Thu 6 Aug 2020
An Impossible Crime Two-Part TV Episode: DEATH IN PARADISE “Beyond the Shining Sea†(2019).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[8] Comments
DEATH IN PARADISE “Beyond the Shining Sea: Parts One and Two.†BBC, UK. 07 & 14 February 2019. (Season 8, Episodes 5 & 6). Ardal O’Hanlon, Joséphine Jobert, Tobi Bakare, Shyko Amos, with Leemore Marrett Jr., Zackary Momoh, Nicôle Lecky, Indra Ové. Screenwriters: Sally Abbott (Part One), Roger Enstone (Part Two). Director: Jermain Julien.
As you may recall, I unwittingly started watching this series with season eight, and I’ve continued on with it. There are now but two more to so, and then I will go back and do things properly and start way back at the beginning, with season one.
I have, however, enjoyed all of them I have seen, and ranking them, after the first one of the season, these two come in a close second and third. It certainly helped that both episodes are based on the solution of “impossible crimes,†if not the small subset of that particular genre called “locked room mysteries.†In the first episode a young woman, a festival queen, is found stabbed to death after setting off in a small boat and around a headland then coming to shore where the villagers are eagerly waiting for her. Somewhere in that three minutes of time, while she was out of sight, she was murdered.
There were no other boats in the area, and any swimmers or divers would have left wet footprints in the boat, and there are none. The solution is quite clever and is worked out perfectly, but after the killer is caught and confesses, there is more to the story. One prominent player is murdered and another seriously injured.
The assailant can only be one of three people living on a rich man’s getaway island, but there is no boat on the island and there was no time for any of them to swim to shore, where the shootings took place, and return. The solution is a bit more contrived this time around, but it’s still quite adequately accomplished.
It is only at the end of story that the viewer (me) realizes that what these two episodes were really designed to do was to pave the way for one of the players to make a dramatic exit from the series. This caught me by surprise. Personnel changes in a series as dramatic as this one don’t usually happen with two more episodes to go.
August 6th, 2020 at 12:55 pm
Yes, that was too bad. I thought Ardal O’Hanlon did a good job in the role and I liked him more than the new guy…though he may grow into it next series, I suppose.
August 6th, 2020 at 1:05 pm
Ah I think, Jeff, you are anticipating events. This was not the time when Ardal O’Hanlon left.
August 6th, 2020 at 8:37 pm
This series goes through a lot of cast members comparatively.
August 6th, 2020 at 9:25 pm
It reminds me of an axe I once had that was first owned by George Washington. Only thing was, the handle had been changed five times, and the blade six.
August 6th, 2020 at 9:30 pm
As for DEATH IN PARADISE, there’s a chart of all the comings and goings on the show’s Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_in_Paradise_(TV_series)#Main
As for DS Florence Cassell, it appears she will be returning for Season 10.
August 7th, 2020 at 6:34 am
I’m glad to see Florence is returning. Not that I have anything against her replacement, though she hasn’t made much of an impact yet, I’d say.
The one who grew on us this last season was the Commissioner’s niece Ruby, a fun character.
August 7th, 2020 at 3:21 pm
Ruby is a very unique character. I can’t think of any other character on TV quite like her. The bad news is that she won’t be back for season ten. I’ll be sorry to see her go.
August 7th, 2020 at 3:27 pm
From the chart I linked to earlier, it appears that the only Main character to be in all ten seasons is Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, played by Don Warrington.
Recurring in Season One, then Main from then on is Catherine Bordey, played by Élizabeth Bourgine: Restaurateur (Series 1-8), Mayor (Series 7-)