Shell

Shell lives an isolated life with her father, Pete, at a remote petrol station in the Scottish Highlands. Her interactions are few and mostly with customers, revealing a lonely routine. The uneasy dynamic between daughter and father hangs over their everyday existence.

One night, Pete and Shell help a couple, Robert and Clare, after their car hits a deer on the road. The episode introduces the couple and foreshadows the broader danger posed by their damaged car. The immediacy of the event contrasts with Shell's quiet isolation.

The following morning, Pete strips the deer to use as venison. Robert and Clare conclude their car is too damaged to drive again and decide to rent a new car instead. The family dynamic is reinforced by their thrifty, survival-focused routines.

Clare talks with Shell about her past; Shell reveals her mother left when she was four and that she stopped going to school long ago. Clare offers Shell the book she had been reading as a farewell gift.

Pete returns from taking the couple's car to the scrapyard and admits he went to a pub. The admission hints at his own vulnerabilities and the strain of their isolated life. Shell's presence in the home continues to blur boundaries.

Shell attempts to seduce her father, but Pete rebuffs her advances. The scene exposes the troubling boundaries between them and the obsessive tension that underlies their relationship.

That night, the boiler gives out and Shell climbs into bed with Pete. He is conflicted by the moment, grappling with guilt and desire.

Hugh arrives after a failed weekend with his sons and gifts Shell a pair of jeans. He hugs her for too long, and Shell forces him off before he crosses a boundary.

After Hugh leaves, Shell approaches Pete again while he repairs the heater, but he chastises her for touching him. The moment tightens the tension between them.

Adam arrives to invite Shell out. Shell invites him inside where he meets Pete, who seems wary of the outsider's presence.

Adam and Shell drive off together and have sex in Adam's car. The act marks a turning point in Shell's life away from the station's confines.

A young mother stops at the station to use the toilets and leaves her doll behind. Shell chases the doll back and then lies in the roadside heather, with the loch and Beinn Ghobhlach visible behind.

Shell returns to find Pete having another epileptic fit and he bites her during the convulsions. Recovering, Pete mistakes Shell for his wife and proclaims his need for his daughter.

Guilt-ridden, Pete kisses Shell and then throws himself in front of a passing lorry. Shell is left distraught by her father's suicide.

In the morning, a lorry arrives for fuel and Shell abandons Adam, going off with the driver, with no clear plans for the future.