Episode 3

Nidge drives alone through a wet Dublin to the hospital where his mother is dying, staying away from the family home because he believes his life is at risk, a caution his wife Trish resents. The household's ordinary life continues regardless: their son Warren makes his First Holy Communion, and it is on that day that Nidge's mother dies. The episode is built on Nidge's isolation and on the gang turning against itself.

Tommy, still in custody, is in a bad state. He thrashes in his cell and is taken to hospital, where a nurse treats his ear and his headaches, and he is later released on bail. His conduct is erratic: he is seen pulling down his trousers in front of girls at Grand Canal Dock, and the damage from Nidge's beating is now the story's open wound.

Elmo has been benched, suspected by Nidge after his release without charge, and the rat graffiti appears outside his home again. Genuinely frightened, Elmo talks the problem out with his father, who agrees to vouch for him to Nidge. Nidge accepts the assurance but warns Elmo's father that if Elmo is found to be an informer, the father will be killed.

Fran, out of custody and still angry that Tommy named him, is determined to kill Tommy. He lures him into a van on the pretext of showing him a puppy; Siobhán sees Tommy leave and raises the alarm, calling everyone including the Gardaí. Fran drives him to the mountains, where they pass a dead pony; Fran and an accomplice load guns and drink vodka, and he is stopped only when Nidge telephones in time and, appealing to him as a buddy, argues that Tommy's statement to the Gardaí will not stand because of a police procedural error. Fran backs off.

Debbie, back from a muling run, is cut dead by Nidge at the brothel, who tells the madam not to let that junkie crackwhore speak to him. Aido needs clean urine for a methadone test and is supplied by Nadine, who is pregnant with his child. Wayne keeps tabs on Nidge's movements through social media, watched by Lizzie. The episode closes on Nidge's grief at his mother's death, the first full sight of him crying.

The mountain scene is the episode at its most economically tense: Fran's decision to kill Tommy and his being talked out of it resets the Nidge-Fran relationship, and it makes Fran a threat to Nidge's authority rather than only to his enemies. The weakness is that it depends on coincidence, Nidge's call arriving in the last moments, and on the audience accepting the brain-damage material without further explanation, while the Garda thread barely advances.

This is the only episode of the series that gives Nidge grief rather than threat, and it is the clearest single showcase for Killian Scott's Tommy. The viewer figure rests on a comparison rather than a standalone report: 936,000 comes from the Irish Independent's report on the next episode, which gives 706,000 for Dano's death compared with 936,000 the previous week. Aggregator fan voting rates this the highest of the six. No contemporary episode-specific review was located.