'Deadwater Fell' Episode 2: Tom turns out to be a compulsive cheater, and there's a witness to the murders
Is Tom Kendrick really the victim or was he the perpetrator? 'Deadwater Fell' episode 2 gathers a disturbing amount of evidence to show how Tom was not the greatest of husband. As the only survivor of a fire that took the lives of his entire family -- wife Kate and his three daughters, there is a lot of trauma that Tom would have to overcome. However, the first thing that Tom asked as soon as he woke up and met his friends Steve and Jess was: "What has she done?"
After everything that unfolded in episode 2, we wonder if in his mind, it was a given that blaming Kate would take the heat off of everything that happened before, during and after the fire.
Tom is back home after getting treatment and it is time to hold a funeral for his family. He decides to hold one where his eulogy doesn't speak of Kate at all. He only speaks of his daughters and by doing so, tries to portray how he can't forgive his wife for what she had done. Mind you, she is only a suspect at this point. Something about this makes Jess Milner -- Kate's best friend who Tom slept with -- uncomfortable.
Until that moment, Jess too had wondered if Kate had done it, but the love that Kate had for all three of her daughters doesn't really add up. Jess begins to recollect the one time she had sex with Tom every time he tries to use her company for comfort, or when he acts as if he really is in mourning for his wife.
Then she meets a friend of Kate's at the funeral, someone that Kate had done Teacher's Training with, and the first time they speak, the friend makes a weird comment.
When she sees Tom consoling Kate's parents, he does a great job of putting on a show. A thought that had crossed Jess's mind too and the guilt of having betrayed Kate along with the possibility that there is more to the fire than meets the eye, Jess ends up confessing to Steve.
This is a move she is forced to make after she meets with Kate's friend outside of the funeral. At this time, she learns about how Tom had seduced her too and manipulated her into sleeping with him by saying all the right things. This reminds her of how he manipulated her too and and is unable to hold it in any longer and ends up confessing to her partner Steve.
She hopes that he would help her with taking the next step -- that of going to the cops -- but instead, he gets mad at her. While his anger is understandable, given that he just learnt about his partner's unfaithfulness, what is worrisome is the way Jess ends up dealing with it by herself. She goes to the cops, makes the statement and even picks up Tom and drops him at home right after. She does all the chores at his place like she would any other day when she gets a call. Turns out there is a witness who could prove that it was not Kate, but Tom who is the culprit.
Steve is also investigating the case and he is following on the leads regarding the pine needles and that is how he finds a spot in the woods where one of Kate's daughters had probably run out in the middle of the night. When he follows the trail, he sees an abandoned cycle and it is the one owned by one of the local boys who love to get drunk in the woods.
When this boy is brought in for questioning, he confesses to witnessing the little girl running away from someone in the woods, but she doesn't manage to escape. She is picked up by one of her family members and what you expect is not what you see!
New episodes of 'Deadwater Fell' will air on Mondays on Acorn TV.