Scrublands – Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Scrublands starts with a quick peek back in time, showing a sweet moment between Byron and Mandy. Jumping to the present, Martin tells Beth to stick to the facts in her new article and mentions that Byron Swift didn’t kill innocent of killing Jill and Damian. Martin also shares that he found a duffle bag in Mandy’s house, which had a photo of Byron in military uniform. Martin asks Beth to reach out to her contacts and check if there’s any record of Byron Swift serving in the military. 

He also asks her to dig into Jane Gibson’s background to find out where she works and what she’s up to in Riversend. Things get spicy when Doug, Martin’s rival, publishes an article mentioning that Mandy was Byron Swift’s secret lover. When Doug pressed Mandy for comment, she lost her temper and ended up punching Doug, landing her in detention for a while.

As the episode goes on, Martin checks in with Beth to see if she’s had any luck with his requests. Beth reports that despite her best efforts, none of her sources could find any record of Byron Swift serving in the Austrian or British military. She also comes up empty-handed on Jane Gibson. However, Beth does provide Martin with the contact information for a defence lawyer who might be able to help in the matter.

Martin reaches out to Miss Lily Coulson, but she quickly dismisses him, claiming she can’t help, and hangs up. Later, Martin tries his luck with Miss Coulson once more, using a different number and leaving a message for her to call him back. Martin pays Robbie a visit and probes about a potential weed crop in Riversend after learning about it from the teens.  Robbie gets fidgety and admits that there was one about a year back.

He stumbled upon it while tailing Allen, who had a prior weed-related arrest. However, the charges against Allen were dropped, thanks to Byron Swift. Byron was aware of the crop’s existence and had channeled the earnings back into the community, and has improved the school with laptops and air conditioners. Since Robbie was impressed by Byron’s altruism, he turned a blind eye to the illegal activities.

Unfortunately, the field was later set ablaze by someone. Robbie leads Martin to the charred remains of the weed crop, where they unexpectedly find Damian’s van pockmarked with bullet holes. This reignites their suspicion, and they wonder if Byron really was involved in Damian and Jill’s disappearance and death.

Later that night, Lily calls Martin and arranges to meet him the next morning. However, that very night, someone takes a shot at Martin, narrowly missing him. Reviewing the CCTV footage, Martin sees that it was a warning shot, which indicates that someone is desperate to keep him from finding the truth. 

The Episode Review

With the conclusion of episode 3, we move into the penultimate episode, and hopes are high that we’ll finally crack the real mystery behind Byron Swift.

Martin has received a call from Lily, who has decided to meet him and discuss Byron.  In another scene, we also discover that Byron may not have been the only one aware of the weed plant. The five victims he claimed might have been in on the scheme as well.

It’s possible that Byron was receiving a substantial cut to turn a blind eye and not report it to the police, which he later reinvested to make the town a better place.