Review of the BBC's The Ink Black Heart, Episode Three:

OK, so Yasmin isn't the brains of the operation...

Bad-ass Barclay: Episode Three picks up at the scene of Barclay's motorcycle crash, with Philip Ormand checking out the scene, either to confirm Barclay is dead or to retrieve the phone he just threw in the river, it's not clear. In any case, failing to find Barclay, he apparently assumes the body has spontaneously combusted and returns to his unlocked car, forgetting to check the back seat when getting in. Real winner of a cop, this one is. Barclay has managed to slip into the back seat, clotheslines Ormand from the back, and calls the police. I really enjoyed him getting a moment of action that he did not get in the book. This was definitely a step up from a plane ride to Scotland and a cup of tea at Nicole Crystal's.

Fortunately, the police have also been doing their job and it seems Ormand would have found himself arrested soon, even if he hadn't tried to kill Barclay. His interrogation shows the police know about the false detention and the tracer on Edie's phone, as well as the fact that he had gotten possession of it after Edie was attacked and concealed this evidence from police. The attempted murder of Barclay is apparently just gravy. Puzzlingly, Ormand claims to have been passing information to Yasmin for "years"--- how long were he and Edie supposed to have been together, anyway? Even more interestingly, Robin and Strike are apparently being allowed to watch the interrogation, live on camera, and are able to rule Ormand out as Anomie when the Gamemaster shows up to demand that Buffypaws attend Comicon.

Strike and Robin return to the office to find Uncle Grunt there. Rotten Egg #1 for book readers: Grub demands an update on the grounds that he is paying for the investigation. The book made it clear that the film producers were, and that was certainly the impression I got from the consultation in Episode 1. Grub grouses that his daughter had insisted on going to Edie's funeral and happens to mention he got her a train ticket from Leeds.

Amusing extra-book touches: Strike asks Pat to get him a costume for Comicon. This means 1) Pat gets a funny line: "Are we doing kids' parties now?" and 2) she is the one who selects Darth Vader for him. Grant confirms that Anomie is continuing to get inside information (Harty is being cast as a human) and that he is getting the "dig up Edie" calls as well.

In the absence of Nutley (no real loss there), Midge is staking out the Upcotts and is able to rule out Katya because Midge is on the game with Anomie when Katya leaves the house, clearly not online. Rotten Egg #2 for book readers: Robin and Midge rule out Gus as well, on the grounds that Midge can hear him practicing and "you can't type and play at the same time." I much prefer the book version, where the detectives recognize from the get-go that it is easy to fake cello-playing behind closed doors.

We then jump presumably at least a day or so later, depending on how fast Amazon delivers in the UK. Pat delivers the costume to Strike's attic flat. We get the closest thing the show provides to a glimpse of Madeline, whose whiny voice on the phone is complaining that it's been forever since she's seen Strike and asks when he's coming over. She also shrieks, "Who's Pat?" when Strike thanks the manager for the costume. It's clear this 'ship ain't smooth sailing.

And now.... drumroll... Comicon! Robin meets the costumed Strike in the office, and congratulates him on picking the right color light saber, but wasn't it Pat who selected it? On the tube, a young boy dressed as Luke Skywalker challenges Strike with his blue saber; Strike asks where his parents are; Robin, in a Darth Vader voice reminds Strike he is the boy's father. Robin has discovered the eldest Ross daughter's posts about her abusive father online, so the team decides to stake out the Kent residence in hopes of catching him in the act.

Although streamlined, the interview with Yasmin, Strike's Anomie-hunting and the Tube attack on Vilepechora are played out remarkably similarly to the book. DC Comics and Star Wars seem to have given permission for their characters to appear at the con, as I spied a Green Lantern, a Robin (the caped one), a Chewbacca and a Princess Leia in background shots. I was on the lookout for Harry Potter characters, but only picked up on one rather generic-looking wizard, who could just as easily have been a Tolkien fan. Strike gets saluted by a team of Stormtroopers, and, true officer-style, responds, "As you were." The actress playing Yasmin Weatherhead does a great job, up-talk and all, and looks almost exactly the way I pictured her from the text, including the great hair that at least comes close to covering one eye. It is quickly clear she is not the brains of the Ormand/Weatherhead alliance. Great line:

Strike: What if she's only pretending to be that stupid?

Robin: I think she actually might be that stupid.

Ms. Featherhead (oops, sorry, that's Weatherhead) gives Robin a lot of information that, in the book, took Buffypaws weeks to glean from Drek's Game, including that Moderartor Paperwhite sent out nudes to the male moderators and is in a relationship with Morehouse, that Moderator Fiendy (whose name we hear for the first time) likes football, is a Leeds/Peacocks fan and has an ill mother, and that Fiendy and Morehouse know each other's identities (and just how does Yasmin know that?) She also blabs her belief that "Vilepechora" (his brother Lord Drek was cut to streamline the cast) is a black actor, but flees, clearly nervous, when she realizes Robin knows that she passed the fake dossier to Josh. This seems a pretty foolish thing for Robin to have given away.

Easter Egg #1 for book readers: You can get a quick glimpse of the soles of Vilepechora's sneakers as he leaves the con, and they are, indeed, red.

Midge calls with the news that Inigo Upcott has left the house sans wheelchair and once again plays Nutley's part, although with much more competence.

Easter Egg #2 for book readers: There is a costumed Batman in the tube behind Strike and Robin on the way to the con, even though the actual Vile-shover is dressed as a skeleton. I guess DC did not want one of their most recognizable characters attempting murder onscreen, though they were happy to have "Superman" assist Robin in the rescue. And, the doctor that tends to Oliver Peach appears to be wearing a Wonder Woman tiara.

Post-rescue, we are treated to a full team meeting, where lots of stuff is explained quickly: Oliver Peach is both Al Gizz and Vilepechora, Anomie learned how to get tasers and masks from him, the Halvening are now hunting Anomie, so Anomie tried to kill Vile. Midge reports on Inigo's trip to the cafe, and the connection is made between his "darling girl" (not "child" as in the book), Kea Niven and Inigo's website. Strike agrees to question Kea the next day while Robin takes on Inigo. Barclay, interestingly, is given the job of chatting up Fiendy1 in Drek's Game.

Back in his flat, Strike views Kea's vlog where she claims credit for the Ink Black Heart cartoon. She speaks of the Margaret Read legend, saying "her heart burst out of her chest and ran away on its own." This appears to be false; every version of the story I have found has the heart hitting the building then bouncing or rolling into the river and disappearing in a sea of bubbles. But, as before, her plagiarism claims are given more credence than in the book; she has what looks like a Drek tattoo on her shoulder, which she claims to have gotten back in high school and which Edie presumably would have seen if they knew each other at North Grove. Again, this is a far cry from Drek supposedly being copied from a shadow of a bird-headed monster on a picture that, by Kea's own admission, Edie never saw.

The next day, despite the earlier mention of the Upcott's second home, Robin ambushes Inigo in his original house, where the bust remains in clear view on the desk behind him as Robin asks her questions. So, sadly, our heroes don't get their road trip to Whitstable, but then again, the office hasn't been blown up yet so there is no reason for them to leave town. Inigo acknowledges communicating with Kea online but denies giving her specific information about the cartoon or film adaptation. He is not nearly as nasty here as he was in the book, or in his first appearance in the show, so, as with Geraint Winn in Lethal White, we actually feel a bit sorry for him. Robin rules him out as Anomie when she checks Drek's Game. Strike turns up at Kea's house, clearly limping and using his cane, and convinces her mother it is in Kea's best interest to speak with him.

Easter Egg #3 for book readers: Though there is no sign of Mrs. Niven's bird-keeping, there are bird prints on the walls, including a large and prominent print of a cockatiel in the living room. Strike appears to give it a brief sideways glance as he passes it.

There is a cut to Robin moving into her new flat, with Ilsa helping. Mr. Ellacott has mercifully escaped his heart attack, though there is a mention that he would have come had he not injured his back. Seemingly for the benefit of new viewers, there is discussion of Robin's brief marriage to Matthew the accountant. Rotten Egg #3 for book readers: there is a mention that Robin got to keep the glasses Nick and Ilsa had given them as a wedding present; in the book, the Herberts barely knew Robin before she came to stay with them after leaving the Flobberworm, and certainly was not close enough to them to invite them to the nuptials. However, this does give Robin a chance to mention Murphy's date offer, and her suggestion that Strike come along, so a little of the Bob Bob Ricard conversation gets reenacted here. No mention of a pregnancy, so if TRG opens with the christening, it will be as big a surprise to viewers as it was to Nick and Ilsa.

Strike's conversation with Kea in the pub comes across much the same as it did in the book, although Kea, like Inigo, is a little more sympathetic as a character than she was in the book. Her claims of plagiarism are again more credible, as she talks to Strike about being disabled:

Kea: You probably understand what it feels like to live with a body that keeps messing things up. It's--I don't know--a traitor. A good heart wants to escape a bad body. Do you get what I was trying to say with Harty?

Strike: I think I do.

But, of course, then she goes straight into a lie about her involvement on Inigo's website, so we're not really sure whether to believe her or not. Strike does rule her out as Anomie when he checks the game and sees Anomie is active. Kea points Strike to RachLedBadly, naming her as the one who told her how to get information from Inigo.

Strike returns to the office, then goes right back out again when Pat tells him Robin is moving house. He turns up at her flat with the philodendron. In what might be an Easter Egg, when Robin asks him how he got the address, he immediately says, "Pat," but Pat explicitly did not give it to him in the office. Either he called Pat after he left, or we are supposed to infer that he really did care enough to find out the address beforehand. I was a bit disappointed to see Strike, not Robin, make the connection from RachLedBadly to Grant's daughter, but Robin is able to discern that Rachel is Fiendy1, even though she has been told Fiendy is male. Robin wants to take off to talk to Rachel immediately, but Strike tells her she can't abandon her moving van, so they agree to go the next day. In fairness, it is late afternoon, meaning Vikas is probably getting murdered as they speak, so leaving immediately wouldn't have helped him. Robin offers Strike dinner after they finish moving her stuff in, and hands him Phyllis to carry upstairs.

In partial compensation for not getting the Whitstable hotel getaway, the writers give Strellacott Shippers a special treat when Robin, anticipating their early start the next day, offers Strike the sofa bed for the night, only to enter the sitting room and find him already asleep on her couch. In sharp contrast to the self-absorbed Charlotte and her designer coat, Robin tenderly covers him up with what looks like a hand-knit afghan. And all the Shippers swoon....

A bit of plot condensation happens over breakfast the next morning, when Pez calls, but surprises them both by knowing Robin's real name. While Pez is amused to have been "seduced by a spy," he warns her that Wally Cardew found out who she was from online video made by a bystander at the Tube that showed Robin giving a police officer her name. Pez cautions her to stay away from North Grove. Strike is more worried about the Halvening targeting her. I guess the TV writers thought Yasmin was too stupid to be the one to recognize Robin from the news footage.

Although we miss Robin connecting to and gaining Rachel's trust as @StopAnomie, the conversation in the park was beautifully done and perhaps had the most authentic-to-the-book feel in the show so far. As with Yasmin, the actress cast as Rachel very much looks like I pictured the character from the book, with a combination of toughness and vulnerability. While Rachel doesn't reiterate her entire history with Anomie, going back to Club Penguin days, the gist of her guilt and divided loyalty is apparent. The one odd thing to me was Rachel immediately knowing Robin was Buffypaws; as far as we know, the only team member she has interacted with online is Barclay. Gaffe-finders will also be relieved that the script corrects the relationship of Edie to Rachel from aunt to cousin.

After getting the name from Rachel, our heroes speed off to Cambridge, but of course, they arrive too late for poor Vikas. A character named "Alexa Student" has an expanded role as one of the colleagues looking for Vikas. She provides some plot condensation, telling Strike about seeing Dr. Bhardwaj converse online with "Paperwhite" about going to see Robin Ellacott about Anomie. This is told in flashback, so we actually get to see Vikas speak and his delight that Paperwhite is interested in him, despite his disability. Major heartstring-tug here. Alexa also has a great horror-movie-style scream, which she employs when Strike finally gets that darn door open....

So ends the episode.... and so ends Dr. Bhardwaj. Back next week for the finale!

Interestingly, I wondered why the TV script had Rachel telling Robin that Vikas had a stroke as a child, when the book said that he had cerebral palsy; that seemed a pretty pointless change. It turns out, Vikas Bhardwaj is played by 21-year-old Rafi Solaiman, a disabled model and medal-winning para-athlete in the sport of frame running. He had a massive stroke at age 12, so the script was apparently adjusted to better reflect his story. Strike is his first acting credit; I hope it won't be his last, because he was every bit as good as Sarah Gordy was as Orlando Quine, and Anna Cannings as Della Winn.

*I'm defining a Rotten Egg as the antithesis of an Easter Egg: something that jumps out at a book reader, but not in a good way. A sort of "hey, wait, that's not right" moment.