Vigil Episode Three Review

The third episode of Vigil has a lot going on as it adds more suspects and conspiracies to the mystery involving HMS Vigil.

DCI Silva believes that Craig Burke may have been poisoned after finding a strange substance on Burke’s hoodie and in his mouth. She also makes a lot of enemies since she has arrested two members of the crew.

On land, the peace activist Jade has been killed and DS Longarce has to add her death to the investigation. The police team in Glasgow make two major discoveries. The first was members of the crew were arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour when on shore leave in Florida. The second was that Burke had blackmail material to hold over HMS Vigil crew members.

The third episode gave so much information that it was hard to keep up. These revelations had personal and national security implications. Burke had a compromising photo of the sub’s medical officer, Lieutenant Docherty, with a man with a dragon tattoo. Burke claimed he was drugged in Florida but passed the urine test administered by Docherty. So, Docherty was put in the spotlight. Burke had information about the safety of Britain’s nuclear sub and that could affect British defence policy. The episode revealed Jade was the bastard child of the local MP who was campaigning against Trident. And the episode also revealed who might have sunk the trawler and who was tracking Vigil.

All of this information will keep audiences guessing. Was Burke killed because of a personal beef or due to the bigger picture? Even if the murder was for a personal reason, Burke’s death has explored wider issues involving the Navy’s command, MI5, Parliament, and the Americans. Like Line of Duty, Vigil starts with a simple crime that turns into something much more complicated.

Vigil seems like it’s going down a similar route as Spooks. Plotlines Spooks liked to use were showing Section D was fighting their own side. Many villains turned out to be government ministers, other spy agents (i.e. MI6), or the CIA and American Government. Vigil has already shown many fractions that should be allied with each other but have their own agendas. There is the command of the Royal Navy, MI5, and an MP who have acted suspiciously. Now the Americans are involved, so leads to the question why were they tracking a British sub? Are the Americans looking to take Britain’s nuclear weapons, control Britain’s nukes, or just ensure the vote to renew Trident goes their way?

On HMS Vigil the crew dislikes DCI Silva because of her arrests. They see her as a woman who destroyed the careers of two men over someone they hated. Petty Chief Officer Tara Kierly lets Silva know how she feels. She states Walsh came from a rough background and the Navy was all he had. It leads to a tense ending where Walsh takes some desperate action.

The funeral scene was poignant. The crew were having to mourn for Burke. Glover had to be diplomatic with his eulogy for Burke. Despite it being a funeral Silva still tries to gather information from Glover and Glover had to tell her it’s a funeral for God’s sake.

One of my concerns about the series was it might stretch itself thin because Silva was going on HMS Vigil for three days. The series has avoided this issue by Newsome telling Silvia that her stay has been extended to three weeks. This puts Silva in a dangerous situation since there were crew members that would want to cause her harm and with her mental health issues.

The episode also shows more of Silva’s past. I made a mistake because I thought Poppy was Silva’s daughter. It turned out Poppy was Silva’s stepdaughter and they were separated due to the death of Silva’s partner. Silva was hurt by this because she treated Poppy like she was a daughter and Silva had no legal right to see her. This sparked Silva’s depression.

The third episode continues the intrigue and mystery that can keep fans’ thrillers hooked. It raises lots of questions that audiences would want the answers to and will properly try to answer some themselves.