The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek S02E05 starts with Sandra checking on Mark. He cannot accept the death of Naia and throws himself into the investigation. Meanwhile more details emerged about the man behind the abuse and murder of three children including Daniel from Episode 1: Thoger Staal. Staal, a bird watcher obsessed with the countdown rhyme, eventually confessed his crimes and committed suicide.
Sandra and Mark try to question Aksel, but are stopped by the arrival of Le. She tries to get through to Mark by bringing up the funeral, as he tries to keep his composure around her.
Le listens to Naia’s voicemails in private, which seem normal on the surface but are emotionally overwhelming for her. Sandra also shares a little about Naia’s past, that she was a hacker who got into trouble before Sandra gave her a second chance and helped her join the force.
Meanwhile, Marie deals with her grief by painting Emma’s empty room. Her isolation is exacerbated by strained and distant family relations.
During the investigation Sandra and Mark find out that the murdered kids were discovered in nests similar to Zara’s. This detail was never released to the public, which means the killer either knew Staal personally or had access to confidential case files.
Lars Thulin, Naia’s father, had put together a list of possible accomplices, revealing further details around the 1992 investigation. It includes Bjarke, who taught the children the cuckoo rhyme, and Winnie Madsen, a neighbour and bird-watcher who once defended Staal.
Esra is now contesting the old blood samples from 1992, but Mark is keen for them to be forensically compared. His increasingly aggressive behaviour is a worry and ultimately Esra removes him from the case because he can’t control his emotions.
But Mark continues to search on his own. He talks to Bjarke, who says that Staal’s daughter Thea was in his class and that the counting rhyme was well known in the school. He also discovers that Winnie was closest to Staal, but she insists he acted alone. Mark is at a dead end with her conspiracy theories.
Le waits at the funeral for Mark, who is late and clearly upset. The emotional weight is too much for him and he walks away, feeling her gaze on him expectantly.
Elsewhere, Signe visits Marie and makes a bitter comment about how quickly life has moved on for others, especially Michael and Louise. Marie continues to struggle with grief and Signe tries to distract her.
Now alone, Marie begins to prepare Emma’s room to rent out and finds a note that reads “Stay gold girl, Your Roy.” Emma’s calendar shows she babysat for a person named Roy in August 2023. Marie goes to Roy’s home and finds it empty and feels she is being watched. She calls her shortly after and asks her to come home.
Meanwhile, Sandra makes a huge breakthrough: Staal’s DNA matches evidence found under Emma’s fingernails. But the DNA belongs to a woman, and Mark reaches a shocking conclusion — the stalker-killer is Thea Staal.
Marie returns home, where Signe arrives shortly thereafter. In a disturbing reveal, Signe playfully uses the word “cuckoo” before Marie discovers Roy was her husband. Signe attacks her and tases her, confirming she is involved with the case.
Episode Recap
Episode 5 builds on the emotional fallout of Naia’s death, although the way her presence is handled still feels uneven. The series attempts to balance new dynamics with established characters, and Sandra’s introduction as a cybercrime officer with a history with Naia raises questions about narrative priority.
Guilt and pressure continue to accelerate Mark’s decline, but his emotional volatility increasingly isolates him from both colleagues and the investigation. His troubled relationship with Le also feels underdeveloped, more emotional implication than grounded connection.
Le’s obsession with Mark is less convincing, however, as they lack a significant shared history, meaning that it is harder to fully buy into her emotional dependence when looking at the structure of the narrative.
But, despite the personality problems, the central mystery is interesting. It also does misdirection well, especially early on when you think there might be some larger conspiracies or cult stuff going on, but then later it goes into more personal and psychological reasons behind it. Bjarke’s role as red herring is especially good for maintaining suspense.
This episode puts Signe’s storyline into sharp relief, confirming earlier suspicions of her involvement. The revelation puts her front and center in Emma’s case and raises the stakes considerably going forward.
The episode ultimately succeeds at tightening the mystery and moving the narrative toward a darker, more personal confrontation, even if character motivations sometimes seem inconsistent.