Who is Goliath in Bloodlands? Updated with new theories! Anyone else confused?!

Who is Goliath in Bloodlands? Tom, pictured, is among the suspects
(Image credit: BBC / HTM Televison /Steffan Hill)

Some fans believe they've solved the Goliath mystery, but has episode three changed everything?!

Who is Goliath in Bloodlands? That's what everyone who's watching the James Nesbitt thriller wants to know right now.

Episode two of Bloodlands ended with such a twist that it had loads of fans speculating on the identity of the mystery killer. Whilst (spoilers!) the episode ended with DCI Tom Brannick himself being accused of being the mystery assassin, fans aren't so sure.

Now, episode three has aired, everyone is left with even more questions!

Spoilers ahead for Bloodlands episode 3, so if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t read on until you have!

Dinger is now a potential suspect and Jackie has been taken into custody by Tom for Adam Corry’s murder. Meanwhile, Tom is working with Tori to plant evidence at Jackie Twomey’s home, and we still don’t know what’s happened to Emma Brannick.

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It’s safe to say that most viewers didn’t really know who to suspect at this point, and many were left totally confused by episode three!

Clearly, the show wants us to suspect as many people as possible. More and more of the show’s cast are revealed to have clear connections to the Goliath murders, so who could Goliath be now?

Who is Goliath in Bloodlands? Is Tori Matthews Goliath?

At this point, we can be fairly certain that the woman who was involved in Pat Keenan’s kidnap was indeed Tori. Her DNA matches the cups in Corry’s house and the female DNA in Keenan’s car, and she told Tom that she’d been working with Corry to unmask Goliath to avenge her father’s death.

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In episode three, she said she was willing to achieve “justice at all cost” when allying with Tom against Jackie Twomey, whom both she and Adam suspected as a likely candidate.

This all but removes Tori as a suspect. She may have kidnapped Keenan, but this was to relaunch the Goliath investigation. If she really was Goliath, it wouldn’t make much sense for her to blow her cover like that.

Is it Emma?

Many fans are determined that Tom Brannick’s wife, Emma, must be the mysterious killer.

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Episode 3 didn’t give us much more info about Emma Brannick whatsoever. Last week, viewers were pretty sure that Emma would come back as Goliath, but all the evidence offered points back to another police officer in the district.

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Emma’s role in military intelligence could still be quite relevant and we still don’t know whether she will turn up in the final episode. As of right now, though, there seems to be more evidence pointing to other officers.

Is Tom Goliath?

Tom Brannick has only become more tangled up in the case as Bloodlands has continued. First, he had skin in the game as Goliath kidnapped his wife, then last week we were shocked when he shot Adam Corry!

Now, we know Belfast police consider there to be three main suspects, and Tom is one of them. He’s currently working with Tori to make Jackie Twomey seem all the more suspicious, but he still has plenty of history with the Goliath case thanks to his missing wife.

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Now that he’s got Jackie in custody, Tom is freer than ever to manipulate the Goliath case in whatever way he sees fit. He initially tried to push Tori away from the Goliath investigation, which suggests he might not want her closing in on the killer’s identity… could that mean Tom is Goliath?

Is Jackie Twomey Goliath?

It was already suspicious that Jackie was the officer who closed the initial investigation and then showed up to take over the investigation as SIO out of the blue. Now, there’s even more that implicates him.

For one thing, his police record came back redacted, unlike Tom’s and Dinger’s. As Adam Corry had rightly predicted, Twomey was interfering in the original case; he has a working relationship with Siobhan Harkin as he helped run her husband (Goliath victim Jack Harkin) as an IRA source back in the day.

Twomey has been set-up thanks to the evidence Tori planted at his home, which leads some viewers to believe that Jackie already suspects Tom over everyone else.

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Although Tori planted a book at Twomey’s home which helped Tom arrest Jackie at the end of the episode, Jackie was still the one who closed the initial, unsuccessful Goliath investigation. He’s definitely not off the hook yet!

Is Dinger Goliath?

Dinger is the final suspect who is still working in the police service right now. Previously, he had pointed Niamh towards Emma as a potential suspect because of her intelligence background.

He argued that if anyone wanted to disappear, Emma Brannick would definitely be the most capable person.

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Niamh interviewed Dinger in episode 3 as a potential suspect, and he very candidly gave an alibi that placed him at home the night of Adam Corry’s disappearance.

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Niamh questioned Dinger on whether he could manipulate evidence, and he told her that his findings are all triple-checked.

We haven’t seen as much of Dinger as we have of Tom and Jackie, but he has been quick to point Niamh towards other Goliath suspects on two occasions now...perhaps he’s trying to maintain a low profile?

Will Goliath turn out to be one of the Belfast officers all along? Will Emma Brannick turn up after all these years? We’ll have to wait to find out!

Bloodlands airs on BBC1 on Sundays at 9pm. For all the latest shows, head to our TV guide.

Martin Shore
Staff Writer at WhatToWatch.com

Martin is a Staff Writer with WhatToWatch.com, where he produces a variety of articles focused on the latest and greatest films and TV shows. 

Some of his favorite shows are What We Do In The Shadows, Bridgerton, Gangs of London, The Witcher, Doctor Who, and Ghosts. When he’s not watching TV or at the movies, Martin’s probably still in front of a screen playing the latest video games, reading, or watching the NFL.