. Daphne is also too apparent in the way she keeps bringing it up. She's visibly nervous, so of course, Ann is suspicious. 

What's more suspicious for the viewer is DI Marcus' reaction to finding out Daphne has been sent in with a wire. We know that the Bransons have a mole in the police department, and Marcus was the one who brushed off Pam Bottomley's call for help in the premiere. Once he finds out that Daphne is wearing a wire, he calls Ann to give her a heads-up, which puts an even bigger target on the Sparrow family's back. 

Luckily, Daphne is not an idiot; she clocks that Ann has made her. She bails on the conversation even though St. Clair swears there's no way that Ann could know. We love St. Clair, and he does excellent work as a cop on this show, but oh my god, he will get the entire Sparrow family murdered if he doesn't start listening. 

Daphne isn't the only Sparrow causing problems for St. Clair and Harry. Rory has decided to take matters into his own hands after hearing about Kaia's death and what the police want his mother to do. He goes to the Bottomley house, where Ryan's cronies set up shop to look after Stephie. They've been given a piece of Scott Crowley's hidden money after Ryan promised the sociopath that he'd be given double the investment when he gets out of prison. However, they are junior league drug dealers, and Rory steps in to help take the operation to the next level. 

The problem is that the house is operating in Branson territory. Rory is attempting a hostile takeover of the area. If the Bransons are pissed about Daphne working with the police, just wait until they find out that Rory is also cutting into their bottom line. With every passing second, the tenuous peace that St. Clair built in Season 1 is coming tumbling down. 

Ryan's gang has also worked out how to spray drugs onto book pages that they are going to donate to the prison for their new library. Stephie takes Ryan's right-hand man to shore up the collection plan with Lisa; naturally, she claims just to want to help her brother's program. However, after they leave Lisa's, the sheriff is found unconscious in her house. St. Clair arrives just in time to see the paramedics and police, along with Lisa's wife, Sandy, freaking out.

Those death threats have become very, very real, but it's still unclear who is behind this attack on Lisa. Was it Ryan's gang, or was it the Warners? Was it someone else we haven't thought of with an axe to grind? St. Clair is spinning out with his friend out of commission, and the case is making it difficult for him to return to working with at-risk youth. Harry is also not in his right mind as the end of Episode 4 reveals that the Bransons are responsible for his wife's death. Our cops aren't acting like the sharpest tools in the shed, and the Sparrows are now reacting off their back foot.

The struggle is real as we head into the final week of Season 2, so buckle up. Sherwood Season 2 continues with two more episodes every Thursday on BritBox until November 28, 2024.