One thing that's concerning me this season is the return of Cassie and Tosh. Don't get me wrong, I love having them back, but you have to wonder why they're back. If last season taught us anything, it's that the show doesn't shy away from hurting Tosh, and in a story centred around the murder of young women, you have to worry for Cassie. It's uncertain yet whether Alan Killick is guilty of anything more than loving someone who didn't love him back, but on an island as small as Shetland, the murderer can't ever be more than a stone's throw away.
Malone seemed to dig himself out of his hole easily enough. If Benny Ray and Co. meant to kill him, then they did a spectacularly terrible job. Twatting someone with a shovel, dumping them into a grave, before filling it in again, should be enough to finish anyone off. Which either speaks highly of Malone's durability, or poorly of Ray's ability to get the job done. Will Malone be more successful with his pre-closing credits hammer attack? Or will a disgruntled Ray be staggering into the police station next week, sporting a lump on his head the size of Denmark?
Malone's puzzling me at the moment. Most of last week was spent establishing him as an innocent man still paying for a crime he didn't commit. This week we learned that he's capable of violence: but after almost being buried alive, who wouldn't be? Evidently he's still suffering from some sort of mental trauma related to Lizzie's death—his bedroom a shrine to her sketched form, his mind haunted by her ghost—but did he actually kill her? He may have loved her, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have snapped the same way he did with Ray given the right provocation. Were his tears because he misses Lizzie, or because he feels remorse over what he did to her?
You also have to question the wisdom of him walking into the police station, reporting his own near-murder, not pressing charges, and then going after the person he thinks responsible hours later. Whether Ray survives or not, the suspicion's going to be squarely on Malone's shoulders, and the goodwill he's engendered in the few who believe in his innocence will be as dead as Alan Killick's alibi. It'll be interesting to see which way Kate Kilmuir leans when the truth comes out. She seems to be going out of her way to be his friend at the moment: which seems odd considering his connection to her sister's death, and her daughter's clear unease around him. Rightly so, too: that was one freaky wave he gave her through the window.
His impromptu visit to Perez's house was also bordering on the weird. Him dipping his finger in Cassie's pot (not a euphemism), and his general passive aggressiveness, all seem to run counter to his innocent-guy-wrongly-convicted persona; although, just because he didn't kill anyone, doesn't mean he's incapable of violent acts. Or am I being uncharitable, and what I'm deeming as passive aggression, may just be the traits of a man lacking basic intelligence. I mean, I get that he wanted his mother's love, but confessing to a murder he didn't commit seems a little too desperate. Was his mother afraid he'd end up dead even if he was declared innocent? The islanders do seem a largely vindictive lot. Was Malone going to jail somehow a protection for them both?
And now we know what happened between interviews—that McColl somehow persuaded Mrs Malone into getting her son to confess—how does this reflect on Drew? Is he just an ex-cop who resorted to illicit means to convict a man he believed to be guilty, or is there a more complex cover-up going on? Drew's anger at Malone seems genuine enough, but the evidence against Malone is scant, and now we know that Benny Ray's witness was inadmissible as evidence—and likely entirely fake—why is Drew so adamant that Malone is the murderer?
I had to laugh at the sheer coincidence of Tosh visiting Forst Energy just as Meg Hamilton was leaving with a big suspicious yellow envelope tucked under her arm. Meg's had quite the turnaround since last week in terms of her late husband's innocence. Hopefully Tosh's speech about further rig accidents will get through to her at some point, but it's easy to sympathise with the struggle of a poor single woman facing-off against a rich corporation. The chances of her winning in court are likely minimal, so why not take the money and run?
And I like the way they're handling Tosh's struggle to come to terms with what happened to her last season. Her constant self-awareness, her obsessive self-analysis to make sure nothing's changed despite everything changing, was tastefully done. I like the authoritative way she took down that Forst Energy employee, too. I'm just nervous about her going to Norway without Perez. If Hagen did kill Sally, then sending Tosh alone to confront him in another country, seems like a recipe for disaster; especially with her being so emotionally vulnerable at present. If they hurt Tosh again, I'm going to be well miffed.
Other Thoughts:
—Who exactly is Jo frightened of? The ex- who abused her? Yes there was nearby activity relating to Malone, but that doesn't explain the knocked over pots or the open gate.
—Confirmation this week that Jo knew the hooded man spoke Norwegian due to the shape of language. Last week she said that she hadn't seen his face—so how was she able to discern his age? Body type? The smoothness of his hands? His clothes maybe?
—Edison! That was Cassie's boyfriend's name.
—I'm not sure I bought Alan's reason for being in Jo's house. His alibi is currently useless, and there's something decidedly sinister about creeping around a deaf girl's house, just so you can sniff your dead girlfriend's clothes.
—Why would Sally lie to Alan about going to Norway when it was her job? Unless there was something going on between her and Hagan, that is.
—Hagen applied for five days leave the evening before taking it? I wish I worked for that company.
—I loved the two instances of instant karma. Perez warned Cassie about the dangers of being alone with Alan, just as Malone turned up at the house for a social call. Then, later, Duncan tried to blast Perez for allowing Malone into their house, only for Perez to inform him that Alan has no alibi, and that Duncan had just sent Cassie to work for him.
Quotes:
Tosh: 'I had to provide more information than that when I wanted to join the Brownies.'
Perez: 'I didna send my daughter up here, believe me.'
Malone: 'There's only one way to smuggle a phone into a prison, you know?'
Duncan: 'It was easier when she wasna here.'
13 comments:
I know we're only two episodes in but I wish they'd tie some of these threads together. Not knowing what's going on is driving me mad. Hopefully Tosh's visit to Norway will bring some much needed clarity. I'm now wondering whether Alan's father is someone we already know, or someone from Norway.
@Frannie It might be neither.
After reading last week's comments about it being from the same team as Vera I wasn't sure It'd be my thing but golly is it different. Jimmy's team actually contribute instead of sitting around waiting for Vera to tell them why they're wrong. And such beautiful scenery. I'd probably hate to live there but as a midweek evening spectacle it's perfect.
Natswright: I don't think it's fair to say that both shows are from the same team, although they do share a couple of exec producers and directors.
I'm starting to think that Donna killed Lizzie. I reckon Donna was having an affair with McColl, Lizzie somehow found out and threatened to expose them, they confronted her, and either by accident or design she ended up dead. McColl helped cover it up because he didn't want Donna to go to jail, and picked Malone because he was so weird and no one would question his guilt.
Where does Alan's father figure into all this?
Donna could have used her husband's scarf to strangle Lizzie.
But wouldn't Donna's DNA have been all over the scarf, too?
Not if she deliberately wanted to implicate her abusive husband in the murder by using his scarf. She could have worn gloves. But then something went wrong and McColl had to deflect the blame onto Malone, otherwise Donna would have ended up in jail.
It's hard to understand how you can mess up a burial. Put person in hole, fill it in. So either Benny didn't mean to kill Malone (unlikely, since it would lead to retribution), he's incompetent (possible), or this was a dumb cliffhanger.
In Benny's defence he was wearing a mask, so retribution may not have been a concern.
They do need to work on the cliffhangers on this show. I've watched the full season now, and the bulk of the cliffhangers have virtually no repercussions, they simply offer a minor uplift in drama on which to end an episode. Effective in the short term, but trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Am I the only one who preferred the two episode structure of seasons one and two? These past two seasons have dragged for me. I don't suppose they'll revert back to the old format, but I sure do miss it.
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