Culprits – Season 1 Episode 5 “Let Us Sit Bent, And Talk Straight” Recap & Review

Let Us Sit Bent, And Talk Straight

Episode 5 of Culprits begins with a flashback of the heist. We do not get to see a slick Ocean’s 11-style representation from start to finish. We pick up after the 12-minute timer has already started.

Azar is the one who tries to open the vault, which has three pins. She does so under Youssef’s instructions, whose experience comes in very handy. The tense moments are in the backdrop of a ticking clock as Right Hand and Dianne try to speed up the process. Azar is a little slow off the blocks but eventually gets there. However, there is a big problem. As soon as she opens the last one, the failsafe of the lock sets in.

To stop it, she only has the time to use her own hand. It is the only thing keeping the door open. But the door cannot be opened without crushing Azar’s hand. Youssef tells her in Arabic that she doesn’t “owe them anything.” But all that’s running around in her mind is that they cannot leave empty-handed. She asks Right Hand to proceed with opening the door. It crushes two of her fingers. But the team now has an opportunity to grab almost seventy million.

We jump back into the present day where Joe and Officer are driving to Pamiers. They stop at a spray painting store where Officer manipulates the owner into giving up Azar’s info. Joe has a quiet moment with Jules on the phone. Although Jules expresses his feelings for Joe, he is still upset with him for putting the kids in harm’s way. Unbeknownst to them, Azar is shopping in a centre nearby. She sees them and speeds back home on her scooter. She wakes up Youssef and tells him to pack some stuff and run.

Joe and Officer reach the home soon. Azar and Youssef think it is because the duo wants money, which brings us to another flashback of the heist from their perspective. But before that, Joe delivers the crushing news of Malek’s demise. Both of them are affected quite badly by the news and break down into tears. 

The flashback reveals that after Fuse busted open an exit through the wall, Youssef, Azar, and Right Hand made their way to the car. They waited a bit for Dianne, but she didn’t show up. Out of nowhere, someone shot RH in the head, killing him instantly. The duo took off without Dianne, who showed up a few moments later. However, due to some miscommunication, Fuse triggered another explosion that killed her. They dropped off the money at the meeting place, taking RH’s bag as well.

Officer secretly sends Devil the house’s location and he shows up shortly. As Azar and Youssef are about to escape using their car, Devil suffocates Youssef using a string from the backseat. Youssef tries to allow Azar to run but he is shot by Devil in the process.

Next, he does something even more terrifying in front of everyone. He ties up Yousseff to a chair and sets him on fire. Before he lit it, Azar tried to ask Muscle to help. But he didn’t have any weapons. Then, she took the bags of money and put them at Devil’s feet. That didn’t help either. It really makes us wonder if Officer was indeed right in taking the option to rat out the others.

Inga shows up at the house unexpectedly. She tries to take Devil’s attention away from the trio, allowing them to escape. However, right before they jump out the window, Officer reveals her betrayal. Joe is stunned and quickly disarms her. She pleads her case, saying that they cannot outrun Devil or the people who hired him. She beseeched Joe to make a deal as well and save his life. But he doesn’t listen to her. Devil escapes as Inga tries to go after him. Joe puts a ziplock on Officer and they leave the house in a car. Azar lashes out in anger when she learns Youssef is dead because of Officer.

The episode ends on an ominous note. After escaping Devil, the team decides to take a train to Kent, where Joe takes them to Colin’s abandoned nightclub. Devil bandages himself in the car and uses the footage from his camera to track down Joe’s home address. His employers dispatch a local team to apprehend them. Officer tries to plead her case once again, which makes a lot of sense. Joe is concerned since Inga is taking too long to come back from the toilet. ‘

To his horror, Joe discovers Inga with a gunshot wound, with blood streaming down her stomach. As he tries to bandage her temporarily, Jules sends him a voice note explaining how angry he is at him for putting them in this position…and that their love is still intact.

The Episode Review

The suspension of disbelief is really tested to its extremes in Episode 5. We still haven’t gotten to who the killer and his employers are. Dianne’s personal motivations for the robbery are still unknown and the writers mustn’t delay it too much. The entire staging of Officer as the bad guy for giving up Azar and Youssef and saving herself is something I don’t get.

Through Joe, they try hard to guilt-trip her but Officer doesn’t budge, staying true to her character. Why would she give her life to save someone she doesn’t even know? The pandering is incessantly annoying.

Right Hand’s death is a clever move by the writers to keep the guessing game going. One has to give credit to the creators for using the flashbacks so efficiently. They have elevated the storytelling and given a lot of new dimensions to it.

A negative that I found common to all characters is their naivety. It is a big reason why disbelief started to creep in. Dianne hired them by running them through multiple tests…but neither Joe nor Azar have demonstrated their smartness. This mismatch from the first four episodes forces me to give this one a low rating.