Tuesday, March 19, 2019

It's over. It was all a lye

Shetland. Rife with murder, people trafficking, lye, lies, floating bodies, injurious writing implements and Glaswegian actors pretending their glottal stops are actually aspirated fricatives. And an insufficency of sheep, in this series. What is Shetland without sheep? Well, Ayrshire, actually, where large lumps of this bizarrely-scripted mish-mash of Taken, Baptiste, 1000 Acres of Sky and the first series of Trapped were actually shot.

Anyway, here we are again and after that drone shot last week of Drunken Duncan waking up on a beach to find a whole heap of bodies floating ashore, the end is well and truly nigh. This is where we find out who's been leaking, where the red herrings (or salmon, cod, whiting, piltocks or whaddocks) have been lurking, and if we're going to have to put up with crew and cast descending on us again in the summer. Or whether they'll cut their losses and film the whole jing bang  in Glengarnock.



But, hey, suspend/upend your disbelief this instant! And Tom, dissipate your cynicism! This is television for those who don't live in the actual Shetland, or indeed anywhere bonny. It's a fantasy, a cozily spectacular character- landscape where all the horrors of the world can be dumped, allowed to send delicious shivers into those Farrow and Ballsed living rooms and then solved, wrapped up, packed comfortably away by Taggart-channelling coppers in pea jackets and Barbours. Not so much Brigadoon as Brigadoom.

Off we go, then. Big bad beardieman is deid. Zezzi is still missing. And there's an incident at Spiggie Beach (Drunk Dunc's bed for the night, and what a title for a novel: The Spiggie Incident). "Four men, death by drowning" says fantasy physician Cora, who knows her stuff. Three from the middle east, one of North African origin. And there's a leak on the team. Or Gallus Alice. Wait a minute, though, what about male model semi-detached hubbie Chris? He used to work in Angola. That's in Africa. Or Anguilla. Which isn't. Can't tell from the accents.

Security camera image of someone stuffing a knife down the drain at the guest house, thus implicating Olivia in some murder or other. Cassie's off on the ferry with her smitten junior polis cadet.

Sandy still hasn't been suspended. But he knows about the mysterious Nigerian Black Axe Gang of Benin (note: this is a real gang). Wait another minute! The Chief Constable has recommended that Sandy be suspended. But Jeemie isnae going to tell him. He's the only native Shetland speaker on the force! He can't leave! Tosh meets her paramour, Nerdy Boy, who it now appears is working at the fish factory and has proof that workers there weren't getting paid. Or something. Instead, Northlands Ltd was getting paid - and it's registered in the name of Alice! Background check on Alice and Chris, immediately! Don't tell Sandy he's gonnie be upended.

Oh ho, and if you will, ah ha - Chris was sharing a tattoo parlour or something in Glasgow with Dodgy Mrs Boyle! And he worked in Nigeria, not Anguilla . Alice, what do you think? Nigeria? Isn't that a country in Africa where there's a mafia gang called The Black Axe? Says so on Wikipedia. Alice, confess!  Do you think I'm trying to compromise you, Jeemie? Nah, ah pure fancy you, doll. Right, let's pick up Chris and get him out of the way.

Hey Chris! Ever been to Benin City? You wouldnae be trying to ruin me so you could steal my wife? WE HAVE NOT SHAGGED! How dare you suggest such a thing!
Oh, Chris hasn't been offshore at all. Well, actually he has, but he's been in Yell (an island in the Shetland group), trying to upgrade his house. Let them have builders! He was not employing slave labour either. This is harassment! Jeemie doesn't buy it. Not without a surveyor's report.

Might be a bargain, though, so off he goes to Yell for a gander. Chris is free to go, followed by an unsuspended Sandy. Not in the least obviously. Unsuspected. Aye, right.

Jeemie's in the suspect hoose in Yell. Chris is in The Lounge (a pub). Olivia's taking pills in the bath and is heading for oblivion. Zezi has written her name in sawdust. But more important than that THERE IS LYE UNDER THE SINK! Zezzi's in a cupboard. She's safe now. Jeemie phones Olivia who marvellously, magically and entirely stupidly awakes from her drowned state. Sandy (still unsuspended) is to arrest Chris Brooks "I need backup at The Lounge, now!" How many hundreds of times have I spoken those words? Chris has done a runner from a completely different pub in Ayrshire. Och well.

Zezzi identifies Chris as a seriously bad man whose house in Yell is definitely not worth offering on. Also, your brother's dead. Do you want to see your mother? No. Bring Alice Brooks in for questioning. I wish to flirt with her in a doom-laden and tragic way.

"This doesn't make any sense! You must have got this wrong!" Alice, we know the feeling. It's television, get used to it. Jeemie and Alice look like they're not going to shag after all. And neither do Tosh and Nerdy Boy Runrig fan.

Duncan is selling up "Is that your idea or Graham Benson's? You're being played." Chris is down by the harbour. On a boat. It's the big confrontation between Chris (who's got a knife) and Jeemie. "Call that a knife? THIS is a knife!" Phallic symbolism agogo. "Ah didnae wreck yer marriage Chris. You did when you started trafficking people!" Tell that to the marriage guidance counsellor. Come ahead, McQuillan! Or don't bother. But he had nothing to do with Hayes case. Of course not. Charge McGuire, Laird and Brooks, says Rhona. "It's just a drop in the ocean," says Jeemie. Is he trying to be funny?

As for the Hayes, it's back to the CCTV. Try the camera in Market Cross...Oh hang on! Isn't that...Rosie! Turns out it was all Jeemie's idea in the first place. Or Jamie's. Jamie (not Jeemie) and Rosie were in on it together and Rosie killed his mum and brother. But he pure fancied her anyway so he (Jamie not Jeemie) didn't care.

More murders in Shetland this series than in the last 100 years or so in real life, by the way. Good grief, there's still ten minutes to go. Zezzi and her mum have to meet. They do. Sunny day on the Knab. What is this? "I would give you a pullover again to keep you safe." What? Oh, I would give you up all over again." Or maybe there was a real need for knitwear. There often is in Shetland.

Sandy has been suspended! At last! Steven Robertson might be heading for proper acting again! That looks like an awfully final flounce out.

Tosh and Nerdy Boy - "stay and sleep with me though I wear socks in bed," she says, romantically. Alice blames herself. Her and Jeemie? "But you suspected me of murder and people trafficking! And this is Shetland, where vikings burn their wives!" Our secret's out, folks. Remember that if you're thinking of moving to the isles. "Come over and I'll cook you dinner and we can talk about your lying murdering husband over some lasagne" No. Och well, there's always Duncan, waiting at home. And pizza. There's some football talk. World Cups. Scotland. Don't go Duncan. Ah pure love you! Take ma money, I want to be a partner in your bistro. I know some people at the licensing court. Ah'll dae security.

And that's it. It was all a dream. Or a lye.










Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Episode Five: "I just want to integrate into the community!"

First off, and seriously: The loss this week to fire of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory (as featured in Shetland Series 2: Blue Lightning) is a major tragedy for the island and especially for the wardens and their family. The building was fully insured and all the Observatory's 70 years of records were digitised and preserved. But if you'd like to help the Parnaby family, who lost everything, there's a GoFund Me page here.

But back to the Archipelago of Death, and European Centre of All People Trafficking, where the tech boys are trying to crack a phone. Jamie's been abducted by Olivia. Blonde woman is in jail with only a tattoo for company. Meanwhile, back in Watsness, Zezi's alive and Nikki is dead. Rosie's got no idea where Jamie is. Sandy still hasn't been suspended.

Wisnae ma fault!

Blonde Boyle woman wants protected. "From who?" Jeemie, it's "from whom"? McGuire will kill Zezi if he doesn't get paid. She tells them where Watsness is and with Sandy (still not suspended) and Tosh, Jeemie heads for the house. A dozen uniformed cops are transferred there by magical means and appear suddenly at a brisk trot. Jeemie opens a Sinister Door very slowly. Zezi was there. She had chalk. It's a clue! Sandy says they need to see something. Nikki.

The house is rented from Duncan Holiday Rentals. Duncan, Jimmy's love interest/housemate/fellow dad. "You'd better not be getting into bed with these people Duncan." McGuire is on the run with Zezi. Blonde wummin was just doing what she was telt.

But there's been a sighting of a blue Suzuki. Jimmy sends Tosh to the guest house, which seems unwise. Sandy's ready to see his chances of promotion going down the rain. Probably wise. Tosh is retrieving a knife from a drain at the guest house. And it now looks like Olivia killed the Hayes. Whoever they were. I've forgotten. Oh, Jamie's mum and brother. So Jamie's in danger. And a social work report belatedly reveals that Olivia had a history of violence.

Duncan fancies a job on the oil rigs. He asks his pal, Alice's man, who's at last suspicious about Alice and Jimmy. Sandy is studying for his exams, or rather the investigation. "Nobody, least of all me thinks you were negligent," says Jeemie. Aye, sure.

Tosh's pal saw McGuire down by the fish factory. "Every nook and cranny". Gavin Laird, you're nicked (Not the General Secretary of the AEEU). Olivia's driving Jamie off a cliff, nearly. Where's my daughter? Meanwhile Gavin (real Shetland accent, or pretty much) admits he knew McGuire and was involved in a blackfish scam. Off we go to Eshaness, where Olivia is still driving Jamie over the cliff, nearly. Here comes Jeemie and Tosh. Jamie says Prentice...oh, I don't know. Something or other. Jeemie stands in front of the car, and swears he will find Olivia's daughter. Several times.

Alice and almost-cuckolded husband Chris talk turkey, or whether or not she fancies Jeemie. "I just want to be part of this community." Integration: always easier if you shag a cop.
She just wants to integrate into the community!

Jeemie and Olivia in the jail. No tape recorder, no second cop, no realism whatsoever. But hey, talk to me, Olivia. Your file is just a list of self-destructive behaviour. Why? I was angry. No-one believed me. I was abused from the age of 11. I saw the same thing coming for Daniel and Zezi. But the social workers said I was violent. I gave them up to keep them safe. But they weren't. I didn't kill the Hayes. Oddly, Jeemie fails to ask why there was a hidden knife down the cludgie of her hotel. She won't be charged because...because Jeemie likes her.

Chris has walked out on Alice. Jeemie's ready to help her integrate. you getting yourself into something, says  Rona Fiscal. I don't want to be the guy who breaks up a relationship. It's already broken, says Rona.

Tosh has worked out that a landing of immigrants is imminent. And at last, Sandy is facing a tribunal. Even though he's still not suspended.

Cassie wants to go back to Glasgow. She's a worry. Duncan - ever thought about early retirement? Dodge can always find another sheriff. You can gallop off into the sunset with Alice, integrating like mad. Wow, here's Chris. I don't want to get in the way if you two want to be together. I recognise the need for community integration. Wimp or what?

McGuire is off in the van (that's not a blue Suzuki!) on that same stretch of road that's been in every episode, Zezzi in the back. They're going to offer the ransom and get her back. Alice and Jeemie by the sea. Almost a snog but not quite. Looks like some winching is definitely on. The community is safe!

Sandy's interview is finished ."What do they expect us to be? Mindreaders?" And now, the panto romance between Tosh and gleckit nerdy digiboy. Cheer up everyone!  Duncan is pished, watching the mirrie dancers. "Did you know that's what they call the Northern Lights?" Aye, because despite  my Glaswegian accent, I'm from here. "Naw, ye're no." Duncan and Jeemie have a quiet, calm, sensible chat. "Ye pissed it all away one lie after another."

Right, endgame approaches. Olivia calls McGuire. I have the money. McGuire answers the phone in a petrol station. Doesn't he know how dangerous that is? He'll call back. Aye sure. And yet he does. Meet me at an empty byre near Toft. Come alone. Of course I won't. Several hundred police are hiding behind dry stane dykes as McGuire's van approaches. It's a trap. Mcguire has been tipped off. I suspect Alice. Who else knew? Another chase is on, in grim weather, Volvo versus Transit Connect. That's never going to end well. Crash. And it's a sunny day!

Duncan wakes up on a beach. He's feeling a trifle unwell. Never mind, a wee swim will wake him up.

There are bodies in the water. Zezi? Nope. Turned out nice again.




Tuesday, March 05, 2019

Hey hey, we're the Krankies...

Sandy's still not suspended, despite basically killing Calum Dundinwoodiewiddie. But hey, that's not important right now. Because I've just realised...
You're nicked, pal. 

...Perez and Tosh are The Krankies. I am now unable to get the thought out of my mind. Also, was it really fair to put a trail for Line of Duty, one of the most potent pieces of drama on TV, just before one of the Krankiest? And with Fleabag's soul-ravaging brilliance still fresh in the memory? Not to mention the fact that Derry Girls starts in 15 minutes.
Hoy Jeemy! Huv ye read the new Ian Rankin?

Onwards! Droneshot. Drones. I hate drones. Bring back helicopters and Jimmy Jibs. Bad beardy man and trafficked women (that makes three major series with the same plotline, roughly - Trapped, Baptiste and this. Concentrate! A cage has been rattled and Cassie's being targetted by Evil Weegies so she's back home. Have you seen Taken, Cassie? It would appear nobody involved with this save the scriptwriter has. Liam Neeson. He's awfy tall. Here's Jeemy's much younger assistant. He's old enough to be a proper cop, despite the braces and short trousers.

Sandy's still not  suspended.

Look, a blackboard with big photographs and chalk arrows connecting up the main suspects! Thus must be a murder inquiry! Somewhere they can't afford modern stuff, like felt pens and a whiteboard. Och, back to Burra. Calum's wife doesn't know anything. "Morag, it's important." She's no' helping "I think somebody's got to her. Watch her house!"

Sandy thinks he's a scapegoat. Never mind, there seems to be an unlimited supply of detectives on Shetland, and Cassie's got a baby one to herself back at the Lodberries. Sandy's calling his union rep. Carla was working for Benson, probably. Does anyone care? The Krankies are off on a trip to talk to Carla's son. He knows nothing. Oh wait, he knows Benson - his mum's pal. They saw each other a couple of weeks ago. Just good friends though. Like Jeemy and Alice. And suddenly we have wee Rosie with Jamie. She's the former caravanner/prostitute, he's the brother of Evil Prentis and son of Cassie, I mean Carrie. No, Carla. She has nowhere else to go. Damn, Derry Girls has started. It's on catch-up.

Olivia is still smoking those Capstan Full Strength. Jeemy's upset. Alice turns up with wallpapering husband in tow. Embarrassing encounter ensues. Back to Morag, who was warned, an evil female voice declaims on the phone. Cassie wants to know about Jeemy's reading habits. Suggests Love in the time of Cholera is better than The Broons. What's going on with you and Alice? Nothing worth talking about. Morag waits to get murdered in the dark.  It's OK, though she'd going to keep her self occupied with some DIY. Somebody's trying to set fire to her house. Och, the hammer'll come in handy. A domestic tool in the first act is always involved in repairs later.

Jeemy arrives. "What's happened?" In a flash his lightning mind appraises the situation. "The house has been on fire. Someone petrol bombed it." That explains the smoke, fire and burn marks. Either that or an Up Helly Aa procession got out of hand.

The two lasses are still being prisoners, despite the fact that by now about 30 pairs of neighbourly binoculars are trained on the house they're held in. Morag's in a council house organised by Alice. Cassie tells her minder to go and help his wee sister, she'll be fine. No she won't. Here's Benson. He's an acquaintance of her dad's. Cassie's generation works too hard, he says. Does she know his daughter Ellie, who lives in Ruthven Street? Funnily enough...

Morag was threatened by a woman with a Glaswegian accent. That could be anyone on Shetland, where everyone has a Glaswegian accent except Sandy.  Calum was forced to dump Daniel's body at sea. This had a traumatic effect on him, for some reason.

Sandy's still not suspended.

Marine Scotland have closed down their fish processing plant! They're scaling down their operation! Billy, find me Graham Benson. Donnie fancies Tosh, but we knew that.

Benson wanted to see Duncan, not Jeemy. "See whatever it is you're up to. I hope for your sake it's legal." Fortunately for Jeemy, adultery isn't a criminal offence. Alice. A kiss is more than just a kiss. It's a bloody mess. She can't stop thinking about Jeemy. What if she left Chris? Does she still love him? She doesn't know. Go and figure it out and let me know, says Jeemy. Chris and Duncan wander in and catch them not smooching though in a suspiciously soulful way. Ciabatta is served. The long night of Italian food begins.

Sandy's still not suspended.

McGuire is cooking Pasta Puttenesca for the two lassies he's holding prisoner. Lemony Snicket. There's beer. Tosh finds Donnie, living in what looks like Ayr. She has pizza and wine. A series of unfortunate events. Duncan tells Jeemy "there's no profit in womanising; you just end up on your own with everybody hating you." He doesn't know Benson, he claims. But then, he's pished. And asleep, unlike McGuire who's raging along with Guns and Roses while the girls plot their escape. Hard blonde Weegie woman arrives and has them locked up again. Everybody in Shetland knows where they are. Except the cops. They don't have binoculars.

Donnie is making breakfast while wearing a snorkel and singing along with Runrig. "Dinna diss the Rig" The first time that phrase has ever been spoken in the history of the world.

Sandy's still not suspended.
Fancy a gemme o' rounders?

Blonde woman is Mrs Doyle. Tea, Father? No, a can of petrol on CCD will do nicely. Her rented flat has sinister music and pink rubber gloves.  And a drawing of a butterfly. And, jings, there's Mrs Doyle. Cut her off Tosh! She's getting away! She's in the `Malakoff with a big huge stick. This reminds me of a Peerie Willie Johnson story I can't tell you here. That's no stick, It's a metal bar. Jeemy's no feart: "Tosh, gait her." She's goat. There's a petrol can and rags in the boot of her car. Jamie is kidnapped by Oliva in a most, ahem,  realistic fashion.

Meanwhile, Nikki's dead. Jamie's with Olivia. She's insisting on chips from Frankie's in Brae. He wants to go to the Happy Haddock.

Sandy still hasn't been suspended.