Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x05
This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned!
905: Switcharoo
The first case of DI Neville Parker...
We open with a party where a bunch of rich people (I assume) are launching another timeshare luxury apartment. The head honcho is a guy who's there with his wife, adult daughter and son in law. I'm guessing the daughter or son-in-law die because they're the ones with speaking roles so far and they've both been a little shady. Neither of them look really happy to be there. The daughter heads up to the hotel room along, claiming jetlag. The husband stays because he's the head of sales and needs to work the crowd and sell stuff. They don't really seem like they're not getting along, but if she dies, he's still the main suspect.
In the hotel room, the woman closes the curtains. A bit later, back in the conference room, the father says that their table is ready so the husband goes upstairs to get his wife for dinner and - dun dun dun! Guess who's dead in the bathtub?
So, we have a classic locked room mystery. The door to the hotel room is locked with a chain and the bathroom door has a bolt on it (locked, of course). Obvious answer: the woman killed herself. But this is Death in Paradise, so she was clearly murdered. But how?
Aaaaaand theme song.
Cut to the team standing around at the airport, waiting for the new guy: DI Neville Parker. His first few minutes are quite funny: he walks out of the airport and into the brilliant sunshine and does a great vampire impression by rearing back out of the Caribbean sun and into the shade. The team laugh and they immediately know: yes, this is the new one fresh from gloomy Britain. (Look. I'm from Northern Germany. Our weather is pretty much the same, so I emphasise. I, too, would be a little uncomfortable in a Caribbean climate.)
Anyway, here's your first look at the new guy:
Anyway, Parker pulls out sunscreen and ... wow, he really makes sure he gets every single nook and cranny, doesn't he?
Ruby: Well, he seems thorough.
First meeting seems a bit awkward, but okay so far.
Cut to the crime scene from the night before. So straight away it appears that Parker's gimmick is going to be his dictaphone. He literally starts the case by recording the pertinent details: such as, Commissioner Patterson concluded it was a suicide. Parker's only really there to confirm this and release the body to be transported back to Manchester.
The team is a little sceptical of him so far:
He looks over the room. He finds the broken lock on the hotel room door, a packet of pills on the nightstand and, in the bathroom, the broken lock on that door. He checks the bathroom in total and concludes that it looks like the woman must have killed herself.
Everyone: Good, yes. Case closed, let's go for a beer.
Parker (turns around): Except...
Parker picks up the mouth guard from the bathroom counter and opens it. It's empty.
Everyone: Yes. And?
Parker: Why put in a mouth guard when you're planning on killing yourself?
So, Parker says he can't confirm it's a suicide.
He also can't really say how it happened, but hey, "this is now a case for your murder squad. Good luck."
After a few seconds of everyone going "wtf is that supposed to mean?" Madeleine runs after Parker because the Commissioner wants to talk to him. He doesn't even let her get a full sentence out because he really, really needs to go back to the airport and oh look, that's his taxi now.
He gets in ... and it's the Commissioner's car. He informs Parker that he talked to Parker's supervisor who agrees that if Parker thinks it's murder, he should do the investigation. Parker (shaking his head):
Commissioner: She said you were quite brilliant... if a little annoying.
Parker: ...
Commissioner: I look forward to seeing the brilliant side.
He agrees to stay until they've got the killer. (That's what they all say, Parker. And then they stay for years...)
Parker and Madeleine interview the people of interest: the parents, the husband and the room service guy who was there when the husband broke down the doors only to find his wife dead. (Parker records the interviews, too, so that's definitely his thing.)
Back at the station.
Parker: Can we get the air-con on?
JP: It's broken, sir.
Ruby: We've got windows!
Madeleine: The fans help. A little.
I feel like Parker is going to be Poole levels of "I hate this heat".
He does a quick debrief and assigns Ruby and JP to talk to the staff that was at the launch. And then asks where he's sleeping. JP takes him to the beach house and...
Parker: It's a shed! With a tree in it!
JP (trying to save what he can): Just wait till you see the view, sir.
Parker is impressed with the view... for two seconds. "But it's right at the beach! Sand gets everywhere!" JP looks scandalised that someone wouldn't want to stay at the beach. Parker does not look happy to be there:
He spends the night hunting mosquitoes and developing a rash.
He calls JP. At 2:30 in the morning. He complains about the mosquitoes and the rash. JP does NOT want to see the rash.
Anyway, Parker makes JP drive him to a hotel.
Concierge: it's 200 for the night.
Parker:
Anyway, the next morning Parker comes out of his room and finds JP and Ruby doing interviews just like he requested (turns out he's at the same hotel the victim was staying at). Ruby tells a story about she and the receptionist are old friends who unknowingly dated the same guy and it came out when the girls decided to have a double date boat tour and only three people showed up... (How do these things just happen to Ruby?) Anyway, the receptionist says the victim booked a taxi for morning before she died, going to the town hall.
At the station, Parker is putting cream on his mosquito bites.
Parker: Numbing cream. Works like a charm for mosquito bites even though it's actually for piles!
Madeleine:
"Lovely."
Madeleine has been investigating the family. The victim and her husband married a few years ago; the mother was just the step mother. Parker had the victim's house in Manchester searched and got a report from the house sitter that the victim only flew out a few days before on a last minute flight. She also mentioned something about the victim being worried about her dad, something about "corruption".
So... the victim came to St. Marie to talk to her dad about corruption in his time share business and ended up dead a couple of days later? Definitely points to murder. They go talk to the dad.
Turns out he fired his daughter a while ago because he was restructuring the company and she didn't like that the company was losing the family touch, the tradition. But he denies any corruption or that the business was failing.
They meet up with JP and Ruby who tell them that the victim went to Town Hall to find out about the properties/houses the dad's company bought (where they want to develop these timeshare apartments). She seemed to be interested in one house in particular, so they go to talk to the (previous) owner who, according to Ruby is a Grumpy Old Man who has to be at least 150 by now.
Parker finally finds out Ruby is the Commissioner's niece.
Parker: Does that cause any problems?
Madeleine: Only for her.
Madeleine in the same jumpsuit from 902, btw:
(I'm so glad she got to wear the same outfit twice. I hate it when tv shows make people wear a new outfit every episode, as if real people don't wear clothes more than once.)
At the Grumpy Old Man's.
JP: Ruby, you're not still scared of this guy, are you?
Ruby (very unconvincing): No.
Also Ruby: I mean, yes. A bit. He was a scary man!
Cut to a grassy field where a lot of press and people in suits are. Catherine is there as well and she tells them it's a ceremony to officially start the time share development. Anyway, Catherine is all "glad to have a new detective" and Parker is very quick to say he's just here for this case, all very temporary. (Let's see how long that last. :p) Catherine tells them that the dad's wife is the one making all the important decisions, and it was her who decided to do the press event despite the daughter's death.
Back at the station, Parker keeps scratching himself.
Madeleine meanwhile gets copies from the lawyers about the acquisition of the properties, including the contract Grumpy Old Man signed to sell his house. JP and Ruby add that according to neighbours and others around town, Grumpy Old Man was not happy with the project and refused to sell his house.
Then the Commissioner shows up and wants a word. He does not look happy... but when does he ever?
Ruby confirms that's his angry face.
And he is angry... about the hotel room Parker took.
Commissioner: You can pack your things and move back into the designated police accomodation.
Parker: You mean the shed on the beach?
Commissioner: It's a bungalow!
Parker: It's got a tree in it!
Anyway, Parker whines about allergies and the Commissioner says he's got one more night and then he has to move out. "So I suggest you solve the case." :D
Back at the hotel that night, Parker convinces the assistant manager to let him into the laundry room. Not to do laundry, but to run his clothes through to rinse them because new clothes, see, they have this residue and his skin just reacts to it? Yeah, the assistant manager was not too pleased but agreed.
Anyway, while waiting for his laundry, Parker discovers something and heads up to knock on the husband's hotel door. Look at his smirky face as he tells the husband that for someone who works in sales, he's a terrible liar.
The clue, apparently, is the Blakestone Arms Hotel in Manchester. It's on phone records and the husband had a pen with the name on it. Not quite a rich people place though, so why did the husband stay there for three months a while ago.
The husband says his wife threw him out after an argument. Parker counters that he talked to the manager there who says that the wife kicked him out for cheating. Turns out the husband met someone else on a business trip and had an affair. The wife only took him back on the promise that it would never happen again.
Parker: So you wouldn't mind then if we talked to this woman?
The next morning: Parker updates Madeleine on the affair and that the woman said it ended the year before. Parker has another rash:
JP and Ruby arrive with the confirmation that the victim had ingested a too large amount of sleeping pills and a warrant to search Grumpy Old Man's house. Well, JP has the warrant. Ruby has the crowbar. *g*
As they approach the house, they notice a truck parked outside. The doors are ajar. Parker sends Ruby and JP around the back while he and Madeleine try the front. Parker nearly has a heart attack when Ruby is suddenly behind him.
This is the face of a man waiting for the earth to swallow him up.
In the kitchen, Madeleine has discovered a giant puddle of water and a recently defrosted freezer (still with food inside). They look around and find a freezer chest on the back porch. Inside... is the Grumpy Old Man, frozen solid.
Parker assumes that's why the original victim was killed: she found out that Grumpy Old Man was dead. Then the truck out front starts up. JP manages to stop the truck from leaving:
Behind the wheel is... the room service guy from the beginning who was there when the husband discovered the dead wife. What a coincidence. Anyway, the guy is threatening to run JP over if he doesn't move out of the way. And then Parker is at the (open) driver's side window and is all, "hi!" And when the guy looks at him, he gets a faceful of anti-bug spray. Ouch.
At the station, Room Service Guy says Grumpy Old Man's death was an accident. He was there to put the pressure on, to get Grumpy Old Man to sign the contract. He finally got the old man to sign, but then he started struggling to breathe and keeled over and died of a heart attack.
Room Service Guy was promised a large chunk of cash if the old man signed, but he's reluctant to say who. Eventually, he tells them.
Cut to the hotel. Madeleine and Parker walk up to the dad, his wife and their solicitor. The wife reads a short statement that basically says they've heard what happened and that they employed Room Service Guy to act as a local agent to collect signatures of everyone owning properties they wanted to develop. Anything he did was his own decision and they deny any knowledge or responsibility.
Parker has to let them go since he can't charge them (well, the wife). He tries to appeal to the father since, you know, his daughter was murdered. Doesn't he care? But it looks like he's not allowed to talk to the police, going by the way his wife just looked at him.
Back at the station, they're all a bit angry. It's the parents word against that of Room Service Guy, who's gonna believe the room service guy over a couple of rich people, right?
JP brings up a good point: even if the cases are linked, how did someone murder the original victim in her locked room?
In his hotel room that night, Parker sits on the bed surrounded by crime scene pictures and case files. He's listening to his dictaphone recordings. I have a feeling he's close to figuring it out.
Wait, nope, he's not.
Now it's the next morning and... wait, now he's got it. By staring at the art hung up in his room. He calls JP and oops. It's only four in the morning. JP is gonna hate him if this keeps up.
They all meet up at the original crime scene and he heads into the bathroom with a magnifying glass, talking about Locard's Exchange Principle. He finds something and that's his final clue. He's solved it.
He wants to confirm one last detail with Room Service Guy and then needs someone to inform the Commissioner that he's solved it. And:
"No offence, you're all amazing, but I'd like a seat on the next flight out of here."
Cut to outside the hotel where Parker and the Commissioner are talking. Parker doesn't understand he can't just leave right now.
Commissioner: Believe me, no one is looking forward to you leaving this island more than me.
But until the arrests are made and the paperwork is complete, he can't leave.
Parker looks around. "Why is everyone here?"
Commissioner: Because you need to tell them what happened, who did it.
Anyway, Parker does the showdown thing. He reveals that the killer is... the husband! But he had help. Parker pulls out his phone to call "her" right now - I'm predicting it's the assistant manager. It's the only other speaking role that appeared throughout the episode.
And I was right. It's the assistant manager, Emma. "Or is it Samantha?" Parker asks.
Of course she happens to be within sight of the showdown location so Parker waves her over.
The father: Who the hell is Samantha?
So Parker explains: Samantha is the husband's affair - but not really. Because her name is Emma, and they didn't meet in Spain on a business trip but in St. Marie while he was preparing that time share business deal.
Parker continues his elaborations: if the father found out the husband was cheating on his daughter, he'd be out of the company as well as the marriage. And he couldn't afford that, could he? So the wife had to go.
Parker then nearly collapses because of the heat before going on with his explanation.
The husband slipped a few sleeping pills into his wife's champagne at the launch party to make sure she would retire early. Meanwhile the girlfriend went into the room next door to the wife's and turned off the electricity. She filled the bathtub, plugged in the hair dryer and dropped it in the bathtub. The scene was staged.
The she went next door where the wife was knocked out with the sleeping pills. She filled the bathtub here as well and plugged the hair dryer in.
Meanwhile downstairs, the husband excused himself to check on his wife. He met his girlfriend in the room and they carried the sleeping wife into the bath before dropping the hair dryer into the water.
Then Emma went back to the room next door and put on a hotel bathrobe just like the victim was wearing and a brown wig (like the victim's hair). That's what Parker found in the bathtub, btw, a synthetic hair from the wig. Anyway, the girlfriend locked the doors and got in the tub. Since the electricity was out, she was in no danger.
At the actual crime scene, the husband meanwhile locked the doors and then forced the doors open to make it look like they were broken down to get inside. Then he went back into the hallway to start his show.
Room Service Guy confirms that the assistant manager sent him up to that floor - to provide the husband with a convenient witness. They broke down the doors and then the husband sent Room Service Guy out of the room to get help. In the short time he was gone, the husband moved one room down the hallway to wait for Room Service Guy to come back, making it look like they'd broken into this room and not the one next door.
JP and Ruby arrest them and Parker turns to the Commissioner because he really want to get on that flight. And then he collapses.
Cut to the beach house where the Commissioner is wheeling Parker inside in a wheelchair. "He needs complete rest and recuperation!"
Ruby asks what he has. "Deep vein thrombosis." Well, he's not getting on any flights then.
"For a few weeks!"
Commissioner: "Luckily you have this wonderful bungalow to stay in."
Parker does not look like he feels lucky.
Commissioner: Call if you need anything. I believe you have Officer Hooper's number.
Ha! If he calls JP between midnight and 6 am again, deep vein thrombosis is going to be the least of his problems. :p
Everyone else leaves and Parker is left on the porch, looking at the ocean. Then Harry approaches.
Parker screams. The team:
Ruby: Looks like he met Harry. :D
And that's Neville Parker's first episode as the new DI. Not sure how they'll convince him to stay, but he's not the first who only wanted to be there for one case and ended up staying longer. So far I don't dislike him, but I don't instantly like him either.
905: Switcharoo
The first case of DI Neville Parker...
We open with a party where a bunch of rich people (I assume) are launching another timeshare luxury apartment. The head honcho is a guy who's there with his wife, adult daughter and son in law. I'm guessing the daughter or son-in-law die because they're the ones with speaking roles so far and they've both been a little shady. Neither of them look really happy to be there. The daughter heads up to the hotel room along, claiming jetlag. The husband stays because he's the head of sales and needs to work the crowd and sell stuff. They don't really seem like they're not getting along, but if she dies, he's still the main suspect.
In the hotel room, the woman closes the curtains. A bit later, back in the conference room, the father says that their table is ready so the husband goes upstairs to get his wife for dinner and - dun dun dun! Guess who's dead in the bathtub?
So, we have a classic locked room mystery. The door to the hotel room is locked with a chain and the bathroom door has a bolt on it (locked, of course). Obvious answer: the woman killed herself. But this is Death in Paradise, so she was clearly murdered. But how?
Aaaaaand theme song.
Cut to the team standing around at the airport, waiting for the new guy: DI Neville Parker. His first few minutes are quite funny: he walks out of the airport and into the brilliant sunshine and does a great vampire impression by rearing back out of the Caribbean sun and into the shade. The team laugh and they immediately know: yes, this is the new one fresh from gloomy Britain. (Look. I'm from Northern Germany. Our weather is pretty much the same, so I emphasise. I, too, would be a little uncomfortable in a Caribbean climate.)
Anyway, here's your first look at the new guy:
Anyway, Parker pulls out sunscreen and ... wow, he really makes sure he gets every single nook and cranny, doesn't he?
Ruby: Well, he seems thorough.
First meeting seems a bit awkward, but okay so far.
Cut to the crime scene from the night before. So straight away it appears that Parker's gimmick is going to be his dictaphone. He literally starts the case by recording the pertinent details: such as, Commissioner Patterson concluded it was a suicide. Parker's only really there to confirm this and release the body to be transported back to Manchester.
The team is a little sceptical of him so far:
He looks over the room. He finds the broken lock on the hotel room door, a packet of pills on the nightstand and, in the bathroom, the broken lock on that door. He checks the bathroom in total and concludes that it looks like the woman must have killed herself.
Everyone: Good, yes. Case closed, let's go for a beer.
Parker (turns around): Except...
Parker picks up the mouth guard from the bathroom counter and opens it. It's empty.
Everyone: Yes. And?
Parker: Why put in a mouth guard when you're planning on killing yourself?
So, Parker says he can't confirm it's a suicide.
He also can't really say how it happened, but hey, "this is now a case for your murder squad. Good luck."
After a few seconds of everyone going "wtf is that supposed to mean?" Madeleine runs after Parker because the Commissioner wants to talk to him. He doesn't even let her get a full sentence out because he really, really needs to go back to the airport and oh look, that's his taxi now.
He gets in ... and it's the Commissioner's car. He informs Parker that he talked to Parker's supervisor who agrees that if Parker thinks it's murder, he should do the investigation. Parker (shaking his head):
Commissioner: She said you were quite brilliant... if a little annoying.
Parker: ...
Commissioner: I look forward to seeing the brilliant side.
He agrees to stay until they've got the killer. (That's what they all say, Parker. And then they stay for years...)
Parker and Madeleine interview the people of interest: the parents, the husband and the room service guy who was there when the husband broke down the doors only to find his wife dead. (Parker records the interviews, too, so that's definitely his thing.)
Back at the station.
Parker: Can we get the air-con on?
JP: It's broken, sir.
Ruby: We've got windows!
Madeleine: The fans help. A little.
I feel like Parker is going to be Poole levels of "I hate this heat".
He does a quick debrief and assigns Ruby and JP to talk to the staff that was at the launch. And then asks where he's sleeping. JP takes him to the beach house and...
Parker: It's a shed! With a tree in it!
JP (trying to save what he can): Just wait till you see the view, sir.
Parker is impressed with the view... for two seconds. "But it's right at the beach! Sand gets everywhere!" JP looks scandalised that someone wouldn't want to stay at the beach. Parker does not look happy to be there:
He spends the night hunting mosquitoes and developing a rash.
He calls JP. At 2:30 in the morning. He complains about the mosquitoes and the rash. JP does NOT want to see the rash.
Anyway, Parker makes JP drive him to a hotel.
Concierge: it's 200 for the night.
Parker:
Anyway, the next morning Parker comes out of his room and finds JP and Ruby doing interviews just like he requested (turns out he's at the same hotel the victim was staying at). Ruby tells a story about she and the receptionist are old friends who unknowingly dated the same guy and it came out when the girls decided to have a double date boat tour and only three people showed up... (How do these things just happen to Ruby?) Anyway, the receptionist says the victim booked a taxi for morning before she died, going to the town hall.
At the station, Parker is putting cream on his mosquito bites.
Parker: Numbing cream. Works like a charm for mosquito bites even though it's actually for piles!
Madeleine:
"Lovely."
Madeleine has been investigating the family. The victim and her husband married a few years ago; the mother was just the step mother. Parker had the victim's house in Manchester searched and got a report from the house sitter that the victim only flew out a few days before on a last minute flight. She also mentioned something about the victim being worried about her dad, something about "corruption".
So... the victim came to St. Marie to talk to her dad about corruption in his time share business and ended up dead a couple of days later? Definitely points to murder. They go talk to the dad.
Turns out he fired his daughter a while ago because he was restructuring the company and she didn't like that the company was losing the family touch, the tradition. But he denies any corruption or that the business was failing.
They meet up with JP and Ruby who tell them that the victim went to Town Hall to find out about the properties/houses the dad's company bought (where they want to develop these timeshare apartments). She seemed to be interested in one house in particular, so they go to talk to the (previous) owner who, according to Ruby is a Grumpy Old Man who has to be at least 150 by now.
Parker finally finds out Ruby is the Commissioner's niece.
Parker: Does that cause any problems?
Madeleine: Only for her.
Madeleine in the same jumpsuit from 902, btw:
(I'm so glad she got to wear the same outfit twice. I hate it when tv shows make people wear a new outfit every episode, as if real people don't wear clothes more than once.)
At the Grumpy Old Man's.
JP: Ruby, you're not still scared of this guy, are you?
Ruby (very unconvincing): No.
Also Ruby: I mean, yes. A bit. He was a scary man!
Cut to a grassy field where a lot of press and people in suits are. Catherine is there as well and she tells them it's a ceremony to officially start the time share development. Anyway, Catherine is all "glad to have a new detective" and Parker is very quick to say he's just here for this case, all very temporary. (Let's see how long that last. :p) Catherine tells them that the dad's wife is the one making all the important decisions, and it was her who decided to do the press event despite the daughter's death.
Back at the station, Parker keeps scratching himself.
Madeleine meanwhile gets copies from the lawyers about the acquisition of the properties, including the contract Grumpy Old Man signed to sell his house. JP and Ruby add that according to neighbours and others around town, Grumpy Old Man was not happy with the project and refused to sell his house.
Then the Commissioner shows up and wants a word. He does not look happy... but when does he ever?
Ruby confirms that's his angry face.
And he is angry... about the hotel room Parker took.
Commissioner: You can pack your things and move back into the designated police accomodation.
Parker: You mean the shed on the beach?
Commissioner: It's a bungalow!
Parker: It's got a tree in it!
Anyway, Parker whines about allergies and the Commissioner says he's got one more night and then he has to move out. "So I suggest you solve the case." :D
Back at the hotel that night, Parker convinces the assistant manager to let him into the laundry room. Not to do laundry, but to run his clothes through to rinse them because new clothes, see, they have this residue and his skin just reacts to it? Yeah, the assistant manager was not too pleased but agreed.
Anyway, while waiting for his laundry, Parker discovers something and heads up to knock on the husband's hotel door. Look at his smirky face as he tells the husband that for someone who works in sales, he's a terrible liar.
The clue, apparently, is the Blakestone Arms Hotel in Manchester. It's on phone records and the husband had a pen with the name on it. Not quite a rich people place though, so why did the husband stay there for three months a while ago.
The husband says his wife threw him out after an argument. Parker counters that he talked to the manager there who says that the wife kicked him out for cheating. Turns out the husband met someone else on a business trip and had an affair. The wife only took him back on the promise that it would never happen again.
Parker: So you wouldn't mind then if we talked to this woman?
The next morning: Parker updates Madeleine on the affair and that the woman said it ended the year before. Parker has another rash:
JP and Ruby arrive with the confirmation that the victim had ingested a too large amount of sleeping pills and a warrant to search Grumpy Old Man's house. Well, JP has the warrant. Ruby has the crowbar. *g*
As they approach the house, they notice a truck parked outside. The doors are ajar. Parker sends Ruby and JP around the back while he and Madeleine try the front. Parker nearly has a heart attack when Ruby is suddenly behind him.
This is the face of a man waiting for the earth to swallow him up.
In the kitchen, Madeleine has discovered a giant puddle of water and a recently defrosted freezer (still with food inside). They look around and find a freezer chest on the back porch. Inside... is the Grumpy Old Man, frozen solid.
Parker assumes that's why the original victim was killed: she found out that Grumpy Old Man was dead. Then the truck out front starts up. JP manages to stop the truck from leaving:
Behind the wheel is... the room service guy from the beginning who was there when the husband discovered the dead wife. What a coincidence. Anyway, the guy is threatening to run JP over if he doesn't move out of the way. And then Parker is at the (open) driver's side window and is all, "hi!" And when the guy looks at him, he gets a faceful of anti-bug spray. Ouch.
At the station, Room Service Guy says Grumpy Old Man's death was an accident. He was there to put the pressure on, to get Grumpy Old Man to sign the contract. He finally got the old man to sign, but then he started struggling to breathe and keeled over and died of a heart attack.
Room Service Guy was promised a large chunk of cash if the old man signed, but he's reluctant to say who. Eventually, he tells them.
Cut to the hotel. Madeleine and Parker walk up to the dad, his wife and their solicitor. The wife reads a short statement that basically says they've heard what happened and that they employed Room Service Guy to act as a local agent to collect signatures of everyone owning properties they wanted to develop. Anything he did was his own decision and they deny any knowledge or responsibility.
Parker has to let them go since he can't charge them (well, the wife). He tries to appeal to the father since, you know, his daughter was murdered. Doesn't he care? But it looks like he's not allowed to talk to the police, going by the way his wife just looked at him.
Back at the station, they're all a bit angry. It's the parents word against that of Room Service Guy, who's gonna believe the room service guy over a couple of rich people, right?
JP brings up a good point: even if the cases are linked, how did someone murder the original victim in her locked room?
In his hotel room that night, Parker sits on the bed surrounded by crime scene pictures and case files. He's listening to his dictaphone recordings. I have a feeling he's close to figuring it out.
Wait, nope, he's not.
Now it's the next morning and... wait, now he's got it. By staring at the art hung up in his room. He calls JP and oops. It's only four in the morning. JP is gonna hate him if this keeps up.
They all meet up at the original crime scene and he heads into the bathroom with a magnifying glass, talking about Locard's Exchange Principle. He finds something and that's his final clue. He's solved it.
He wants to confirm one last detail with Room Service Guy and then needs someone to inform the Commissioner that he's solved it. And:
"No offence, you're all amazing, but I'd like a seat on the next flight out of here."
Cut to outside the hotel where Parker and the Commissioner are talking. Parker doesn't understand he can't just leave right now.
Commissioner: Believe me, no one is looking forward to you leaving this island more than me.
But until the arrests are made and the paperwork is complete, he can't leave.
Parker looks around. "Why is everyone here?"
Commissioner: Because you need to tell them what happened, who did it.
Anyway, Parker does the showdown thing. He reveals that the killer is... the husband! But he had help. Parker pulls out his phone to call "her" right now - I'm predicting it's the assistant manager. It's the only other speaking role that appeared throughout the episode.
And I was right. It's the assistant manager, Emma. "Or is it Samantha?" Parker asks.
Of course she happens to be within sight of the showdown location so Parker waves her over.
The father: Who the hell is Samantha?
So Parker explains: Samantha is the husband's affair - but not really. Because her name is Emma, and they didn't meet in Spain on a business trip but in St. Marie while he was preparing that time share business deal.
Parker continues his elaborations: if the father found out the husband was cheating on his daughter, he'd be out of the company as well as the marriage. And he couldn't afford that, could he? So the wife had to go.
Parker then nearly collapses because of the heat before going on with his explanation.
The husband slipped a few sleeping pills into his wife's champagne at the launch party to make sure she would retire early. Meanwhile the girlfriend went into the room next door to the wife's and turned off the electricity. She filled the bathtub, plugged in the hair dryer and dropped it in the bathtub. The scene was staged.
The she went next door where the wife was knocked out with the sleeping pills. She filled the bathtub here as well and plugged the hair dryer in.
Meanwhile downstairs, the husband excused himself to check on his wife. He met his girlfriend in the room and they carried the sleeping wife into the bath before dropping the hair dryer into the water.
Then Emma went back to the room next door and put on a hotel bathrobe just like the victim was wearing and a brown wig (like the victim's hair). That's what Parker found in the bathtub, btw, a synthetic hair from the wig. Anyway, the girlfriend locked the doors and got in the tub. Since the electricity was out, she was in no danger.
At the actual crime scene, the husband meanwhile locked the doors and then forced the doors open to make it look like they were broken down to get inside. Then he went back into the hallway to start his show.
Room Service Guy confirms that the assistant manager sent him up to that floor - to provide the husband with a convenient witness. They broke down the doors and then the husband sent Room Service Guy out of the room to get help. In the short time he was gone, the husband moved one room down the hallway to wait for Room Service Guy to come back, making it look like they'd broken into this room and not the one next door.
JP and Ruby arrest them and Parker turns to the Commissioner because he really want to get on that flight. And then he collapses.
Cut to the beach house where the Commissioner is wheeling Parker inside in a wheelchair. "He needs complete rest and recuperation!"
Ruby asks what he has. "Deep vein thrombosis." Well, he's not getting on any flights then.
"For a few weeks!"
Commissioner: "Luckily you have this wonderful bungalow to stay in."
Parker does not look like he feels lucky.
Commissioner: Call if you need anything. I believe you have Officer Hooper's number.
Ha! If he calls JP between midnight and 6 am again, deep vein thrombosis is going to be the least of his problems. :p
Everyone else leaves and Parker is left on the porch, looking at the ocean. Then Harry approaches.
Parker screams. The team:
Ruby: Looks like he met Harry. :D
And that's Neville Parker's first episode as the new DI. Not sure how they'll convince him to stay, but he's not the first who only wanted to be there for one case and ended up staying longer. So far I don't dislike him, but I don't instantly like him either.