As the second episode of The Feud begins, Emma Barnett (Jill Halfpenny) walks through a house that appears to have bloody handprints. She has a flashback that looks like a stabbing. John Barnett (Rupert Penry-Jones) talks to Emma about the builders leaving the ladders out. He’s worried about walking under them. Emma says there are worse things to be than a little superstitious like refusing to sign a party wall agreement. She questions what he does all day and whether he gets bored. Emma admits she needs to speak to Derek (James Fleet) and Barbara Abshire (Tessa Peake-Jones). John believes she’s wasting her time since they’ll never change their mind. Beth Barnett (Megan Trower) says they won’t change because they’re ignorant and intransigent. She suggests that’s why Marcus left. He hated them because they never listened to him. John receives a text alert. He says it’s Alan who wants to know if he wants to get a pint later.
Emma is going to speak to Derek. She goes over to his house to speak to him but he ignores her. Emma calls her dad, Terry Dobson (Larry Lamb), as she leaves. She speaks to Alan Spence (Ray Fearon) who says she’s working today. They briefly talk about Sonia (Amy Nuttall) who has had many days off. Emma thinks it’s good that Alan and John are going out for a drink. Alan points out that John asked him and he hasn’t answered yet. Emma suggests she just misheard. Emma says he should ask Sonia and they should all go out. Barbara tells Derek they’ll have to talk to their neighbors sooner or later. Derek thinks it’s better to just stall. Barbara says they’ll build their kitchen and they’ll want to move the tree. Derek urges her to get a grip. Emma speaks to another neighbor, Nick Hewitt (Alex Macqueen), to see if she can see his camera footage. She claims she could sign the petition after seeing the footage. Emma goes home where she watches the footage. She believes she hears something.
Emma sees Sonia walk outside before John approaches her. A furniture van gets into the view and blocks them. When it drives away, John and Sonia are already gone. Beth receives a message from Andi who claims to be a photographer from Pine Bridge. They want to connect with her. She tells Andi that his stuff is great. PC Gallagher (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) receives the message. Beth leaves home and reads Andi’s message about meeting. Beth responds saying she’d love to meet. Sonia talks to Alan about Nick’s camera pointing at their house. Alan asks her about going out with Emma and John later. Alan says he believes Emma is suspicious of John. Sonia seems okay with getting drinks later. Sonia keeps an eye on John when he returns home. Emma gets a message from Nick in the Shelbury Drive Group Chat saying they’re up to three. He mentions there will be more vans and cars today. Emma watches a video on the chat that shows John and Sonia together inside.
Lee Hatby (Chris Gascoyne) introduces John to Pawel who will be helping him. Lee says he doesn’t subcontract besides the electrics. John admits he wasn’t expecting him today. He isn’t sure it’s going to be as easy as his wife thinks either. John reminds Lee that he doesn’t have planning permission or the party wall agreement. Lee says he’s just put a big job back four months for this and he could lose a lot of money. He wants to make sure that doesn’t happen. Nick comes over to ask how long the rock is going to be there. John slams the door in his face. He goes inside to check the planning application. He considers objecting it before Emma and Lee interrupt. Lee says he’s going to have to have a word with the neighbors about the tree. He also begins telling John about ordering supplies and a portaloo. Emma calls her dad to ask what has happened. She pleads with him to call. Beth sits alone at a café. She messages Andi about meeting. Alan talks to Lee and promises this is going to work. John finds Emma on her computer.
He tells her he was in the garden. John says her dad left her a message saying he needs to speak to her. He said he had an answer. John argues that her dad fleeced them. He reminds Emma that she said they weren’t speaking. He thought they had an agreement. Emma says she can’t stop her dad from calling her. John believes she’s hiding something from him. Emma feels the same about him. Emma calls Terry and tells him they need to meet. As she gets ready to leave, John asks her about the street group chat. Nick posted that they signed the petition for the parking permits. Emma says she told him he would think about it. John tells her that Lee is rushing this. He worries the whole thing is becoming a nightmare. John questions whether he should’ve left his job. Emma urges him to find out about the drinks tonight. She visits Nick at home, but he doesn’t answer his door. Sonia returns home and yells for Alan. She calls him to ask when he’s getting back. Sonia goes outside to check out Biscuit.
John asks her if she’s playing hard to get. He says he was out there just looking at his house and thinking about the extension among other things. Derek sees them together through the window. Sonia tells him she’ll see him for drinks tonight. A bird lands on Derek’s windowsill. Emma meets her father in the park. He mentions the planning applications. They start talking about John. Terry complains about him not being able to hold down a job and making Emma work. Terry eventually confirms that she’s got the approval. He asks Emma to give Beth a kiss for him and to send John his best. Barbara confronts Emma to say the surveyors sent them an email. They made the party wall award. Derek says they’ve ignored their concerns. They said they had to do as Emma asked. Derek admits they’ll have no choice in the matter. Emma insists she’s not doing this to upset them. She wants to understand why this is such a big deal. Derek says they’re going to keep fighting because they have a case.
He’s adamant that she’s not going to move their tree. Emma asks if he’s got something to hide. She goes on to say they’ll do whatever they have to. John gets ready to go out for drinks. Emma asks if he’s okay with Lee starting on Monday. John reminds her that it’s her money. She says it’s their money. John wants her to promise that her dad will have nothing to do with it. Emma asks what he thinks of her. At one point, she says she thinks they should consider seeing other people. John realizes she’s talking about seeing other friends instead of Alan and Sonia. Meanwhile, Sonia gets ready while Alan stares out of the window. Nick sees two men in black checking car doors on his security cameras. Then, he sees Sonia leaving John’s house. Emma checks on him and returns the USB stick. Emma says she won’t be needing the parking permits. She tells him that the planning application has already gone through. Emma asks him to move the camera away from their house.
Nick says it makes interesting viewing. He wants to see what the rest of the street thinks about it. Nick looks outside and sees Derek and Barbara upset. Derek blames Barbara for him not being there. He also calls her a fool. Derek worries that these people are going to ruin everything. He says they’ll have to kill him first. Gallagher approaches Beth. At the pub, Alan talks about Nick and calls him paranoid. They agree they do not like him. John tells them a story about his dad. Sonia finds it hilarious although Alan doesn’t think it happened. Alan says it’s not a big deal but he likes the truth. He says John likes an audience. John steps away to use the bathroom while Alan goes for more drinks. Emma tells Sonia it seems like there’s something going on between them. She’d like to think women could tell each other the truth. Emma admits the truth is overrated in her game. Beth hangs out with Gallagher elsewhere. They share drinks. Nick gets ready for work. He sees Derek still complaining through his window. Alan tries to smooth things over with John.
John asks why he’d say that when he thought they were mates. Alan says he thought they were too. He thinks John needs to lighten up. Meanwhile, Nick watches CCTV from the block while at work. On their way back home, Alan apologizes to John once again. Emma says she’d miss everyone if she moved except for Nick who is watching his camera feed. Everyone moons his camera. When they’re alone, Sonia asks Alan what was going on with John. Alan pretends it’s nothing. John tells Emma that Alan was just being a dick. Emma hides a call from her father. John says he’s going to see if Beth is back. While he’s away, Emma steps outside to call her dad who wants to meet. He says it’s for the guy who sorted the planning. Emma notices Derek standing outside near the fence. Emma agrees to call her dad tomorrow. John tells Emma that Beth is out. They see Derek nearby and a dead bird on their property. The bird has a note tied to it saying, “One for sorrow.” There’s a picture of Emma on the other side.
The Feud Review
The second episode of The Feud was a bit slow at times, but decent enough for the most part. Some aspects of the story are better and more believable than others. For starters, the PC Gallagher character is probably too farfetched although anything is possible.
There’s likely too much going on simultaneously leaving a sense of disbelief. As the story progresses, the backstabbing and scheming are becoming more and more common. That really makes it difficult to believe everything that’s happened. Some viewers will be okay suspending reality to enjoy the series though.
The performances are good and the basics are strong. The series just needed a slightly better script and maybe fewer episodes. Regardless, it’s a brainless watch that just barely maintains our attention and gives us just enough reasons to keep going forward.
This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Feud here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion at the forum.