This article contains spoilers for Bodkin episode 3, "Perfectly Innocent Life". Bodkin is a slow-burn Netflix dark comedy that follows a team of true-crime podcasters as they investigate a number of disappearances in a small Irish town.
In Bodkin's third episode, our investigators head to Darragh's wake. The trio split up, each uncovering some useful info in the process. Emmy gets up close and personal with the town's least-popular rich resident, Fintan, who is behind the Samhain festival's revival. Meanwhile, both Dove and Gilbert learn more about Seamus and his connections with both Malachy and Fiona. After pooling everything they learn, they make a grim discovery in the back of a car dredged up from a bog near Casement Road. Here's a full recap of everything that happened in Bodkin episode 3.
Darragh's wake
The gang set off for Darragh's wake. On the drive over, Sean pulls the car over after spotting Seamus confronting Fintan (a local successful businessman who is building a nearby server farm and is behind the revived festival). Seamus is furious that Fintan's carrying on with the festival and threatens him with violence; Fintan says Darragh gave him both his blessing (and signed a contract) for the land's use for a new Samhain Festival. Once they've gone their separate ways, the head of the "Samhain Safety Committee" tries to get Dove's attention and give her view of the event;s revival (there was vandalism last time), but she gives her the cold shoulder.
At the wake, Gilbert, Emmy and Dove aim to gather as much info for their investigation as possible. Dove speaks with the undertaker, Mary Donovan; there was no autopsy carried out on Darragh's body, as they only carry one out if the deceased passes in suspicious circumstances, which the police believe Darragh did not. A priest gathers everyone in the room to say a few words for Darragh; at that moment, Seamus slips out of the room, and Dove follows.
She tries to question him, but he turns the tables on her, bringing up her failed NHS story and the potential suicide of her main source, clearly trying to rile her up. Meanwhile, Gilbert is collared by Frank's associate (the same woman who took the "down payment" for his debts from him at the bar). She jokes with him about the money he owes; but she doesn't have anything to add, beyond saying she wasn't around the night of the festival, as she was giving her friend a lift to Dublin. At that, Gilbert and Emmy decide to split up and see if they can tease anything out about Darragh and Malachy from the others.
Mary comes across Dove trying to find some booze and invites her outside for "a real drink". Mary offers her some homemade poitín (she brews it in her bathtub), and promptly hits on Dove. Mary left Bodkin for London but came home after a relationship went bad. Mary tries to hit on Dove, but she gets a phone call from Damien at that moment.
She starts telling him about The Badger and the potential story she's sitting on, but Damien interrupts. He has called to tell her the police obtained a warrant to search Dove's flat. They found Krtek's laptop there, and the Home Office suspects she stole it, so they're launching a formal investigation against her. He wants her to come home and face the music. Dove tells him that the guy left the laptop with her because he was terrified, and wanted her help. She says they're punishing him for breaking the story, and pushes Damien to step up and vouch for her, lie for her and say she mentioned the laptop to him in the past. Because she's as convinced about The Badger story, he says he'll see what he can do to help.
Meanwhile, Gilbert chats with folk about Darragh's behavior, and Emmy goes off to question folks, too. Eventually, he spies Seamus taking Darragh's glasses from his coffin and approaches, asking if he knew Darragh well. Seamus says he was a good friend, and helped him and his brother. When he moves to ask about said brother (Malachy), Seamus interrupts to call Dove a very irritating woman, and then slips away again, asking Gilbert to grab them some drinks.
Outside, Emmy is interviewing some young lads, but Sean chases them away, saying they know nothing of worth. After trying to unsuccessfully chat her up (again), he tells her not to lump him in with those other lads, claiming he's made for more, he "already survived an orphanage", and that he doesn't belong in Bodkin. Emmy sees Dove leaving and chases after her. She tries to nab a car, but has to settle for an electric scooter, leaving Emmy to return to the wake for another chat.
Wake work
Back inside, Mrs O'Shea spots Seamus and her son Sean having a chat and disappearing into another room. Emmy comes across Fintan but gets a frosty reception when she introduces herself, as he believes she'll have a tough time getting anything useful out of anyone from Bodkin.
Gilbert finds one of Darragh's sisters, Dot, and offers her a drink. He mentions that Darragh never left his land, but some of the other attendees had noted a time when he did leave town; she invited him for a private word. Dot tells him that Darragh and Malachy met in prison, and nothing was ever the same when he returned with Malachy in tow. Moreover, Darragh was heartbroken when the lad went missing all those years ago. Gilbert presses her for more, but Dot tells him Darragh always confides in Alice. Elsewhere, Dove breaks into Seamus' house to search it, via the catflap.
At the same time, Fintan makes his way back over to Emmy and apologizes for what he said earlier, and says he'd like to talk to her if she'll let him. Emmy asks him what he remembers of Samhain; he apparently saw Jackie Lantern, a mythic blacksmith from folklore, rise from a bog that evening... the same night he discovered and took magic mushrooms to try and impress a girl. He saw a huge monster come out of the bog lake nearby.
Gilbert's with Alice, who is seemingly more worried about her sick cat, rather than the wake. She does at the very least reveal that Darragh had a thing for Malachy, because Darragh "dug with the other foo"'. Malachy apparently kept Darragh on a short leash and exploited those feelings, making him rent out his land for next to nothing. And then after his disappearance, Malachy's brother waltzed into town and took over the lease at the same rate. Gilbert asks who this brother is: Alice confirms it is Seamus Gallagher!
Fintan tells Emmy that the creature was huge and frightening. He says there was some sort of a car crash that night, too, as he heard a screech and crashing sound over near Casement Road. But when he checked it out, there was so sign of anything... and that's when he saw Jackie coming out of the lake. Emmy tries to tell Gilbert her findings, but he's a bit distracted trying to track down Dove. So, she agrees when Fintan invites her to have a "change of scenery" and takes her up to his fancy house in the hills.
Dove finds a hidden compartment at Seamus' home. Inside, she finds a bag full of cash, a gun, photos of Seamus with Fiona, the missing teacher, and what looks to be an engagement ring with Fiona's name engraved on it!
A grim discovery
That evening, Dove and Gilbert gather at the pub to share their findings. Dove believes they chose the coastline seeing as it's hard to police (making Bodkin a haven for smugglers). When Gilbert asks why the marriage is important, Dove puts forward the theory that Malachy stole his brother's fiancee, so Seamus killed them both.
At his home, Emmy discovers Fintan has been ordering knives from Teddy. The pair used to be friends, but a rift sprung up between them. A long time ago, Fintan was meant to meet Teddy, but he ditched he to meet that girl he mentioned earlier. After Samhain, Fintan says Teddy was completely different, and he feels guilty about abandoning his always-loyal former friend, but he wants to move forward with life. And at the mention of 'a little fun', Emmy makes a move on him and they start kissing.
Back at the pub, Gilbert and Dove finally start to get along a little. Outside, they're ambushed by Frank, looking to collect on his debts. Dove punches Frank square in the face, and the pair flee the scene. In town, she grills Gilbert about her debt and he opens up about being in over his head, having borrowed way too much money to keep his podcast business going. He only really had one hit in his past and really needs this new story to work out for him. Dove understands exactly what feeling like you're up against the world is like.
Morning comes, and the pair chat about the next steps. The plan is to question Seamus at Darragh's funeral service. Emmy walks in wearing last night's clothes, and she's slightly put out that no one seemed to be worried about where she'd disappeared off to.
At the service, Seamus wanders off and Gilbert goes after him. Seamus invites him out onto his boat. At the end of the service, the committee member bothers Dove again, talking about a car crashing into a statue of Saint Seamus... on Casement Road! Emmy realizes this must be the incident Fintan heard on Samhain night, and the pair resolve to investigate and call Gilbert.
On the water, Seamus tells Gilbert Darragh wanted to be cremated and scattered in the ocean, not buried, and the pair trade sorrows. Gilbert's wife had cancer; although she beat it, their relationship didn't survive the podcast he made about it. Seamus lost someone a long time back. Gilbert, finally, asks who he lost, and Seamus picks him up for fishing in the past and coaxes Gilbert into revealing Dove's theory about him. In reality, Seamus says he loved Fiona and his brother was "his rock", and then the pair just disappeared. He then throws Darragh's glasses into the ocean.
Casement Road backs onto a bog lake. Gilbert's called over to meet Emmy and Dove, and the reporter decides to go into the bog to search it with her feet as she suspects there could be something there. She touches something metallic and suspects it's a car. The vehicle is hauled out of the lake (much to the annoyance of the Garda), but the car's empty. In frustration, Dove kicks the back end, and the trunk flies open... revealing two bodies that have been stashed inside for years.
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