Penultimate Melodrama
Episode 9 of White Lines begins in the past as we see Axel starting to come up with ideas for a new club while back in the present, Zoe, Marcus and Kika all decide to take drugs. As Zoe starts to fly, she phones Jen and tell her she’s on drugs. As they keep talking, Mike snatches up the phone and hits Zoe with some home truths about how she’s wrecked their life. Oriol fully embraces Dave’s spiritual teachings in the morning as he makes a tea to help him face his toxic personalities and rid himself of them. After embracing, they both lie down and await the demons to arrive. Only, Clint happens to be watching from afar. He dons a mask and prepares to confront Oriol over him selling the red Alfa to Crisotbal. Unfortunately, Oriol sees him as a giant gorilla and walks head first into a barbed wire fence. At court, Boxer tells the Judge that Zoe is unbalanced and mentions how she gave him a thigh injury, along with his romantic intentions toward her. As he walks away, Zoe receives a verdict from the court – they allow her off the hook by paying 3050 euros and no jail time. Clint agrees to give her the money but as Zoe enters the camper van, she sees Oriol in the bathroom, tied up. This prompts her to question her Father over it but he simply tells her he’s bringing Oriol back to Manchester to be tried for Axel’s murder in court. After giving his testimony earlier in the episode, Boxer visits Dave to try and find Oriol. As he checks the scene near the barbed wire, he finds a baton with “Manchester Police” stamped across the top and immediately realizes it belongs to Clint. He visits Zoe and promises to go to the police and admit what’s happening unless she frees Oriol. Without much of a choice, they race off together to catch the van before it departs. Meanwhile, we see more of Anna’s past and present colliding as she heads to Kika’s and convinces Marcus to attend her and George’s wedding. Given their kids haven’t really warmed to her new man, it’s more to help the kids acclimatize to this new arrangement than anything else. In the past, we see Anna seducing Axel and convincing him to sleep with her, which he does despite clearly feeling guilty about it. He then lashes out at his best friend some time later in the limo calling him a loser and a passenger, welcoming Marcus’ rage-fueled beating that follows. Boxer and Zoe decide to split up when they don’t find the camper van on the ferry. As it turns out, it’s actually on the road and Oriol awakens, breaking free from his restraints and forcing the van into a stack of logs, where one of them finds Clint’s face and kills him instantly. With a good climactic ending and finally some juicy meat to sink your teeth into regarding the mystery, White Lines looks like it may be ending on a relatively decent note after a turbulent run up until this point. Some of the plot contrivances and issues with the overarching narrative have certainly held this back from being a better title, while the different flawed characters have been difficult to warm to as well. Of course, the usual dollop of melodrama is still here but with the focus now turning to just why Axel was hated by so many people, it does leave a lot of questions around just who killed him. Hopefully we find out in the next episode and this one doesn’t end on a cliffhanger!
