The Ramblin' Boy (2)

The second half of the case keeps the pressure on. Liam Jay is in intensive care, and Lewis and DC Alex Gray believe he holds the key to the death of Matt Whitby and the mystery of the cremation. Emma Barnes adds a darker piece: Johnny Jay, Liam's father, was present at the fateful supper party and has now gone missing himself. The list of people who might be in the coffin, or in danger of joining it, keeps changing.

The suspected identity of the cremated corpse shifts as the evidence comes in, which makes the investigation feel like trying to hold water. Two students who have become entangled in the affair survive attempts on their lives, and the violence confirms that the case is not finished with anyone. Lewis and his team work through the Faulkner household and its orbit, where the funeral of one man has turned into a hunt for whoever replaced him.

But everyone in the Faulkner orbit is grieving someone, and the lies they tell the police are mostly the lies people tell when they are ashamed. Lewis sorts through them patiently, as he always does, while the identity of the cremated corpse keeps sliding out of reach.

Colin Dexter and Lucy Gannon wrote it, and Dan Reed directed. Taron Egerton plays Liam Jay, Babou Ceesay is DC Alex Gray, Lia Williams plays Emma Barnes, Harriet Ballard takes Ruth Wilson, Victoria Ball plays Amy, Camilla Power is Tara Faulkner, Peter Davison plays Peter Faulkner, Lucy Speed takes Louise Cornish and Rebecca Front appears as Chief Superintendent Innocent. Kevin Whately leads, with the ensemble doing steady work.

The episode resolves the identity puzzle without losing the human cost of it. The case has been about grief from the start, about who gets to bury their dead honestly, and the ending honours that. The suspects confess under pressure, but the show lets the sadness of the whole affair sit on the screen for a moment before the credits roll.