Wreck – Season 1 Episode 2 “Catch of the Day” Recap & Review

Catch of the Day

Episode 2 of Wreck starts with us viewing Pippa’s audition video for joining Velorum Cruises. It doesn’t go to plan, but interestingly we do learn that their father is a drunk. He’s never been there for either of the kids,  which is enough for Jamie to give her sister a little push and send over the audition video.

Back in the present, Danny’s body drops into the pool from the cabin above, scaring the life out of poor Lauren, who’s on clean up duty. Most of our characters are unaware of this though as they get ready for breakfast service. Some of the workers are still drunk, while one of the officers, Beaker, is called by Karen to the entertainment deck for a big situation.

Once there, Karen tells the group, alongside Mr A, that Danny was blind drunk and commit suicide. That’s a massive red flag, as it appears the cruise ship are covering this up, especially given the stabs over his chest.

Jamie manages to hack into Pippa’s phone, learning her passcode is actually their mum’s birthday. She had been messaging an unknown number that last day before her passing, asking for money and wanting to get off the ship. There’s also a revealing dick pic here, with a fish tattoo on the guy’s groin. It’s not Danny, so it seems like this guy is our killer. As for the tattoos, apparently the Filipinos have a rep for doing these.

Vivian and Jamie convince Olly to show them down to the engine room where they happen to be working. Olly warns our protagonist not to mess with “The Baby”, who’s the guy in charge. Jamie ends up getting a tattoo but he passes out when the needle touches him. He ends up with “Pippa” tattooed on his back in a nice touch, which is enough for our tattooist’s lips to loosen.

The Baby admits that the fish tattoo actually belongs to an officer on the ship. Which one? Well, that’s another story!

Meanwhile, Cormac (the real one) overhears Rosie in the hallway and decides to follow her. However, he walks right into Officer Beaker, who looks at him approvingly and invites him to play on their team on Wednesdays, calling him a man mountain.

Vivian and Jamie realize they’re in over their heads and contemplate phoning the police anonymously from the payphones. At the same time, the service for Danny goes ahead but Sophia, one of the entertainers, is spooked. After earlier being harassed by the killer, with the lights turned off in the bathroom and a picture of her pinned up on the wall, eyes marked with red crosses, it seems like she’s next on the killer’s list.

Sophia is also in over her head with Officer Beaker, whom she’s been dealing drugs with. Sophia wants out but he refuses, blackmailing her and threatening to tell management what she’s been up to.

As the episode closes out, a masked man wearing all black (tellingly not wearing a duck costume) approaches Sophia while she’s on stage. Jamie shows up and saves her, chasing our masked man along the cabins until he skips into the elevator. Breathing heavily, he removes his mask… to reveal that he’s Olly!

The Episode Review

Alas, the plot thickens. It’s becoming increasingly clear now that the management are involved in the cover-up of these murders and it could well be linked to these drugs being sold across the cruise ship. Quite why these people are being killed is another matter, but I’m sure we’ll find out a motive soon.

The second episode is a tad slower than the first, although it maintains the same level of drama and intrigue. The colours are vibrant and the recurring motif of the duck continues to stand out.

One would assume that the killer is probably Officer Beaker at this point, given how much screen-time he has and the ties with the drug deals, while Olly seems like a red herring at this point. I’m sure we’ll find out over the course of the season just how he’s linked to Sophia and why.