Wolf is a grisly BBC crime thriller that follows two separate storylines that will eventually collide in a thrilling finale.
The gripping series follows DI Jack Caffery, who’s obsessed with the neighbor he believes murdered his ten-year-old brother in the 1990s. His story soon collides with a wealthy family, the Anchor-Ferrers, who find themselves becoming the victims of a pair of psychopaths and their cruel games.
It's a slow-burn style thriller and at first, it's not really clear how these two cases will become linked, but in the first episode, we got a lot of key exposition about the main characters and their motivations.
Some viewers were confused by the first installment so if you need a recap, here's what you need to know about Wolf episode 1...
Jack's obsession
Wolf episode 1 opens with DI Jack Caffery (Ukweli Roach) who is traumatised by nightmares of his brother Ewan, who was abducted and presumably murdered years ago. He obsessively watches his parents' neighbour Penderecki (Anthony Webster) from his brother's bedroom window, convinced he is responsible for what happened.
Ewan's body was never found and Jack keeps finding children's toys on his doorstep, meaning he's never been able to fully move on from the ordeal. Jack recently moved back to London from Wales, and is in a relationship, but is still plagued by reminders of what happened.
He tries to focus on work but there's been a series of rather unpleasant attacks and assaults going on in his jurisdiction, meaning it's becoming increasingly harder for him to move on as he keeps having to deal with cases of a very intense nature.
Jack manages to get a full statement from a domestic abuse victim after scaring her with graphic descriptions of what might happen if her husband continues, so it's clear his approach to police work is no-nonsense and at times, downright terrifying.
On top of that, he is a bit of a lone wolf and is rather secretive. He hasn't lived in London for a while, he doesn't really know his new colleagues or have any friends, but is he hiding something deeper?
Jack's obsession with Penderecki grows stronger when he speaks to the superintendent, claiming he's sure he took Ewan but there's no evidence, and she reveals she knows he was recently released from prison for unrelated charges.
He explains there are "three weeks he can't account for" when it comes to Penderecki, which has made him suspicious about what happened during this crucial blindspot.
The superintendent explains he was being held at the time and gotten involved "in a scuffle" with another man, who could know something about Ewan.
However, she criticizes him for using police resources to conduct unauthorized searches on him, putting Jack in an increasingly more difficult position, especially when she orders him to "take an early leave".
The Monsters of Monmouthshire
While Jack's dealing with his own demons, the wealthy Anchor-Ferrers family: mum Matilda (Juliet Stevenson), her businessman husband Oliver (Owen Teale) and daughter Lucia (Annes Elwy), are returning to their Welsh home in rural Monmouthshire so Oliver can recuperate from a heart operation.
Although their hopes for a peaceful stay are soon ruined. they remain troubled by a double murder case, known locally as 'The Donkey Pitch Murders' that previously occurred in the area. And when police officers Honey (Sacha Dhawan) and Molina (Iwan Rheon) turn up, things get worse.
Not only that, but the family found intestines dripping from the trees which deeply unsettled them and the two new arrivals aren't doing much to reassure them.
They torment the family by claiming someone was "waiting" outside their house and coax key information out of the family such as the fact the phone lines are down and the Wi-Fi is not working, isolating them further.
It turns out Honey and Molina are not officers at all and they soon take the family hostage in their rural home. With no one nearby to call for help, it's a perilous situation.
Honey and Molina soon reveal their true intentions, graphically describing how they murdered a woman, and then proceed to further torment Matilda by laughing in her face when she asks where they've taken her husband and daughter, having disappeared to "check on the back door" a few moments prior.
Most of episode 1 focuses on Jack, and near the end, flashes forward to him finding the Anchor-Ferrers' family dog staying with a local, but we're not quite sure how he ended up there yet... or where Oliver and Lucia are.
