In the beginning of the sixth episode of Spotless, the tension that’s been building up between Jean and Julie starts to come to a head. Julie’s silences and lingering stares at her husband suggest that she’s aware he’s keeping some kind of secret from her. It’s so bad that she even turns away from a kiss — before heading off to a meeting with a prospective client, who she doesn’t realize is really Victor Clay.
Jean, who’s presented himself as someone who always needs to have control, doesn’t have any at this point. He’s under the thumb of a local mobster and owns the top spot on that same mobster’s younger brother’s hit list — that is, for catching him making love to a dead body. (Come on, we’ve all been there.) He has a mistress and a wife who may know about said mistress. And, on top of all that, he has local police looking into his past. Believe it or not, it only took a half-dozen episodes for his life to spiral out of control.
To try and regain some of that control he so desperately needs, Jean looks for some kind of leverage to hold over Nelson Clay. So far, he’s been keeping souvenirs from every job he’s done, but Martin lets him know there’s no way that could ever hold up in court before heading out for a drink. His next move is to look into what’s on the hard drive that belonged to the late Tom Kendrick. But all he can find is an encrypted file under the name of “FallowField.”
Meanwhile, Martin’s storyline brings all of the necessary violence to a show about cleaning up murder scenes. Up until now, he’s been the more charming and lovable of the two brothers. But there was always a sign that there was something more sinister there. I mean, he’s only in the picture because he showed up at his brother’s house with the body of a dead drug mule in his truck. (Again, we’ve all been there.)
While Martin’s enjoying himself at his favorite pub, Romain and Nico walk in. To everyone’s surprise, Romain makes Nico leave because things have to be done “old school,” a.k.a. a full-on, bare knuckles brawl.
During a time out, Martin reveals that Nico’s gay, which Romain never knew. While he doesn’t hold it against Nico, he’s disappointed because he knows their boss, Yasiin, will likely take this as a sign of weakness and kill him. Martin then tries to convince Romain to walk away and start a new life, which he refuses. Romain then brings up Martin’s mother, which sends Martin into a fit of rage as he strangles him with his bare hands.
Nico soon walks in to the sight of his dead partner and prepares to kill Martin. But, with his quick thinking, Martin tells Nico that Romain and their boss know he’s gay and plan to kill him. After juggling possible outcomes, Nico decides to stay in London and start a new life. But then he’s shot in the head by the Turkish mobster who Martin asked for protection.
Back at the house, Julie tells Jean she can’t trust him because of his “…finances” – is that what we’re calling it now? In one of those “Let’s make this love work” scenarios you mostly find in movies, they make passionate love in the kitchen like no one’s home. [Sidenote: This happens while he’s supposed to be on a date with Claire.]
Still covered in his own blood from the brawl, Martin goes upstairs to see his nephew, Olivier. He finds him playing cops and robbers with his toys and realizes that, especially for a child, Olivier is callous when it comes to the subject of death and murder and tries to teach him about their significance.
The last scene shows Jean heading out to FallowField the next morning, which is actually a house Tom Kendrick and his wife bought outside of the city. After finding nothing inside, he comes across a bag at the bottom of a pond full of money and a video camera. On the camera, he finds just what he’s been looking for; leverage over Nelson Clay in the form of video footage of him and his brother burning a man alive (and shooting him for good measure).
For more, be sure to catch Spotless on Esquire Network on Saturdays at 10|9c.
