Trinity is left reeling by the violent death of its star rower. As a devastated Jonty returns to the room he shared with Ross, he discovers Maltravers searching it. He watches in secret as the Dean finds and removes what he was looking for: an incriminating note from himself to the student, hidden in Ross's personal belongings.
Ross's brother Timothy arrives for the funeral and instantly blames the University for the student's death. He demands £100,000 for his silence or threatens to take the story to the press.
Maltravers is still searching for the missing hour glass pendent and vents his considerable fury on Dorian, who has been unable to locate it. As punishment, The Dean intimates that unless the errant student recovers the necklace he will have to renounce his presidency of the Dandelion Club.
Back in her dorm room, Charlotte is speaking with Theo and Maddy about Ross and remembers that when the troubled student came to see her, he had been on his knees when she opened the door. Pulling up the carpet, she finds a hidden note with the cryptic message 'look under the blades' scrawled across it.
The Warden pays Dr Cooper a visit and asks to see the medical records for the rowing club. She ensures a visibly agitated Cooper that she simply wants to ensure there are no skeletons to hide from any possible press investigation and is not instigating a witch hunt.
Dorian's position is becoming increasingly precarious as he learns the Dandelion Club accounts have been frozen by Maltravres. Unable to pay a student to do his work he faces the prospect of being put on academic probation for failure to complete course work and consequently would be forced out of the presidency. All the incentive he needs to resume the search for the necklace.
Ignoring the Warden's warning about staying out of things, Charlotte, pays a bereft Jonty a visit to discuss the note and to see if he can shed any light on Ross's last words. He explains that rowers refer to oars as blades but other than that he says he can't help, however it's obvious that he has some idea of what his dead lover might have been referring to.
As the students gather for Ross's funeral, Charlotte learns that Ross's body is due for cremation, but when she passes the body in the open casket, she sees that the rower's beloved blades have been placed in the coffin with him. Remembering the message on the note, Charlotte is convinced the answer lies in the casket alongside the body.
Charlotte hatches a plan to get to Ross's coffin before he is cremated and attempts to enlist the help of a very reluctant Maddy and Theo, but it seems Jonty has plans for the body too. Interrupted before he can open the coffin, he hides as Charlotte searches around the casket.
Dorian is frantically trying to retain his presidency and attempts to enlist the help of Rosalind to complete a particular piece of course work whose deadline is looming. When she refuses, he threatens to blow Rosalind's horse's brains out in the middle of the quad. Rosalind doesn't require any further incentive and duly produces the essay thus securing Dorian's position.
That evening, the Dandelion Club meet to raise a toast to Ross, however, Dorian struggles to provide the lavish catering the boys are accustomed as the club's assets are still frozen. Maltravers comes to the rescue with French cuisine and vintage wines, but in return, demands the abdication of their president. A surprisingly impassioned speech by Dorian sees The Dean chased from the room as the spirit of solidarity takes over.
Later that night, Ross's coffin is cremated on the lake in a moving tribute to the passionate and talented rower. As the entire college gather at the water's edge to watch the stunning funeral pyre and say their final goodbyes, Jonty is in the woods with the body he stole from the crematorium during the uproar caused by Charlotte earlier in the day. As the empty coffin burns, he cuts an hour glass shaped implant from beneath a tattoo of a pair of blades on his lover's buttocks. "Look beneath the blades"
Written by Aidan on May 13, 2017