The Bay – ITV Mini-Series – Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Penultimate Push

With Holly now found and Armstrong one step closer to figuring out what happened, this week it’s all about the missing pieces as the investigation draws nearer to ending.

Still shook up over her ordeal, Holly refuses to speak to her Mum, instead playing the shifty eyes when asked what happened and saying sorry repeatedly. For now at least, just why she had so much money in her bag the night she disappeared remains a mystery. Seizing her opportunity, she manages to elude the police and hurries to the hospital to check on Nick. She learns Shaun was responsible for his injuries leading to her warning the police that he’s dangerous as they show up. 

Wondering if there might be something to this story, the police obtain a warrant and investigative Shaun’s boat. As they search for clues, Shaun reveals they were part of a smuggling operation, moving goods in and out of the bay from their boat.

Back at the station, Med takes the USB drive from Armstrong’s drawer but becomes suspicious when he realizes the drive is empty, with no CCTV footage from the bar. Sensing something is up, he visits the bar in person, managing to obtain the raw footage from that night, including the incident with Shaun and Armstrong.

In the interview room nearby, Nick tells the police his side of events. It turns out Holly have have known about Dylan before the body was found and Nick agreed to hide her and not tell anyone about the murder.  Unfortunately, this is construed as obstructing the investigation and Nick is arrested. Confused and upset, he tells the police he couldn’t break a promise but the damage is done – he’s going to prison.

More details are revealed from the night too, this time from Holly’s side. Quite how truthful the events are though remains to be seen. Holly admits to killing Dylan and running away so no one would know it was her. She stole the money from Ryan and Shaun and intended to hide out for an indefinite amount of time.

Meanwhile, Med confronts Armstrong over the CCTV footage. “Im sorry,” she says, slumping against the wall outside, “It wasnt relevant to the investigation,” forgetting of course that Shaun’s lack of an alibi took up a whole episode this season.
Unfortunately, Jess hears the whole thing and tells her to stay away from the family, disgusted at the news. Realizing she needs to do damage control, Armstrong heads back inside and tells her boss everything.

Acting as the voice of reason, he tells her she should have revealed the truth at the start and taken herself off the investigation. Unfortunately, he has no choice but to remove her from duty. Leaving the room, she holds back her tears as the episode ends.

As predicted, The Bay takes the well-trodden route, attempting to inject some drama into its plotline at the end. For the most part, The Bay has been a pretty methodically paced crime drama, devoid of any real excitement. It’s a shame too as there’s some good material here and the theme song for the show is actually surprisingly gripping and haunting.

Sadly, the actual content of the show dosn’t match up to the potential. It’s at least logical, which certainly makes it a better option than fellow ITV drama Cheat, but with so many crime dramas out there, you’ll be hard pressed to find The Bay standing out next to them all. There’s still time for one final twist in the tale though and next week’s finale may just surprise everyone. Whether it actually will though, remains to be seen.