This article contains spoilers for Boat Story episode 2.
Boat Story is an off-the-wall black comedy caper that follows Janet and Samuel, two unlucky people who set out to turn their lives around after stumbling on a huge cache of drugs. Boat Story episode 1 showed how the pair found themselves wrapped up in the case (and introduced us to the criminals who are determined to get their stash back).
The second episode proved that things are only going to get wilder. In it, Samuel and Janet dreamt up their backstory as drug dealers, whilst "the Tailor" touched down in England, hot on the heels of the man he thought responsible for his missing shipment.
Here's our full breakdown of what happened in Boat Story episode 2.
Contacting a client
The episode picks up right after Boat Story's shocking cliffhanger. Samuel heads to a theatre for a chat with a contact who appears to be watching a staged version of the story we're seeing unfold in the show. Meanwhile, Ben arrives at Aireside police station; there's a press feeding frenzy outside the station and he's eager to get involved in the case, but his boss just tells Ben to start cleaning the place up.
Elsewhere, Janet is struggling to process everything she's gone through. After making it out the door, she meets with Alan on the street; he tells Janet that he thinks Peter is hiding something from him, but Alan's not sure what. Oh, and he also mentions the shooting which is all over the news — which Janet had somehow missed — and she begins to worry that the killings are connected to the missing drugs.
She then gets a call from Samuel; he'd set up a meeting with a former client (who is currently in prison) and she was meant to be there. This turns out to be Craig, aka the man Samuel met in the theater at the very start of the episode. Samuel thinks Craig will know someone willing to buy the drugs from them, but the prisoner is only willing to chat with someone he already knows, so Janet is dismissed to get a snack whilst they talk business.
Elsewhere, The Tailor meets with Guy, the attacker from the Aireside raid. After The Tailor discovers the joy of homemade British pasties, Guy promises that he and his associates will find Arthur (the man suspected of stealing the stash) and get the shipment back. In turn, the Tailor promises to gut Guy, if he fails to solve the mistake.
Here's the deal
We then join Arthur. He's gone into hiding in some sort of abandoned warehouse or factory; since he's on the run and doesn't want to be traced, he needs cash, so he urgently calls his brother to bring him whatever he's got.
Meanwhile, Craig's cellmate Andy gets out of prison. Although he's decided to go straight and lead a new life, within two days, the young lad seeks out more drugs from Vinnie, a dealer.
Andy apparently forgot one crucial thing: he owed Vinnie an awful lot of money before he went to prison, and he can't pay it back; the only useful tidbit he had to offer was the info about Janet and Samuel's stash. And since he freely offered that up, Vinnie thought he was worthless... so he got his repayment by stringing Andy up and having his thugs beat him senseless.
Craig then rings Samuel to tell him Vinnie wants to buy their drugs. Craig also wants something in return: no cash, he wants the life rights to the whole story (which is how he's turned Boat Story into a theatre show, presumably).
Janet is preoccupied with Alan, who is in hospital after an archery accident at school. Peter soon arrives on the scene and reminds her to leave and to stop having contact with him, again. She also finds herself on the receiving end of some unwanted advances from someone she went to school with who now works at the hospital.
Becoming drug dealers
Samuel and Janet meet up again. With a potential deal in place, the pair of them begin planning how to appear "legit" to Vinnie. The pair set about crafting some sort of backstory for themselves, trying out gang affiliations and accents.
Eventually, they stumble upon an organisation known as the Kosovar Group, a European outfit who are known for high levels of anonymity between their associates. Since no one really knows who else is in the group, they believe this will be a plausible story, so Samuel (using Janet's phone) texts Vinnie and they set up a time and place for the deal to go down.
We then rejoin Arthur. He wakes up to a call from his brother, telling Arthur that he's outside with the cash. Arthur goes to meet him... finding him bloodied, and with Guy holding a gun to his head. Guy kills Arthur's brother, and then he (and another attacker) start chasing Arthur through the facility.
Arthur tries to evade them, stabbing one in the neck, but Guy eventually catches up to him and fires a shotgun blast through a door as Arthur promises he's going to give himself up.
Elsewhere, Samuel is in the kitchen with his family. He gets a phone call from someone demanding Samuel pays back the money he's owed them for four months, but Samuel says he needs one more week before he can clear up all his personal debt.
When we return to Arthur, he's now face to face with the Tailor. He apologizes for the death of his brother, and claims full responsibility for sending Guy and his associates to the police station, before demanding all the info Arthur has about his missing drugs.
Arthur claims he only knew his police officer boyfriend wanted to take what was on board the fishing vessel, but little else. He also offers to try and get hold of the police report about the incident, and suggests he could speak to Pat Tooh, the woman who called the shipwreck in in the first place.
Dissatisfied, the Tailor asks about the previous missing shipment, which was stolen by two officers. Arthur pleads his innocence, but the Tailor doesn't care, and proceeds to savagely beat him with a hammer.
Meeting Vinnie
Janet and Samuel head to their storage unit to weigh up and retrieve the drugs, but something's playing on her mind. She's still worrying about the police station shooting and the potential consequences of being involved in a drug deal. She also suspects Samuel is setting her up; the drug deal was organized on her phone, and he always wears gloves when they touch the stolen cocaine etc. This all culminates in her calling him, giving him her padlock code and pulling out of the deal.
Meanwhile, officer Ben is put to work cleaning up around the station whilst the police chief holds a press conference about the raid. He stumbles upon the discarded, bloodied map to the evidence room that Guy had thrown away, but doesn't tell anyone else about his findings just yet.
Elsewhere, the Tailor seeks out Pat Tooh. He says that one of the people aboard was his son, and Pat soon surmises he plans to take revenge into his own hands. Initially, it looks like he might kill Pat... though we soon see the pair actually spent the night together in bed. Ben comes home just as the Tailor is leaving.
The Tailor then reaches out to Guy (who is disposing of Arthur's body) to tell him what she saw the morning she found the boat. He tells Guy to look out for a man walking a Pomeranian.
Janet returns home to find Alan on the doorstep. He's learned what Peter was keeping a secret: he's got a job in Australia, and they will be moving very soon. Whilst she mulls this over, Samuel heads to Vinnie's farm to do the deal, solo, stashing his wallet and ID under the seat of the car.
Vinnie's gang soon find his wallet whilst he tries to set up the deal, and when they ring round, they can't find any mention of his "cover identity". Vinnie grows tired of Samuel's lies, and places a hook inside his mouth, promising to rip him a one smile.
Just as things look bleak, Janet arrives on the scene. Sporting fake tattoos and using her fake Russian accent, she says Samuel is her lawyer, demands he is freed, and says Vinnie isn't someone the Kosovar Group would deal with. But as they go to drive off, Vinnie makes some calls and quickly rushes back to the car.
He apologizes to them both as his mask slips. All this bravado actually came from the fact that he'd never done a deal of this magnitude, so he'd gotten a bit jumpy. However, he calls their meeting 'fate', and promises to set up a time and a place where the actual deal can go down.
Boat Story continues Sunday at 9 pm on BBC One. All six episodes are also available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Already streamed it? Check out our picks for the best BBC dramas and best BBC comedies we think you should be streaming right now.
