Wreck – Season 1 Episode 3 “Showtime!” Recap & Review

Showtime!

Episode 3 of Wreck starts with us learning a little more about Pippa’s situation, including how she was working ferrying drugs around. Officer Beaker was well aware of everything going on, including watching Pippa take a cooler full of drugs onboard the ship. It would seem that Pippa was deep in the drug world with the other crew.

Back in the present, Karen speaks to all the staff and points out that they’ve got a massive night ahead of them. The Captain has his usual Ball, which means a swanky party, big tips for the staff and everything needs to be perfect. Jamie speaks to Sophia and tries to get her onboard with helping to solve the Danny murder, especially as the killer is after her next, but she shrugs it off.

When one of the kids passes out on the job, having clearly ODed on drugs, Karen decides to get every room searched and checked for drugs.

Up in room 203, Jamie hears screaming but it’s just a couple of kids fooling around. Olly shows up though and begins talking about the murders, believing Beaker is our prime suspect. Olly and Jamie’s chatter soon turns romantic as the pair end up kissing. However, they’re caught in the act by Officer Beaker and his colleagues. As the room is searched, Jamie notices the black hood and he hurriedly snatches it up, realizing that he’s the guy from the theatre he chased down the night before.

Vivian is tasked with taking a tray full of food up to First Class. Naturally, the usual array of snobby patrons are there but Vivian gives as good as she gets. She also takes a fancy to oddball Lily, the woman we saw last episode chuckling at Vivian talking back to the posh woman at the bar. On her way back downstairs, Jamie runs into Vivian and tells her what he’s found.

Detective Martinez comes aboard and wants details surrounding Danny’s death. She’s suspicious over the timings and events, and decides to start looking around. This coincides with Rosie discovering that Cormac is aboard. He tries to speak his piece but Rosie is having none of it.

Vivian and Jamie speak to Martinez and bring up everything they know, including how Pippa is involved along with Olly and the black hood. This piques her interest as she doubles down on finding out just what’s happening onboard this ship.

In order to get any answers, Martinez wants Sophia’s statement but that’s easier said than done when she’s deep in the drug trade with the officers. Sophia reveals to our protagonists that the officers and the Filipinos have been rivals for a while and Pippa was deeply embroiled in the middle of this. She also made a lot of enemies and by the end she was afraid of her own shadow, at least according to Sophia.

Jamie makes a deal with Sophia; in exchange for getting rid of the drug stash that’s currently in the locker room, she’s to go and speak to Martinez. Jamie dons his mask and heads off, while the Captain’s Ball goes ahead that night. Vivian flirts a little with Lily, until Lily is told to stay away from “steerage”, while the Detective interjects with the Captain and tells him she wants to see Danny’s body.

In the wake of all this, Sophia changes her mind and decides she doesn’t want to go through with this deal after all. Jamie is unaware of that though, given he’s already flushed all the drugs.

When he turns to leave, Jamie notices Olly sowing up. He admits to what happened the night before but he just wanted to scare Sophia. He regrets doing it but he had his reasons, given he had orders from the head of the Filipino Mafia. And who is the leader? Well, it’s not The Baby, it’s actually the head maid!

Just then, the Filipino leader shows up in the locker room and looks set to slam a hammer into Jamie’s hand, calling him a rat. Olly interjects and saves his bacon, telling her that Detective Martinez is not there about the drugs but actually about Danny’s death. It’s enough for her to let them off the hook.

Detective Martinez speaks to Jamie in the hallway after and admits that everything is under control and she’s done with the investigation. When Jamie reveals his truth, including the current drug war raging onboard, she tells him to be careful but doesn’t get involved. After all, she’s been paid off. Why would she?

Jamie soon learns (thanks to Cormac spying on Sophia and Officer Sam kissing earlier in the episode) that the owner of the Nemo tattoo happens to be Sam.

As the episode closes out, Vivian and Lily end up talking outside, drinking together as fireworks fly. The pair inevitably kiss, while in the kitchen, there’s a big problem. In Lauren’s absence, her love interest, Jerome, is bagged and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a strange room and unfortunately, he’s killed in the most brutal fashion with what looks like a harpoon gun.

The Episode Review

Wreck returns with a slower episode this time around, with drama that doesn’t quite work as effectively as the earlier chapters. We now have a big drug war onboard the cruise ship, a bungled investigation with the authorities and a fair few contrivances that are going to need a lot of explaining going forward.

The episode itself does do well to strengthen the ties between Vivian and Jamie, while both characters have their same sex flings with love interests that gives them an extra layer of depth. Whether the show can pay off all these plot points in a compelling way or not though remains to be seen.