Safe episode 1 recap: who is the dead body?
Safe episode 1 recap: what happens in the opening episode of the Harlan Coben thriller?
Safe on Netflix is a twisty-turny thriller adapted from a bestselling Harlan Coben book of the same name, and despite it landing on the streaming site back in 2018, fans of smash hit Fool Me Once are now revisiting the series after watching the Fool Me Once ending.
The story follows a paediatric surgeon and single father to two teenage daughters called Tom (Dexter's Michael C Hall), who is struggling after the death of his wife a year ago. But while Tom has a successful career, a new relationship starting and lives in a beautiful house in a prestigious gated community, his life is turned into a nightmare when his eldest daughter disappears in mysterious circumstances.
Here's everything that happened in Safe, episode 1...
The episode opens with Tom, a grieving husband, standing at his wife's graveside during her funeral, with his two daughters either side of him. His youngest, Carrie holds his hand, but his eldest daughter, Jenny refuses.
The episode then quickly flashes forward a year, and Tom is leaving his work as a surgeon at a hospital and invites his friend, Pete (Mark Warren), for a community BBQ. As everyone plays football at the BBQ, which is being held in a fancy, gated community in a leafy suburb, Tom is seen sneaking off with his neighbour, Sophie (Amanda Abbingdon), who he is clearly having a fling with. But while all the other families are having fun, Tom's teenage daughter, Jenny, is hating every minute and there is tension between her and Tom.
We are then introduced to another family from the street, a husband and wife and their teenage kids. The father, Neil and his French wife Zoe, are having marriage troubles and are bickering at the table, which causes tension for the family.
Another couple, Jojo and Lauren Marshall, are also seen leaving their teenage daughter, Sia, home alone for a night while they go away for their anniversary. They make her promise not to have any parties, but it is clear she has something up her sleeve.
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Jenny texts her older boyfriend, Chris, who was seen earlier at the awkward dinner with his parents, and tells him tonight is the night, and then gets ready for Sia's party. Chris is also seen heading out, and when they arrive, Sia is selling drugs at the front door.
Soon Chris is worse for wear at the party, and Jenny isn't happy that he is wasted on 'tonight, of all nights' meaning they had plans. But when Tom wakes on the sofa at 2am and Jenny still isn't home, he starts to panic and calls her.
When she doesn't answer, he goes into a message cloning app that he had installed on her phone and reads what she last messaged people, which although they don't shed any light on where she is, looks like she has been arguing with Chris.
By the morning, Tom is beside himself with worry and starts knocking on the doors of Jenny's friends. No one knows where she is, and even Chris's parents don't seem to worried that he hasn't come home yet.
One friend, Ioan Fuller, admits he lied for Chris when he asked if he could tell his parents he was staying at his, but while he doesn't know where Jenny is, he suggests Tom talks to Sia.
When Tom arrives at her house, Sia pretends that she just went into town with a few friends the night before, and her parents take her word for it.
Elsewhere, Sophie, who is a local police officer, has trouble of her own at home, with two teenage kids and an alcoholic husband, Josh (Emmet J Scanlan), who is living in a caravan in the front garden.
While Tom is at work, struggling to concentrate with his daughter missing, the police get a call from a headmaster at a local school who has been sent an anonymous message with serious allegations against their French teacher, who just happens to be Chris's mum... Zoe Chahal. She is brought in to the school and asked to open her locker, where the police find a USB stick with incriminating images and messages on it. She is soon arrested and taken in for questioning.
Meanwhile, Tom wants to talk to Ioan but when he sees him he runs off and a chase starts. When Ioan almost gets hit by a car, he finally stops and the pair chat in a local cafe, where Ioan admits there was a party at Sia's house.
Caught out on her lie, Sia looks sheepish when Tom returns to their house to ask more questions, but when he still gets nowhere he calls the police and reports Jenny missing.
The police arrive and ask Tom about Jenny's last known movements and start searching for her, bur while they're doing that, Sophie's son, Henry Mason is at home, hiding a blood-soaked t-shirt at the back of his wardrobe.
Ioan also calls Tom to tell him he has found something- it is a video on a friend's social media of the party, and it shows Jenny getting into Tom's friend Pete's car. Tom is stunned but the shocking turn of events, but while he is processing the news that his best friend might be connected to his daughter's disappearance, we also see Jojo, Sia's dad, secretly going into his garage, where he opens the chest freezer and there is a body inside... and it is Chris!
All eight episodes of Safe are available to stream on Netflix now.
Claire is Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch and has been a journalist for over 15 years, writing about everything from soaps and TV to beauty, entertainment, and even the Royal Family. After starting her career at a soap magazine, she ended up staying for 13 years, and over that time she’s pulled pints in the Rovers Return, sung karaoke in the Emmerdale village hall, taken a stroll around Albert Square, and visited Summer Bay Surf Club in sunny Australia.
After learning some tricks of the trade at websites Digital Spy, Entertainment Daily, and Woman & Home, Claire landed a role at What’s On TV and whattowatch.com writing about all things TV and film, with a particular love for Aussie soaps, Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off.
She’s interviewed everyone from June Brown — AKA Dot Cotton — to Michelle Keegan, swapped cooking tips with baking legend Mary Berry backstage at the NTAs, and danced the night away with soap stars at countless awards bashes. There’s not a lot she doesn’t know about soaps and TV and can be very handy when a soapy question comes up in a pub quiz!
As well as all things soap-related, Claire also loves running, spa breaks, days out with her kids, and getting lost in a good book.