This article contains spoilers for Bodkin episode 4, "Poison or Something". 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 fourth episode, the investigation takes some bizarre turns. This chapter includes a run-in with Interpol at the site of Seamus' shady businesses and sees Gilbert offering a favor to Seamus in exchange for covering his debt to Frank. Plus, a divide starts to grow between Emmy and Dove after the reporter offers some tough on-the-job advice and some criticism of her connection with Fintan, and it all culminates in a shocking discovery about the victims found in the lake. Here's a full recap of everything that happened in Bodkin episode 4.
Interpol intervenes
Sergeant Power arrives on the scene at the bog lake to inspect the bodies and promptly tries to disperse the gathered crowd, Dove and co. included. Dove suspects that Power is so keen to keep everyone away because he knows something, though Gilbert's not convinced (like she still is) that Seamus is the man responsible for the deaths. But with the threat of being arrested, they agree. Unfortunately, they're leaving on foot: Sean's disappeared again. Emmy uses Gilbert's phone to track down her own; it's in Sean's car, which is near Darragh's place.
They follow the signal to a warehouse and duck behind some bushes after spotting Seamus and Sean leaving after a meeting with two Spanish men. Seamus is irritated that Sean was late to this meeting; he blames the delay on the podcasters finding the two bodies, news which Seamus is blindsided by. Sean's sent to chase some kids away (who he's equipped with air guns, to get rid of a seagull infestation) and Seamus walks off. With the coast clear, Dove, Gilbert, and Emmy head inside to see what Seamus' big secret is. The building contains a ton of huge vats. Dove investigates one and falls in headfirst. She scrambles out and brushes a ton of tiny wriggling creatures off her... which she learns are baby eels, from some armed people who have pistols trained on them.
Our trio is forced to the ground, but these aren't Seamus' goons: They are Interpol officers from the Wildlife Crimes and Environmental Action Group! As it turns out, Bodkin's the center of a huge international eel smuggling operation that Seamus is tied up in. They tell them to stay away from Seamus and threaten to shut the podcast down and arrest all three of our investigators if they jeopardize the mission to shut him down in any way. Dove is keen to keep pushing, but Gilbert puts his foot down and demands they follow orders this time. Oh, and the officers claim that they didn't hit Dove on purpose, she strayed in the road.
After Dove has a horrifying nightmare of her dead source and some eels, Gilbert answers the door to Frank, who punches him and bundles him into his car, hauling him into town before leaving him stranded with a threat to settle his debts real soon. Later, Seamus pulls over and tries to cheer him up. And then he makes Gilbert an offer: in exchange for not mentioning him on the podcast, he offers to pay Frank on his behalf. Gilbert accepts and they drive off in Seamus' car, though the smuggler has to make a "stop" en route.
Whilst Gilbert's MIA, Dove convinces Emmy to keep pursuing Seamus, but via a new route: by leaning on Ruari Power, seeing as he's also seen in the road bowling photo of Malachy O'Connor. They ambush him in a diner, where Dove puts forward a theory they plan to release on the podcast: Seamus discovered his brother Malachy stole his fiancee and killed them both, and that Power was involved somehow. Sergeant Power rebuffs this, claiming that the McArdle Brothers (dangerous criminals from up north) must have killed them.
Power says he'd spotted them in Bodkin on Samhain all those years ago, but couldn't possibly have arrested them. And when they ask about Teddy, Power's quick to point the finger at Fintan being the cause of whatever happened to his son. He storms off, but Dove's convinced this is too easy of a solution and that he's covering for Seamus. The pair's next move? Pay a visit to the car dredged from the lake. It's been impounded, but they find out where by handing over some cash to a quick-thinking young girl in the diner.
Gilbert pays his debts
Sean takes Emmy and Dove to stake out the car lot. On the drive over, she says Fintan wouldn't be involved at all; Dove teases her about sleeping with him if he had nothing useful to share. The Garda are keeping an eye on the car, but Dove is determined to get to it; Emmy wants no point in the break-in and returns to the car. There, Sean asks what Fintan was like, and insinuates he'd be better for her. Emmy says he's confused about what their arrangement is (he's just the driver), prompting the lad to get in his car and drive off to an appointment. Frustrated, Emmy wanders into the yard and distracts the officer whilst Dove slips something from the car's glove compartment.
The two regroup outside the yard and Dove reveals her findings: an old, rusted knife, one bearing the same mark on Teddy's new knives. Dove then lays into Emmy for choosing to pursue journalism even though she's clearly from a wealthy family, and Emmy eventually bites back (this rocky working relationship only gets worse as the episode progresses). With Teddy implicated somehow, Dove wants to prove the knife is Teddy's so she can use it as leverage to get Power to talk, seeing as he wants Teddy involved in anything. Emmy then says she'll get Fintan to talk to Teddy about the knife.
Seamus' "business" stopover is revealed to be a meeting aboard his ship with the Interpol officers, who've posed as buyers looking for eels. They offer double what the Spaniards will pay (much to Sean's delight), though Seamus is more trepidatious, asking how Sean first met them and ordering him to uncover what he can about their new business partners. Seamus returns to the car and they head to pick up the money for Frank.
Seamus pulls over in the middle of nowhere: Gilbert tails him on foot and follows him to Ailbhe's Hollow, finding a smuggling hole containing a toy bear. At the sound of Seamus' whistling, he runs back to the car. Seamus arrives, hands over a stack of bills, and drives him over to Frank's camp. There, Frank makes a joke about Gilbert owing him interest... which provokes a very violent outburst from Seamus, who makes sure Frank understands never to bother Gilbert again. Afterwards, he apologizes, and asks how the bodies looked when they found them; Gilbert asks if he would like to see them.
Meanwhile, Emmy seeks Fintan out at his server farm, presenting him with the knife. She suggests that putting the mystery to bed and rekindling his friendship would be great for his whole "Bodkin 2.0" dream, for the rejuvenated festival, and for the podcast. What if Teddy sees this old knife and remembers what happened that night? Outside, Dove tells Emmy she'll need to record that whole conversation; Emmy doesn't want to, but Dove tells her to toughen up, as this is the job of a reporter, in her eyes.
Bad news
Fintan heads over to Teddy's workshop and has a heart-to-heart with his former friend... which Emmy secretly records by stuffing a mic in through a window. After accepting Fintan's apology), Teddy tells Fintan that he made that knife for his father as a birthday present when he was a young boy. Ruari told 11-year-old Teddy that he'd keep the knife in his car, for protection... which means the car dredged from the lake is Ruari's, not Seamus!
Emmy rushes to tell Dove what she's heard. Dove insists on hearing the full recording, which Emmy doesn't want to hand over. The pair end up wrestling over the recording device which goes flying out of their hands and lands right at Fintan's feet. Fintan is angry at this violation of his privacy and drives off. Emmy is devastated, and when Dove pokes fun at her for losing them another free lift, she storms off in a rage.
After all that excitement, Gilbert and Dove meet in the pub. She tells him the car is Ruari Power's and not to tell Seamus anything about what they've learned, in case the two men are in this together. He asks for a favor. Emmy drops off some recording equipment and then approaches Fintan sitting at the bar.
The favor in question is helping Seamus see the bodies. Armed with a bottle of wine, Dove approaches Mary Donovan's funeral home and asks to have a drink with her. Whilst Mary grabs some glasses, Dove lets Seamus and Gilbert into the morgue. He inspects the two bodies, recognizing his brother from his sixth toe on one foot before breaking down and confessing his sins. Seamus says he's done things he's not proud of, stolen from the wrong people, frets about how Malachy and Fiona were treated, and says he's always known the McArdle brothers took everything from him. Gilbert, sneakily, has been recording this entire exchange.
In the other room, Dove goes to kiss Mary. She'd been trying to reach Damien all this time, and he chose this moment to call back. She tries to tell him about how big this story's becoming, but he interrupts with some grim news her extradition order's been signed, and she has to return to face the investigation. Meanwhile, Gilbert tells Seamus they have to leave the morgue, but just as they're about to leave, Seamus notes something about Fiona's teeth. He knows she had her front teeth knocked out whilst at school and had partial false replacements, which means one thing: that body isn't Fiona.
Bodkin is now available to stream on Netflix. Looking for your next watch? Check out our list of the best Netflix shows for What To Watch's top recommendations.
