Inside Man's $253.55 cents mystery explained
Inside Man episode one spoilers follow.
Inside Man episode one ended on one heck of a tense moment.
Before you click further, be warned there are some massive spoilers below.
Man of the cloth Harry Watling (David Tennant) has royally screwed things up. His 'good deed' (hiding one man's porn USB from his mother) has spiralled exponentially out of control and maths tutor Janice Fife (Dolly Wells) is at the end of that wreckage.
After discovering the porn was actually of a paedophilic nature, Janice is misinformed and refuses to believe the vicar when he says it doesn't belong to his son (her tutee). Their crossed wires lead to her being trapped in the cellar and well, things don't look good for Harry.
So many questions are left bubbling at the surface. Will the tenacious journalist Beth Davenport (Lydia West) figure out Janice's cryptic SOS text message?
Will the Watlings be able to cover their tracks now that Janice has spread her blood and piss all over the room?
Perhaps the most pressing question when you've got an accidental hostage trapped in your basement should be pork chops, chicken or a Chinese takeaway? What will she be having for dinner? Of course you don't want to offend if she's a veggie right? So maybe that's a better question?
We, however, have turned our sights to another mystery that niggled us from the beginning of the episode. In fact it was still a head scratcher for some by the end, despite it being gently explained.
It's nothing to do with our poor vicar who by now is arduously making his way up the creek without that trusty paddle. It does, however, have everything to do with $253.55 and the death-row inmate Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci).
Jefferson Grieff is an unusual prisoner. Not least because he has accepted his judgement and believes his death is commensurate but also because as an ex professor of criminology he still takes cases while in prison. His only requirement being that they have moral worth.
One such case that he initially considers before rejecting is that of a Senator Claude Kreiner (Simon Delaney).
Kreiner seeks the help of the convicted murderer to solve a conundrum that puzzled us too.
As Kreiner explained, for the last three months, at irregular intervals, a sum of money is paid into his account. $253.55 to be precise. Never more, never less but always at irregular intervals.
After a while he realises that he receives the money every time he has sex with his wife. There's nothing kinky or unusual about their marital union, we discover thanks to cannibalistic inmate Dillan (Atkins Estimond), who enquires. (If you're wondering why he's present at these meetings it's because he acts as Jefferson's human equivalent of a tape recorder thanks to his photographic memory).
Based off this scrap of information Jefferson begins to laugh, having figured it out. Not that he shares his conclusion with anyone, at least not yet.
He simply refuses the case because of its lack of moral worth and encourages Dillan who (like us) doesn't get it to 'think about it' and think about it he does. For the entire episode.
The only additional information we have to work with is the fact that 30 years prior to their meeting Mr Kreiner was accused of sexually assaulting two people, with a third, Selina Kedese, considered a potential victim.
Selina now works in his office. This information is critical because, among her other duties, Selina also handles the accounts.
As we're not that clueless, it can be assumed that Selina is the one paying Kreiner anonymously – but why?
Why would a rape victim gift her rapist money, and what is the link to him and his wife?
Eventually Jefferson breaks it down but if you don't pay absolute attention you will miss the ta-da moment.
Jefferson theorises Kreiner's wife has only recently discovered her husband is guilty of being an actual rapist – not just accused, actually guilty. This, he surmises, happens during a conversation with Selina.
After learning this, the act of making love to her husband is something so revolting she can't reconcile with it.
This is a major bombshell and one that Mrs Kreiner is not ready to confront her husband about. However she does need to talk to someone about it and so she turns to a therapist.
Counselling sessions do not come cheap and a large amount like that regularly withdrawn would be noticeable from their accounts – so she uses a secret account.
Mrs Kreiner instructs Selina (who as you remember handles the accounts) to make the payment. Selina also happens to be the only other person to know of Mr Kreiner's deplorable act.
When making the request Jefferson explains that Mrs Kreiner is probably very vague in the text message, saying something along the lines of: "Tell no one, don't ask me why just do it."
Selina does as instructed even though the request of paying the therapist must have seemed very, very strange.
Why very, very strange and not just strange? Well, therein lies the big reveal.
In proceeding with Jefferson's inference it would not be unusual for a woman of Selina's age range (in her 50s) to have problems with her eyesight.
One such person may even need to enlarge the font size on the phone screen to make the message readable.
Mrs Kreiner's text message reading "Pay therapist $253.55 cents," could have unfortunately been split on to another line at the most inopportune word, changing the sentence (and its meaning) to "Pay the rapist $253.55 cents." This Jefferson demonstrates with an illustration on paper) and so Selina does just that.
Every time they have sex, Selina pays the rapist (ie Claude Kreiner) $253.55.
Meanwhile the poor therapist never gets paid. Sure they send out that reminder and so the dutiful Selina 'pays the rapist' once again upon Mrs Kreiner's instruction and yet still the therapist does not get paid.
Dillan gets a good chuckle out of it in the end, he guffaws in fact and quite rightly so. It's a clever, funny moment all set up to demonstrate how quick off the mark Jefferson is especially when working next to no information. However it is not without its flaws and we are left with a few more questions.
Like why didn't the therapist mention the lack of payment during their sessions with Mrs Kreiner? Or after a few sessions of not getting paid refuse further appointments until paid?
Maybe we would have been given satisfactory answers to these bugbears had Jefferson taken the case but Mr Kreiner's situation is definitely one that lacks moral worth so this is likely all we'll be getting.
Episode one of BBC's Inside Man is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer. The second episode will air on Tuesday, September 27 followed by the third and fourth on October 3 and 4. Each episode will be available to stream on iPlayer after it airs.
If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, you can access more information from Rape Crisis England and Wales, who work towards the elimination of all forms of sexual violence and sexual misconduct, on their website or by calling the National Rape Crisis Helpline on 0808 802 9999. Rape Crisis Scotland’s helpline number is 08088 01 03 02.
Readers in the US are encouraged to contact RAINN, or the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800-656-4673.
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