Waking The Dead : What Happened and Why in
Straw Dog

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The Home Office summons Dr. Grace Foley to Appeals Court to give testimony about a case from 1980. It is a very significant case because it was the first time she worked with the MET as a consultant. It was also when she worked with Detective Sergeant Harry Taylor of the Flying Squad. The case seemed to be a slam dunk at the time, but it all unraveled when a witness recanted his testimony in a suicide note. Now Grace has to give new testimony about what she did all those years back. As you might suspect, nothing is that simple for the Cold Case Squad. First, the killer, Tony Greene, is a special sort of sadistic freak. In addition, she has personal issues with the detective in charge of the case. Fortunately, the episode doesn't waste time trying to be subtle about the comparisons between Harry Taylor and Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd. For real, they use "Watching the Detectives" as one of the background tunes. Professionally Grace's specialty is behavioral analysis, something she can't manage at all on a personal level. Harry is a bit of a lout. He's cute, but his appeal pretty much ends there.

The killer's signature move is to make audio cassettes of his victims screaming in agony as he cuts off one of their fingers. He sends the tapes to the police. He plays loud music while torturing the victims. Grace determines that music is important to him. It's a good guess because lots of killers play loud music. Grace makes some sort of analogy between the first time you meet someone special and the thrill this killer gets with killing people.

Outside the courthouse, some kid snatches Grace's bag, knocking her to ground in the process. Just at that moment, an old friend arrives to comfort Grace and reassure her that she'll get her bag back. He's right because Grace's bag makes it back to the office before she does. Instead of something being missing, the purse snatcher left a jar with a gherkins pickles label. They are not really gherkins, but fingers. Dr. Felix Gibson determines that there are five fingers and one thumb. Most were separated from their owners 20 to 30 years earlier, but one parted company with its owner only a few hours ago. Apparently, there is a new killer in town because Tony Greene is still behind bars. The good news is that the squad has a case to investigate. The bad news is that Boyd and D.C. Stella Goodman were in the midst of figuring out how to work the new French coffee machine.

Felix concludes that if the new victim is still alive, he is not in good shape. We switch to a scene from the perspective of the new victim. He's disoriented. Something had been covering his eyes. When he looks around the room he is in, he sees ugly wallpaper, but that is probably not his first thought. There's also a bird singing. His captor is wearing one of those hooded suits that crime scene units wear s he sticks victim with a needle. Back at the lab, Grace is able to discount their theories about a copy cat killer because there are words written on the inner lid of the jar: "If it weren't for your stiff little fingers, no one would know that you were dead." Those words were written on the jars of fingers that Greene collected. Grace points out that they need to treat her like a suspect because she had the fingers in her purse and she knew about the lid message.

Fortunately, a website has done a lot of the work for them. Stella expresses disdain for the people who would put up such website, but then goes on to use the information. That's always the way. They learn that Grace was in the car with Harry Taylor when he was charged with driving while intoxicated. Needless to say, Stella and D.I. Spencer Jordan are shocked to learn this tidbit about their Grace.

Even if Grace isn't the killer, she might be involved by way of someone who has a grudge against her for some past testimony in any of her cases. Apart from investigating their colleague, the team focuses on Tony Greene's prison cellmates because he may have confessed something to one of them. They bring in a parade of Tony Greene's cellmates. One of them, Terry Healy, has some tatoos that capture their interest. He explains the phoenix on his back represents something good that emerged out of the horror of being raped repeatedly in prison. Apparently, he and Tony developed a relationship. He calls it a love hate relationship.

In yet another episode, the bad guy sends Grace a video of his dastardly deeds. It happened in "Simple Sacrifice" and now someone has emailed her a video of the kidnapped boy. He says his name is Kevin Keogh and that Tony Greene is innocent. He wants Grace to admit that she is wrong. Stella walks in with news that Kevin was arrested with a friend, Redser. Boyd takes a moment to make fun of her French accent.

Grace goes back to court. She explains that the police knew that the killer was connected to music. The knowledge was based completely on her suppositions. Grace's profile of Tony Greene was that he wanted attention. He wanted to be the next Ted Bundy. He also wanted to be a musician but didn't have any musical talent. They take this "knowledge" and use it as an excuse to start searching vans. Apparently, probable cause was not much of a factor in 1980. They stop Greene as part of their musical van crack down. Inside a trunk in the van, they discover a kid who is injured but still alive. This is the victim who in 2005, committed suicide and recanted his testimony against Greene to kick off this case.

Greene's lawyer pushes Grace to explain how she personally met Greene. It triggers a memory for Grace of the cozy office setup she shared with Harry. Not unlike Tony and Terry, Grace and Harry are in a relationship. She is imploring him to state how he feels about her. Harry hems and haws. The guy is a lout, but Grace is head over heels infatuated with him. Harry escapes having to give Grace any answers because he gets the call that they are holding Tony Greene. They can't keep him, for some reason, because apparently driving around with a near boy stuffed in a trunk isn't enough to keep someone locked up. Building on her success with Harry, Grace says she wants ten minutes alone with Greene to make him talk.

She tries to play to Tony's ego since she thinks the key to him is his desire to be a big-time serial killer. She badgers him about being an unsuccessful rapists. He claims not to rape. She asks, "what is it going to be like in prison being the gay rapist who can't get it up?" Remember Grace isn't subtle. Tony says, "I hope you have a child and it dies." Remember the writers aren't subtle either. Greene's lawyer asks Grace if Harry replaced her in the room with Greene and beat a confession out of him. Grace says no. The lawyer asks Grace if she is protecting Harry because they were in love? The judge says Grace doesn't have to answer.

Boyd and Stella try to interview Kevin's idiot friend Redser. Boyd gets tired of the smart mouthed punk and leaves Stella to deal with him. He lies to Stella and implies she is stupid for believing him. She smacks in the face. A little chip off the old Boyd. Idiot punk then says that Stella is sexy. Boyd doesn't hate the kid because he is a teenager living on the streets. Plus, he probably also thinks Stella slapping around witnesses is kind of sexy.

Grace runs into her old friend who was suddenly there when her bag was stolen. His name is Charles Hoyle. It was no coincidence he was at the courthouse because he is Tony Greene's psychologist or more accurately the psychologist for the inmates in the prison where Greene is incarcerated. He offers to listen if Grace wants to talk about her problems at anytime.

Boyd asks Grace if she was in love with Harry Taylor. She doesn't think it is any of his business. Boyd says he can tell she is holding something back. It is time for Boyd's Plan B. He brought Tony Greene into the office and now he wants Grace to talk to Greene. When Grace sits down in the interview room and asks Green if he knows why she is there. Green raises his middle finger in her direction. Then he snaps his own finger. Panic ensues; mostly from Boyd in the outer room. The guy is chained to the desk, I'm not sure what actual harm he could cause to Grace, but Spence puts him a choke hold and Stella and Boyd rush Grace out of the room. Grace is annoyed with Boyd as a friend. As a friend, Boyd is furious that Grace won't come clean with him. Boyd breaks a mug, Grace checks her email. The kidnapper has sent another video of him cutting off another of Kevin's fingers. He sent the video to all the media outlets.

Grace faces the press to try and buy Kevin some more time. She says she doesn't know if Tony Greene was beaten in custody or not, but she is removing herself from the case.

Intermixed with memories of herself in 1980 waiting for some sort of medical procedure, Grace tries to compose a letter of resignation to Boyd. She crossed out a lot because she obviously doesn't want to resign but she has to think of Kevin and his remaining fingers. Kevin is chained to a hospital bed as well, but that may be coincidental. The rest of the team is doing investigated type stuff. Stella and Spence are watching surveillance footage. Felix is trying to isolate the kidnappers voice on the video. Boyd is reading up on his predecessor Harry.

They want to do one of those television appeals on Kevin's behalf. His mother is unfit so Boyd tries to coax Grace back into participating on the case by cajoling her to do the appeal. He goes the sweet route for 30 seconds before he reverts to frustrated yelling. Apparently the yelling works. Kevin watches on tv and is encouraged by Grace speaking for his mother. If he were a runaway, I'm sure he'd come home. Unfortunately, he's chained to a bed.

A new day and Boyd tries again to get Grace to answer questions about Harry. Boyd says Harry had a very, "no I mean a very" high success rate." Boyd wants to know if she suspected Harry of beating up any other prisoners that she used her mystic powers to determine were guilty. A review board questioned Grace about Harry a year after the Greene case. They also started out by saying they knew Grace and Harry were close. The committee was looking into allegations of abuse against Harry. The investigation ended when Harry died in a car crash a week later.

Boyd wants to know why she had not seen Harry during that year. He thinks he wants to know, but after Grace's revelation, I don't think he is so sure of himself anymore. Grace says that she told Harry that she was pregnant with their child. The lout then tells her, sorry, he has a wife and three other kids. For better or worse, Boyd does not have time to digest this bombshell because Spence interrupts them.

Spence found out that Harry was involved in Terry Healey's case. It is a connection that makes Healey look more like a suspect. The gang rushes over to Healey's half-way house. The home's supervisor doesn't provide the answers they want about Healey's whereabouts. Stella slams him against a wall. She has some odd behavior choices during this case involving suspected police brutality. Boyd has Spence pick up Healey's underwear that is lying on the floor to take with them. Spence is not happy. Boyd tells Stella to leave the supervisor alone. Stella is not happy.

Charles Hoyle, the prison psychologist, comes to see Grace at the office. He says Terry Healey blamed both Harry and Grace for his imprisonment. Harry told Terry that Grace gave him lot of psychological information on Terry. Grace says she had nothing to do with the case. Healey says he wasn't beaten, just broken down mentally. Charles says, "once mental illness takes hold, we are capable of anything." too bad they don't realize he's not speaking professionally. Charles gives her a hug to say goodbye and Grace has a vision of Harry passing by her office, but then Harry turns into Boyd.

Poor Kevin thinks he has found salvation when he reaches the phone in the room. After a thoroughly painful experience, he learns that the phone is not connected to anything. It is just simply another way to torture the boy. Boyd is torturing a boy of his own. Taz is the drugged out creep who stole Grace's handbag. Boyd holds out a packet of drugs to entice him to talk. Taz said a guy in a van would give him 100 quid to steal the bag. He's no help to Boyd unless he can identify the guy. Somehow they identify the van and trace it to the registered owner, a Mr. Quereshi. He says he sold it to Healey.

To find Healey, they track down the one person who had been to visit him, Sarah Houghton. They break into her house and terrify her with their guns. They find a locked room with a hospital bed. This could be the place where Kevin is being held. It could be except it's not. Boyd yells at Sarah and says he is running out of patience. Not sure when he ever had patience. Sarah may be too spaced out to be frightened of Boyd but she does tip them off that Healey is in the attic. They arrest Healey but do not find Kevin.

Grace talks with Felix about being a parent. Oddly, what isn't apparent is whether Grace has kids - apart from the Taylor pregnancy. Grace could either be sharing a a regret over not having children or speaking from the experience of raising a family. It is just one of the mysteries of Waking the Dead.

Grace looks at Healey from behind the interview room glass and decides that he looks like a man with a clear conscience. She says Sarah wouldn't harm a fly. She then concludes Kevin is dead and it is her fault. Boyd asks Terry where Kevin is. Terry says he doesn't know what they are talking about. Spence says, "the dogs in the street know who we're talking about. It's been all over the news." Terry isn't really all that stable. Taz can't identify him as the one who paid him to steal Grace's bags. The team is just all around annoyed with having to deal with so many criminals. It turns out the van seller does not actually remember who bought the van, he only knows he has a copy of Healey's license.

Terry says he is a Taoist and Boyd retorts that we are all just straw dogs to him. Terry says we are all just straw dogs to God because God lets bad things happen to the innocent. He says Charles Hoyle got him into Taoism. Sarah met Terry through Hoyle. Her mother and his father were both patients at the same hospice.

Grace goes to see Charles at his house because she needs to talk to someone. Charles has a bird that flies around the house at will. We've seen that bird before through the eyes of a dazed and confused kidnap victim. Now is about the time to yell at the television to tell Grace to get out of the house. Luckily, since Grace probably can't hear you scream, Boyd has figured out that Hoyle has one too many connections to this case. Things start to come together for Grace when Hoyle asks if she feels guilty about Healey. She repeats that she had nothing to do with the Healey case. Then she hears him call the bird Henry. It is the one thing the kidnapper says on the videotape.

Grace excuses herself to use the rest room and starts searching for Kevin. She lucks out and he is behind the first door she tries. She locks Hoyle out but he starts to break through the door. Grace doesn't have her phone with her. She does have the loudest ring of any phone you can imagine.

Boyd and half the armed response force in London arrive at Hoyle's house. Hoyle puts a hole in the door and points a shotgun at Grace while he recounts how he smothered his father to death. Boyd comes into the house and confronts Hoyle. Hoyle says he's not interested in a negotiation. Boyd says it is because Healey is a psychopath. He then asks him when he fell in love with Tony Greene. Yes, he did go down that same path with Grace and Harry. Boyd imagines that it was an unrequited love. The final button for Boyd to push is to describe how Greene lovingly tatooed Healey's back. Hoyle turns the gun towards Boyd who quickly drops to the ground. The police shoot Hoyle. All that is left to do is to rescue Grace and Kevin.

The medics rush in and shock Kevin back to life. Grace later reports that he is going to be fine. Grace may not be fine after Boyd tells her what he found in Harry's personnel file. Grace believes that Harry was killed on his way to an investigation. Boyd says he was drunk and his fellow officers covered it up so that his family would get the insurance money. Not much of a cover-up if it's in his police personnel file. The tribunal had found him guilt and kicked him off the force. On second thought, maybe it was a good cover-up if they could make it look as if he died in the line of duty when he was no longer employed by the police. Grace does not want to hear any more. Yes, it's true, she's still in love with the lout. She still thinks of him dreamily. The guy was a bad cop. A bad husband. A bad father. And a bad person. Talk about your straw dog, emphasis on dog, the dude was totally worthless. He had the requisite ceremonial beauty, but beyond that - not much there.

Terry Healey turns out to be the surprise sympathetic character. He probably was innocent of the crime that sent him to prison. When you think of an innocent person being raped in prison until he loses all sense of himself it does not really seem to be just desserts. His salvation was Tony Greene, a psychotic murderer. Then his prison psychologist was trying to set him up to take the fall for kidnap and murder. Maybe he can piece together some sort of life with Sarah, but he has spent a lot of time behind bars and she seems as if she has spent a lot of time on Mars.

To resolve Tony Greene's appeal, I'm sure Boyd can testify about Charles Hoyle using the information he learned from Greene to kidnap and torture Kevin. Since Charles obviously was not the original killer, the only way he could have learned where the last of jar of fingers was located was from the actual killer - Greene.

What happened with the pregnancy? It is one of those things you decide for yourself. Grace never makes a statement about her Plan B. She could have carried the baby to full term, voluntarily terminated the pregnancy or miscarried. All we see are surgical lights and Grace in a hospital bed in the middle of nothingness. There is a one year gap between when Grace told Harry she was pregnant and when we see her at the tribunal. The only thing that seems certain is that it was a time of her life of deep emotional turmoil that she has yet to resolve.