DISCLAIMER: This recap of Criminal Record Season 1 Episode 2, “Two Calls,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril. 

“Two Calls” hurls the investigation in a new direction, with potent, magnetic performances from Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi. They’re coming for those future Emmy nods. As for the narrative, it isn’t entirely unique or innovative, but that’s okay. It’s damn entertaining and compelling enough for viewers to want to see how it all shakes out. For me, it’s a blast watching Capaldi and Jumbo play cat and mouse as Dan is perpetually one step ahead of June in this outing. Nothing beats a good game of cat and mouse. 

We feel June’s frustration as all the men around her attempt to shut down her digging. But are they the ones squaring off against Adelaide Burrowes’ potential murderer and running into a burning home to save a family? Didn’t think so. June Lenker is a badass. 

“Two Calls” is a thrilling outing that builds on episode one’s momentum, and while the story holds your attention, the character-driven work and nuanced performances steal the show. 

Ready to delve into “Two Calls”? Let’s get to it. 

RELATED: Check out our recap of Criminal Record Season 1 Episode 1, “Emergency Caller”

Confronting a Killer 

We open where we left off, with DS June Lenker (Jumbo) barreling into the building to confront Maria De Souza’s boyfriend/killer. She ventures to the ninth floor, Apartment 942. Upon entering, she discovers yellow paint splattered all over the place. A shattered glass coffee table. A phone in the bathroom sink with a cracked screen. Yellow handprints on the side of the bathtub indicate a struggle. And, of course, the open window where Maria fell to her death. (Or was she pushed?) 

Sonya Singh sits at a table in a restaurant in London while looking pensive in Criminal Record Season 1 Episode 2, "Two Calls."

CRIMINAL RECORD Season 1 Episode 2, “Two Calls.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Suddenly, a tall man barges into the flat, grabbing a phone before running. It’s not a smart move to return to the scene of the crime, dude. June chases him to the elevator, where they both duke it out as said elevator takes them to the ground floor. It’s a fight in close quarters — enough to make anyone squirm. The camera angles here make you feel like you’re in the action with June, for better or worse. He chokes her just enough to incapacitate her before fleeing the building once the elevator doors open. 

Identification

Later, we see June sitting on a hospital bed following her traumatic encounter with Tall Man. DCI Roy Chambers (Ian Bonar) shows June a series of photos so she can identify her assailant. She lands on Clive Silcox (Andrew Brooke), the towering bald dude who attacked her in the elevator. June starts asking probing questions regarding Silcox. Does he have a criminal record? A history of violence? Where did he reside in 2011 when Adelaide Burrowes was murdered? Chambers urges June to take it easy. She just experienced a traumatic event. That said, if any connection between Silcox and Adelaide surfaces, Chambers vows to leave no stone unturned. 

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Meanwhile, DCI Dan Hegarty (Capaldi) gets a phone call from DS Kim Cardwell, his buddy from The Sixty-Twos. Leo (Stephen Campbell Moore), June’s partner, and Jacob (Jordan Nash), her teen son, visit her after Chambers departs. Leo yells at one of the night nurses, ordering that a doctor tend to June despite her getting the okay to leave. 

Active Investigation 

After her stint in the hospital, June struggles to relax at home. She leaves Leo a note, revealing she’s heading to work. We see her visit various women’s shelters, where she spreads the news about Silcox being on the run. Then, June wakes the following day in her car to a call from Chambers. He asks her to make a beeline for Maria’s apartment complex. She reunites with Dan, who reveals that Silcox is under active investigation for his assaulting a woman last October. Dan refers June to his colleague, DI Viv Gearing (Anna Francolini), for any questions she might have. 

DS June Lenker sits at her desk in the police station in London while looking focused in Criminal Record Season 1 Episode 2, "Two Calls."

CRIMINAL RECORD Season 1 Episode 2, “Two Calls.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

However, June continues chatting with Dan. Before Maria died, she identified herself as the Hayes Lane emergency caller from the previous week. June knows that both callers are the same woman. June asks for permission to interview Silcox (if they catch him) regarding the allegations against him for Adelaide’s murder. Two calls; same woman. Dan believes they’re two different women (or rather, he’s throwing June off the scent). 

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Later, June returns to work to find DI Diana Markham (Carolina Main) in Chambers’ office. She hands June a list of eight search violations where she looked up license plate numbers but failed to attach any case numbers. Ergo, no attributable crimes. Markham wants June to go through each one and add a case number. We know her mom had her search various license plate numbers in the station’s database. 

Doris Mathis 

Of course, June can’t stop thinking about Clive Silcox and his potential connection to Adelaide Burrowes. She finds an article about Doris Mathis (Cathy Tyson) and her endeavors to appeal her son Errol’s conviction. June tracks down Doris at her establishment as a tailor/seamstress. She asks Doris about Silcox and whether he knows Errol. Doris interprets this visit as June pinning another crime on Errol — one he didn’t commit. She orders June to leave. 

Meanwhile, Dan meets with Kim (Shaun Dooley). Dan urges Kim to ensure that June can’t reopen the Errol Mathis case. They must keep Silcox separate from an 11-year-old investigation. Dan insists they got the right guy, meaning Errol, but I don’t believe he believes that for a second. Elsewhere, Sonya Singh (Aysha Kala) calls June to confront her regarding her interaction with Doris, Sonya’s client. June insists she wasn’t there to accuse Errol of anything, only to discover if he was somehow connected to Silcox. 

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At Dan’s home, we see him wander into a lit bedroom, where he stares at, presumably, the bed, before flicking the lights off. We haven’t seen this mysterious person he lives with, making me wonder if this daughter or niece is even alive. Perhaps he’s in grief mode. The following morning, June and Leo have some one-on-one time on their way to Jacob’s football game. Leo even calls June a “sexy parker.” How cute. 

Privilege

Next, at the match, June reveals that she looked up those license plate numbers solely for her mother. They’re not allowed to search that information outside of an active investigation and must attach case numbers. She’s protecting her mom because she doesn’t want her to get sectioned again (kept in a hospital). The conversation turns to June going up the ladder to crack this Silcox/Adelaide/Maria/Errol case. She believes it’s all connected (like the MCU). Leo thinks she can easily skate above Chambers and Dan’s heads. However, that’s easy for him to say. He’s not a Black woman working in the police force in the UK. Leo realizes she’s talking about his privilege, which he does have. 

A profile of DCI Dan Hegarty as he drives a car in London in Criminal Record Season 1 Episode 2, "Two Calls." He looks annoyed.

CRIMINAL RECORD Season 1 Episode 2, “Two Calls.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Amid their argument, June receives a phone call. There’s been a tip regarding Silcox’s whereabouts. She meets Dawn (Scarlett Brookes) at the latter’s home. June mentions that Dawn used to date Silcox, which gives the woman pause. She also looks panicked. Dawn lowers her voice, claiming she can’t help because her mother is upstairs. June looks up, realizing she’s referring to Silcox. 

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Then, June calls for backup after verifying that Silcox is inside the home. She hears shouting and objects breaking and continues asking for backup with more urgency. Realizing the other officers might not arrive in time, June takes matters into her own hands. She dons a bulletproof vest before barreling into the line of fire. Literally — there’s a fire. June asks for assistance from the fire department. We see Dawn and her family trapped in a bedroom, which June busts open. Meanwhile, Silcox tries to hang himself, but June prevents him from doing so. 

Putting It All on the Table 

Later, Dan, Viv, June and Chambers meet at the East London Police Station to discuss the events unfolding. Before this, Chloe (Dionne Brown) gives June her phone, which shows a copy of the pathology report from Maria’s death. Chloe makes June promise to delete it after reading it. June takes that information from the path report into her meeting with Dan. Dan and June argue over the technicalities of the case. June still wholeheartedly believes that both emergency calls were from Maria De Souza, the Hayes Lane caller. However, Dan insists that both voices are too different. 

Then, to her detriment, June mentions the fact that Maria had two healing stab wounds on her body. The anonymous caller, the first one, revealed her boyfriend stabbed her. He utilized the same knife on her as he did on Adelaide. Why else would she have said stab wounds if both calls didn’t originate from the same person? Dan demands to know if June read the pathology report. That was confidential and only meant for Viv. June protects Chloe, claiming she merely noticed the wounds on Maria’s body after she fell. 

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This scene is riveting. Capaldi and Jumbo are playing a high-stakes tennis match, and it’s enthralling. Dan reveals they’ve caught Silcox, and he’s confessed to murdering Maria. June demands to interrogate Silcox. She’ll prove that Maria is both callers and that Silcox killed Adelaide. Oh, and she wants forensics to investigate both calls to prove her point.

DCI Dan Hegarty stands outside in London at night while looking over his shoulder before entering a building.

CRIMINAL RECORD Season 1 Episode 2, “Two Calls.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.

Meeting Silcox

Sure enough, Dan allows June to meet with Silcox under the condition that she won’t mention Adelaide or Errol. We see him and Chambers watching from the other side of the glass while Viv accompanies June. Prior to this meeting, June learned from Sonya that Errol knows Silcox. In fact, they went to primary school together. June shows him photos of Errol. He corroborates Doris’ statement regarding her son’s connection to Silcox. They know each other.

Then, June procures a picture of Adelaide. Silcox doesn’t respond to it verbally, but June can see he recognizes her. Well, he claims that the case is common knowledge. That’s when Viv promptly ends the interrogation. June reunites with Dan and Chambers. Dan reveals their forensics team concluded definitively that both callers were different women. So, case closed. Right? 

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Righting Wrongs

Outside, Chambers orders June to get it together. She runs into the bathroom, enters a stall and screams into her sweater. Girl, we’ve all been there. Chloe overhears her. June tells Chloe she was wrong. However, Chloe reveals that Dan knew about the forensics report and sat on it before revealing its findings. Inexplicably, he allowed June to go through this song and dance despite that knowledge. 

Then, we see Dan sitting outside a hookah lounge. He spots two men beating up another man on the street. At the same time, he watches a couple dance in the building across from him—the duality of humankind. June knows Dan is hiding something massive. The Sixty-Twos will hopefully meet their downfall. 

She reunites with Sonya to discuss this development. Sure, they lost the battle but could still win the war. Plus, if there are two separate callers, the initial anonymous caller is still alive. She could be the key to freeing Errol and convicting Adelaide’s actual killer. We see Carla (Joana Borja), the first caller from Hayes Lane, riding in the back of a car.

June and Sonya intend to find her. 

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Will June and Sonya track down Carla? Did Silcox kill Adelaide? What else is Dan hiding? Only time (and more episodes) will tell. 

Criminal Record streams new episodes every Wednesday on Apple TV+.

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