The Gold season 2 episode 2 recap: chasing dirty money across the world

The Gold season 2 marks the return of the thrilling BBC drama inspired by the real life events and theories surrounding the infamous 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery.

The police continue their hunt for the £26 million of stolen gold – the largest robbery in world history at the time.

After realising that they were only chasing half, they focus on following the money which takes them on an international investigation into money laundering and organised crime. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Charlotte Spencer, Emun Elliott, Tom Cullen, Jack Lowden and more.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in The Gold episode 2.

The episode opens in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The Governor is talking about the island's great wealth, how she liberated the finance industry with her deregulation, and how they're free to have investment from around the world. But, she says, life in Tortola is a long way from luxury and she wants to bring the two halves of the island together. Logan Campbell is hosting them, as a young woman smiles at him, and a new fundraising campaign is announced to open a new school with an ambitious target. Logan looks at his watch and walks away.

He drives speedily down a long and winding mountainous road. At a dead end towards the bottom, he takes off his formal cream jacket and tie and heads towards a cavernous opening. A helicopter flies overhead before stopping above him, dropping three briefcases by parachute before flying away.

One briefcase opens mid-flight and drops money everywhere. Logan’s car phone rings. He answers it and it’s Douglas Baxter. Logan wants to know why he’s calling and Douglas says it’s about a business opportunity. Logan isn't convinced by what Douglas is saying and tells him he’s going to call him back before abruptly hanging up. A photo in Douglas’s flat shows the pair graduating from university together, with a woman on the side. Back at the Governor’s party in Tortola, Logan picks up his drink and nods at the young woman, who winks back at him. He dusts the mud from the sleeve of his jacket.

At the Met, Boyce arrives at the office and tells his task force they have two jobs; to find Charlie Miller and his money and find enough on John Palmer to bring him down. Brightwell and Jennings say they’re on the money and have looked through Charlie’s criminal associates, specifically at those with a business and run them through Companies House. All of them came back as registered in the Isle of Man. Boyce says they have no jurisdiction on the Isle of Man and that they're known for sheltering vast amounts of offshore money. Brightwell says they won’t leave any fingerprints. Lundy says that he knows that Charlie is on the Costa Blanca. He says he just needs to find the chatty crooks living out there to lead the way to Charlie. Boyce tells them all he’s going on his own holiday.

At Douglas’s, Charlie is looking at all the money stacked up in his flat. Douglas says he’ll clean every penny and that when he was 8 years old, he was in Mensa and he’s highly intelligent, revealing he knows where Charlie's money has come from. He says if it is the Brink’s-Mat money, the level of discretion is substantial. When Charlie asks Douglas what the plan is, he tells him that he’s contacted companies and that funds will be deposited shortly, but they need to move at a pace that won’t gain attention. Even though it’s the Isle of Man, they need to be careful. Douglas says he tried to enter the world of international finance, but hasn't found his way in yet.

John is hosting leaving drinks in the office for one of his employees, Léna, at El Dorado. He tells Shirley to give the staff whatever it is in petty cash to enjoy themselves. Another employee, Enrique, comes to speak to John in his office and says he saw the rich list and while John doesn’t have the money he says he has yet, but Enrique can help him get it. He says he knows this because he knows the books better than Shirley. Enrique says the business is not honest because John pays bribes and takes more deposits than he has time shares to sell. But, he says, he thinks John is pretending not to be clever. He says he knows that he’s laundering money and hides it from Shirley, but he knows of better ways to do it that he can show John.

It cuts to Enrique packing up his desk. Shirley asks John what he did and John says he pitched a tax dodge. John says from now on they’ll run legitimately. In Tortola, the Governor is introduced to Gabriella from the DEA, there on a permanent posting. The Governor says she wasn’t consulted and Gabriella says they don’t need to consult her. She explains there’s an epidemic of South American cocaine in Florida and that money is getting laundered on islands like Tortola. The Governor says there isn’t any of that on her island and offers Gabriella support. She says she doesn’t need it.

Elsewhere, Logan has a visitor. Scott, an American, asks if South Americans still use the helicopters for drops, but Logan says he doesn’t know about that. Scott says his people need the personal touch, travelling by speedboat from Florida. He then asks what's happened to the money he brought over and Logan says it’ll be legally backed in a number of countries around the world. Meanwhile, Jerren is waiting for John to drive him to work. He calls him JP and John asks what happened to Mr Palmer. While he says he’s joking, John looks annoyed in the back of the car.

While Boyce says he was taking a personal holiday, he’s actually following John in Tenerife. Meanwhile, the Tortola Governor has called Logan about the arrival of the DEA. He asks what their authority is there and she warns him that if Gabriella looks for signs of a crime that is punishable in the United States, she hopes there is nothing for her to see. Logan tells her there is nothing. As he gets off the phone, Douglas and Charlie arrive.

Elsewhere, John arrives at El Dorado and Boyce follows, parking up outside and watching him head in. Meanwhile, Charlie speaks to Logan and says that Douglas has told him what the island and Logan can do for him and his money. Douglas tells Logan it’s an opportunity, but Logan says what Douglas deems an opportunity is well below his standards. He mentions that Douglas went to prison and that Douglas has been struck off and that Charlie is a crook. Logan says he runs a respectable business. Charlie mentions that they have £10 million, to which Logan says he’s running at full capacity. Charlie insists he’ll return every day until he can convince him.

Meanwhile, Boyce begins to follow the postal worker who was caught following John before. He leads him into an empty building where he meets a woman. Boyce tells them that if they were local police, they’d have a nicer office. The woman replies that if Boyce was here officially, he wouldn’t be alone. She says they are national police from Madrid looking into corruption on Tenerife and, specifically, John. She then mentions that she knows Boyce failed to convict John before and asks if he’s trying again. She says they want intelligence from inside John's business, but they say they can’t get past his senior team who are all English. Boyce offers that he'll get near to him while they watch. Then, he’ll come back to see them.

John meets Enrique in a place with little light, no windows, and old storage boxes around the edges. Enrique says that secrets like this are expensive, to which John asks what he wants. He says he wants the people of Tenerife to stop cleaning hotels and serving drinks in bars. He wants them to own the hotels and bars and restaurants instead. Enrique says he wants to change that in the room they're standing in and he wants 10 million. John offers five. He replies that he'll take five now and five when it’s done. John then asks him how it’s done. Enrique says he’ll give him dummy accounts to give to Shirley with all the details that she wants, but in the room he's in, he’ll make another set. He’ll build a machine that will put in as much dirty money as he wants and it’ll come out clean. He says it’ll be easy.

John’s phone rings and Jerren says that Russians are there to see him. He meets with them at the office and their leader, Ivan, says they want to buy his businesses. John tells him they’re not for sale. Ivan says it’s different now because they’re here and that tomorrow, the price will be lower. As they leave, John tells Jerren he shouldn’t have let them in. To which Jerren says he thinks they’re KGB. John tells him if he can’t do his job, then he’ll find someone who can.

At home, Logan and the woman from the party are sitting, eating dinner. She's his partner, Kadene. She wants to talk about the school and raising the funds for it and asks Logan to pay for it. He’s angry and says that it never ends with fundraising and donations from him to Tortola. He says the Governor is always asking for more, but Kadene argues that it’s a two-way street. The Governor brings in the corporate clients that buy Logan everything he has. He corrects her to say “us” and she tells him that none of it is hers and he knows it.

At a bar, Logan meets with Scott. Logan wants a favour and Scott says they don’t come for free, to which Logan hands him an envelope. That evening, Douglas is at a bar with Charlie. While Douglas is busy talking to locals, Scott brings Charlie a bottle of beer at the bar. He tells him it’s a farewell gift from Logan. When Charlie asks, “or?” Scott says they’ll have another type of conversation with less talking. Charlie says he doesn’t drink his feelings anymore, but he’ll make an exception. He notes that Scott stubs out half a cigarette and tells him that he knows that he hasn’t been caught and imprisoned because he’d have never wasted that half, if he’d done time. Charlie says they should drink together and talk about what they’ve been doing and see if they’ve got anything in common.

The next day, John is swimming in his pool when the Russians disturb him. Ivan asks him if he reads the papers and tells him that while they say things are happening in Russia, they’ve already happened. He says the Cold War is over and that the Soviet Union will collapse. But, if John is quick, there’s opportunities. John says he thought the Russians were poor and he says the state is, but the people aren’t.

He explains that certain people are used as an escape. John asks who Ivan is in the plan and he says he’s a scout, looking for a place for a lot of money to go. He says he knows about Brink’s-Mat and John's ‘Goldfinger’ nickname, so he needs John’s business. John says he’s wrong and that buying his business will give him attention he doesn’t need. Instead, he should give John his money to clean, he'll take a cut and give it back. Then, the papers can write about him and never know about Ivan's involvement. To this, Ivan smiles.

Meanwhile, Scott and Charlie go to meet Logan together. Charlie tells Logan that he will be cleaning his money for him, starting with £1.5 million, then he'll give it to Scott. Scott then says he’ll pay back double in a couple of weeks. Logan can take a cut and Douglas, too. Then, they can send the profit somewhere safe. After that, they’ll do it all again. Charlie says it’s an investment strategy. Logan calls it grandiose for running drugs into Florida and that the system he runs is about how much he knows and this would break that system.

Logan asks Douglas if he’s in on the plan and he says it’s hard to ignore. Scott hands Logan back the money he gave him to sort Charlie and Douglas out, and instead, thanks him for the introduction. Before he leaves, Douglas asks if Logan ever hears from Sarah, the woman in the photograph of their graduation. He says Logan lives in Tortola so he doesn’t have to see any of them. To this, Douglas says when he thinks of Logan he thinks of their reunion when, for a two-hour drive, Logan rented a Rolls-Royce to arrive in because of the way it looked. But, he doesn’t understand why the “Golden Boy of Cambridge” would need it. Logan wishes Douglas good luck. Douglas wishes it back and leaves.

John goes to see Enrique and says the Russians wants to start with $1 million a week. When he sees that the system works, he’ll then double it. Enrique says he’s not ready and tells him that Tenerife has always been conquered, but someone always comes along to take it again. He says an island is easy to conquer and hard to defend. John says the man would be surprised what he’d do to hold onto what he’s worked so hard to get.

Boyce is sitting outside El Dorado and watches John leave. So, he heads inside the office. He tells the receptionist he’s there to drop off a timeshare deposit, his life savings, that he’d like to deliver himself. As he spots Shirley, he hesitates. Jerren walks in and asks if he can help, so Boyce quickly leaves. Elsewhere, Logan sits with Kadene and tells her that the school should be named after her mother. He agrees to pay for it. She asks him why and he says that he should do some good along the way. He then begins to reminisce about the first time he met her. She says she’s here for now and he says now is good. To this, they share a kiss.

Meanwhile, Lundy arrives in Spain. Firstly, he notices some phone cables and heads into a pub. He calls into the Met and Bowman picks up. Lundy tells him to head to the Coach and Horses in Greek Street. He says in half an hour, a man will give him something for Lundy. Call him when he’s got it, but don’t tell Boyce.

Brightwell and Jennings are on the Isle of Man. The local police are waiting to meet them. The female officer wants to know why the Met are on their island. When they don't divulge, she tells them she’s three ranks above Jennings and answers to the Queen, so they need to tell her why they’re here. They say they’re looking into Brink’s-Mat. But, they say they think some of the money is being laundered on the Isle of Man. The local officer says there’s around 100 financial advisors on the Isle of Man and they have to post the names of the companies registered in their offices on a board outside. She says if you look at the boards and the size of the offices, you'll see what's really happening. She hands them temporary constable status on the Isle of Man.

In Spain, Lundy answers the phone and Boyce is on the other line. Boyce tells him not to do that again. Lundy explains that he’s been there a week and has got nothing on Charlie, so he needed some help to narrow things down. When Boyce asks him help from whom? He says Boyce doesn’t want to know. He says he knows a bloke in the telephone business and has a list of all the phone calls made from the Isle of Man to the Costa Blanca. He wants Bowman to fax them to his hotel so he can start knocking on doors. Boyce says it’s a bad line and he didn’t catch any of that, to which Lundy thanks him and hangs up.

On the Isle of Man, Brightwell and Jennings start knocking on doors. Whilst in Costa Blanca, Lundy starts working through his list, too. Until, they both reach places where nobody answers and they grow suspicious. Elsewhere, John is on his private jet with Marnie. She wants to know where they’re going, but he says it’s a surprise. He says they could even get to the Bahamas for Christmas, or go wherever they want and be whoever they want. She says she just wants a nice, safe life together.

Meanwhile, Brightwell and Jennings sit on a bench. Brightwell says that someone will make a mistake and they’ll catch them soon enough. He says Charlie is used to South London, not the Isle of Man. Jennings says that’s the answer, it’s South London. Meanwhile, John has taken Marnie to see a horse in France after remembering she said she always wanted a horse like that. She says he can’t buy her one because they all train together, and he says he bought all six of them. She's ecstatic and he says she can borrow the plane whenever she wants to come and see them. He’ll fly right over to see her, too. As he goes to wander around, Marnie shouts to him that he’s a good man.

At the offices on the Isle of Man, there's no answer. But, Jennings reads the last four businesses on the board to Brightwell; Silwood, Hawkstone, Silverlock, St Mary’s. He says they’re all South London council estates and it must be Baxter IOM Investments Ltd that has Charlie’s money, but he’s not at work. Brightwell writes down Douglas Baxter’s name. At the Costa Blanca, Lundy notices the pub he’s in stocks a South London beer, Estuary Gold.

In France, John knocks on an apartment door and Léna, the employee that quit his office, lets him in. He thanks her for seeing him and tells her that she left Tenerife really quickly before he could say some things. He says it was his fault and that things got out of hand. He shouldn’t have done what he did because he’s the boss. Léna says that he's downplaying what it was and that it was more than just that. She says he’s cruel to say that to her. He admits to her that it was more than that and says he’ll do anything Léna needs to help her, any time. But, what happened can’t happen again. He blames the island. To this, Léna tells him she’s pregnant and a Catholic. So, she's having the baby.

Lundy returns to the house where the door wasn’t answered before. Round the back, he smiles as he looks at an empty bottle of beer by the poolside of Estuary Gold. He goes searching inside and spots all the papers saved looking for the Brink’s-Mat gold. In Tenerife, Boyce is called from a phone box and Bowman tells him that Shirley, from El Dorado, has a criminal record. He says he thinks Boyce will like what he found. Meanwhile, Brightwell and Jennings break into Douglas Baxter's and find the Rolex box inside.

Boyce goes to speak to Shirley as she sits outside a bar. She tells him she’s not interested, thinking he’s trying to chat her up. He says on an island, you can feel hidden. He says that it’s a place where consequences do not apply for what we do now and what we did before and that the period between being convicted for a crime and being sentenced is a difficult place to be. He says if you’re out on bail, it’s complicated and that you can decide to stay and face your punishment, or run.

He says it’s wrong to run since she could’ve just done her three years, as an accountant from Lewisham who embezzled some money. But instead, she ran. But, then, he says, they realise their mistake. Three years has turned into a life sentence and now they’re trapped. He tells her Shirley knows who he is, what he wants, and she knows it’s not her. On the private jet, John holds Marnie as she sleeps and sips his drink. Logan lies with Kadene in bed, wide awake and thinking.

All episodes of The Gold, seasons 1 and 2, are available on BBC iPlayer.