* The Tourist season 2 episode 3 recap contains spoilers *
After learning his true identity from Frank McDonnell, Elliot Stanley — sorry Eugene Cassidy — sets off to find his girlfriend Helen Chambers, yet in an ironic reversal of fortunes, she's been abducted by Detective Ruari Slater. Eugene is joined in the search by Ethan Krum, and the pair form a wonderful odd-couple in a thoroughly entertaining episode.
Frank McDonnell walks into the museum and explains that Elliot Stanley’s real name is Eugene Cassidy and that his children abducted him to help Frank get something he’s been looking for “for a long time”. But what is it? Revenge on Eugene? Revenge on Niamh? Victory in the McDonnell v Cassidy war? Or could it be related to the mysterious diver we saw at the end of the first episode? We’re all desperate to know, so tell us already.
He doesn't say, but he does reveal that Fergal is not his son, but his grandson. Does that mean Donal and Orla are Fergal’s parents?
After fleeing the museum, Eugene heads back to Helen’s hotel, but of course she’s not there. Yet the next morning he’s woken by her old boyfriend, Ethan Krum, who's arrived from Australia and is very keen to help in any way he can.
Eugene’s not very pleased to see him, but Ethan does know Helen's last location as he’s been tracking her phone (in a hangover from his coercive and controlling past). The pair set off to find her immediately, yet the GPS signal only takes them to her lost phone, in the middle of a forest.
Eugene blames Frank McDonnell, who denies any knowledge of her abduction. However Fergal wants to know why his grandfather has been keeping him around all this time. Fergal has no idea and nor do we!
Meanwhile, after walking into Detective Ruari Slater’s basement and discovering the body of his dead wife, Helen Chambers is worried she might be joining her. Ruari explains that his wife died of cancer and he couldn’t bear to say goodbye to her. Then — after complimenting Helen’s accent — Ruari handcuffs her to the oven and leaves. Eeeek!
When he gets back she quizzes him about the DNA report — which seems to reveal some shocking info about Eugene — without success. But Ruari would rather talk about his memories of his dead wife.
Elsewhere, Lena has arrived in Ireland and pays the McDonnell siblings a visit. It seems they’ve given up on finding Eugene Cassidy and Frank will have them now, yet Lena — who admits to sending the letter that lured Eugene back to Ireland — doesn’t want to give up so easily. “You should have killed him when you had the chance,” she tells Donal.
Her words strike a chord with Donal who follows her and says he’s going to put a bullet in Eugene Cassidy. “That’s not what we agreed” she replies, but what plan did she have for the man who once forced her to smuggle drugs?
What happened at Abbey House?
Niamh Cassidy is looking for Eugene and just so happens to visit the same chap that Frank recruited for the very same task. When she confronts him about that he replies.. “you’re not what you once were!” It’s very brave talk, given what she did to that member of the McDonnell clan in the first episode.
Later on she addresses a pub full of Cassidy supporters and urges them to help her find her son. “You know they will come for you now,” she's told by Thomas, who suggests she should return to Abbey House. Yet Niamh says she swore she would never return to that place.
Despite her vow, she then proceeds to do just that and is furious to see bloodstains still all over the floor. “What is this still doing here?” she says furiously. But where did the blood come from? Someone important obviously died there, but is there more to the story?
Have we seen the last of Detective Ruari Slater?
After using Ethan’s “creepy stalker app” to find out where Helen has been, Eugene and Ethan set off for Detective Slater’s house (although they don’t know it’s Detective Slater’s house when they get there). His mother answers the door and lets them in - before Detective Slater arrives home! Downstairs, Helen has managed to release herself, but the door’s locked and she can’t make herself heard!
However Helen is a smart cookie and when Detective Slater comes down to check on her he finds her wearing his dead wife Mary’s clothes in a bid to step into her shoes. But will it give her a chance to make her escape?
She does eventually get the chance to murder Ruari, but decides against it. Proper Bilbo / Smeagol vibes there, but it turns out to be the right decision as he lets her go and heads off to bury Mary. Before she leaves, he also advises that Elliot came looking for her and has his phone and assures her he will turn himself in for false imprisonment. But is that the end of his involvement in this twisted tale?
Who killed Eugene's brother?
After leaving Detective Slater’s, Eugene and Ethan trace Helen back to the pub she visited after watching Niamh commit that brutal murder, but they’re told they’ll need to wait for Derek — who was working when she came in.
Someone spots them and tips off Frank McDonnell. Soon three of his heavies walk in and attack Eugene, before an enormous bloke walks in and batters them, allowing Eugene and Ethan to escape. We presume this was some member of the Cassidy clan. What a fantastic double-act Eugene and Ethan have been in this episode, by the way. Great writing from the Williams brothers.
This giant catches up with them a bit down the road and reveals that he can’t talk — a silent giant — and that Eugene’s mother sent him. When he finally gets back to Abbey House, Niamh says she’d hoped the place would remind her son of his old life, but it doesn’t.
However as she pours them a glass of whisky, she tells him about the day his elder brother Joe died in her arms. He was shot in the stomach and found half-dead at Loch Tama. Niamh says she thinks it was Frank McDonnell’s boy, but Eugene remembers Donal mentioning Tamar back in episode one. Did Eugene murder his own brother? Oh jeez, we hope not.
Who is Fergal's mother?
However before we get any more of that story, Helen calls Eugene on her own phone and the pair are finally reunited. It’s a lovely moment — for everyone who’s not Ethan Krum. But she does go on to tell Eugene that the DNA results from the broken whisky bottle reveal that Fergal McDonnell is actually Eugene’s son!
But does this mean that Orla is Fergal's mother? When push comes to shove and she's forced to choose, will she take the side of her father Frank or her son Fergal? And where will all of that leave Eugene?
Will we ever get to see Eugene dance?
We were shocked to learn that Eugene was a phenomenal dancer in his youth in the first episode of the series and during their brief reunion, Niamh asks her son if he will dance for her again. "You could turn a pique that would move a grown man to tears!" she says. Please let Eugene dance before the end of the series!
