Character Info - Currently Up to Date of Season 15 Ep 19

[gadaboutdetective]

Character Name: Llewellyn Watts
Canon: Murdoch Mysteries
Age: 27-31ish
Birthday: Not stated, I headcanon May 20th
Canon Point: Generally Season 12-15

Random Notable Info

History:

Beware, there be spoilers here!

Llewellyn comes in to the series to re-investigate one of Murdoch’s older cases. The culprit had managed to bring attention to some key evidence being questionable and so was released after twelve years in jail. Llewellyn is brought in to take over as Murdoch could be considered biased given his history with the case. Introduced as the new detective at Station House 1, he is at first seemingly abrasive and vaguely insulting. He is all business and has been lead to believe that he was called in to deal with a screw up on Murdoch and Dr. Ogden’s part. However, as the case progresses, it’s clear that he doesn’t intend to come off as offensive and is simply just blunt. He lacks a filter, and tends to say the first thing that comes to mind. (IE: “The detective was wrong. You're not pretty. Look at you... Classic, Romanesque bone structure, excellent physiognomic symmetry... You're not pretty, you're beautiful.” Julia replies, "Well, I suppose I'm flattered." He asks, "Why? It's merely an objective assessment.") Despite this, he is a brilliant investigator. According to Constable Crabtree after spending time helping with the investigation, Watts reminds him of Murdoch back when he began working with the detective.

Unfortunately, people don’t tend to have the patience to get so far as to realize this about him. His strange mannerisms, scattered investigation methods, bluntness, and randomly philosophical musings tend to get on peoples nerves. He is later asked to vacate station house 1 due to personality conflicts, and he openly admits that the personality conflict was is his own according to his superiors. Watts moves immediately to Station House 4, almost as if that were the logical solution to his problem. Detective Murdoch is acting as the Inspector for a time while Brackenreid is travelling with the inventor James Pendrick for a time. Here we start to learn a little more about Llewellyn himself. When asked if he should take Murdoch’s office and William says that he intends to keep and work out of his own office instead, Watts professes that he prefers Brackenreid’s office anyway, as it has separate exits. This leads one to believe that he feels the need to have an escape plan ready at any moment. It is possible that due to his bluntness and odd behaviours that he has been victimized in the past. This is further proven later in the season when Julia comes up behind him (Albeit disguised as a man) and his reaction is to turn around in fright shouting that he’s a police officer and attempts to clumsily raise a fist to appear threatening (Almost laughable. He has zero form and his panic was apparent).

Llewellyn soon settles into the station, though still is at odds with Murdoch on occasion while the other man grows accustomed to his quirks and methods. He befriends Constable Jackson while continuing his investigation into the disappearance of women in Toronto. He’s almost obsessed with the case, and refuses to believe or accept that the woman simply don’t want to be found (though this later does turn out to be the case). This is due to the fact that he has a personal connection with the case, as his older sister also went missing when he was a child without a trace.

Watts parents died when he was a child and his care left to his elder sister Clarissa, who disappeared when he was 12. He believes that she was taken, and the loss stays with him into adulthood. He needs to know what happened, he needs the closure. Wondering for fifteen years whether your only remaining family is alive or dead cuts deep, and Llewellyn wants nothing more than to have the person responsible brought to justice, along with bringing justice for the other families as well.

So when he discovers that not only is she alive, but that she ran away of her own free will, it leaves him reeling. Clarissa ran away due to not wanting the responsibility of raising a child, which while entirely understandable, she does not go about this well. Llewellyn was, again, 12 at the time and very clever. He would have understood, and it would have been kinder to at least talk to him before she ran away instead of leaving him to wonder if she’d been murdered or not. Unfortunately, the first thing she does upon being discovered living in an estate with other run away women instead of telling the truth is to lie about what happened. She blamed a man threatening to harm her and him should she have not run away with him. There is a man, however he didn’t even know that she had a younger sibling, and had actually been quite in love with Clarissa. He has no idea what happened to her after she ran off with the tickets he had purchased for them to leave together on a trip they had planned.

When Llewellyn discovers lie upon lie, and the eventual outburst in which she states to his face that she simply hadn’t wanted him, he becomes quite embittered and throws himself full force into the case. The others involved in the investigation know that he’s hurting and at least stop him from doing anything that could be damaging to the lives of those hiding away at the estate. It’s not that he doesn’t understand why she did what she did. He recognizes that what she’s doing is important for women who are in need of help, but Llewellyn values the truth above all else. The fact that she continued to lie to him and didn’t even try to talk to him first causes him to be unable to forgive her for the hurt she caused him. That said, Watts would be willing to work on their relationship. He even asks Clarissa if he can ever see her again. Unfortunately she states that she will not see him again. At the end of the case, Clarissa moves herself and the women who do not decide to go back to their families to an estate in Europe, again telling him before leaving that she doesn’t intend to be in contact with him ever again. They part ways after coming to a sort of understanding, though Llewellyn is still clearly hurting from this encounter. Thus far she has not made another appearance.

Now a permanent fixture in the station, Llewellyn continues to provide alternative points or insight to a variety of cases. In one such case, it is discovered that Llewellyn is Jewish, though he had no idea about it himself until recognizing a song some children are singing as something his mother used to sing when she was alive. It turns out that the song is a Yiddish lullaby, and he later learns that their surname was originally Wattenburg before they immigrated to Canada. Llewellyn chooses to learn more about his heritage and is drawn to the sense of belonging that it leaves him. The episode closes with him attending Shabbos dinner with the family of a boy that helped with the case, after disapproving of a comedy act he was invited to watch. The writers fail to make reference to this again, but it is undoubtedly an important part of Watts life and I imagine he has continued to learn and explore his roots further when he isn’t at the station house or working on a case.

As the series progresses and everyone at Station House 4 grows to respect and watch out for Watts, it is revealed that the landlady who took him in after his sister abandoned him had also taken in two other boys (Hubert and Daniel) who grew up with Llewellyn, and he came to feel about them as though they really were his brothers. He also became their protector of sorts as they were bullied by a harsh, cruel boy who lived in the same neighbourhood named Nigel Baker. Nigel was said to take delight in causing pain and suffering of others, and the twins were a favourite target of his. Considering what we see concerning Watts and physical conflicts (flinching, not fighting back, avoiding being cornered, always knowing where an escape route is) it’s very likely that he would redirect Nigel’s torture on himself when he was trying to protect them. Eventually, Nigel goes so far as to kill Daniel. He is convicted of the murder, however is later released from prison due to the murder weapon being called into question. It is believed the knife had a finger mark that was a plant, and so the man is allowed to go free.

Nigel is murdered shortly after being released, and Watts is found wounded at the scene of the crime. He confesses to killing Nigel in a struggle for the gun that the man was said to be threatening him with. However, this is a lie (which is an interesting point, as Dr. Ogden does not believe Llewellyn is capable of lying) because he believes that his brother Hubert is the actual culprit, and is seeking to cover the murder up and protect him. The lies start to come to light as Murdoch and George look into Nigel’s past crimes, and it is revealed that not only was Llewellyn involved in the case but also family in every way but blood to the twins.

Nigel did indeed torture and murder Daniel, but had a man inside the station tamper with the murder weapon. The finger print connecting it to the murder is wiped clean, and in a desperate attempt to fix the problem Watts takes matters into his own hands and has Hubert take the knife and reapply the finger mark during the funeral. Unfortunately, Hubert had issues remembering left from right and applied the wrong finger print, thus providing an opportunity for the evidence to be discredited and allow Nigel to be set free.

The idea for motive turns to the idea of Llewellyn murdering the man himself, and then finally they realize he’s trying to take the fall for the murder himself. Unfortunately, Hubert was not actually the one responsible for killing Nigel. Though he intended to do so, he doesn’t have the chance to pull the trigger before Nigel over takes him and proceeds to torture and murder him the exact same way he did Daniel. His body is discovered several days later, and Murdoch confronts Watts with the hypotheses that he discovered Hubert’s body and proceeded to murder Nigel himself for it, showing the man pictures of Hubert’s corpse in an attempt to get him to tell the truth. Llewellyn, of course, had no idea his brother was actually dead. He had assumed Hubert left town in an attempt to hide and get away with his crime. Murdoch is filled with instant regret as he watches Llewellyn have a complete breakdown over the realization that another family figure has been stolen from him.

After discovering the culprit (actually Nigel’s own father, horrified by the realization of what kind of monster his son actually was and trying to make it right), Watts attempts to turn in his badge for having made such a mess of the case. Brackenreid tells him to take the badge back and refuses to allow him to resign, given that Llewellyn was only acting out of a need to see justice done and wanting to make things right. Both Murdoch and Brackenreid are firm believers that there are occasions where the law can actually be detrimental to the people it’s supposed to be there to protect. Watts accepts, but questions whether or not justice really was done. Given both his brothers are now dead and their killer will never be prosecuted now that he’s been murdered and the man’s father will likely be hanged in his place.

Llewellyn resumes his duties at the station and works harder than ever to see to it that cases are solved. (Rather than actually try to deal with his trauma and process what’s happened...)

One would hope that after everything, that Watts would catch a bit of a break for a while. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes again when he looks into the death of a young woman named Lucille Palmer. Lucille was a witness for one of his prior cases when working at Station House 1, and she was murdered in their jurisdiction. Due to where she was murdered (a known opium den), the case isn’t given the attention it should be. He can‘t let it go and despite Inspector Brackenreid telling him that he has other things ‘cooking up’ at the moment (that something being his intention to get Murdoch a promotion to Inspector at another station). Watts pursues the case anyway, and upon discovering that Constable John Brackenreid knew Lucille and the people she was known to hang around, he enlists the young man’s help on the case.

Unfortunately, John is also not as forthcoming with information and keeps important details from Watts. Not knowing they were walking into a potentially dangerous situation, he is unaware that John is carrying a gun to due to being afraid of their suspect. They split up to cover more ground, and John ends up being shot. Llewellyn is panicked by the discovery and though John doesn’t die, he does end up in a very bad state. Already at odds with Inspector Brackenreid, this really pushes things over the edge. In a fit of rage, the Inspector lashes out and attacks Watts at the station the night of the incident and has to be forcefully pulled off of the Detective.

Watts retreats due to feeling guilty and responsible for John’s condition (despite this not actually being his fault, John should have communicated clearly with him on the matter), and withdraws from everyone entirely. He practically moves into a local tavern to drown his sorrows, and given the year he’s had it’s not surprising to see him finally break.

Doctor Ogden seeks him out several times, to commiserate (she was the operating surgeon when John was brought in, and also feels responsible for his state) and to check on him to make sure he’s okay. Eventually she encourages him to not give up and tries to explain that he shouldn’t feel responsible for this. Watts slowly pulls himself out of his alcohol fuelled depression long enough to help work the case with Murdoch and resolve it. Sadly, the damage was already done. Watts tries to keep pulling himself back together, rejoining his running club and continue moving forward, but ultimately seems to have a hard time bouncing back as he usually does.

Between the season 12 finale and the sixth episode of season 13, Watts is absent. Upon his return in the sixth episode it is revealed that he has been away from Toronto ‘finding himself’ according to show runners. Upon his return to Toronto, a case hits very close to home for him. During a discrete party for gay men, the constabulary are called in on a noise complaint (‘noise complaint’ being code for the neighbours are super homophobic) and the guests all flee (one loses his shoe to Special Constable Parker, though). George discovers a dead body, the party host, on the second floor and the detectives and the Inspector are called in to investigate.

Through the course of the investigation, Watts gets very defensive and pushy about how the case should be run. He disagrees with Brackenreid’s homophobic opinions and opposes him quite a bit, not wanting to let the innocent lives of men be ruined simply because of who they love. Murdoch thankfully backs him up when he can (despite his religious beliefs, Murdoch refuses to believe that it’s right to condemn someone for who they love), but Watts takes a lot of chances with this one. He goes so far as to release a suspect (Jack Walker) from jail when the man offers to help him find a place where evidence might be hidden if Llewellyn allows him an hour to visit his mother. He desperately wants to believe the other man, and consents to the agreement after explaining that he will lose his job if Jack chooses to run away. Jack is true to his word and returns to the station house holding cells after he visits his mother.

Brackenreid is furious when Llewellyn admits how he got the evidence from the crime scene, believing him a fool and that he let a murder suspect go free. Llewellyn stands up in a fit of defiance and states that while Jack could have run away, that he was instead in the cells as agreed upon. He practically taunts the inspector by saying “It seems you were wrong about this particular one.”

Jack’s help ultimately gives them the clues they need to bring the truth to light, him and another suspect are released from the cells (a detective from another station, also gay). Brackenreid gets another dig in when speaking to Watts, Murdoch and the cleared detective. He intends to out the detective to his inspector, despite how it would likely ruin his career and reputation. Brackenreid makes some very pointed comments to Murdoch and Watts, disagreeing when they try to call him out on his behaviour. It’s very clear that he has an idea about Llewellyn and suspects that their own detective might also be gay.

This is proven to be true, as the episode closes on Watts seeking out Mr. Walker on his own. He shows up at the man’s boarding house and under the guise of thanking him for his help, shows a degree of vulnerability as he awkwardly asks “Do you mind if I... call you... Jack?” It clearly difficult for him, he’s been trying to deny who he is for a long time according to the show runners, and Llewellyn generally doesn’t deal well with addressing his feelings to begin with. He’s tried very hard to hide from even himself, going so far as to pursue women even though he doesn’t feel attracted to them.

Jack doesn’t answer the question, instead just smiling almost fondly and because no words are necessary he instead walks back into his apartment and leaving the door open for Llewellyn to follow if he chooses. Llewellyn does, finally accepting himself and closes the door behind them. There are a few hypothesis for how things proceed past this scene, the most popular (and believable, considering how fragile he would be emotionally after everything he’s been dealing with aside from this) being that Llewellyn likely experiences some form of panic and flees the apartment not long after. Jack clearly has patience though, and it’s likely sometime following this that he helps Llewellyn relax a little and they start seeing each other more regularly.

The next time we see him Is during John Brackenreid’s first play. Obviously invited by John himself, Watts arrives a little late with snacks and takes a seat on the opposite side of the row, farthest from the Inspector. He shares his snacks and opinions (rather negative sadly, but the play is terrible. ‘A melange of philosophical drivel’) with George until things start to go south quite rapidly.

As the play closes (a fun reference to plots that end where ‘everyone dies’ for shock factor), it’s realized that the star actress is actually dead. Shot to death with a gun that was supposedly loaded with blanks. Things get quite chaotic, but this is the sort of case that Llewellyn thrives upon. Questioning suspects, hunting for evidence and following lines of logic and exploring theories that tie everything together.

Here, Watts throws himself into the investigation with dramatic gusto. He’s gesturing wildly, being cheeky, and displaying a lot of confidence as he works with Murdoch and George. His theories are all sound, and at one point it seems like he’s solved it... Until John pulls him aside to confess that the sounds that lead him to believe the murderer was hiding under the stage was nothing more than a romantic tryst between him and the victim (a married woman, scandalous!). He implores Llewellyn to not draw attention to it, and seek other lines of investigation.

Unfortunately, his theory is still considered sound as evidence was planted to suggest that it was true, and he had to explain (very uncomfortably) why it wasn’t as Murdoch won't simply take his word for it. After discretely whispering the truth to Murdoch, the Inspector insists on being kept in the loop as well and everyone witnesses Murdoch and Watts arguing silently over who is going to tell Brackenreid that his son was having sex under the stage during the first act. They look rather like siblings as they quietly bicker and gesture, before Murdoch finally insists on Llewellyn doing it. Already uncomfortable (traumatized by the mental image, thanks again John), he awkwardly wanders over and explains before ducking away to avoid being caught in the middle of what comes next.

Throughout the course of the investigation, Watts also expresses and interest in learning more about the role of the critic as one is employed by the theatre to review all plays. He finds the idea fascinating, and would like to understand the roll further. Llewellyn sees the critic as ‘The enemy of human expression’ as it’s their job to find fault whether something is good or bad, to ‘arraign that which is created by others.’ The critic is offended by the notion, and attempts to convince him otherwise, but Watts simply points out that the critic still creates nothing themselves. Despite their disagreement, they do continue to discuss the play while he works.

The next episode we see Llewellyn in the series, he’s investigating a case with George separately from the main plot. He actually should have probably avoided this case altogether given the amount of stress it ends up putting him under given the circumstances.

The first scene with Watts, we see him putting on his coat after having spent the night at Jack’s apartment. He’s relaxed, and happy, but in a hurry to leave to avoid being seen by anyone that might be up and about at that hour. Jack actually stops him gently before he can go, to hand over a sandwich he’d made for Llewellyn to eat for lunch that day and to say he hopes to see him again.

They exchange words briefly, lingering by the door as Watts voices his concern for what could happen should anyone find out about them. He doesn’t want to get Jack in trouble, but it’s quite clear that they’re already quite smitten with each other. Jack’s response is to assure Llewellyn that ‘Some things are worth the risk’, to suggest that Llewellyn is worth it. This is not something he’s used to, given how unwanted he’s been made to feel. The smile that lights up his face clearly expresses how much those words mean, and he leaves the apartment with a lighter step. Again, it’s very clear that Jack understands that Llewellyn needs patience and reassurance while he works through his own insecurities.

Unfortunately, the building Jack lives in is also the building that he woman George Crabtree’s been courting lives in. On the same floor no less... As Watts’ infamous bad luck rears its head, George exits Effie’s apartment at the same time and after a little panicked scramble on Llewellyn’s part, he notices the detective in the hall. George’s first assumption is that Watts was spending an evening with a ‘lady friend’ like himself. Not being particularly good at coming up with things on the fly, he goes with it and lets George continue to assume that’s what he had been doing.

George ropes Watts into helping with a case that actually involves another one of them building’s tenants. A kindly old man who has a penchant for baking and sharing with Effie, whose rent has mysteriously gone missing from the lock box where all rent gets deposited. The landlord is insisting that he never paid, and is threatening to throw him out should he not make another payment.

After sharing an entire plate of snicker doodles (Watts is quite taken with them, having shoved a handful in his pockets at some point) Llewellyn vows that they will get to the bottom of the case, and states that they can’t let him lose his oven (priorities!).

As the case progresses, he is seen eating more snicker doodles with as the landlord recognizes him (but can’t quite place where from, thank goodness) and Effie sternly informs him and George that they need to keep George’s visits secret to protect their own reputation. Every time someone directs their attention at him, he visibly panics and starts acting more awkward than usual. He’s stressed and afraid that this case is going to out him and ruin the first good thing to happen in his life in a very long time.

Unfortunately, after digging through the garbage from outside the building, the case next leads them right back to Jack’s apartment as one of the wrappers from his butcher shop is found alongside the envelope that the other tenant had sent his rent in. All nerves and awkwardness, Watts leads George back to the very apartment that he’d exited and been caught outside of that morning.

The realization of what is going on here starts to dawn on George, and it becomes all the more apparent during a brief exchange between Llewellyn and Jack what’s going on. Questioning Jack about the wrapper, the man responds that the wrapping in question was used to hold liver for the landlords cat, and that the garbage can was likely the landlords.

Through the conversation, Watts clumsily tries to paint a picture of professionalism. Constantly calling Jack ‘Mr. Walker’, and trying to not look like a freaked out goose (fails quite spectacularly). In turn, Jack awkwardly tries to keep things casual, but can't stop himself from grinning at his beau in utter amusement. Meanwhile, George stands off to the side (looking like he’s doing complicated mathematical equations) quietly sorting things out.

Having discovered what happened to the other tenants rent, they arrest the landlord for his theft and it’s hoped that a more suitable person will step into the role. Later that day, Llewellyn asks George to meet him in a quiet side street to discuss what he’s seen. Desperate to keep the situation under control, he makes up a very flimsy store for why he was staying over at Jack’s. He states that during his travels (his absence between the season 12 finale and the 6th episode of season 13) that he’d gotten careless with his finances and was having ‘Money Troubles,’ that Mr. Walker was simply being kind and offering him a place to stay since he couldn’t make his rent that month.

George, of course, sees right through it the lies. Gently he informs Llewellyn that he needn’t worry and that he understands entirely. Going so far as to say that “You’re ‘Money Troubles’ are safe with me.”

Watts is visibly relieved, and thanks his friend for understanding. While George and him have always gotten along fairly well, and Llewellyn himself has confirmed that they are indeed friends during an episode, this does seem to see a bit of solidifying factor. Their friendship in the following episode seems stronger for it.

During one of the next cases that Watts takes part in, he is almost wistful over the idea of there being a murder, stating that it was ‘Too nice a morning for a dead body’ as he and George are going to check on the residence where Murdoch’s neighbours live. He’s relaxed as he walks next to his friend, dramatically leaning on things and discussing the matter in a very casual manner. Clearly his relationship is still going well, and having someone he can be himself around without fear of judgement is also doing a lot for his stress levels. Not to mention, he’s probably way less touch starved than he was prior to his relationship with Jack.

Unfortunately, it’s revealed that one of Murdoch’s neighbours has indeed been murdered and Murdoch is painted as the most likely suspect. He never liked them, and they were often at odds of late. As the case progresses, Llewellyn, George, Julia and Brackenreid all band together to try to get to the bottom of the case and clear Murdoch’s name. As it turns out, an old enemy has framed the Detective for the murder in an attempt to prove he’s just as clever as Murdoch.

In this episode, Watts is dedicated to solving the puzzle of how to prove Murdoch’s innocence. He even seems to put aside his differences with Brackenreid to work alongside the man and do as much footwork as he can to dig up evidence or find holes in the case against Murdoch.

We also get to see a rather cute detail returned, Watts enjoys picking at plants and flowers to play or fidget with. He gravitates towards smaller flowering buds, and actually collected a couple from one witnesses garden to press in his notebook.

At one point, he does frighten George as he suggests that they need to come at the problem objectively and investigate as though Murdoch really had committed the murder. He points out that it wouldn’t be disloyal, given that Murdoch has suspected every one of them of murder at one point or another; and also continues to reassure George that what he means is that by investigating as though Murdoch was the culprit, that they would find the proof to suggest he hadn’t and that the case against their friend would fall apart.

George is appeased by this, feeling a bit silly for doubting Watts and quickly helps to come up with a plan to help.

Once the case is out of the way, and Murdoch’s name has been cleared, they celebrate at the station house for multiple reasons. George, also a published writer, has been asked to go on a tour with his latest book after a second printing was requested by the stores. Llewellyn is quite happy along with everyone else for his friend, glad to see his success. After a toast from Murdoch, Llewellyn hops off his desk and approaches George to ask him to sign a copy of his book. Flattered, George agrees to do so and Watts absentmindedly adds that “It’s not for me.” George’s expression is absolutely delighted, and Effie grins as she peeks over his shoulder at the signature. It’s quite apparent that they know exactly who the book is for.

Watts, realizing what he’s just said, experiences a moment of utter panic and looks around the room as if to make sure no one has hung on to his words. Once the book has been signed, he flips it shut in George’s hand and grabs it before making a mad dash away to avoid any further questions.

The next we see Llewellyn, it’s during a rather quiet day around the station. There are no active murders for once (in their jurisdiction) and he’s found himself occupied with the report of a missing pig that was set to appear at the royal winter fair after a showing set for that day. The young teener had his hopes up for the animal to be a prize winner and to make a name for himself.

Unfortunately, the animal disappeared after the boy tried to take it on a streetcar and caused a commotion. Murdoch overhearing this, volunteers Llewellyn to go off and help him find the creature, looking quite amused to be delegating the absurd case to the younger detective. It almost seems like the man is enjoying himself after the amount of times that Llewellyn has gotten on his nerves.

Llewellyn spends the day wandering the city, trying to assist in finding the creature and learning a little more about the whole contest and why it’s important to the teen to cement his reputation as a breeder. He grows rather interested and invested in finding the creature, though he’s not exactly skilled at tracking farm animals, especially in a city as big as Toronto. The boy seems confused by this notion, but Llewellyn does his best to make up for it and track the animal down.

Since an animal could be easily be mistaken for one meant for a feast, Llewellyn enlists Jack Walker to keep an ear out for anyone who happens to be trying to pass off a pig for one reason or another. It’s there that he learns just how large this animal is, weighing 500lbs. Llewellyn is rather floored by this news, especially when one considers that the boy had complained that a fuss was put up when he tried to take it on the streetcar. Jack’s reasonably certain if the animal isn’t already dead, that it’s likely someone will be looking for a butcher to take care of it for them, since it would make quite a large feast. Jack promises to put a call in to the station if he hears word on the creature’s discovery, though points out that it isn’t only Llewellyn looking for a pig of that size. It turns out the Inspector is trying to find one for a dinner that his wife wants to host.

The detective recognizes the recipe she wants to try as a Māori tradition (Margaret loves to learn about recipes and methods from other parts of the world, much to Brackenreid’s annoyance at times), Llewellyn states that he’d been invited to one some time ago, presumably while he was on his travels. Given his tendency to endear himself to random people he meets, especially given his flair for languages and love for trying anything food wise once, it wouldn’t be strange to imagine.

Llewellyn resumes the search, eventually ending up at the station house again while they hope for a call of good news to come in. However, when Jack ends up with the pig and calls the station house. His call, his misdirected to the Inspector since McNabb probably assumed it was a call about the dinner Brackenreid’s wife was arranging.

Finding out the animal is spoken for, Brackenreid is irate and screams out Watts’ name to get his attention. This… startles Llewellyn so badly he nearly falls out of his seat in a panic. One of many moments that reminds one that Llewellyn has been on the man’s bad side as well as having a history of being on the bad side of many, triggering a panicked flight response that is barely concealed. After a brief discussion that the inspector insists the animal will be his and we will not disappoint his wife, Llewellyn and the teen meet at Jack’s shop awkwardly to say goodbye to the pig.

Llewellyn, seeing how crushed the teen is, comes up with an idea and insists that the Inspector could go with mutton for dinner instead. Brackenreid knows he’s beat, especially when he sees the hopeful look on the teen’s face. So, with that, he concedes and lets the teen keep his pig to make other arrangements instead.

The two celebrate after that, Llewellyn treating him to pretzels while he waits to escort them to the showing to make sure nothing else happens. The detective is rather startled to hear the teen admit that if the animal didn’t win, he’d probably bring it back to Jack to butcher to make some money off the meat. After all commotion and the assumption that the teen was attached to his charge, Llewellyn feels rather conflicted on that. Seems he got a bit attached to it himself in the process of the investigation.

Unfortunately, during a commotion involving Louise Cherry’s fiancé (discovered to be already married to another woman and a murderer) the pig gets scared away while Llewellyn is called on to help. Rather unsure if he likes the idea of seeing the animal possibly get butchered, he busies himself with helping to wrap up the murder case instead. Escorting Louise’s (now ex) fiancé to the station house.

Things seem to be going well for Llewellyn, though, as time progresses. His relationship with Jack has bloomed into something comfortable and warm, nights out at taverns and kisses stolen In darkened side-streets. Even as Llewellyn describes why he doesn’t like the winter and the long, dark evenings it brings, he’s charmed by his lover and relaxes quite a bit.

Unfortunately, on just this evening, their intimate moment is interrupted when Jack notices a dead body propped up against a crate. Llewellyn is quick to take charge, telling Jack to see himself at home and let him handle it. No one needs to know that he didn’t stumble across the body with Jack… The younger detective does his best act natural around Murdoch, filling him in on the details until Higgins appears on scene to report a robbery a few blocks away. Murdoch sends Llewellyn to investigate, but not before questioning Llewellyn on what he was doing in the alley in the first place to have discovered the body. It’s not the first time that he’s called to a scene of a murder in a darkened alleyway with Llewellyn on the scene. It evokes memories of Nigel Baker, after all… Llewellyn brushes it off, saying he was taking a shortcut home when he happened upon the body.

Leaving quickly, he doesn’t notice the concerned and suspicious look from Murdoch as he goes.

The burglary in question is at the house of a wealthy (and annoying) art collector, who spends most of his time interrupting Llewellyn as he tries to speak. They are interrupted, however, when another man enters the room to speak with Llewellyn. Detective Edwards, the new man at Station House 1. He’s hoping to team up with Llewellyn, since he was investigating a similar crime where a piece of art by the same artist as the piece stolen in Llewellyn’s case was taken. Believing there is a connection, and knowing Llewellyn might be able to help him with his first case, he stopped by to see what the man thought of the idea. Llewellyn had gotten his start at Station House 1 and remembers well how difficult it is to work there… So he’s inspired to help, if only to make things easier for the man taking over in a station where good detectives didn’t last long.

After work hours, Llewellyn tries to enjoy a nice, quiet moment with Jack. Joining him at the tavern for a drink so they can catch up and Llewellyn can settle his lovers’ concerns that he might be linked to the discovery they made in the alleyway. He’s quick to reassure the man that his name won’t come up, and that the case has moved far enough that he shouldn’t be worried. Unfortunately, their quiet moment is interrupted when Edwards enters the tavern and spots Llewellyn. Inviting himself to join the other two for a drink, they are forced to act natural and like the man isn’t interrupting a date. Edwards seems to recognize Jack’s name, even going so far as to ask ‘the butcher?’ to which Jack confirms…

The next day, Llewellyn calls Aldous Germaine to the station house to discuss the pieces that had been stolen and ask for a little help. Aldous is very well connected in the art community, and had helped with a prior case. If the paintings were up for sale, he’d know about it. Edwards is… Less than pleasant to the man, short and demanding cooperation while Llewellyn is more polite and even relaxed while talking to Mr. Germaine. Even going so far as to hold the man’s hat next to his face to block Edwards from interrupting them in an amusing gesture, Aldous seems to find Llewellyn delightful, really. After the conversation is over, he even expresses that he was happy to see him ‘the other evening,’ presumably at an event with Jack.

Germaine returns again to provide a potential lead once he’s been out and had a few conversations with his contacts in the art world, as one of the art pieces is reported to be going up for auction anonymously. Which, according to him, in the art world, nothing is truly anonymous. Once his news is delivered, he does ask Llewellyn if George is about to pay his regards to, and is disappointed to find that George still isn’t back from his book tour yet (the truth, though, is that he’s been abducted by a woman looking for one of his aunts after reading his book). Upon leaving, though, Edwards starts to complain about Mr. Germaine (Aldous really is particularly obvious and open) for being a homosexual in rather insulting terms. Llewellyn is quick to correct him at this, simply stating that Mr. Germaine is a cultured gentleman. Clearly trying to avoid something unpleasant befalling Mr. Germaine, his friend and someone who’d been very helpful to their case.

Edwards seems intent to make it clear how he feels about homosexuals and ‘warns’ Llewellyn that his ‘friend’ Jack Walker had been picked up a few times according to their records under suspicion of homosexual activity. Llewellyn awkwardly brushes this off, simply says he’d keep it in mind. It clearly worries him, because he knows how this might make things a bit dangerous for them if Edwards continues to be nosy about their association.

The case progresses though, and they discover the thief was actually the late artist’s sister. She insists the paintings belong to her and her brother (who was only assumed dead, and is quite alive). They explain to Llewellyn and Edwards that the paintings had only been on loan to these collectors, and that they had refused to return them when asked. It turned out that the collectors themselves were thieves… Llewellyn heads to the home of the collector and removes the remaining pieces by the artist, to return them to their rightful owner.

Thinking that the case means an end to his association with Edwards, he takes Jack out to the tavern again to try to have another nice evening… Only for Edwards to walk in and spot them being a little too close to one another… Between this scene and the next time we see Llewellyn, Edwards has had thrown him in lockup (this all happens off screen) at Station House 1 and lets other men in the cells know exactly why Jack was there. Jack is beaten senseless for being who he is, and then presumably separated to a different cell once someone decided it was enough to send a message. Llewellyn only finds out when Edwards shows up at the station to tell him after Llewellyn tries to give him a bottle of wine as a celebratory gesture for the case being solved. Edwards makes a scene, breaking the bottle on the floor and telling Llewellyn what he thinks of men like him and where he could find Jack at Station House 1.

Llewellyn makes his way to his old place of work, desperate to get Jack out. He’s horrified by the state of his lover, promising to get him out despite Jack’s warning that he would be better off leaving the situation to avoid implicating himself and that he would deny the accusations if Llewellyn’s name was brought into the case. Llewellyn won’t stand for it though. He is desperate to not lose someone again and likely recalls Jack’s words to him earlier in the season. Some things are worth the risk.

So he took a risk, marched into the Inspector’s office to inform him of what happened. Asking his boss to intervene and have Jack released, insisting that Jack Walker is a good person who shouldn’t be charged for the crime of ‘indecency’ as it’s labeled at the time. The inspector doesn’t budge, though, insisting that his hands are tied if Jack is guilty of what he’s been charged with. Llewellyn decides rather quickly to take a risk, knowing full well that the Inspector has expressed rather homophobic beliefs in the past…

He proceeds to say, “Then Charge me.”

“What?”

“I’m as indecent as Jack Walker. Charge me.”

The inspector, rather panicked as he looks at the open doors and moves to his feet rather quickly, lowering his voice a bit. “You sholdn’t have told me that.”

“Well… I did.”

“Bloody hell, Watts.”

Llewellyn still stands his ground, making a point that he feels is important. “Jack Walker should not be persecuted for being a human being. Nor should I. So, Inspector, I leave it to you to do what you think is right.”

He leaves the Inspector without another word, letting the door shut audibly behind him. Presumably he’s gone to wait to find out his and Jack’s fate, and we don’t see him again for the remainder of the episode. Instead, it focuses on the Inspector and his decision. Whether to help Llewellyn and Jack, risking his career if found out, or if he should charge them both.

The inspector asks several people, including his wife, for their opinions about if he should help Llewellyn or not, and ultimately it’s Margaret who convinces him. Stating that even if he loses his job over this, that they can deal with repercussions if they come. Brackenreid can become a bricklayer or something according to her. She says that she married him because she thought he was a man who knew when to do the right thing. Brackenreid admits that Llewellyn is a good man, and she comments that he should fix this. Brackenreid comments that ‘it’s hard to believe though, isn’t it?’ about Llewellyn being gay… But Margaret huffs lightly, telling him that Detective Watts being a homosexual is obvious and that he was being dense for not noticing before.

Brackenreid has Jack released without charges, and even goes as far as to tell Edwards when he questions it that he was new to being a detective and advising him to leave the matter alone, unless he wants to be removed from his position.

At the end of the episode, a hastily scrawled note is found next to a bottle of wine on the Inspector’s desk. Llewellyn’s way of thanking him for making the decision he made.

As the season shifts, Llewellyn finds things go… Well, enough for him, for a time. He resumes his relationship with Jack and has found some common ground with the Inspector. It’s still a bit rocky at times, as the man says some things without thinking, but all in all, they are able to work together without some of the tension that was seen before now. Brackenreid even begins to confide in Llewellyn, when he finds himself in an uncertain position, when his daughter Nomi moves to Toronto and the colour of her skin makes those in charge question her presence in his life. He, Margaret, and Nomi go to great lengths to hide that Nomi is his daughter, but the Inspector finds keeping the secret difficult for a multitude of reasons.

He goes as far to ask Llewellyn how he keeps so much of his life secret, and he goes on to explain that he does as anyone else does. Brackenreid says that it feels ‘Bloody awful.’ and Llewellyn’s response is simply ‘precisely.’ Brackenreid gives him a look, clearly realizing the point Llewellyn was making.

As time progresses, Llewellyn continues helping out with cases around the station house. From a series of attempted murders around a vaudeville performance, to looking into a case involving the Inspector’s son, who they end up having to arrest for murder. Then he finds a connection between one of his cases to one of Murdoch’s when they discover that James Pendrick had gone missing. Llewellyn’s murder victim turns out to be a doctor that Julia recognizes as an immunologist from the university who was assisting Pendrick, who was trying to find a cure for rabies after his dog contracted it.

We see him helping around the station, performing interviews, and even working alongside Violet at the morgue (handing her things and such) at times. Though… It’s discovered during this case that he’s not fond of looking at the human brain, of all the corpses and gruesome crimes he’s seen, this is what seems to make him uncomfortable. Taking a hasty leave from the morgue at one point, and avoiding looking at it the next time he’s there.

Soon after this case, he offers George some assistance on the trail of a reported stolen baby as George doesn’t trust the witness given she looks exactly like the woman who had kidnapped him at the end of his book tour. It’s hard to trust her, even after she insists she was the woman’s ‘twin’ and not there to cause trouble… So Llewellyn is quick to step in, not only because there’s possibly been a child taken but also because it’s obvious that George needs the backup when everyone seems to think his suspicions are unfounded concerning the woman.

During that case, Llewellyn faces some personal distractions as his trust issues get the better of him for the first time in a while. Before George comes to his attention, he had a conversation with Jack. His lover teasing a surprise and insisting he won’t be available till Friday and that they could meet only then. Which is a bit odd for Jack to insist upon. While investigating with George, he spots Jack with another man heading into a diner, and then through the window of the establishment. Llewellyn is clearly hurt by the realization that Jack might be seeing someone else... Then later on again, he spots them heading towards Jack’s apartment building, walking close and speaking quietly. Llewellyn, having been lied to before by the people he cared about, let his fears get the better of him.

Following them up to the apartment, he walks in on them, standing over a cake that says ‘One Year.’ The man with Jack hastily makes an excuse to leave, and Llewellyn feels like a fool… He spoiled a surprise Jack had planned for their first anniversary. Jack takes this in stride though, explaining that he’d gotten the help from the ‘best baker in the city’ to prepare the cake and that Llewellyn might as well sit down and they can celebrate now instead. Llewellyn still admits he shouldn’t have followed, and Jack reassures him that he’s flattered for someone to be jealous of him. Both decide to focus on looking forward to many more years to come…

Unfortunately, it’s only a few months later, and it seems that their relationship is to be put to the test again. Their happiness interrupted by their being noticed outside Jack’s shop. A man paints a homophobic slur across the side window, which causes Jack to panic. Knowing that Jack’s business and reputation are extremely important to him, Llewellyn sends Jack home and promises to take care of it. Hurrying to adjust the sign Jack placed in front of the graffiti and looking for the culprit. For once, Llewellyn acts out in anger and restrains the suspect on the spot as he boasts about what he’d done. Arresting the culprit for the destruction of property.

Thinking he’d done the right thing, he hurries to Jack’s apartment to inform him that he’d caught the man who did it and fixed the problem… but he discovered how wrong he was. Jack panics further, pointing out that a court case would also involve questions of why the man had done what he’d done. That Jack’s reputation and sexuality would be called into question.

He proceeds to question their relationship, refusing to listen to Llewellyn’s apology and promise to fix his mistake. He breaks up with Llewellyn then and there, seeming to value their reputations more than their relationship, even pointing out what people would say if they found out. That their relationship would always be against the laws that he’s supposed to uphold. It’s an odd argument to make, since Llewellyn often gets in trouble for questioning things when the law is unjust. Puts himself on the line for those he believes need help, including Jack when they met and when he’d been arrested.

It’s a stark contrast to Jack’s usual attitude. It seemed like not everything was ‘Worth the risk’ as he once put it.

Still, Llewellyn is desperate to make things right. He goes back to the station and asks the Inspector to release the man and drop the charges. It felt wrong… But Llewellyn couldn’t bear the thought of losing Jack, and this is the only way to fix the mess he’d made.

Only when he returns to Jack’s apartment to give him the news? Jack was entertaining a guest. His new ‘fiance’ and her mother… Jack tries to shut the door before they see Llewellyn, but fails as Llewellyn puts his hand out to try to talk to him. It’s then that he learns of the engagement, and that Jack was serious when he said their relationship was over. They, not knowing who Llewellyn was, try to invite him in for a drink to celebrate making ‘an honest man’ of Jack. Llewellyn stares at that, knowing there isn’t anything ‘honest’ about Jack’s feelings for the women. But Jack is desperate, and Llewellyn declines the invite due to not wanting to intrude on their joy.

Jack to proceeds to slam the door in his face before more can be said, leaving him alone in the hall.

Llewellyn ends up in Brackenreid’s office again, the man pouring him a drink as they discuss what happened. Still worked up, Llewellyn says that it’s wrong for Jack to trick the women into thinking he loved her, to marry her because he was too afraid to live honestly. Spiralling, he thinks he needs to warn the women of this… Brackenreid tries to calm him down, to convince him to not act rashly over this. Unfortunately, his advice also includes that maybe Llewellyn should do what Jack’s doing. Find a woman to settle down with. It’s the wrong advice, of course, because Llewellyn can’t imagine living in a lie like that.

He has a change of heart about talking to Jack’s fiance, though, when he sees them together from afar. Llewellyn finds himself questioning everything again, as the women is pregnant and… Llewellyn isn’t sure what that means about Jack. How long they had known each other or if there was more to it than he thought. The only thing he does know is that they look happy and that… if a child is involved? He didn’t have it in him to ruin a happy family… So, dejected and heartbroken, he turns away and leaves them to their day.

Llewellyn seems to be doing his best to cope with another loss in his life, but there have already been so many and losing the man he loved leaves him quite broken. Indulging more in drink than he would simply for enjoyment, to cope, trying to act as though he’s fine and carrying on at work.

By chance, Llewellyn misses being dragged into a trap set by Ralph Fellows for Murdoch, Julia, George and himself when he gets called to a murder scene and Brackenreid answers a call he thinks is from Murdoch in his place.

However, it eventually comes together that the body Llewellyn is investigating is connected to Ralph’s plan as well (though they aren’t aware of Ralph being behind this at the time) and that it was tied to the disappearance of his boss and colleagues. With the help of Louise Cherry, he begins looking into the truth behind the case and where the others have disappeared to. Over the course of the investigation, Llewellyn and Louise bond somewhat over their heartbreaks, though Llewellyn awkwardly dances around the fact that his lover was a man. She insists that she’s decided to be a confirmed bachelorette and be done with love, and Llewellyn supposed he was the same. It’s a little odd, but it seems like Louise hasn’t realized what that implies during this time period.

Instead, as they race around trying to solve the case… Especially once they realize who is behind it and that the their colleagues are in danger.

She starts to develop a fondness for Llewellyn (though this isn’t the first time she has nearly). Llewellyn is oblivious to the fact, too caught up in the case and his own feelings to really notice. Moments including insisting on taking alternate routes through the city to avoid Jack’s butcher shop, confusing her since it means a longer walk and not having any idea why, since he was keeping that secret to himself.

Once the case is over, though, she and Llewellyn share a paper in the market where he’s still avoiding the shop. A little more forward than most, Louise presumes that Llewellyn is as interested in her as she is in him, and that they’d make a good match. She leans in, intending to kiss Llewellyn, who backs away in an awkward panic. She’s quick to apologize, stating she misread his intentions. Llewellyn commenting that he just isn’t ready to see other people and is still in love with ‘her’ (Jack). When Llewellyn walks in the opposite direction of the butcher shop, Louise notices the name on the shop. Jack. Llewellyn had been calling his sweetheart Jacqueline awkwardly that day… She clearly put the pieces together, and realizes why Llewellyn doesn’t accept her advances.

This is a point that has not been addressed by her again in the series, though the show-runner has hinted at something that will eventually come of it.

Following this, Llewellyn starts to lose his patience with his job and life. When the Newsome family drama is dropped on the station house doorstep in the form of a murder in the ‘country’ they’ve founded in New South Mimico on a whim (… yeah, they’re like that) he is quick to point out that both he and Murdoch are the detectives of Station House 4 before he can be volunteered to take the case. They both go to the Newsome Estate and are shocked to find the ‘new country’ and Murdoch is quite adamant about how they can’t just do that. Llewellyn merely shrugs after sitting on a statue while waiting for the ‘anthem’ to be over and indicates that they clearly had done just that.

Wanting to move the case along, he just goes with the flow and starts asking questions about the murder. Llewellyn does still treat the case seriously, though he often stands back and out of the way of the insanity generated by the Newsomes. Finding a chat to snack on some grapes during a very fake ‘trial.’ There’s a guillotine and everything. No one lets it get to that, of course, but it’s terribly difficult to handle the Newsomes… They do what they want, often times. By the end of it, though, the kingdom is proven to be fake and things are… resolved with the murderer caught and Rupert Newsome discovering (to his pleased, secret delight) that his marriage to his wife isn’t valid. Unfortunately for him, she doesn’t want to lose him and Rupert’s cousin Effie has already gone ahead and gotten the issue corrected for them.

The detectives make their leave, rather glad to put the whole chaotic day behind them.


Llewellyn seems to withdraw from casework in the next episode, spending more time contemplating over how unfair the law is for so many reasons. He spends more time reading and thinking about his life… He’s so tired of being alone, and it’s likely he’s dwelling on the fact that he hasn’t got it in him to live a lie. Even if some women find him attractive like Louise, being someone he isn’t is something he can’t bring himself to pull off convincingly. But he reads about a ‘treatment’ that is said to be able to change a man’s inclinations, and desperate to not hurt anymore in a world where he feels as though no one is allowed to love him as he is, he asks Julia to perform conversion therapy on him.

She is hesitant given she thinks there’s nothing unnatural about Llewellyn’s sexuality in her beliefs, but he’s desperate and Murdoch (incorrectly) encourages her to try if it will help the younger detective change his life. It’s growing increasingly obvious around the station how miserable Llewellyn has grown, and that he’s spiraling. It’s a shame, though, that no one seems to think about offering the help he needs instead of this.

Following through with the plan, Llewellyn breaks down in front of Julia after being awoken from a hypnosis session crying and distraught because he doesn’t feel any different. Julia points out that she doesn’t believe that this will work for him, and that he didn’t really want to change. That this was who he was and that he should accept himself as he is. He still feels hurt and alone and confesses why he was so desperate to change. When she tries to reason with him, he grows upset and bolts out of the house. Julia tries to appeal to him to come back so she can try to keep talking to him. Even promising to try again if it’s what he wants.

Llewellyn is seen in rough shape the next time we see him. Hair a mess, deep, dark circles under his eyes. He’s desperate for someone to tell him what people are supposed to do in a world like this, and Murdoch only says they must wait for it to change over time. That all they can do is ‘their best’ for now.


It’s unhelpful, of course… But Llewellyn starts to withdraw further. Deciding that the only thing left for him to do is to try to give up and learn to be alone. He sinks further into his pessimistic mindset, again, seen spending time alone in bars drinking while he tries to cope.

It’s at a bar, staring at the wedding announcement in the newspaper for Jack’s wedding, that he witnesses a young boy march into the lounge and pull out a gun to take a shot at some men at the table there. Llewellyn stops the men from shooting back at the child, who doesn’t take long to disappear and make his escape. The detective finds it strange for a boy to walk into an establishment and take a shot at someone without reason, and begins questioning the man who was the target. He’s claims he has no clue, and for Llewellyn to thank the boy for the laugh if he sees him again. There is clearly more to this, but Llewellyn is interrupted by Violet’s husband (the owner of the establishment) who is all excited to hear about what happened. Llewellyn doesn’t have much patience for this, still wanting to get to the bottom of why a child would walk in and try to shoot someone.

Growing annoyed with the lot who doesn’t seem to be taking this seriously, he marches out to see what he can find on his own now that his night has been interrupted.

Llewellyn calls on the station house sketch artist to assist in recreating a likeness of the child to assist him in his investigation, wanting to see if anyone else knows who the child is or if someone has seen him around. Amusingly, while the sketch is very good, he asks if the artist can make the boy look more intelligent. Clearly it’s a nod to Llewellyn unconsciously recognizing similarities between the boy and his father (unknown to be Murdoch at the time). They’re interrupted, though, as George walks in stating he ‘Has an announcement, he thinks.’

Still tired and short with his colleagues, he asks “You think you have an announcement, or you’re announcing that you think?” George mixes up a quote by philosophers and Llewellyn quietly corrects him while waiting for his colleague to get to the point. The point being, he intends to ask his sweetheart Effie to marry him. George is a bit disappointed when neither Henry nor Llewellyn get excited, but Llewellyn apologizes, admitting that it’s not that he isn’t happy for George, it’s that he’s not currently enthralled by the institution of marriage. Likely since he’s still dealing with a broken heart and knows he’ll never be married himself.

Later, both George and Llewellyn find themselves frustrated with Henry’s refusal to go check on Ruth when he’s clearly worried about her pregnancy. The man is stubborn and argumentative as ever, though, which does not mix well with Llewellyn’s mood. After Henry finally leaves to answer a call from Ruth, George notices they aren’t far from Jack’s shop. To which he offers an apology to Llewellyn, having seen the wedding announcement in the paper. Llewellyn tries to deny that it bothers him. That Jack had only been a friend, and hastily takes the flyers he’s posting of the child and says he’ll take a different street to avoid discussing this situation further.

After work, Llewellyn finds himself being asked to meet Jack. Jack is distraught and clearly has cold feet about the quickly approaching wedding. He claims he wants to leave Clara, to run away with Llewellyn. But Llewellyn’s already had his heart broken once, and it’s hard to trust Jack’s words at this point, considering the man wouldn’t even speak to him till now. He points out that there’s a baby involved, and given Llewellyn’s upbringing… Whether the baby is Jack’s or not (it’s not) it would be wrong to break Clara’s heart and leave the child without one of its parents. He tells Jack that he made a promise to someone, and he already did the wrong thing to him, and that he should do right by Clara and her unborn child. That he should let Llewellyn get on with his life, denying even the offer of one last drink.

Jack is unable to pursue this further, as Llewellyn walks away and runs into the men from the prior night. At the same time, the boy from before is spotted spying on the men and Llewellyn is quick to intervene, as they seem intent upon harming the child. Putting an arm protectively around the boy’s shoulder and insisting that he would be escorting the child away. Llewellyn tries to ask the boy what he’s been trying to do, but the kid ignores him until Llewellyn repeats himself to ask if he’s listening… Only for the boy to simple ask him to take him to see Detective William Murdoch. Llewellyn looks confused, but does so immediately.

Curious, Llewellyn hangs around in the back of Murdoch’s office, listening to the exchange that follows once they arrive. They are both shocked to discover that the boy is the son of Anna Fulford, Murdoch’s ex-lover from a long time ago. Murdoch hadn’t known he existed, as Anna Fulford never contacted him to inform him of their child. Llewellyn doesn’t get to hear more, though, as Murdoch asks him to leave, as this is of no further concern to Llewellyn.

Reluctantly, he leaves the room…

Llewellyn tries to make himself useful from there, since George is trying to locate his sweetheart, who stood him up for dinner. This leaves him stepping up to try to help Murdoch find out what happened to Anna while the man tries to figure out how to connect with and bond with his son… Who is also very invested in finding out where his mother is.

While working around the station, though, Llewellyn accidentally receives a call from Doctor Ogden meant for Henry. He’s quick to deliver it, having written it down on his usual scraps of paper, telling Harry that Ruth has gone into labor. Henry decides he doesn’t care about the argument he’d had with her. He was going to go to her and be with her. Once the man is gone, Llewellyn shifts his focus to George with concern. The man looks ‘especially morose’ at the moment. Awkwardly, he suggests that one day George might consider himself lucky to have been turned down, but it’s hardly helpful and he’s not really focused, given the chaos going on in his own life.

He is clearly lying to himself, as Violet Heart suggests he seems to be in better spirits and he states that he’d come to terms with something that has been bothering him. She’s quick to ask if he means his heart break (clearly she’d noticed it as much as everyone else had), stating that she’d been dealing with some as well (things are not going well between her and Arthur, as he’s proven to not really care about serious issues that she faces and is always looking for the next scandal). Llewellyn states that he doesn’t envy her problem, and that he believes he’s identified the problem with love. Love requires vulnerability, and dependency, and that means your emotions and happiness are in the hands of someone else… That the only way to avoid hurt is self reliance. That he no longer looks for love or companionship, simply deciding it is better to be self-sufficient and alone.

Violet… takes this rather differently, and runs with it, unknown to Llewellyn at this time.

But Llewellyn is only saying what he thinks he needs to hear, what he needs to do, to protect himself from further hurt. It’s not going to work, and he doesn’t really want to be alone.

The man is simply running around on autopilot, throwing around vague comments and opinions that he thinks he needs to hear to remain standing and move on with this life. Though, as he and Murdoch learn that the Inspector is being forced out for a reason as ridiculous as the colour of his daughter’s skin and his son being in prison? They step forward and toss their badges in front of the chief constable. Llewellyn already doubted his position of late, and this seemed like a ridiculous injustice, no matter what he thinks of some of the inspector’s decisions. Robert’s charge was for an accidental murder, and Nomi is a bright, and wonderful young woman, and firing the Inspector simply for having her in his life is ridiculous. George and the rest of the station follow his and Murdoch’s lead, and the chief constable is forced to change his mind since he can’t have an entire station walking out.

Llewellyn eventually leaves the station to make one last stop at Jack’s apartment. He intends to leave a wedding gift at the man’s door to show his support and that he’s letting go. It seems like the best way to move on, but when Jack finds him there leaving the gift… He appeals one last time for Llewellyn to just spend the night with him. One last time. Weak and still very much in love with what they’d lost, he follows the man in for one last night.

Unfortunately, later on while they’re laying in bed, Clara walks in on them and is scandalized by the sight. She demands they get dressed and for Llewellyn to get out. Jack apologizes and tries to explain, admitting that she deserves better. She shakes her head, though, not about to break off the engagement. She wants him to be the father of her child, and states that after they’re married, he can engage in whatever ‘filth’ he wants as she gives Llewellyn a very pointed look.

Genuinely, Clara doesn’t seem to think much of him. And as the next season unfolds, Jack starts to become very attached to the married life and his stepson. She seems to think it should be enough to keep him, and in some ways she’s right...

Llewellyn tries to keep himself busied at work while adjusting to this new arrangement. Taking on cases at work and meeting Jack when the man has time. Though his cases often leave him, again, questioning the way the laws often don’t help the victims of crimes because of who they are, where they’re from, or their beliefs or inclinations.

One case involves a murder of a young Japanese woman who had been beaten regularly by her husband. Her parents implore Llewellyn to arrest the man for her murder, but because they had burned the body to release her spirit according to their beliefs, there was little evidence to go off of. Violet, however, does manage to find a bone to analyze in an attempt to work out if they had really burned the body.

As the case proceeds, Llewellyn learns more than he questions the parents about their daughter’s husband. Her husband had been married once prior, and his wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Their daughter feared for her life, and they claim he murdered her as well. Llewellyn wants to arrest the man for his crimes, but Brackenreid insists that they can’t make an arrest on circumstantial evidence and the parents’ words, so his hands are tied.

This upsets him greatly, and he desperately tries to continue investigating to find proof or answers to what really happened. Unfortunately, the suspect turns up murdered, and Llewellyn fears it’s because the parent’ other child killed the man out of revenge for his sister. Feeling responsible for not solving the murder before it came to this, Llewellyn continues to work the case. He has a disagreement with Brackenreid, again, on how it should proceed. Brackenreid insists on Llewellyn bringing the parents in for questioning again, which seems rather cruel to Llewellyn given they’d already been through so much… But Brackenreid points out that worry and pain is a part of being a parent (probably said due to still trying to process what happened with his son) and that Llewellyn should just be glad he would never be a parent. That clearly stings, and Llewellyn looks rather frustrated…

When it comes time for them to start searching for the young man, Llewellyn firmly states he only wants to ask the man a few questions and nothing more. It’s likely that Llewellyn doesn’t particularly trust the constables to not make things worse, and he’s intent on trying to get to the bottom of this without anyone else getting hurt.

When the man is found, it’s learned that he had actually spent the entire night drinking at a bar, then sleeping in an alley near the bar where he passed out. He’s incredibly hungover and still distraught over his sister’s death. When Llewellyn gives him some water, telling him to drink it so he’ll feel better, the man wryly states that he’d been drinking the entirety of last night and didn’t make him feel better. He’s relieved to hear his sister’s abusive husband is dead, but immediately adds that he didn’t do it. Llewellyn isn’t certain, of course, and knows that a busy bar doesn’t always mean he’d have been seen.

It’s surprisingly the dead husband’s mistress that speaks up, saying that while she didn’t get a look at the person who killed him, she knows they didn’t look like the young man in the interrogation room. The bartender also confirms that the alibi holds, since he was the one who threw the man out at closing time.

The description of the killer is smaller than the man, of slight build… So Llewellyn starts to suspect a different answer, and asks for Violet to have another look at the bone she found again. He even requests she speak with doctor Ogden, which she reluctantly does. It turns out; the parents had not burned their daughter’s body, but a pig to hide the fact that the young woman was still alive and likely the one who murdered her husband.

They wanted to give her an escape from the man who was abusing her, and well on their way to killing her as he indeed had his prior wife. Brackenreid against steps in and insists on bringing the parents back in, both to answer their questions and to try to draw the young woman out. Llewellyn, again, finds this cruel and asks what does he expect to be done if she doesn’t appear. Brackenreid coldly suggests that the parents be charged for the murder instead… Llewellyn makes a biting remark, calling back to what happened with the Inspector’s son, starting to lose patience with the man’s manipulative and questionable tactics again.

Brackenreid still pushes through with it, joining Llewellyn in the interrogation room and butting in when they refuse to admit to knowing their daughter is alive. Panicking, Llewellyn appeals to them to think about what’s happening, before he hurries after the inspector to try to change his mind. It doesn’t work, of course, and he storms out of the inspector’s office to try to figure out what to do next.

He eventually follows Brackenreid to a bar, ordering some wine and sitting down at his table to try to talk to the man again. Ignoring the inspector’s joking question of ‘Enjoying your grape juice?’ in favour of asking if Brackenreid realized that the parents aren’t guilty of the murder he’s trying to charge them for. Brackenreid states he doesn’t care, and won’t change his mind. He thinks it’s the best way to draw the daughter out, saying if she was a good person she wouldn’t be able to live with her parents going to jail for something she did. Llewellyn persistently points out, ‘what if she can?’ He can’t accept the idea that innocent people should go to jail. To which Brackenreid finally relents and says he intends to let them go if she doesn’t show up.

Llewellyn can’t help but point out how Brackenreid has seemed troubled (an understatement) and asks if he wants to talk about it. The offer is turned down flat, and Brackenreid gets annoyed again…

The man’s plan does work… And the full story is revealed by her when she sits down with Llewellyn in Murdoch’s office, Brackenreid, standing by the door, listening. Unfortunately, her plan to escape her abusive husband was changed slightly. She had thought after her ‘death’ that the man would finally be arrested for abuse and murder. But due to Llewellyn not having the full story or the ability to make the arrest, the young women got desperate and ended up killing her husband herself when she realized the man had turned his sights on another young woman. Llewellyn finds the case’s resolution unsatisfying and unjust, and it leaves him troubled as, once again, he questions the law. Brackenreid promises they’d ask for leniency from the court, but Llewellyn is still worried that it might not be enough to help her…

The next time we see Llewellyn, he’s got a baby in his arms. Henry has brought his daughter Jordan to work, and Llewellyn seems to be quite comfortable and enjoys bouncing her lightly to keep her happy. Despite what most around the station have said, it’s hard to deny that Llewellyn is very good with children if one remembers Felix, the boy that he brings books to at the boy’s home (even if we don’t see Felix in episodes, promises made by Llewellyn seem important and something that he takes seriously). He’s been protective of them in the past, and it’s really quite sad that given his sexuality and the era that he might never have a chance to be a parent himself.

Henry is complaining about Ruth being busy with celebrating Mother’s Day and Llewellyn, still focused on the baby, points out that a day souly to celebrate mother’s is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, Murdoch points out that Henry can’t bring a baby to a crime scene, even a petty theft, and the man needs to find someone to watch her. Sadly, Llewellyn already has plans for the day and given how his relationship has hinged on days that Jack decides he needs a break from his new family, he can’t change his plans. (This means Murdoch takes the baby for the day, and many hijinks ensue!)

It’s on this day off with Jack that we get a better idea of how the relationship works now. Llewellyn is trying to suggest a romantic trip away, calling back to Jack’s desire to get away from the city in the last season, but on a smaller scale and without making Jack give up his new life or business that he cares for. Suggesting Portugal only a week away, but Jack denies the idea, again seeming to have shifted his views. He only wants a day away from the family, and when Llewellyn suggests they go to his place, Jack insists that they’re going out to the horse track.

He says that Llewellyn can’t imagine what it’s like having a baby at home. That he loves the child but needs a break. It’s here that Llewellyn confesses that he lost everything the last time he was at a horse track, but Jack seems to shrug it off and says he can buy the drinks instead and leads the man off. Llewellyn seems to take this in stride, despite his discomfort, trying to make the best of it.

They indeed do go to the horse track. Llewellyn spends the day buying drinks with Jack. They run into an ‘escaped’ baby Jordan on their way back, who seemingly had decided she had enough of Murdoch’s care and went to play somewhere else. Llewellyn scoops her up and returns her to Henry, before they carry on their way. Llewellyn is eager to continue the day, and Jack seems to intend to as well... He's hopeful to go back to his place with Jack to enjoy a private moment and to show him a book he’d been reading… Jack, however, spots Clara and their son walking down the road. So he tells Llewellyn he’ll see him another day and that he needed to go back to his family. Llewellyn is left watching sadly from a flower cart, clearly disappointed and a little unsure of when the next time will be... Finally walking away alone when he catches a smirk cast his way from Calara...

Llewellyn continues to be seen in and around the station in the following episodes.

Meeting one of George’s aunts who proceeds to try to flirt with him (amusing, it goes over the man’s head). Llewellyn compliments her hat, as it’s quite grand, with dark turquoise ribbon with black polka dots and feathers to match. George introduces them properly, though is clearly trying to not facepalm at his aunt who is quite energetic and dramatic tones. When she explains she’s there under suspicion of murder, Llewellyn tries to reassure her that if she’s innocent, she’s in the best hands. Then… accidentally adds ‘if she’s guilty’ and awkwardly squints before bidding her good-day and wheeling away on his chair as he realizes he shouldn’t finish that sentence.

He does assist with the case and finding the real murderer. Llewellyn finds himself planted in the bank as a teller to see if their suspect shows up. Unfortunately, the man expected this, and sent someone else to the safe deposit box. Llewellyn rushes into the room, only to find an empty box. They end up catching them as they try to make their getaway.

We discover (in the first canon Halloween episode, all others have been ‘AUs’) that Llewellyn is actually very fond of Halloween. He’s spotted at the desk he’s occupying that day, pulling the guts out of a pumpkin that he’s practicing his hand at carving. The inspector disapproves, asking if he’s celebrating paganism. Llewellyn shrugs, stating that he always liked pagans, as they’re less pious than the Christians.

When George asks if he’s carving Jack-o’-lanterns, Llewellyn confirms it and suggests George go purchase a pumpkin to join in, stating that the other men intend to as well. He thinks it would be a fun contest, but when asked what the reward is, Llewellyn simply says, ‘Art is its own reward.’ Brackenreid lets it go, but requests that Llewellyn save the pumpkin seeds since Margaret likes to roast them as a snack.

Llewellyn soon finds that, while enjoyable, he’s really not as good at carving pumpkins as he thinks. The other men at the station are far better than him, and all the entrants are more impressive and he finds himself losing his own competition. Dejected, mopes with his sad looking pumpkin. Violet asks what’s going on, and he points to other pumpkins that had been submitted to the contest. He says it might be time for him to bow out of his own contest… Violet, rather intrigued, suggests she might enter as well.

Later on, as he stuffs himself with pumpkin pie while sitting on his desk next to the pumpkin display, he finds himself cornered by Louise Cherry, who’s looking to speak with Murdoch. He unknowingly gives her a hint of the puzzle of Murdoch’s current case, while offering her a bite of pie in hopes of sharing with a friend. She, however, begins to verbally put the pieces together and Llewellyn realizes his mistake, hastily trying to discourage her. He asks if she won’t print anything, but she grins, saying of course she would.

At least he’s not left alone for long, as Violet arrives to drop off her entry. Skilled with a blade given her profession, she sets down a pumpkin with her own likeness carved into it next to Llewellyn. He’s incredibly impressed, and pleased for her, as he’s sure her pumpkin is the one that will be awarded 1st prize in the morning.

In a surprise twist the next day, though, as Llewellyn explains Violet’s prize (that there is no actual prize aside from having done a good job), Henry marches in with his daughter. Baby Jordan is dressed up as an adorable little pumpkin, and Llewellyn decides that the clear winner of the jack-o’-lantern competition is absolutely Jordan, given how cute she is. Violet seems quite unbothered by this, clearly taken with the adorable display with a fond smile.

The next episode opens with Llewellyn following jack into an alleyway as the man spots Clara’s cousin and wants to avoid being seen with Llewellyn (even if they’re just walking and talking). Llewellyn keeps up, trying to invite Jack to the theater for a night of enchantment, stating that they could use an evening of enchantment. Jack counters, saying that he can’t because he wonders how many people at the event might see them and tell his wife. Jack states that between the risk of gossip and his wife finding the entertainment crude anyway, and Llewellyn jokingly says they shouldn’t invite her then (the point of the outing) and steals a kiss, which Jack ends abruptly. Telling Llewellyn to simply be kind and that his marriage protects them.

But… Really… There hasn’t been much of a relationship to protect, given how restricted their outings are by Jack. Llewellyn points this out that it’s a flimsy shield if he can’t even be seen out around the city with Jack. One would also recognize that it’s not wrong, it isn’t as though they’re being scandalous, as all friends walk around chatting or going to shows.

They part ways, and Llewellyn heads to work, only to be stopped by the inspector with a handsome-looking man in need of assistance. One ‘Milo Strange’ who is looking for his pet peacock ‘Walt Whitman.’ After some awkward confusion and comments, Llewellyn agrees to help him look for the bird. Llewellyn gets to know Milo through the investigation and finds they get along rather well to share common interests. Milo is a poet, and they catch themselves quoting poetry back and forth at each other.

Llewellyn, unfortunately, discovers from a rather unpleasant neighbor that the bird likely got away from the yard due to a faulty catch on the fence. So while he dislikes the neighbor and his insulting attitude, it seems they’re going to have a harder time with finding the bird than just looking for a culprit who might have stolen it. Brackenreid decides the search is a waste of time and informs Milo of this, wanting Llewellyn to be done with it. He states the bird probably flew away, while Llewellyn is rather distracted by Mrs. Brackenreid’s approach. Margaret is wearing a new hat… and it happens to be adorned with peacock feathers, which Llewellyn points out rather quickly. Milo thinks the hat is exquisite, even if he realizes this means there is a chance his bird has been taken by the owner of the hat shop to make more.

A trip to the hat shop reveals that the woman did have Walt. When Milo suggests the hat (called ‘the Penelope’) should be called the Walt Whitman instead, in an accusatory tone, he hears the bird’s cry from the next room and states that he knows his name. The bird is revealed when he opens the door, still alive and healthy. It turns out, the woman had bought the bird from a ‘street urchin’ that claimed they caught it in the wild. Llewellyn raises a brow, asking if she’s suggesting that peacocks are native to Ontario.

Milo is rather kind about the situation, though, recognizing that she had paid money for the bird. He comes to an arrangement that she can have the feathers she already has, and he’ll pay her to make him a stunning hat like Mrs. Brackenereid’s making up for what she lost, but he is taking his beloved pet back. She finds this agreeable, and the case is resolved.

After they return the bird, Llewellyn watches as Milo adores the bird and talks about how happy it looks. Llewellyn confesses that it’s unfortunately the end of their adventure, but Milo suggests it doesn’t need to end… He gives Llewellyn an invitation to his poetry reading later on.

Llewellyn is quick to bring it to Jack’s attention, since it’s a very small and private gathering. No one to see them or act suspicious, and it sounds like a lot of fun. He seems to think it’s the perfect compromise ongoing to see something entertaining without it putting Jack in the spotlight by mistake. Jack, however, turns him down flat, stating he has family obligations. Llewellyn points out that he’s a married man, he’ll always have obligations. He’s only asking for about two hours of Jack’s time for this, that they can spend together… Jack apologizes and walks off, stating Clara made a pot roast for dinner.

Disappointed, Llewellyn muses over the fact that Jack would choose ‘boiled cowflesh over me?’ to himself once he’s alone… Llewellyn decides that even if Jack didn’t want to go, there was no reason why he couldn’t attend on his own to listen to some poetry and support his new friend.

What Llewellyn finds is, indeed, an enchanting evening in a very comfortable yard. Surrounded by what is clearly Toronto’s queer population. Milo steps up with Walt in his arms, thanking everyone for attending and even winking at Llewellyn when he spots him. It’s the first time Llewellyn has properly smiled in a very long time, even if things are still stressful and complicated.

Llewellyn finds himself rather complicated at this point, still hanging onto Jack because of their history and hanging on, hoping for things to get better… But as the episodes progress, it’s hard to deny that there’s some attraction there between him and Milo. While he and George spend a day trying to help a bunch of street children who’d been swindled out of their money, Llewellyn keeps almost bumping into Milo, seeing him at a distance or in passing.

They share some friendly nods from afar (including a rather amusing moment for Milo to witness where Llewellyn clumsily knocks over some fruit from a cart), and only meet up again by chance at the end of the day. Llewellyn, enjoying the rare company, offers to treat Milo to a Pretzel while they talk. Milo excepts gladly, seeming to enjoy the moment.

Llewellyn resumes assisting with an assortment of cases around the station house, including the seasonly chaos with the Newsome family. He continues to spend time with his new friend. Milo invites him to the seventh symphony of Mahler, to which Llewellyn eagerly agrees as he’s been very keen to see it himself but was unable to secure tickets. He doesn’t realize until later that when Milo invited him; he said date, and likely expects this to be a date. He isn’t sure what to do about since he’d only intended to go as friends, since he’s still technically seeing Jack. He doesn’t like the idea of cheating, even if there isn’t much of a relationship left to speak of.

Brackenreid surprisingly encourages him to go, saying that if he only intends to go as a friend and keep things platonic, then there is nothing wrong with two friends with a shared interest going. Llewellyn runs with it, feeling better about going as friends.

As it turns out, Milo doesn’t actually have tickets, but knows a stagehand who would sneak them in. Llewellyn gets a bit nervous, but Milo inspires him to be daring and they sneak in to listen to the symphony, standing right beside the stage, which is the most exhilarating experience. Even if they’re discovered and chased out, Llewellyn hurries after Milo and is even laughing with glee. He agrees with Milo when the man says he’d never want to see a symphony from the audience again. They talk back and forth for a bit. Milo even suggests they head to New York to catch the second half of the symphony. Llewellyn says it’s a lovely idea, but it’s clear he’s starting to have a little trouble with the idea of just staying friends…

It’s something he’s rather torn on, and it seems they don’t go after all, despite Milo’s flirtations and attempts at convincing Llewellyn to be more than friends. Llewellyn is adamant about the fact that he’s seeing someone, and he doesn’t want to cheat on what little there is left with Jack.

As Christmas arrives, Llewellyn finds himself rather despondent on Christmas eve as he’s left in charge of the station house while the rest of his colleagues all go on holiday together to a house Julia just inherited. Violet stops by, surprised to see him alone… Llewellyn confesses he isn’t fond of Christmas with a small list of reasons, including his heritage and the fact that he’s found himself incapable of pretending to be cheerful when he’s not.

Violet rather finds this to be a relatable comment, but sets out to make his evening a little better. She shows up later on with a bottle of very expensive alcohol to share with him. Though, as they take their first drink, they are interrupted by a trio of children who’ve found a puppy lost in the streets. Llewellyn points out that it might be a bit difficult to find the dog’s owner this late on Christmas Eve, suggesting they take it home with them until tomorrow. It’s then that they find out the children are orphans who have no home to return to. With a little uncertainty over finding the dog’s owners, both he and Violet agree to at least try.

Llewellyn is quick to give each of the children a task, something to do while they warm up and give them a plan to start with for their search. It also gives him and Violet a chance to enjoy another drink together while they wait. Unfortunately, their options all seem to be a bust as they strike out to find the dog’s owner. They do receive an offer of five dollars for the pup from one man, which Llewellyn gives the children the decision on, since that’s a lot of money for that time period that could help them. He undoubtedly remembers what it’s like to be in their position and knows how lucky he was for Mrs. Young’s kindness.

The children, however, insist that the dog isn’t theirs and they want to find its owner. So it’s back to the drawing board. Llewellyn compiles a new list of names from addresses in the opposite direction of those they already checked. 64 names that he intends to split with Violet to call around to while the children are asleep. Much to his disappointment, Violet disappeared, and he was left to start making calls on his own. He feels slightly abandoned (not a good feeling) but perseveres and begins making calls.

Violet, though, had used her newfound wealthy to bribe a store to open its doors for her to purchase presents for the children, wanting to give them something special for Christmas morning. At her return, Llewellyn is just calling the last number. Which, with a long awaited stroke of luck, happens to connect him to the family who lost the dog.

Violet wakes the children, giving each of them the presents she picked out, before Llewellyn informs them it’s time to get bundled up to go out now that they’ve found the dog’s family and they were going to deliver it together. The family is quite grateful, after having been up looking for the dog all night, and invites them in to spend Christmas breakfast together. The children end up being the first new residents of the orphanage that Julia was opening with the house she inherited, after Llewellyn puts a call in to let Murdoch and her know about the children and their situation and that they needed a proper home to live in.

For a while, Llewellyn’s life is kept rather busy with new casework, both his own and assisting with Murdoch’s. A man showing up at the station house, insisting his wife had been murdered only to find that her death had been a very long time ago… But her death was ruled a suicide. In the end, it turns out that he was pretending he couldn’t remember her death being so long ago because he blamed the man who had been her psychiatrist and wanted to kill him for revenge.

Then, assisting Murdoch’s next case, Llewellyn expresses an interest in learning more about witchcraft and magic as the focal point of the case is a witch and her students when a man who’d tried to murder her dies in station house 4’s cells under mysterious circumstances. Llewellyn often is quick to point out that flaws in theories about the woman, and that there is nothing crazy about the women’s belief system. He even points out the odd similarities between her and Murdoch’s faith. Murdoch finds it more than a little annoying, as he’d been complaining and trying to discredit the woman.

He also steps forward in the interrogation room when they bring in one of her students for questioning, as it turns out that the young woman is also the daughter of their victim. Llewellyn switches with Murdoch when he realizes that the girl’s father had been abusive and hateful, disapproving of her relationship with another woman. Llewellyn clearly feels for her and tries to get to the bottom of what happened. She’s insistent that she cursed her father to death, but Murdoch doesn’t believe in curses. Murdoch and Llewellyn eventually discover that he’d been poisoned by his meal, due to an allergy to the oil used in the cooking that the man’s wife planted in the station house kitchens in order to get rid of him and free them both from his abuse.

The next we see Llewellyn away from the station. He’s walking with Milo on his way to work. Milo is again trying to convince him to attend one of his parties. Llewellyn points out that it's important for him to be discrete and that he is already seeing someone. Milo continues to counter that Llewellyn deserves better than Jack and his constant fear of discovery and prioritizing his marriage. He enjoys Milo’s friendship, but even if he is attracted to the man, he’s still trying to remain faithful.

Unfortunately, Jack sees them walking and Milo’s flirtation and seems to assume there is already more there. He was likely looking for Llewellyn to ask him for help, as his wife had not returned home the prior evening, but instead goes to report her missing at the station house.

Murdoch later on approaches Llewellyn’s desk, distracting the man from the book of poetry my Milo that he’d been reading, with the news that he had a case and that it happened to be at the Walker residence. This properly gets his attention rather quickly, and he takes over for Murdoch, heading immediately to the house to find out what happened.

Jack explains that she had taken their son Samuel to her parents’ place last evening, but that she’d never returned home. Llewellyn asks if it’s possible she left of her own accord. Jack admits that it’s possible, stating that she had been displeased with him of late, and that it was likely due to his association with Llewellyn. The detective does find it odd, asking if she was upset enough to abandon her child before leaving, and Jack says he doesn’t know... But he doesn’t think so. So it’s hard to say what happened. Either way, Llewellyn feels rather guilty.

Murdoch speaks with Llewellyn on the matter, trying to help put perspective on the case, but he's interrupted by a telegram that Julia and his son had been taken hostage. Llewellyn, seeing the panic, insists he can handle the case himself and encourages him to go to help his family.

Llewellyn goes back to speak to Jack again, only he finds the man working outside his shop as though nothing is wrong. Llewellyn finds this very strange, especially considering the woman was missing and Jack had seemed very fond of her and worried before now. He seems annoyed with Llewellyn’s question, and doesn’t seem intent to find her because if she left on her own, she would be found when she wanted to be. It’s... a very cold response, and it leaves Llewellyn feeling uncertain again.

Returning to the station house to speak with Clara’s parents, he’s met with an upset reception. They expected to speak to Murdoch, not Llewellyn, who they state they know exactly who he is. He insists he is more than capable of finding their daughter, and begins asking about her life. If she was that displeased with Jack and his behavior that she would leave. They insist that no, while she didn’t like Jack’s relationship with Llewellyn, she was still happy with her life and raising her son with Jack. They insist she would not have left them of her own accord.

While Llewellyn and Henry are out putting up flyers about Clara's disappearance in hopes that someone will come forward, Milo walks by noting rather callously that it's someone's lucky day, but not his, now that Jack's wife is gone. Llewellyn grimaces, as this was not how he wanted things to turn out at all, and finds it rather unkind. Henry speaks up that he's a rather odd man, but he doesn't mean Milo... He spots Jack, continuing on as if it's business as usual. Henry states that if this had been Ruth gone missing, nothing would stop him from looking for her. Even if their marriage was fake, Llewellyn does find it odd as well... Especially given the way Jack was about Clara before her disappearance.

While investigating, he returns to the Walker residence to look for clues. He’s walked in on by the woman’s mother, who continues to insist something had happened to her daughter. She points out a necklace that Clara wore every day, and that she wouldn’t have left it behind. It seems strange for it to be at the residence, since Jack claims she never returned to the house... So things she wore every day and the personal effects she carried daily should not be in the home. Llewellyn tries to continue to believe that Jack had nothing to do with this, and hopes to find evidence to point to someone else.

Unfortunately, a nosey neighbour appears and insists she saw a man that fit Jack Walker's description wandering around the house at an odd time of day when he was normally at work. Acting suspiciously and sneaking in and out. This trouble's Llewellyn greatly... Llewellyn asks if the woman knows where the woman would go when she wanted to be alone, which is when he discovers she frequently wandered down to a nearby pond with her son.

Llewellyn gathers the constables, and they begin searching the pond... Only to find the body of Clara Walker. At first it’s thought that she committed suicide, and Jack says he as good as killed her himself with his relationship with Llewellyn... And when Llewellyn tries to comfort him and say that it isn’t his fault, Jack lashes out to say that if it’s not his fault, then who does he blame? With a very pointed look at Llewellyn.

Jack is upset that Clara's parents wont let him see Samuel, but Llewellyn points out that unfortunately it's understandable. Even if Jack has been acting as Samuel's father, he isn't his and with everything going on they are his guardian right now. It's... a hard take, but Llewellyn is trying to remain objective. He can't just force Clara's parents to let Jack take the boy.

Violet continues her autopsy, however, and discovers that there is something suspicious about the body. A very precise stab to the back of her neck with a knife that fit the tools that Jack uses for work. This is what was killed her, she did not drown...

Milo appears again to ask about the party, but Llewellyn denies this as he's too wrapped up in the case. Milo even points out that sometimes men like them can't cope with living a lie and that it's possible that he needed and escape and killed her. Llewellyn still tries to resist believing this...

But knows he needs to carry the investigation out as if he doesn’t know the suspect. As evidence begins to stack up, to suggest that Jack’s confession of killing Clara might have been genuine in a way he hadn’t expected. He moves his investigation to Jack’s shop, and one of Jack’s monogrammed knives is missing from the set. Jack can’t tell Llewellyn where the knife is, and Llewellyn feels his trust tested again. Jack can’t believe Llewellyn is suspecting him, and refuses to cooperate. Upset, and suspicious, he informs Jack that he had better find the missing knife and storms out.

The knife is found near where the body was discovered, which is unfortunately damning evidence that he can’t just ignore.

Jack panics over it, and abducts his stepson, fleeing the city without a word. Llewellyn only learns of this later when Clara’s parents appear at the station house, upset and reporting what happened.

Llewellyn feels his heart break again as he realized that perhaps everyone was right about Jack... He promises to find their son, that he won’t give up the investigation regardless of his feelings.

It’s worth noting that Llewellyn has serious trust issues and has exhibited them in the past, and they’ve been tested through the entire episode. They flare up visibly through the entire investigation, making him difficult to talk to at times. It’s hard for them to not start to rule his emotions. Even if he tries to keep the investigation professional, and he knows he needs to follow the leads where they take him, he is seen to get increasingly more upset and suspicious.

Milo, unfortunately, doesn't help as he points out that it's very clear what happened. Jack killed his wife, stole his child, and ran off. Llewellyn is furious at the constant obvious truth and cuts him off, trying to state that Jack Walker is an honorable man. Milo, still trying to get Llewellyn to see the truth, reminds him that Jack is a man who betrayed Llewellyn in the past. Who married a woman he didn't love. Llewellyn yells enough and angrily begins eating. Truly, Llewellyn stress eats much for this episode. Pretzel after pretzel, clearly the only thing he's finding some comfort in.

Only... that very day, Clara’s parents return to the station again and her father looks as though he’d been beaten by someone much larger and stronger than him. A man had stormed into their house, demanding they hand over Samuel. The man physically assaults Clara’s father, angry when he finds out that Samuel is not there and that he was with Jack.

Both Brackenreid and Llewellyn suspect that it’s Samuel’s birth father, but they don’t know anything about Clara’s love life before Jack married her and her parents also don’t know who he was. They can only go off of a description and attempt to find him without a name.

Llewellyn brings in Clara’s neighbor again, intending to ask her to verify what the man she saw wandering outside Clara’s house looked like. If it really looked like Jack, or if it’s possible, it could be someone else. The woman says she supposes, and that she had only assumed it was Jack. Llewellyn loses his patience to the point that he demands that she make up her mind. She cannot confirm or deny, and Llewellyn tosses his pretzel on the desk, upset. Brackenreid apologizes for his detective’s behavior. But Llewellyn is desperate for the truth, and it’s clear that it’s starting to make him unreasonable. After she leaves, Brackenreid steps up, insisting that he start reporting directly to him on the case. Llewellyn says it’s not necessary, but Brackenreid points out how clouded his judgment is getting on this case.

They both know, though, that Llewellyn isn’t going to give up the case just because he’s told to.

Llewellyn short-tempered mood and lack of patience continues to be displayed as he snaps at McNabb for not putting up a sign properly and being too slow about it. He directs the man that there are enough posters here and to start down another block, while he goes back to the station house.

He doesn't make it there, though, as Llewellyn buys a pretzel to continue eating and walks down the street, a man grabs him from behind and drags him into an alleyway.

Llewellyn instantly realizes this is probably the man he was looking for, and says as much, but the man hits him over the head and knocks him out. His hat and pretzel are left behind on the ground as he's dragged away by the man.

When Llewellyn awakens, he finds himself tied up in what appears to be an old shed full of crates and tools. The man who attacked him, sitting in a chair waiting for him to wake up. Llewellyn tries to convince him that it would be best to let him go, since he's with the police, but the man responds 'That's not all you are.'

He proceeds to ask where Jack Walker is and his son, which Llewellyn refuses to entertain. Samuel is hardly his son after he abandoned Clara after she got pregnant. That Jack had done the honorable thing to act as father for Samuel. However, the man refuses to listen and disagrees. Stating there is nothing honorable about men like Llewellyn and Jack. Llewellyn tries to get up and leave, despite being tied up, but his kidnapper grabs him and slams him back down on the ground. Telling him he will tell him where his son is and if he does, he'll live.

Of course, even if Llewellyn knew where Jack and the boy was, he wouldn't tell the man. That would put them both in danger, no matter how complicated things had gotten between him and Jack. But he certainly had no idea where the man went, since Jack left town without a word when he realized the case was piling rather high against him.

So, Llewellyn is now faced with being murdered as the man continues to spout homophobic rants at him and continues to try to get information out of him.

Luckily, the Inspector had been trying to keep track of Llewellyn after his outburst earlier. When no one has seen him, including Violet, Brackenreid goes retracing the last places Llewellyn was seen. When he finds the man's hat and a half-eaten pretzel, he begins looking in the area more thoroughly. It's clear that his detective was in some kind of trouble again.

Once his kidnapper loses all patience, he grabs a large mallet to start beating Llewellyn with, intending to kill him and be done with him. Brackenreid walks in just as he’s about to strike Llewellyn and distracts him long enough to find out that this is the man who killed Clara Walker and that he was also Samuel’s father. Not about to allow Llewellyn to get murdered, he throws down his cane and attacks the man, overpowering him.

Once he’s down, Brackenreid cuts the bindings restraining Llewellyn’s hands and asks if he wants a shot at the man who tried to kill him. Llewellyn, still keeping to his pacifist philosophy, shakes his head. He states he’s not worth it, as Brackenreid hands him his hat and pretzel before hauling the other man to his feet to drag out. Llewellyn grabs the cane the inspector dropped and follows him out to freedom.

Later on, Llewellyn is found at the lounge that Violet is a silent partner at having a drink and looking rather downtrodden. His face is still bruised and scraped from the altercation, but it’s his heart that’s hurting him more. Likely guilty for letting his own beliefs waver, and reeling from almost getting murdered. He tried to reach out to Jack to let him know his name was cleared, but no one knew where he went, so it’s uncertain if he would find out.

Llewellyn realizes that it might be time to let all this go, after all the hurt and confusion. Let Jack live whatever life he decided, as he believes Jack probably decided to use this as an opportunity for a fresh start without Llewellyn, and he would let go and try to move on.

Milo shows up, wanting to apologize for how he’d spoken earlier. They talk a little, and Milo expresses some hope that maybe there are other opportunities for Llewellyn as well. He’s rather obvious about his feelings for the man. Llewellyn still looks uncertain, but he does want to try to finally move on.

Milo offers to buy him a drink. Llewellyn decides to take the first step and accepts.

For a time, Llewellyn seems to be doing well. He's moving forward with his life, he has someone that he shares his time and interests with, he's getting along with his inspector and colleagues with plenty of interesting case work... He's more like himself than we've seen in ages.

While assisting Murdoch with a case involving spies, he volunteers information about unique textiles and fabrics he learned from 'a friend' (likely Milo). He also meets Terrance Meyers for the first time (which the man clearly doesn't know what to make of Llewellyn) and helps by flexing his translation skills and knack for languages once more by reading Chinese and a little Korean.

Unfortunately, as seems to be the pattern in Llewellyn’s life, things aren’t meant to last. Milo stops taking Llewellyn’s calls quite suddenly, not returning his attempts at contact or seeing him for well over a week. Llewellyn, wrapped up in a case, can only feel worried and confused.

It’s a particularly rough one for him, a young woman murdered in her home that was across from a field where homeless people tend to set up camp. He has to constantly point out that just because people are homeless, doesn’t mean they’re bad people, thieves or murderers.

The family is distraught and insistent, despite this...

But the young woman was helping those less fortunate by giving them expensive things from their home pawn that she didn’t think they needed. So nothing was really stolen, only donated.

Llewellyn once again finds himself at odds with the inspector, who insists that the homeless population they in the area are all criminals, while Llewellyn points out again that they’re just people without shelter who don’t deserve to be treated like this.

Not only that, he points out they only have suspicions and accusations, no actual proof that warrants them going through the tents of these people.

As the fight escalates, Murdoch steps in and tries to find a compromise. Llewellyn is still upset that Murdoch’s idea sides with Brackenreid and tries to argue further, but he’s lost this one.

As the case continues, they unfortunately find evidence that suggests a man from the camp was the culprit. He claims that she donated the item to him, and that she was very much alive when he left. Unfortunately, they find a great many other things, including some of her personal items, in his tent and they are forced to bring him into the station.

They don’t make it. The father, enraged that his daughter is dead and thinking they aren’t going to do anything about it, approaches with a gun and shoots the man they’re bringing in. The man dies in Llewellyn’s arms, while Murdoch shouts at the father in a panic.

They continue to investigate, as the facts still don’t add up and Murdoch and Llewellyn really don’t believe the man who’d been killed was the murderer at all. Eventually, it’s revealed that her sister’s lover thought someone was robbing the house when he came home to hear someone moving things around. But it was only the victim, who he shot mistakenly. Her sister helped him cover up the death and thought they could pin it on one of the homeless people.

As the case is closed, Llewellyn finally goes to call on Milo. Stopping by his house to check in and see if anything was wrong, unfortunately... The neighbour spots a confused Llewellyn and speaks up. He informs Llewellyn that Milo has been gone for several days, having left with a younger, handsome man in his carriage and not seen since. The man’s tone indicates that it was a romantic getaway...

Llewellyn leaves, frowning deeply as he realizes that he wasn’t the only man in Milo’s life and that Milo had left without a word. He’s likely confused, since he never saw this coming, and probably can’t help but wonder if he did something to instigate this.

(When in reality, Milo isn’t interested in serious relationships, so much as having multiple lovers to entertain him, depending on who he feels like seeing.)