'Back to Life' Episode 2 hints at Miri’s crime after she is accosted by Dom and confronts her former best friend
BBC’s ‘Back to Life’ that airs on Showtime in the U.S. is a compassionate tale of a woman who returns to her home after an 18-year-long sentence. Her life back home is far from perfect, of course. Her family dynamics are weird and the townspeople hate her. But ahead she must move on.
Episode 2 of the show’s first season begins with Miri (Daisy Haggard) preparing to go to work. But all isn’t well. Community vandalism has been greeting Miri ever since her return. In the first episode, we saw the words "Psycho B*tch" spray-painted on her fence. Today it was a box of feces.
Her parents Oscar (Richard Durden) and Caroline (Geraldine James) were arguing over the box when she arrived downstairs. Caroline made an excuse -- she said it was fox feces, but Miri had wisened up. She asked, “Do foxes sh*t in boxes now?” understanding this was just another instance of hate crime.
When Oscar came outside to dispose of the box of feces, Billy (Adeel Akhtar) their neighbor’s caretaker, who is visibly enamored with Miri, spoke to him briefly. Of course, the smell of excrement ended that conversation as soon as it began.
On the other side, at her workplace (the new fish and chips store) Miri continued to struggle. When she saw Nathan (Liam Williams), her boss, with a box, she suspected it to contain feces as well and knocked it to the ground -- it was only napkins.
A concerned Nathan, despite this odd act, decided to give Miri another chance. Miri promised to be better but she was tested soon enough. Dom (Jamie Michie), Miri's ex-boyfriend, visited the shop and tried to invite Miri out for lunch. Miri, of course, was not interested.
When she had visited Dom the day before, he asked her to "f*ck off". Obviously Miri was in no mood to hear his explanation or apologies. After Dom left, Miri suggested they put balloons up outside the visibly-struggling shop to attract more customers. A thoroughly-frustrated Nathan then told a perplexed Miri to take a long lunch break.
Back at home, Oscar received a call from Mandy (Christine Bottomley), Miri's former best friend who had not kept in touch with her while she was in prison. Mandy wished to speak with Miri -- her pretext was that she had found a job for her. Oscar told her that it is too late. Miri had already found work.
At her long lunch break, while sitting alone on a bench by the seaside, Miri was accosted by Dom, who clearly has not given up trying to talk to her. He tried to smooth things over, and maybe even rekindle their old relationship -- or at least have sex. But Miri wasn't interested; and not just because Dom was married with kids.
Meanwhile, Caroline and Dom texted back and forth -- we saw in episode 1 that they have been having an affair. Dom and Caroline met soon after and she explained to him that they needed to stop meeting.
When Miri returned to the fish and chips shop Nathan sends her out on a delivery to a nearby school. But a surprise awaited Miri there. It was Mandy who ordered the fish and chips. Miri was in no mood to speak with Mandy. She tried to leave but found the door locked.
After a heated argument with Mandy about how she did not bother to remain friends, Miri dropped the food on the ground and stormed out. Back at the shop, Miri found something nice waiting for her.
Nathan had used her balloon idea and suddenly the shop was full of customers. Things were going great until a brick came smashing through the window, injuring Miri. An emotionally- and physically-hurt Miri left the store only to run into Billy, who offered to drive her to someplace else.
Billy bought Miri some ice cream. She soon found herself at peace, enjoying the simple pleasures of Billy's company and ice cream. But things only go bad for Miri the moment they start looking up.
Billy offered to take Miri up to "the radar thing" by the cliff. When Miri refused, Billy, who was ignorant of Miri's past, mentions an old incident where a teenaged girl murdered another girl at the spot. Miri was distressed.
The end of the episode saw the cliff and "the radar thing". In the background, there was an emergency call about two girls getting into a fight and how one girl pushed the other one over the edge.
‘Back to Life’ airs every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime.