Granite Harbour season 2 episode 2 recap: The team make a breakthrough

Cracking some cases in Granite Harbour.
Lindo and Bart make some surprising discoveries in episode 2. (Image credit: BBC)

Granite Harbour season 2 episode 2 has a lot going on, where we learn that the CK murder and the Mariam case are actually connected, which causes them to merge into one big case.

Granite Harbour season 2 recaps

This means that MIT start taking Mariam more seriously, when they realise the ship she came to Aberdeen on could be involved in some shady drug operations. Meanwhile, tensions are brewing between Jay and his brother, and Lindo and Bart aren't seeing eye-to-eye.

Here's what happened in Granite Harbour season 2 episode 2...

A surprising connection

When this episode picks up, Lindo and Bart are called to a scene where a lone lifeboat has been found. Bart takes swabs from the lifeboat and the man on the scene tells them if it can be traced back to a stowaway, the ship could be impounded and the owners will likely get fined.

The duo head to speak to Cora for a debrief, where Bart explains that they received a call from the coastguard informing them that schoolchildren had found a lifeboat washed up on the beach. She goes on to explain the lifeboat had the Stolthet logo on it, but Cora is dismissive and says there's no evidence a crime has taken place and all it proves is that a lifeboat went missing.

Bart pushes back and says she found traces of clothing fibres, which she has sent off to the lab for DNA testing. Cora stresses that while she sympathises with Mariam, they just don't have the resources to help her when they've got Lucas' murder and the McFaddens to contend with. She also drops Lindo in it when he tries to protest, telling Bart that he'd been caught doing some unofficial investigating.

Bart is understandably annoyed by this revelation and Cora asks what her take on Mariam and Hassan, her missing husband is. She says that the clothing fibres suggest that Hassan was real and could have been aboard this lifeboat. Lindo adds that the crew of the ship were very uncooperative and he believes they're hiding something, and Cora eventually yields, telling them to bring the captain to the station.

The crew meets and admits there was a stowaway on the ship. They add that Captain Neilsen put him in the lifeboat before they could stop him, and they are concerned that the police is now involved. One of the crew tells the others that Neilsen revealed the stowaway wasn't alone, so now they know about Mariam too.

Meanwhile, at the station Neilsen continues to lie about having a stowaway on the ship. Lindo and Bart reveal they've done some digging and realised that Neilsen has previously declared a stowaway on a different voyage. He tries to argue that because he has done that before, he would never throw one off his boat. They press about Mariam, and he suggests she's lying.

Lindo and Bart visit Mariam to tell her about the lifeboat and clothing fibres. She insists they continue looking for Hassan because since they haven't found a body, he could still be alive no matter how slim the chance is. They're called away when Cora asks to see them at the harbour. They have impounded the Stolthet and need to search it.

During a debrief, Bart notes there was a strong smell of bleach aboard the Stolthet ship so it was difficult to find things. However, they've had a breakthrough because the ship was transporting pharmaceutical goods including ketamine, so they're starting to believe that the two cases might be connected. There's some debate around whether or not this is simply a coincidence, but Cora asks to bring the captain back in for further questioning.

Elsewhere, Grace is seen having a man tortured, asking him to give up the names of who is supplying CK. He insists he gets it from her and doesn't know what she's talking about.

Lindo and Bart visit the captain's apartment to find he has taken his own life, so they begin to search the place for evidence. They find he left a note, and also locate Mariam's ultrasound scan that she had dropped on the boat. Elsewhere, the crew expresses concern that Mariam knows about the drugs, so they decide they want to find her.

At the station, it seems the Stolthet is the only boat that is legally importing ketamine to Scotland which leads them to speculate there could be others. They also have reason to believe that CK money was being laundered through Grace's properties with the McFadden Group due to an audit throwing up some unexpected rapid repayments. Meanwhile, Jay is on the phone and looks horrified when he finds a name on the purchase orders.

Cora wants Lindo and Bart to find evidence that links Neilsen to Lucas, and begins to speculate whether or not the captain's death was suicide. Elsewhere, Jay corners his brother Naz when he realises that their mum's home belongs to the McFadden Family Group, and he accuses him of being involved with the shipments.

Naz tells him he can explain and reveals that he met Duncan without knowing his criminal connections, and that Duncan had said he wanted to get into pharma. So he took a "consultancy" opportunity. He also reveals he took a loan from Duncan and now he's in too deep. Naz confesses to giving Duncan codes so he could steal drugs from the boat, which annoys Jay further, especially when he admits it was Naz's name on the purchase orders he found.

On top of all this, Lindo is still struggling with his father Grantley who is pressuring him to come home and take a job there because he'd be fast-tracked, but Lindo doesn't want to hear it. At work, they learn that Neilsen's flat is also owned by the McFadden family group, which is a connection to Lucas.

They match the note found at Neilsen's flat to his handwriting, so they believe his death was suicide. They learn he was also living at the apartment rent free, so they're now very convinced the two cases are connected, but they need to dig further to find out who was moving the drugs.

The team begin interviewing the crew and manage to find CCTV footage of Nielsen and a crew member named Axel moving a holdall into a nearby apartment, where they speculate they've been cutting the CK. They're also concerned that another crew member, Elsa, was quick to lawyer up.

Lindo gets a frantic call from Mariam saying she needs help. He speaks to Cora and she says she'll speak to immigration and make it clear she needs to stay put, as she's now a person of interest. 

Lindo and Bart visit Mariam again to ask if she saw any of the crew members acting suspiciously but she says no, then they head to the apartment from the CCTV footage to do some digging. They're shocked to find the entire place has been cleaned out.

Elsewhere, Duncan keeps piling the pressure on Naz, asking him to get his brother to locate Mariam. Jay visits him and tells him that this needs to stop, and since he tipped him off on the apartment and went behind the police's back, Duncan needs to leave Naz out of this and stop working with him.

Lindo visits Mariam where he gives her a music player and some headphones to help her sleep, and Bart has a go at him saying it could jeopardize the case and that he needs to start acting like a police officer, not her friend.

There's more trouble at the station when Axel has disappeared, and Jay gets a terrified phone call from Naz who is in tears. He says that Duncan and his cronies are threatening their mother so he needs to tell him where Mariam is immediately. He panics and blurts out Mariam's name, revealing she's at a hostel.  

At the station, they're concerned about Mariam anyway and decide she needs to go into protective custody. But when Lindo arrives, it's too late, and Duncan's men have Mariam and he follows after them. 

After a heated chase, the episode ends when cars collide with each other, with the outcome unknown.

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Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress