The premiere episode of "Passenger" on ITV1 plunges viewers into the enigmatic world of Chadder Vale, a seemingly tranquil Lancashire village with a dark underbelly. The episode, penned by Andrew Buchan, best known for his roles in "Broadchurch" and "The Honourable Woman," sets the stage for a thrilling mystery that combines elements of suspense, horror, and dark comedy.
The story unfolds on a snowy night as local girl Katie Wells (Rowan Robinson) mysteriously vanishes on a woodland lane. The tranquility of the village is shattered by her disappearance, and the responsibility of uncovering the truth falls upon the shoulders of Detective Riya Ajunwa (Wunmi Mosaku), a character with a BAFTA-winning performance in "Damilola, Our Loved Boy" under her belt. Riya's investigation is met with shock and disbelief when Katie reappears the next day, acting as if nothing has happened, setting off a chain of bizarre occurrences and heinous crimes that cast a shadow of fear and paranoia over the community.
The episode opens with a chilling scene involving Kane Jackson (Nico Mirallegro), who hears a banging noise from the back of his lorry while driving through the woods. A strange dark liquid drips from the vehicle, prompting him to hastily leave the scene. His arrival at the Jumbo Bread factory is fraught with tension as he dons a gas mask before opening the back of the lorry, hinting at a concealed and dangerous secret within. The question of what was in the lorry and the necessity of the gas mask remains a lingering mystery.
Meanwhile, a tense encounter at The Dog & Duck pub between Katie, her boyfriend John Trowbridge, and Mehmet Shah escalates into violence, leading to Katie driving Mehmet home through the same ominous woods. A mysterious creature or beast interrupts their journey, leaving viewers on edge and questioning the nature of the threat lurking in the woods.
The unseasonable cold in Chadder Vale, with snow that never seems to settle, adds to the eerie atmosphere. Riya's journey through the village is filled with peculiar observations and cryptic comments about the weather, suggesting a supernatural element at play.
At the gym, Riya encounters Tony Corrigan, the owner, and later celebrates her 40th birthday with a cake, a moment of levity in an otherwise tense episode. The police station scene highlights the lack of serious crime in Chadder Vale, with Riya expressing her desire for more challenging cases, such as the missing Swedish girl, Nina Karlsson, whose case has been closed with her recent sighting.
The release of Eddie Wells from prison after serving five years of a ten-year sentence is met with disdain by the community, particularly Chief Constable Linda Markel, who refers to him as a "sick mind." The episode leaves viewers questioning Eddie's past crimes and his potential connection to the current events.
Riya's flashback to her youth, where she hides under a bed, adds a personal and mysterious layer to her character, hinting at a traumatic past that may influence her present actions. Mehmet's mysterious computer game, which tracks a beast through a forest, seems to parallel the events unfolding in Chadder Vale, and his notation of a code at the end of the game suggests a deeper involvement in the unfolding mystery.
As the episode concludes, the audience is left with more questions than answers. The hole in the cage from the lorry at Jumbo Breads and the black liquid from the stag's corpse that explodes in the forensic lab point to a supernatural presence that has escaped into the woods. "Passenger" Season 1 Episode 1 is a gripping start to a series that promises to delve deep into the secrets of Chadder Vale, with each character's past and present actions intertwined in a complex web of mystery and suspense.