Everyone's a liar in episode 4 of the new Netflix time-hopping crime drama Bodies, apart from the characters who were never really honest to begin with. So how will our detectives ever work out what's going on?
So far in Bodies, we've followed four different detectives in four different time periods of London's history (Victorian, World War Two, the present day and 30 years in the future) as they investigate the appearance of a body. The same body, hence the strange sci-fi mystery.
We have a Bodies cast article to catch up on who's who, and it's going to be important with lots of the time periods weaving together in episode 4, entitled "Right Up The Wazoo". Plus there are big secrets, relationship drama and confusing time travel science.
To try and shine a light on just what is going on, this Bodies episode 4 recap will list all the events that happened in the episode in one convenient order. No time jumping, no confusion. Let's jump into it.
Hillinghead family secrets in 1890
In the Victorian era, police detective Alfred Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) meets with his journalist friend whom he just began an affair with, Henry Ashe (George Parker). Hillinghead says he wants nothing more to do with their investigation.
At home, Hillinghead's wife asks him where he was the night before, but he just lies to her. His daughter asks the same question when she asks him to fix her locket that she broke, and she too can tell he's lying.
Sometime later Hillinghead returns to Ashe's apartment and tries to tell him that he loves his family and is scared about their affair, but they just hook up again. In bed later, Ashe notices something on Hillinghead's glass: a fingerprint. Turns out he has a way to identify Harker after all!
Darkness falls in 1941
When Charles Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) returns to work, he finds out that the web of lies he spun to cover his actions is unraveling, as a witness knows that Cozen was with someone when he was shot, and also that the police is looking for the girl again and plans to use an actual translator.
Upon returning home, the young girl Esther is being loud and drawing attention to herself, and Whiteman's fears that they're being tailed are confirmed by a man lurking outside the apartment. He plans to take her to London Euston station and put her on a train to Inverness, but they'll need to wait for the Blitzkrieg at night to use as cover.
As the bombs fall the two run from his home through the streets, but eventually decide to enter an underground air raid bunker. When entering, Whiteman helps an old lady enter, who starts giving Esther some chocolate.
Whiteman sees the man who was trailing him and goes to pursue him, ending up on the rail line some way from the station. There him and the other man get into a knife fight. Whiteman is injured but he kills the man, only to discover that he's another police officer.
While waiting Esther sees the old woman's locket and asks about it. We find out that this lady is in fact Polly, Alfred's daughter who's a young girl in 1890. This is the second character we've seen across time periods, after Elias Mannix.
Some time later Whiteman returns, just as the bomb shelter is being closed and everyone is leaving. Whiteman passes Polly, who mysteriously knows his name, and as she leaves she tells him "know you are loved", the catchphrase of the mysterious phone woman he's been talking to!
Whiteman runs back into the shelter and finds Esther lying on the floor, foam pouring out of her mouth. Evidently, the chocolate was laced with something, and Whiteman wails as Estherdies.
Hasan joins the dots in 2023
Our contemporary detective Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor) investigates the 'Hillinghead' name she found at the end of last episode, and finds out about Alfred. She finds the archived police records from 1890, including Ashe's article and the photos of the body. The archivist links it to another case, and pulls out the file from 1941 of Whiteman and his body.
Hasan asks her friend to run the fingerprints, that Hillinghead found in episode 1, and then tells her boss about it. He can't figure out a sensible link between all the identical cases.
They also discuss the Victorian suspect Julian Harker, and Hasan and her boss realize that the lawyer the Morleys used (who was in episode 3) worked for 'Harker Legal', founded by Julian Harker. It operates out of Harker House.
Hasan goes to this location to investigate. There she finds a vinyl recording from the 1800s of Harker talking about someone who will be important: Iris Maplewood (our 2053 detective). Then a man approaches: Andrew Morley, who knows Hasan is there since she was destined to be.
Andrew talks about a meeting in the house that Elias attended a few years ago, as the place will one day be his, even though he doesn't want it. Then he takes her underground, where various bodies of Gabriel Defoe are in glass tanks.
We find out that the Morley family worked for the Harkers for generations, and so they're also privy to Julian's visions and plan for the future. Andrew seems reluctant that he has to include Elias in it to ruin his life, but he must. When Hasan begins to protest, he locks her in a small room.
Maplewood learns about time travel in 2053
Iris Maplewood (Shira Haas) follows Gabriel Defoe (Tom Mothersdale) to a lecture he's giving. It's about the Deutsch Particle, discovered sometime in the previous 30 years, which can travel both forward and backward in time. Maplewood asks about his banned paper on how the particle interacts with Dark Matter to create a Naked Singularity, and to cut short all the confusing science jargon, this all confirms that time travel is indeed possible.
Afterward Defoe tells Maplewood that he doesn't want to get shot and die, and asks the woman to look after him. She agrees to let him stay at her place, and once there, he learns she has the spine implant.
The two have a romantic dinner and wine and get close to a connection, but are sidetracked when they start to argue about free will versus life being predetermined. Defoe goes to the toilet, but gives an oddly sentimental farewell as he does.
While he's there, Maplewood's pushy neighbor returns, as her cat is stuck on the window ledge. As Maplewood helps her get her pet, Defoe runs away. The detective chases the man and eventually catches up, placing him under arrest...
... until the neighbor shows up and tases Maplewood. Turns out the cat owner and the scientist are in cahoots, and the former tells the latter to "take her to chapel," presumably Chapel Perilous, the terror organization that she's investigating.
