November of 1940 finds the Halcyon on the eve of its 50th anniversary celebration—and under the evil shadow of Lucian D’Abbeville.
Our suspicions are confirmed—he’s selling information about transatlantic convoys and departure dates. As his contact observes, “You’re not a man complicated by ideology.”
Richard Garland puts Emma in charge of the festivities to mark the anniversary and she seeks the advice of Joe O’Hara. He’s surprised and delighted when she accepts his invitation to do so over dinner and drinks. “We can work with ‘yes’,” he tells her.
MI5 arrives at the reception desk in force, a search warrant for Toby’s room in hand. Someone in his small department has been leaking sensitive information. Toby is taken into custody and interrogated. Lady Hamilton sends for Freddie. D’Abbeville is nosing around and Mr. G is becoming suspicious of him.
Freddie heeds the sage advice of Mr. Garland and uses his tenuous connections among the upper crust to secure Toby’s release. A cloud of suspicion, however, still hangs over Toby’s head.
A young man takes a shine to Betsy and is rude when she rebuffs his overtures. Sonny Sullivan sends Mr. Wilson packing, but not before Wilson sees the two of them kiss. With his racial bigotry inflamed, Wilson and two accomplices confront Sonny. Sonny gets the best of Wilson and the man goes to Mr. Garland to demand that Sonny be fired.
Sonny firmly declines Mr. G’s request that he offer a humble and sincere apology to Wilson. He can’t spend his whole life saying “sorry” for things he didn’t do, Sonny explains. Just as we’re about to be very cross at RG for firing Sonny, the Mr. Garland we’ve come to know and respect shines through. Mr. G will deal with the odious Wilson himself. Just as RG is about to put Wilson in his place, Sonny comes through with the requested apology. As he later explains to Mr. Garland, he did it for Mr. G—not Wilson.
Billy’s death continues to eat away at Feldman, RG, and—of course—Peggy. Feldman is worried that Peggy isn’t dealing with the reality of her son’s death. In a touching scene between the three colleagues, Peggy asks them if they miss Billy. She tells them that if they do, it would mean a lot to her to hear them say so. It turns out Feldman has written a poem about Billy. He hands it to Peggy and departs, leaving a grieving Peggy in RG’s arms.
Emma and Joe enjoy their night on the town. She asks him if he’s sorry he stayed in London. “I’m not a fan of regrets,” he tells her. “Some things are worth staying around for.” We’re sure he thinks she is one of them. We (and Freddie) later see them kiss on the back stair.
Freddie confesses to RG that he would like to speak to Emma “to see if there’s any way she would consider me again.” RG reiterates his warning that he doesn’t want to see Emma get hurt. Freddie tries to explain to Emma why he broke up with her but is interrupted by Joe, ready to talk about Emma’s plans for the anniversary. Joe is a good guy, but we want her to end up with Freddie!
Toby confronts Adil and learns that Adil leaked information stolen from Toby’s briefcase. Adil discloses D’Abbeville’s involvement and Toby storms out to find the man. He’s intent on exposing D’Abbeville’s treachery but the man is two steps ahead. The episode closes as Lady Hamilton announces her engagement to D’Abbeville.
How is RG going to sort all of this out? We can’t wait to see.
Aired at 9pm on Monday 13 February 2017 on ITV.
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