Oct 04, 2013 09:45
Episode 3: The Big Freeze
The Major, in financial difficulties, makes an almost comically botched attempt at insurance fraud and Hamish, though not a party to it, connives at helping him out of the hole he has dug. Already in the first episode, Rory the shopkeeper has made it plain to Hamish that he's about to adjust an insurance claim slightly and Hamish turns a blind eye, but this is more serious, especially when blackmail results…
Spoilers (possibly)
Some more stereotypical working-class criminals do turn up later in the series, but a lot of the nastier criminal element are middle-class and quite sophisticated, as is the one the Major and Hamish run up against here. He also has a very unlikely quirk involving Raspberry Ripple ice-cream, an early sign that the series may not be exactly grounded in reality.
Once again, police turn up from outside to help solve the case (as in ep 1) and also to encourage Hamish to make use of the shiny new computer they've issued him, which an enthusiastic inspector pricelessly describes as "state of the ark technology". Their naïve belief that hi-tech can do anything is funny, but the computer causes a big problem for a character we have not yet got to know, TV John, a bachelor who lives in a caravan and acts as Hamish's assistant. John has moved around a lot in his life, working on the rigs, for a reason that becomes clear in the course of the episode. Unfortunately it takes a very long time to become clear to Hamish, because John is too embarrassed to tell him - just as the Major is too embarrassed to tell his daughter Alex that he can't really afford the allowance he pays her, while Rory is too proud to confront his lover Esme about the affair he thinks she's having. Alex, giving out prizes in the local school, praises Esme's teaching, which encouraged her to write, and says "Words are precious. If only people could say what they meant". This is very much the key to the episode, and indeed a key to the series.
Some of the humour comes from the locals' panic at the sudden arrival of proper police; there is a rush for tax discs and TV licences (Lachlan and his son put a cardboard notice on the dash saying "Tax Disc in our other car"). Isobel is still gazing hopelessly at Hamish and hasn't surfaced yet as the strong character she really is. The other big development concerns TV John, who has a vision. TV John has second sight and this is going to play a big part in events later. This episode also contains the world's slowest ever car chase.
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