It’s Self-Inflicted Mind Detonators in ‘Criminal Record’s “Firestarters”
It's Seven Fire Starters for Lanarkshire and Nine Bad Choices for Mortal Men in 'Criminal Record' Season 2's second episode.
The premiere of Criminal Record Season 2 revealed the name of this season’s potential main antagonist, a man by the name of Cosmo Thompson, though it did not introduce him. The second episode, “Firestarter,” rectifies that straightaway, with a cold open featuring one of Thompson’s YouTube videos, prattling on about how important it is to seek the truth. The point of it, however, is less the monologue than the intensity of the man’s stare; he’s definitely someone who is not fully sane.
The scene then smash-cuts back to where we left off last week, with JP pulled from the canal, coughing up water, while Billy fails to run away, somehow too loyal to Hegarty to leave the scene. DS Kim Cardwell runs concussion protocol and declares him good, but Hegarty hands him to June when she arrives and tells her to take him to St Katherine’s and ask for Dr. Chakravarthi. It’s not clear if this is to remove her while he and Kim let Billy loose again or because he’s genuinely worried about JP.
JP is actually delightful, keeping himself awake by singing Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” before talking about the Saturday riot, where it’s clear he blames himself for Rohaan’s death and not being faster to realize the Nazi counterprotestors were breaking through. June’s not comfortable with having the mirror of her own guilt held up like that.
While they’re waiting for the doctor, Leo calls using Jacob’s phone, mostly trying to convince June to come home. However, the second JP gets taken back, her phone is already ringing again; this time it’s Hegarty asking her to drop everything and meet him at a random hidden location ASAP. Three guesses which request she honors, and the first two don’t count.
When she turns up, Dan asks her to get in the back of the van with him and Billy, because he needs a second witness to what the kid is willing to spill about the group. He claims not to know who stabbed Rohaan; he was unarmed and under the impression his fellow infiltrators were too. Supposedly, they were just there for a beatdown, or at least that’s what Billy says he was told. But then he repeats the phrase he overheard that has Hegarty so het up: “Seven fire starters for Lanarkshire.”
(*It’s unclear at this point whether Hegarty told Billy to say that in front of June so he could legally make him an informant. What does seem obvious is that Billy has been reporting to Hegarty for a while. It’s also still an open question if he escaped prison, or if Hegarty snuck him out.)
Hegarty drags June back out of the van, explaining to her that it was code for a set of military detonators that were stolen by an armed gang several months ago, which he’s been tracking. Hegarty also fills June in on Cosmo Thompson, real name Gavin Woznyiak, and convinces her to get on board with his plan to turn Billy into an asset in exchange for talking to the kid’s parole board, promising her he will find who killed Rohaan along the way.
It turns out maybe Leo should have told June why he was pushing her to come home – Jake wants to move in with his dad, stepmum, and half-sisters. He’s actually already decided; he just needs to break it to her. June is blindsided to discover that Jake’s literally packed and leaving, probably before she gets home, since she’s currently following the van taking Billy to the safe house. It’s not surprising that Jacob doesn’t believe her when she says he’s the most important thing in her world, since she hangs up on him.
June is pissed enough at this point to call Mullins to make sure Hegarty is checking in, and that this is all above board. Hegarty isn’t pleased to learn that, but does his best to take it in stride. It’s obvious at this point that June doesn’t believe a damn thing she’s seen tonight, all but accusing Hegarty of staging the “seven fire starters for Lanarkshire” bit and refusing to participate in the call.
But Hegarty’s a wily one, telling her that Mullins is having the team run out the clock on finding leads for Suffolk Square and tossing her the proof of it before heading into the meeting. At first, June tries not to look, but curiosity gets the better of her soon enough. When Mullins calls her in, demanding a second opinion, June sides with Hegarty.
Meanwhile, as this call is happening, Cosmo’s gang is also looking for Billy. Nigel (Samuel Oatley) doesn’t like the smell of any of it, but Phil (Barry Calvert) sent Kieran (Adam Gillen) to hunt down the van, which he diligently follows to the safe house after one of Hegarty’s team failed to turn off Billy’s phone. Kim clocks the kid on the second pass and warns the team that Kieran has made it inside and is knocking on every door, looking for Billy. Once Mullins calls back with the go-ahead, Hegarty declares the safe house dead and sends June up to pack up Billy so they can all roll out.
JP is back when June gets up to the flat where Billy is stashed, and when Hegarty joins them, he tells JP he’s gonna be Billy’s undercover contact. He dismisses June with a flick, pissing her off to the point that she walks out... right as Kieran starts up on the 8th floor doors. She waits a tick and then turns back just as he reaches the right door, and tells him this can’t be where the delivery order goes; this is her apartment, sending him away, and then heading inside.
Billy, of course, is melting down in total panic, convinced Cosmo will see through all of this. Hegarty and JP have to pep-talk him back up, helping him craft a story about hiding at the docks, breaking into the apartment, and having to turn off his phone and hide in a closet when “the Black lady who lived there” came home, unable to move until she went out again.
Terrified, but with little choice, Billy turns on the phone and heads back out, texting Kieran to pick him up. Phil checks in with Nigel to tell him the news, but he’s also wary of what just happened, especially since Billy is so painfully bad at lying. But Phil lets him come in anyway, and he heads back to Cosmo, where he’s been recording the episode from the cold open with Andy (Dylan Corbett-Bader). Cosmo greets him with a hug and a smile, and Billy is, for now, back in the pack.
It’s not clear if Billy knows Hergarty followed Kieran back to Cosmo’s lair, but hey, turnabout’s fair play and all that. What really matters is that June makes it home in time to hold Jacob before he leaves. She may not be full-time mum material, but she does make it home when it counts.
Criminal Record Season 2 continues with new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV through mid-June.
