Guilt recap: Blood Ties

At this point, Grace Atwood has become a side-eye-making machine. There’s barely a word she says that feels reliable — hell, even her expressions are shifty as all get-out. Meanwhile, our squadron of legal eagles are starting to get in way over their heads (and other body parts for that matter), and l’artiste Luc is starting to let his true colors shine through in more ways than one.

Here’s a rundown of the characters’ various guilt levels (and why) after this week’s episode of Guilt.

Grace Atwood

One of two things is happening here. Either Grace is the greatest eye-contact manipulation machine in the world and has somehow convinced everybody in her life, friends and enemies alike, to cover for her — or she really is just a victim of circumstance as she would have everyone believe. This week, she pulls out her supportive-slash-concerned girlfriend card and plays it like a pro, and she comes forth on the spot with an all-too-convenient defense of why Molly Ryan just so happened to have Grace’s blood and skin cells under her fingernails the night she was murdered.

Is it feasible that she really did get her belly button pierced by Molly the night she died? Erm, maybe. That’s a big maybe. The look Luc gives her when she later reminds him of that little factoid suggests otherwise, though. He had no memory of that, so it almost read like she was preparing him for his own inevitable next round in the hot seat (which is coming up sooner than later, it seems).

Grace started this episode on a little bit of a high from successfully convincing the social-media world to rally behind her. That might have been personally satisfying and all, but what’s really important at the end of the day is whether the police and prosecutor believe her to be innocent. After all, they’re the ones who will choose whether to arrest her for this crime, so she concedes to a second interview with Gwendolyn Hall, but only after she’s loaded up some ammo about Gwen’s own past experiences with a high-profile murder case.

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She’s underestimated Gwen’s resolve, though, and whether or not she knew the new piece of DNA evidence was in-hand before she walked into the interrogation room, she spent enough time skulking in her seat to throw something together on the fly. Is her excuse a ruse, as Gwen believes, or is it a perfectly logical explanation for why her blood and skin cells were under Molly’s nails that night? Who knows. Grace vacillates so easily from her cold, stoic persona to a warm and expressive young woman that the only real explanation for any of this, at this point, is that she’s got some Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde personality switcheroo going on beneath the surface. Call ‘em Grace and Disgrace?

Guilt-o-meter reading: 9 out of 10. She’s thoroughly worn out her benefit of the doubt by now. She may very well be innocent of Molly’s murder, but she’s damn sure done something wrong.

NEXT: An art show gone terribly wrong…

Luc Pascal

After finding out, almost for certain, that he was not the man responsible for Molly’s pregnancy, Luc started to move into the official column of non-suspects. But now that he’s in handcuffs for peddling cocaine at his gallery opening, well, his hands are certainly unclean of more than just paint.

It’s not like we didn’t know he used drugs. The night of the murder itself was a full-on binge for everyone involved. So, could Grace have anticipated the motive behind his selection for the show — namely, his close relationship to the Molly Ryan case and all the attendant headlines — coupled with his known addiction would result in him being subject to Gwen’s undercover sting operation? And if she did, would you really put it past Grace to show up and make sure to conveniently slip in that little nugget about the belly piercing before Luc got himself into trouble? Either way, Luc’s on his way to Scotland Yard and she’s put that story in his ear to firm up her own account. Coincidence?

Guilt-o-meter rating: 5 out of 10. Yes, he’s totally, unquestionably guilty of selling drugs. But the ease with which he was taken down for that proves he’s not smart enough to be complicit in this murder mess.

Natalie Atwood

Okay, first of all, who would have guessed little doe-eyed Natalie could deliver a punch like that? And then to skillfully work the long con on Detective Bruno the way she is — yes, even her admission she was playing him at the bar and bedding him now seems like a well-executed scheme to get insider deets on the investigation — suggests that maybe there’s more to her than meets the eye.

She obviously had zip to do with the Molly Ryan case (unless she also has the secret power of teleportation, she has that rock-solid alibi of being a continent away from the bloodshed), but it’s becoming pretty clear that shadiness is a genetic quality in the Atwood fam.

Guilt-o-meter reading: Let’s go with a 4 out of 10 for her this time, on account of her willingness to again cross the line of moral turpitude on behalf of Grace (note: the increase is not due to that bogus assault charge they tried to pin on her).

Roz Walters

For the most part, Roz kept her nose clean this week. She wasn’t the most upstanding citizen in the world when she neglected to report Patrick for admittedly breaking the law by staying in London to beseech more information about Molly’s necklace, but other than that, this week wasn’t really about her.

Guilt-o-meter reading: She stands at 6 out of 10. There’s no doubt her continued possession of Molly’s phone and dealings with James (and, by extension, the Russian mafia) will come back into play, so she doesn’t get a pass for inactivity this time.

Prince Theo

From the start, Prince Theo has been presented as the most obviously two-faced personality on the show, so is anyone shocked he stands up as a Royal Goody-Two-Shoes at that commemoration ceremony and then, in the same breath as his saccharine dedication speech, orders his henchman to do whatever it takes to conceal his probable status as the father of Molly Ryan’s unborn baby? Nah. Duplicity is canon for the character at this point.

Guilt-o-meter reading: 8 out of 10. He actually drops a point based on the fact that his lack of believability is almost blasé at present.

NEXT: Detective Bruno’s past comes back to haunt him…

Det. Sergeant Alex Bruno

Well, well, well, look who’s got a dirty secret. The reason Prince Theo is able to bully Bruno into doing his cover-up bidding is because he’s got a past he doesn’t want exposed, and all he has to say is two words: Donovan Tremblay. This Donovan person, apparently, was a sick, sick, sicko who tortured and killed kids, and to get him off the streets, Bruno may have fabricated some essential part of the case. The problem with being found out extends to more than just his employment status and/or Donovan’s probable exoneration. If Detective Bruno is proven to have been a crooked cop, even just that once, every criminal he’s helped convict has the potential to go free on account of evidence against them being fruit of his poisonous tree. So, yeah, he answers the call to hit up Molly’s body for a blood sample — though how her body is still so intact and yet not filled with formaldehyde is beyond reason, but it’s a TV show, so the rules of ordinary life science don’t apply, it seems.

Guilt-o-meter rating: 8 out of 10. The man slept with a key witness in an ongoing investigation, lied to his girlfriend, tampered with evidence, and conspired with a potential murder suspect. Tsk to the tsk.

Detective Pike

It’d be reasonable to ask: Should he even be on this list anymore? And the tentative answer, for now, is yes, because now that he’s presumably gotten a promotion to lead detective on the case thanks to Bruno’s ousting, he’s still worth keeping tabs on. But he’s four-for-four on guiltlessness and stands out as the rare stand-up guy in this show so far.

Guilt-o-meter reading: None now (again).

Gwendolyn Hall

We finally know a little more about her past, but as it turns out, it’s hardly incriminating. The reason she’s so gung ho against Grace right now is because she’s actually seen what happens when ritzy girls go wild. She witnessed a murder herself, once upon a time, as some well-off girls in her class tortured and murdered another student and got off scot-free thanks to their high-price attorney (hence, why she can’t stand Stan Gutterie or his clients). Sure, she should have come forth more quickly with her testimony about the sighting, but it’s not like she sat on it forever. Does she have an agenda? Yes. But is it a seedy one? Not at all. She still wants to get to the bottom of this case, and apart from not turning to authorities with her (correct) hunch about Detective Bruno’s failure to remain above the line, she’s still just doing her job.

Guilt-o-meter rating: Gotta bump her up to 1 out of 10 this time. She should probably do more than just take Bruno off the case, with everything she’s seen and intuited about him so far (hello, unauthorized panty handling?).

Patrick Ryan

He probably would have been better off just going back to Belfast instead of sticking around London to ask more questions, because it turns out he didn’t really want the answers. Yes, his baby sister was a prostitute. An elite one, but a prostitute nonetheless. And he definitely did not need to know that. Now he’s angry, depressed, and downing enough shots to hospitalize a giant, and what has he gained from all this self-inflicted torment? Zip. Bad call, Pat.

Guilt-o-meter reading: He definitely should’ve taken Gwen’s offer to get outta dodge while he could, especially since, ya know, he’s breaking the law by staying in town and all. Other than that, he’s not done anything too terribly wrong just yet. (Heaven help Prince Theo if he does find out he was Molly Ryan’s most enthusiastic client, though, especially if it’s during one of those whiskey binges.) 4 out of 10 it stays, then.

Stan Gutterie

Gotta love the guy for always having that ace in the hole when dealing with the law. To spring Natalie from being prosecuted for fighting back the investigator who was stalking Grace (come on, taking pictures of her getting busy with Luc is Peeping-Tom business and nothing more), he threatens to file a personal-injury suit against them for the same incident and expose the department for its epic fail that was the mishandling of Beatrice Lindley. All this means is he’s an effective advocate for the Atwood family, which is his job, so…can’t fault him too much for that, can we?

Guilt-o-meter rating: He’s holding strong at a 2 out of 10.