Down Cemetery Road Recap: Blood Lines

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Zoë is digging into the truth about Joe’s death, but how long can she keep investigating before she’s in real danger? Anyone connected to the explosion at the Singleton house has either disappeared or been killed, like Sarah Trafford. The mysterious Stranger is actually a man named Downey, who murdered Axel Crane and kidnapped Sarah, taking her in a disturbing grey van. Sarah manages to escape, but Downey catches her and forces her to choose: return to the van or face whoever is hunting her. She reluctantly gets back in the van, and uses the opportunity to demand Downey reveal who “they” are – the people who want her dead.

It’s clear they’re connected to the Ministry of Defence, and seem to be responsible for covering up murders. When Axel dies, his brother Amos is sent to make it look like an accident, but he doesn’t realize the bathroom doorknob was broken before Sarah desperately tried to hold onto it. Zoë realizes someone has been inside Sarah’s house after noticing the doorknob has been fixed, and she was searching for Sarah because she’d discovered Axel was Joe’s killer. While buying cigarettes, Zoë noticed the store had security cameras, and the owner, Mal, happily reviewed the footage with her, revealing Axel leaving Joe’s office and entering the store. Sarah already knew Axel killed Joe, but she didn’t get a chance to share this information with Zoë.

When Zoë finds Sarah’s house empty, she encounters Wigwam, who is searching for a friend. My suspicion that Wigwam is an undercover government agent weakens when I see how upset she is about Sarah and Rufus being missing. Desperate for answers, Wigwam breaks her personal rule against talking to the police – whom she considers biased against women – and speaks with Zoë, who is pretending to be an officer investigating Joe’s death. Wigwam explains she didn’t realize Rufus hadn’t come home until the next morning, as she’d fallen asleep after putting the kids to bed. While searching Wigwam’s kitchen, Zoë finds a photo of Axel – who Wigwam identifies as Rufus – on the refrigerator. The fact that Rufus appeared suddenly in Wigwam’s life and worked as a juggler only reinforces how untrustworthy he seems. Zoë urges Wigwam to leave with her children and contact her if Sarah reaches out.

Malik is in a difficult position. This week, he’s reprimanded by his boss, C, and faces defiance from his employee, Amos Crane, who he attempts to fire. Amos’s methods have resulted in excessive violence – even harming those on his own side – and Malik is ordered to remove him from the current case. After dealing with a crime scene, Amos had to bury his own brother, an emotional experience that was unusual for him. When Malik tries to explain that Amos is being taken off the case to prevent further deaths, Amos attacks him, interrupting the explanation. Despite being removed, Amos is determined to find Downey, regardless of whether he’s officially assigned to do so.

Downey seems central to the entire mystery, but he refuses to talk. Even when Sarah confronts him with a gun, demanding answers about his identity and her captivity, he remains calm. He only reveals that he’s also searching for Dinah and warns her that a powerful, unknown group – “they” – is involved. He insists that if this group finds them, everyone, including Dinah, will be in grave danger. Meanwhile, Zoë believes finding Sarah will lead her to the truth about Joe’s death, but the police dismiss her investigation. She tries to convince the lead officer that Axel was responsible for bombing the Singletons, killing Joe, and abducting Sarah, even presenting a cap she took from Wigwam’s house as evidence. However, the officer refuses to listen to her pleas.

Zoë isn’t waiting for the police and is taking control of the situation herself. Her investigation reveals someone has been unfaithful. She remembers when Sarah jokingly asked if she was looking into her husband’s affair with his secretary, and Sarah dismissed the idea as old-fashioned. It turns out Zoë was right – she catches Mark kissing his assistant, Emma, on camera after they return from lunch. She’d suspected something was wrong with Mark’s sudden trip to London, but even she wasn’t prepared to hear Emma call him that! Zoë’s plan is to confront Mark publicly in his office. Once they move to a private room, she tells him Sarah is missing and asks him to report it to the police. To ensure his cooperation, she shows him the video of him and Emma.

The video won’t work as blackmail because Sarah discovers Mark’s affair on her own. It’s amazing how easily a man can upset a woman, even when she’s dealing with a dangerous government conspiracy. While at a gas station, Sarah cleverly steals a phone from someone else. In the restroom, she calls Mark, anticipating he’ll be frantic with worry. Instead, she hears Emma suggest he hang up, thinking it’s a telemarketer. But Mark doesn’t hang up; he simply puts the phone down and calmly tells Emma that Sarah has disappeared without a trace, showing no concern whatsoever. Emma even suggests Sarah might have finally left the marriage. Mark laughs and says that would be a good outcome, then asks Emma to make dinner reservations. Sarah would be completely justified in losing her temper and confronting him, perhaps even involving his assistant.

Inside the van, Downey swallows a pill from a bottle marked “Histropine.” At the same time, in London, C meets with a man named Isaac, who confirms that Singleton’s death has been completely covered up. All evidence from the explosion has been eliminated, and Singleton’s body, listed as an unidentified man, has been taken from the morgue. This casts doubt on what Wigwam told Sarah about Maddie’s husband being dead – a person can’t die twice. When C asks about Singleton’s condition before the explosion, Isaac explains he was likely in extreme pain due to nerve damage, which only Histropine could relieve. Isaac adds that without the pills, Singleton wouldn’t have lived long, and Downey’s supply is limited – it’s not something easily obtained anywhere.

Zoë felt a sense of wrongdoing surrounding Joe’s death, so she went to the morgue to investigate. She asked the clerk, Wayne, to see Joe’s body, pretending she hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye. However, she didn’t bother looking at Joe; instead, she searched through other records. She noticed Maddie Singleton was present, but the file for an unidentified man, labeled “John Doe,” was empty. As she left, Zoë casually talked to Wayne about pursuing one’s passions, subtly suggesting he should be more proactive and not let suspicious activity slide, even if that meant pursuing a different career like full-time streaming. She gave him her business card.

Zoë is a remarkably skilled investigator because she’s adept at getting people to reveal information, often by subtly targeting their vulnerabilities – a tactic her mother-in-law, Janice, describes as doing the unexpected. However, despite her talent for reading people, Zoë is still missing crucial pieces of the puzzle. She knows that Joe, before his death, discovered eight soldiers had been court-martialed following the British withdrawal from Afghanistan. Shortly after, all of them supposedly died in a helicopter crash, including Tommy Singleton, the husband of a woman named Maddie. Adding to the mystery, an Oxford house exploded, resulting in one death, a missing body, and a vanished child. When her Irish partner visits to express his sympathy for Joe’s death, Zoë shares these details with him. He offers to help, given his position with the Metropolitan Police, but warns her to stop investigating Tommy Singleton, fearing for her safety. Zoë reacts furiously, throwing a television through the window and onto his car.

Energized by a new lead, Zoë visits Wayne to ask about the unidentified man brought in earlier. She wonders if it’s the same person in a photo on Maddie Singleton’s Facebook page. Wayne confirms it’s him, and remarkably demonstrates how he’s been tracking the man: he’s secretly developed facial recognition software at work. Using it to search for Tommy Singleton’s face, he finds a photo of the military unit Tommy served with on a veterans’ website. This proves Tommy didn’t die in a helicopter crash, but in a bombing. The same veterans’ photo also reveals Downey is currently staying in a hotel with Sarah, politely offering her the bed while he takes a chair.

Sarah discovered Joe’s card in her pocket. She waited until Downey was in the shower before calling Zoë, but Zoë was having tea with Joe’s mother, Janice, and didn’t answer. Janice was seeking help with funeral arrangements and Zoë was also telling her that Joe hadn’t died by suicide, but was murdered, and that she was investigating. Zoë gave Janice a number to call and instructed her to hand over a manila envelope if she didn’t hear from Zoë again. From Joe’s bedroom, where she planned to stay the night, Zoë returned the call that had been repeatedly contacting her. Sarah answered immediately.

Paper Trail

Malik clearly overestimated the two clumsy guys he hired to guard Dinah’s cottage, as Amos easily dismissed their attempts to intimidate him, even scoffing at their use of a taser. Amos visited the cottage, seemingly just to check things out and plan his next move, bringing Dinah’s teddy bear as a pretense. He tried calling Axel on the phone, correctly assuming Downey had taken it, but couldn’t reach him.

During C’s conversation with Isaac, it’s revealed that their superior has another boss: Defence Minister Talia Ross, whom they clearly dislike.

Sarah observed scars on Downey’s arms, likely connected to the nerve damage Isaac had discussed. Considering his court-martial and the Ministry of Defence’s involvement, everything points to a cover-up of serious wrongdoings.

The story is building to a thrilling climax with three separate storylines unfolding simultaneously: Zoë is investigating a conspiracy, Downey and Sarah are trying to reach Dinah, and Amos is heading towards Downey and Sarah. I’m eager to see how the show will bring these storylines together without creating more chaos.

• Also … Gerard? I’m still not convinced of his innocence.

Every week, C provides a brutally honest evaluation of how things are going. This week’s assessment was particularly blunt: they described the current operation as a complete disaster, and it was surprisingly poetic.

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2025-11-05 17:02