Passenger episode 4 recap: what did the men catch in the forest?

Wunmi Mosaku plays Riya Ajunwa and Nico Mirallegro plays Kane Jackson in Passenger episode 4 recap
Riya Ajunwa interrogates Kane Jackson (Image credit: ITV)

This Passenger episode 4 recap contains spoilers... The evidence begins to suggest Derek and Kane Jackson know all about the creature in the forest, yet a team of recovery agents are soon on the scene to capture whatever they accidentally let loose on Friday night. Riya is more determined than ever to find answers and is closing in on the brothers, but she'll have to do it before she's transferred to Manchester! 

In the back of a van, a group of gas mask-sporting men read passages of philosophy from a textbook. “We haven’t arrived here by chance,” says one. “We’ve arrived her by choice.” It’s clear these are the men we saw checking into the B&B at the end of the last episode. “When it reveals itself, we fight,” proclaims their leader ominously. We’re not sure what’s on the loose in the woods, but it’s clear you need a gas mask if you want to catch it. 

At Chadder Vale police station, Riya arrives to share news of the vast collection of stolen bins she found in the lock-up, telling Nish and Ali how vindicated she feels by her discovery. “Something’s not right with this town,” she says, absolutely correctly, listing all the weird things that have been going on. “I need answers, today.” We know how she feels! 

A quick check of the land registry tells Riya the lock-up where the bins are being stored belongs to Tony Corrigan, who loaned it out a couple of years ago to … Derek Jackson of Jumbo Breads. 

It turns out it was Derek who rescued John from the forest, but how did he know he would be there wonders Riya? Never mind that now, because Riya is more interested in the bins he’s been nicking, which are full of all sorts, including “tanks of liquid”. Terry’s running tests on what that liquid might be and Derek is keen for her not to find out. 

Is Claire really who she says she is? 

On her way out of the factory, someone tells Riya that Nina Karlsson is selling eggs from a farm up the road, although she’s now going by the name Claire. How odd. When she gets there, Riya, finds "Claire", who has a husband and claims to know nothing about anything that’s been going on in Chadder Vale.

When her husband departs, Claire reveals that she met someone on an app, had a bit of a thing and booked a place in Chadder. After too many drinks she told him about some of her mental health struggles and then left, but when he woke up and found she wasn’t there, he reported her missing. “Nina Karlsson is the lead detective on that Swedish TV series,” says Claire. “I just borrowed her name for a weekend shag, is that a crime?”

We thought this was a cracking lead, but has it turned out to be a bit of a red herring?

Meanwhile, at the Wells household, news arrives that John is in hospital and Katie immediately blames her father. We’re no fans of Eddie Wells, but we think he’s getting scapegoated for a lot of stuff since he got out of prison. Or maybe he’s not? 👀

Later on, Lily tells Katie she had a look in her eyes she’d never seen before when she was shouting at their father. “It reminded me of dad," she says. However, Katie retorts that maybe her little sister shouldn’t be burning effigies in front of Jim’s caravan. “He can barely open a tin of beans, he had nothing to do with what happened to Mehmet," she says. 

After thinking on her sister’s words, she goes to see Mehmet’s mum and asks her if she needs any help at the shop...

Ella Bruccoleri plays Ali and Arian Nik plays Nish in Passenger episode 4 recap

Ali and Nish continue the investigation (Image credit: ITV)

What has Kane been hiding in the bins? 

When Police Chief Markel discovers Nish, Ali and Terry the forensic tester at the lock-up, she’s furious — especially when she hears that Nina Karlsson was a made-up person off the telly. Later on, she calls "Michael Douglas" — no joke — from the Manchester Police Force, saying she’s having a nightmare with one of her employees and wants to cash in a favor...

At the Jumbo Bread Factory, Derek is furious with Kane for not using the machine he spent £20,000 on. But what does this machine do? We’re presuming it’s not for dough mixing. It seems Kane has been using the bins to dispose of "them" — whatever "them" is — rather than using the machine Derek bought. We have to say we felt quite sorry for Kane at the start, but maybe his brother is right about him.

“If Riya comes anywhere near here again I’ll hang you out to dry,” he warns Kane.

Elsewhere Riya’s ‘Nina Karlsson’ oversight is making her doubt her abilities as an investigator, but she feels a little bit better when Jakub kisses her — until Markel walks into the garage that is. “There’s never an end in sight for you is there?” she says. “I’ve got you a transfer to Manchester Met, best for everyone!”

At the fracking site, Tony visits Jim to tell him to face his fears and he starts by chucking a load of rubbish at Eddie Wells’ door. Through the door, he tells the ex-con about his pain as Lily listens on. “We’re different you and I,” says Jim. “You don’t feel, you’re a monster.”

Eddie doesn’t take it well and heads down to Tony’s boxing gym for a ruck. “Who wants to fight me?” he shouts, goading everyone in the building. We think he’s hoping to get beaten up, rather than have a fight tbqh.

If he’s hoping for sympathy with Jo, it might work and as she cleans the blood off his smashed face when he returns home, they share a moment.

What did the men catch in the forest? 

At the hospital, Katie visits John to find out what happened to him in the woods that night. She suspects he tried to take his own life, but he tells her about the darkness in the forest... “It was like all my worst fears playing out, something ain’t right!”

These words resonate with Katie — who experienced the same thing herself — and she heads back to the woods to take another look, yet soon finds herself slipping back into dark hallucinations, in which she sees herself marrying John and trapped with him and her mother in Chadder forever.

However the team that’s out there looking for "it" — whatever "it" is — seems to have found something and are bundling it away in a plastic sack, when one of their number wakes a black-lipped Katie as she lies on the forest floor. "Target recovered, restore it to level 8," he says to his colleagues later on. We’re not sure what level 8 is, but it seems Katie inadvertently helped them catch this thing.

Nish and Ali decide to try and help Riya, so they start going through all the stuff in the stolen bins, while also finding an unexpected gaming connection. Some empty cigarette packets lead them to Kane and Riya takes him in for questioning. “What do torches, overalls, compasses and corrosive substances have to do with baking bread?” she asks. “You’d be surprised,” he replies. We bet!

When Nish and Ali go to check out Kane’s farmhouse, they find a bracelet belonging to Katie, while Riya makes a shocking discovery at the lock-up. But what is it?

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Sean Marland

Sean is a Senior Feature writer for TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week, who also writes for whattowatch.com. He's been covering the world of TV for over 15 years and in that time he's been lucky enough to interview stars like Ian McKellen, Tom Hardy and Kate Winslet. His favourite shows are I'm Alan Partridge, The Wire, People Just Do Nothing and Succession and in his spare time he enjoys drinking tea, doing crosswords and watching football.