Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x02
This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned!
902: A Portrait in Murder
The next episode opens on a beach road with a blonde woman in a cabriolet and cheery reggae music playing. The woman buys an energy drink (Boom Ting) and makes a call to a young man. "Get the studio ready!" He's still speaking when she hangs up on him. He's in an art studio.
Cut to an outside dining table. A young woman is on the phone arguing with a client(?) while the young man from earlier and another young man arrive at the table. Guy 2 is carrying a tablet of food. She ends her call and Cabriolet Woman - obviously an artist - arrives. Everyone seems to be stressed. The woman kisses Guy 2 while the other two roll their eyes a little. There is some bitching from all sides. Anyway, artist woman (I'm guessing she's our victim, or the prime suspect - alongside the other three) takes her energy drink and heads to the studio (which is a shed set up as an art studio) to start painting. She turns on loud music and paints while the others have lunch. Clips showing the artist start to get wobbly as the artist apparently gets wobbly, so I'm guessing she's the victim. And yup, she collapses!
Theme song time. I'm dancing in my chair a little.
Mooney arrives at the scene where JP and Ruby brief him: Donna, artist from London, prepared for a live show where her paintings would be sold for charity. The artist's name is vaguely familiar to Mooney and Madeleine; apparently she was a big deal in the 90s.
Mooney immediately suspects poison as he can smell bitter almonds and the vic's skin is red and blotchy. He sets JP to bag and food or drinks. He also asks them to open a window because the paint fumes are making him lightheaded.
Then Ruby cuts in: "Sir, we've got another body!"
It's... a mouse.
Meanwhile Madeleine sniffs at the vic's energy drink and smells *drum roll* bitter almonds.
Outside, an older woman arrives and is all "what the hell is going on?" She is Patty, the victim's art dealer.
Mooney takes her to the other persons of interest and tells them he suspects poisoning. He notices Guy 2 (the boyfriend) has a bandage on his hand. He asks them to tell him what happened.
Guy 1 (the vic's assistant) is apparently also an artist. He set up the studio for Donna. He doesn't know where she went before she was murdered. Guy 2 butts in and says she was meeting a friend, but he doesn't know who and he adds that she hardly knew anyone on the island. Guy 1 adds that she called him on the way back from Jimmy's kiosk where she always got cigarettes and a can of Boom Ting.
Nobody touched the can of Boom Ting and it wasn't opened while she was outside with the others. Mooney keeps looking at Guy 2 like he's suspect #1.
They all say that they didn't see anyone go in the studio and that they were all outside... except Patty of course. But she was in a taxi at the time.
The first time someone went into the studio was after lunch when the young woman and Guy 1 went to see if he needed anything. They found her unconscious/dead and called an ambulance.
As they leave, Madeleine and Mooney comment on the mystery: how did the poison get in the can of Boom Ting when nobody but the victim handled it?
Back in the studio, Ruby throws the dead mouse in the trash. JP is a little weird about it, but whatever. Mooney sends them to talk to the kiosk owner. He and Madeleine look at the painting the vic was working on before she died and then go to search the house. In the vic's office, Mooney finds a box of books: copies of her memoirs. Madeleine is all "maybe we should do some work now...?" So they do. Mooney finds a mirror with some fist-shaped damage to it and Madeleine finds a plane ticket (one way, to New York).
So they go talk to Guy 2 AKA the Boyfriend.
But the boyfriend admits to arguing with the vic. Apparently she mentioned him as her drug dealer in her memoirs, something he wasn't too happy about. Apparently, that's how they met.
Mooney: And they say romance is dead.
They ask why he didn't leave and he says he loved her. Mooney is not convinced.
As they are leaving, Mooney and Madeleine stumble over a bouquet of flowers someone put down in front of the door. They check the card and then Patty comes along and takes the flowers. They leave and Patty goes straight out the back door and dumps the flowers in the trash. I smell a clue!
At the station, Mooney is reading the vic's memoirs when JP and Ruby get back. Nobody else has been admitted to hospital for cyanide poisoning, so it probably wasn't a random thing. Still, they confiscated the rest of the Boom Ting stock at the kiosk and sent it to the lab. Madeleine is meanwhile setting up the murder board. Mooney sends everyone to do background checks and to find out where the vic was that morning.
The next morning JP has the autopsy report back saying it was definitely cyanide. There were traces of it in the can of Boom Ting and it was also the only thing she consumed in the hours before her death. Fingerprints were only the victim's.
They go over their suspects:
Guy 1: Anthony, the vic's assistant. Has minors for vandalism (graffiti) but no real motive so far.
Guy 2: Max, the Boyfriend. Drug history, met the vic 10 years ago. Did some modeling, has a rich family background. No real motive either.
The young woman: Sandrine: art centre manager. Apparently engaged to Anthony. Definitely no motive.
Patty: the art dealer. Met the vic back in the 90s, but has financial trouble. Can't have been happy with a charity auction/sale because there's no money in it.
Madeleine has meanwhile found out who sent the flowers to the victim - it was Charlotte Ormsby-Dawlish who is also an art dealer. She and the vic where about to sign a contract, dumping Patty as an art dealer. Which gives her so much motive... but it can't be her because it's barely ten minutes in. *g*
Meanwhile there is a call from the art centre. Patty has hired some guys to reclaim the painting for the charity showing and Sandrine is keeping them at bay with a fire extinguisher. She and Patty are arguing about the painting: Patty wants to take them, claiming they're essentially hers, but Sandrine wants to go ahead with the showing, claiming the vic gave them to her for this charity sale.
Madeleine takes the fire extinguisher.
This is the second episode where she's wearing a jumpsuit.
This is 901:
And now this one:
I wonder if this is a new trend.
Mooney confronts Patty, but she keeps her cool. The vic hasn't signed the new contract, so what does it matter? Besides, she has an alibi!
Back at the station, JP and Ruby are sighting the evidence. He mentions that the mouse, Rothko, was the vic's pet and reveals that he used to have a pet mouse as a kid: Cecil. Ruby finds it hilarious, but JP distracts her with evidence: apparently the vic stopped at a gas station. He finds out she also asked for directions while there, so Mooney and Madeleine go there.
Turns out the vic visited a guy named Minto:
He's just some rich guy "investing" his money in art, so he bought one of her paintings. Apparently the guy called her to thank her for the painting and then the day she was murdered, she just showed up at his place and wanted to see the painting "in situ". Then she left. Minto says he didn't know her. He approached her by email and she first said no but then did it anyway and he paid 60k cash for it. Although, he says, he might get rid of it, especially now she's dead.
The guy is weird, but not really a suspect. Mooney asks if he paid the vic personally and he says no, he gave it to the assistant. Mooney and Madeleine talk to him.
Anthony is painting when they find him (and he's not bad). He says the vic was going to take him to London. He admits he was the in-between for the sale to Terry. He shows them that he hid the money in a wrapped painting frame. He didn't take it to the bank or anywhere official because the vic didn't want Patty (her art dealer) to find out she'd sold a painting on her own. He's a little bit affronted to hear that Minto is thinking of selling the painting.
Back at the station, JP confirms Patty's alibi. She can't have done it. Ruby checked the vic's financials and found nothing unusual. But she did find that the vic went to a therapist for rich people, so Madeleine plans to speak to her in the morning. Currently the only one with a motive is the boyfriend.
Mooney invites everyone to a beer at Catherine's bar when Anna calls - apparently they're going on a date the next day. :D At Catherine's, he talks to Catherine about the whole dating situation. She reveals that she wondered, for a bit, if she and Mooney might ever get together which sends them both giggling when Mooney says "you would have eaten me alive". She gives Mooney some advice though: if Anna is only there for a holiday before she leaves, he might as well give it a try. Have a summer/holiday romance. Not too serious. Just the right thing to get back in the game, as it were.
At the table, Ruby is still teasing JP about Cecil the mouse. JP shares some more of Cecil who just disappeared one day. They end up toasting Rothko and Cecil, two dead mice. JP finds it ridiculous.
The next morning, Mooney is already at the office when JP and Ruby arrive. He's pondering something and asks about the painting of the boyfriend that the vic was working on. Something bothers him about the painting Minto bought (which also features the boyfriend) and he's trying to figure out what.
He sends the two to take a pic of the artist's other work and while there Ruby notices that the dead mouse is gone from the trash. "What is it with you? First Cecil disappears and now Rothko? You're like a Bermuda Triangle for mice!"
JP just rolls his eyes, figuring something ate the dead mouse.
Madeleine comes back from speaking to the therapist where the vic was seeking help with her self-destructive habits. Apparently, the chaos helps her paint, but it's hell on relationships. The therapist also says the vic had a fling with her assistant Anthony. And she also told Sandrine about it - who, if you remember, is engaged to Anthony. Ooh. Sandrine did NOT like it.
Mooney finds it a bit suspicious that Sandrine and Anthony didn't mention it at all. They go to talk to Sandrine. She isn't happy they found out, but points out that she'd have to be an idiot to kill the woman promoting her art centre and sponsoring her fiancé. The vic was literally their cash cow - so what if she had an affair with the fiancé?
Mooney asks if the vic's boyfriend knew about the affair. Sandrine doesn't know, but thinks there was something wrong with their relationship.
Mooney and Madeleine talk to the boyfriend Max again who says they had an open relationship and he didn't care who she slept with. Mooney, having read the memoirs, remembers that Max was definitely the jealous type in the book. He once got in a fight with the vic that got him a pretty nasty scar on his stomach (the guy is constantly bare-chested or in open shirts so everyone has seen the scar.) His motive is getting better and better.
Mooney is not happy about it when Max points out he had no chance to poison her and takes off. Then Madeleine reminds Mooney of his date with Anna (he's already late and a little nervous). Anna is waiting at the harbour and they continue as they left off: awkward and adorable. They are doing an island tour on the water, talk about their first ever dates and are generally adorable. I know I keep saying it, but they are.
Back at the station, Ruby and JP compare the pic of Minto's painting to the one they got from the vic's studio. They can't see anything strange, but Madeleine notices that the scar on the boyfriend's stomach is turning the wrong way in one of the paintings. They all wonder why the vic would make that mistake. (The obvious answer is, of course, that she didn't.)
Cut to Minto's house where someone breaks in and steals the painting. Minto, by chance, comes back just afterwards and chases the thief through the backyard to the beach where the thief heads off in a little boat.
Cut to Mooney's awkward date. Anna notices that obviously Mooney is not quite happy to be there. He confesses to her that this is a big deal for him - it's his first date since his wife died. Anna is understanding - it's a big deal for her, too. Neither of them really know if they're quite ready yet but Anna really would like to try. Mooney is just about to answer when his phone rings.
It's Minto on the phone, telling Mooney that he was robbed. Mooney kind of commandeers the boat they're on and they chase towards the fleeing thief. Except the thief just keeps going while the boat Mooney is on breaks down and that's that boat chase over with...
Back in the harbour, Mooney apologises about the date but Anna waves him off. Literally the most exciting date she's ever been on. :D Mooney says he'll call her but she says she'll understand if he doesn't. (I want him to call her! They're so sweet together!)
Madeleine updates Mooney on the whole scar issue. And who do they know who was involved in the painting deal with Minto, who is also an artist and who handled the money of the secret sale? Right - they go talk to Anthony who admits he faked the painting. But apparently the vic figured it out - that's why she went to Minto that day, to see the painting. Which gives Anthony a very obvious motive.
(Although: Mooney talks about the scar and how it's bending the wrong way in the fake Anthony painted because he "didn't have the luxury to see Max' scar every day" - bullshit. So far the guy has been shirtless/with an open shirt every time except once. Anthony must have seen the scar so many times! Plus, he usually set up the vic's studio where a giant painting of the guy and his scar was set up. Total plothole there - unless Anthony was just super unobservant.)
Anthony denies the murder though.
The team assembles in the studio. Mooney recounts events to figure out how the poison got in the drink. Nobody has any idea how, but in the silence they can hear... a mouse. It's Rothko the... not dead mouse. Everyone is very confused. (Also note Madeleine's jumpsuit!)
While trying to figure out how the mouse survived, Mooney has a brilliant idea.
We get the usual flashback as he's putting things together and then it's time for the big showdown after Ruby and JP get the paint brushes to the lab.
At the lunch table outside, everyone is gathered. Mooney sums up the crime and says the killer used misdirection. He puts a can of Boom Ting on the table and says it's thanks to the mouse that he figured out the impossible murder.
He looks around and is like, "Sandrine did it."
Everyone is shocked and surprised.
Madeleine explains that nobody went near the can of Boom Ting... before the murder. But afterwards, Sandrine was the first to the crime scene and the body. She sent Anthony to phone for an ambulance, used a little vial of poison to kill the (by then only unconscious vic) and poured the rest of the poison in the Boom Ting can to make it look like that was the source of the poison. She engineered the whole thing by exchanging the paint thinners with something more potent that caused the vic to fall unconscious (and put the mouse in a coma) and then poisoned the seemingly already dead victim.
Her motive was the fact that the victim wanted to take Anthony to London - she was afraid she'd be left by her fiancé and protégé artist.
Cut to Mooney's beach house where he's recounting his day to his dead wife's picture frame. It's a little heartbreaking - the thing about Mooney is that he hides his pain behind this happy facade and it only shines through occasionally, but deep down he's still mourning. But he also wants to try and move on, but he struggles to "replace" his dead wife. Still, he picks up his phone to call Anna.
Cut to Anna, sitting in Catherine's bar, waiting for Mooney. He comes to the table with their drinks and Anna says she's very surprised he called - but glad that he did. Look at them:
So sweet!
A few tables over, Madeleine, JP and Catherine are watching and happy for Mooney. Ruby shows up with a small cage that she puts down in front of JP. I'm guessing that's Cecil 2.0 in there.
Actually, it's Rothko. Ruby: It's fate! After all these years a little mouse turns up homeless and here you are... mouse-less.
:D
And that's the end of 902.
902: A Portrait in Murder
The next episode opens on a beach road with a blonde woman in a cabriolet and cheery reggae music playing. The woman buys an energy drink (Boom Ting) and makes a call to a young man. "Get the studio ready!" He's still speaking when she hangs up on him. He's in an art studio.
Cut to an outside dining table. A young woman is on the phone arguing with a client(?) while the young man from earlier and another young man arrive at the table. Guy 2 is carrying a tablet of food. She ends her call and Cabriolet Woman - obviously an artist - arrives. Everyone seems to be stressed. The woman kisses Guy 2 while the other two roll their eyes a little. There is some bitching from all sides. Anyway, artist woman (I'm guessing she's our victim, or the prime suspect - alongside the other three) takes her energy drink and heads to the studio (which is a shed set up as an art studio) to start painting. She turns on loud music and paints while the others have lunch. Clips showing the artist start to get wobbly as the artist apparently gets wobbly, so I'm guessing she's the victim. And yup, she collapses!
Theme song time. I'm dancing in my chair a little.
Mooney arrives at the scene where JP and Ruby brief him: Donna, artist from London, prepared for a live show where her paintings would be sold for charity. The artist's name is vaguely familiar to Mooney and Madeleine; apparently she was a big deal in the 90s.
Mooney immediately suspects poison as he can smell bitter almonds and the vic's skin is red and blotchy. He sets JP to bag and food or drinks. He also asks them to open a window because the paint fumes are making him lightheaded.
Then Ruby cuts in: "Sir, we've got another body!"
It's... a mouse.
Meanwhile Madeleine sniffs at the vic's energy drink and smells *drum roll* bitter almonds.
Outside, an older woman arrives and is all "what the hell is going on?" She is Patty, the victim's art dealer.
Mooney takes her to the other persons of interest and tells them he suspects poisoning. He notices Guy 2 (the boyfriend) has a bandage on his hand. He asks them to tell him what happened.
Guy 1 (the vic's assistant) is apparently also an artist. He set up the studio for Donna. He doesn't know where she went before she was murdered. Guy 2 butts in and says she was meeting a friend, but he doesn't know who and he adds that she hardly knew anyone on the island. Guy 1 adds that she called him on the way back from Jimmy's kiosk where she always got cigarettes and a can of Boom Ting.
Nobody touched the can of Boom Ting and it wasn't opened while she was outside with the others. Mooney keeps looking at Guy 2 like he's suspect #1.
They all say that they didn't see anyone go in the studio and that they were all outside... except Patty of course. But she was in a taxi at the time.
The first time someone went into the studio was after lunch when the young woman and Guy 1 went to see if he needed anything. They found her unconscious/dead and called an ambulance.
As they leave, Madeleine and Mooney comment on the mystery: how did the poison get in the can of Boom Ting when nobody but the victim handled it?
Back in the studio, Ruby throws the dead mouse in the trash. JP is a little weird about it, but whatever. Mooney sends them to talk to the kiosk owner. He and Madeleine look at the painting the vic was working on before she died and then go to search the house. In the vic's office, Mooney finds a box of books: copies of her memoirs. Madeleine is all "maybe we should do some work now...?" So they do. Mooney finds a mirror with some fist-shaped damage to it and Madeleine finds a plane ticket (one way, to New York).
So they go talk to Guy 2 AKA the Boyfriend.
But the boyfriend admits to arguing with the vic. Apparently she mentioned him as her drug dealer in her memoirs, something he wasn't too happy about. Apparently, that's how they met.
Mooney: And they say romance is dead.
They ask why he didn't leave and he says he loved her. Mooney is not convinced.
As they are leaving, Mooney and Madeleine stumble over a bouquet of flowers someone put down in front of the door. They check the card and then Patty comes along and takes the flowers. They leave and Patty goes straight out the back door and dumps the flowers in the trash. I smell a clue!
At the station, Mooney is reading the vic's memoirs when JP and Ruby get back. Nobody else has been admitted to hospital for cyanide poisoning, so it probably wasn't a random thing. Still, they confiscated the rest of the Boom Ting stock at the kiosk and sent it to the lab. Madeleine is meanwhile setting up the murder board. Mooney sends everyone to do background checks and to find out where the vic was that morning.
The next morning JP has the autopsy report back saying it was definitely cyanide. There were traces of it in the can of Boom Ting and it was also the only thing she consumed in the hours before her death. Fingerprints were only the victim's.
They go over their suspects:
Guy 1: Anthony, the vic's assistant. Has minors for vandalism (graffiti) but no real motive so far.
Guy 2: Max, the Boyfriend. Drug history, met the vic 10 years ago. Did some modeling, has a rich family background. No real motive either.
The young woman: Sandrine: art centre manager. Apparently engaged to Anthony. Definitely no motive.
Patty: the art dealer. Met the vic back in the 90s, but has financial trouble. Can't have been happy with a charity auction/sale because there's no money in it.
Madeleine has meanwhile found out who sent the flowers to the victim - it was Charlotte Ormsby-Dawlish who is also an art dealer. She and the vic where about to sign a contract, dumping Patty as an art dealer. Which gives her so much motive... but it can't be her because it's barely ten minutes in. *g*
Meanwhile there is a call from the art centre. Patty has hired some guys to reclaim the painting for the charity showing and Sandrine is keeping them at bay with a fire extinguisher. She and Patty are arguing about the painting: Patty wants to take them, claiming they're essentially hers, but Sandrine wants to go ahead with the showing, claiming the vic gave them to her for this charity sale.
Madeleine takes the fire extinguisher.
This is the second episode where she's wearing a jumpsuit.
This is 901:
And now this one:
I wonder if this is a new trend.
Mooney confronts Patty, but she keeps her cool. The vic hasn't signed the new contract, so what does it matter? Besides, she has an alibi!
Back at the station, JP and Ruby are sighting the evidence. He mentions that the mouse, Rothko, was the vic's pet and reveals that he used to have a pet mouse as a kid: Cecil. Ruby finds it hilarious, but JP distracts her with evidence: apparently the vic stopped at a gas station. He finds out she also asked for directions while there, so Mooney and Madeleine go there.
Turns out the vic visited a guy named Minto:
He's just some rich guy "investing" his money in art, so he bought one of her paintings. Apparently the guy called her to thank her for the painting and then the day she was murdered, she just showed up at his place and wanted to see the painting "in situ". Then she left. Minto says he didn't know her. He approached her by email and she first said no but then did it anyway and he paid 60k cash for it. Although, he says, he might get rid of it, especially now she's dead.
The guy is weird, but not really a suspect. Mooney asks if he paid the vic personally and he says no, he gave it to the assistant. Mooney and Madeleine talk to him.
Anthony is painting when they find him (and he's not bad). He says the vic was going to take him to London. He admits he was the in-between for the sale to Terry. He shows them that he hid the money in a wrapped painting frame. He didn't take it to the bank or anywhere official because the vic didn't want Patty (her art dealer) to find out she'd sold a painting on her own. He's a little bit affronted to hear that Minto is thinking of selling the painting.
Back at the station, JP confirms Patty's alibi. She can't have done it. Ruby checked the vic's financials and found nothing unusual. But she did find that the vic went to a therapist for rich people, so Madeleine plans to speak to her in the morning. Currently the only one with a motive is the boyfriend.
Mooney invites everyone to a beer at Catherine's bar when Anna calls - apparently they're going on a date the next day. :D At Catherine's, he talks to Catherine about the whole dating situation. She reveals that she wondered, for a bit, if she and Mooney might ever get together which sends them both giggling when Mooney says "you would have eaten me alive". She gives Mooney some advice though: if Anna is only there for a holiday before she leaves, he might as well give it a try. Have a summer/holiday romance. Not too serious. Just the right thing to get back in the game, as it were.
At the table, Ruby is still teasing JP about Cecil the mouse. JP shares some more of Cecil who just disappeared one day. They end up toasting Rothko and Cecil, two dead mice. JP finds it ridiculous.
The next morning, Mooney is already at the office when JP and Ruby arrive. He's pondering something and asks about the painting of the boyfriend that the vic was working on. Something bothers him about the painting Minto bought (which also features the boyfriend) and he's trying to figure out what.
He sends the two to take a pic of the artist's other work and while there Ruby notices that the dead mouse is gone from the trash. "What is it with you? First Cecil disappears and now Rothko? You're like a Bermuda Triangle for mice!"
JP just rolls his eyes, figuring something ate the dead mouse.
Madeleine comes back from speaking to the therapist where the vic was seeking help with her self-destructive habits. Apparently, the chaos helps her paint, but it's hell on relationships. The therapist also says the vic had a fling with her assistant Anthony. And she also told Sandrine about it - who, if you remember, is engaged to Anthony. Ooh. Sandrine did NOT like it.
Mooney finds it a bit suspicious that Sandrine and Anthony didn't mention it at all. They go to talk to Sandrine. She isn't happy they found out, but points out that she'd have to be an idiot to kill the woman promoting her art centre and sponsoring her fiancé. The vic was literally their cash cow - so what if she had an affair with the fiancé?
Mooney asks if the vic's boyfriend knew about the affair. Sandrine doesn't know, but thinks there was something wrong with their relationship.
Mooney and Madeleine talk to the boyfriend Max again who says they had an open relationship and he didn't care who she slept with. Mooney, having read the memoirs, remembers that Max was definitely the jealous type in the book. He once got in a fight with the vic that got him a pretty nasty scar on his stomach (the guy is constantly bare-chested or in open shirts so everyone has seen the scar.) His motive is getting better and better.
Mooney is not happy about it when Max points out he had no chance to poison her and takes off. Then Madeleine reminds Mooney of his date with Anna (he's already late and a little nervous). Anna is waiting at the harbour and they continue as they left off: awkward and adorable. They are doing an island tour on the water, talk about their first ever dates and are generally adorable. I know I keep saying it, but they are.
Back at the station, Ruby and JP compare the pic of Minto's painting to the one they got from the vic's studio. They can't see anything strange, but Madeleine notices that the scar on the boyfriend's stomach is turning the wrong way in one of the paintings. They all wonder why the vic would make that mistake. (The obvious answer is, of course, that she didn't.)
Cut to Minto's house where someone breaks in and steals the painting. Minto, by chance, comes back just afterwards and chases the thief through the backyard to the beach where the thief heads off in a little boat.
Cut to Mooney's awkward date. Anna notices that obviously Mooney is not quite happy to be there. He confesses to her that this is a big deal for him - it's his first date since his wife died. Anna is understanding - it's a big deal for her, too. Neither of them really know if they're quite ready yet but Anna really would like to try. Mooney is just about to answer when his phone rings.
It's Minto on the phone, telling Mooney that he was robbed. Mooney kind of commandeers the boat they're on and they chase towards the fleeing thief. Except the thief just keeps going while the boat Mooney is on breaks down and that's that boat chase over with...
Back in the harbour, Mooney apologises about the date but Anna waves him off. Literally the most exciting date she's ever been on. :D Mooney says he'll call her but she says she'll understand if he doesn't. (I want him to call her! They're so sweet together!)
Madeleine updates Mooney on the whole scar issue. And who do they know who was involved in the painting deal with Minto, who is also an artist and who handled the money of the secret sale? Right - they go talk to Anthony who admits he faked the painting. But apparently the vic figured it out - that's why she went to Minto that day, to see the painting. Which gives Anthony a very obvious motive.
(Although: Mooney talks about the scar and how it's bending the wrong way in the fake Anthony painted because he "didn't have the luxury to see Max' scar every day" - bullshit. So far the guy has been shirtless/with an open shirt every time except once. Anthony must have seen the scar so many times! Plus, he usually set up the vic's studio where a giant painting of the guy and his scar was set up. Total plothole there - unless Anthony was just super unobservant.)
Anthony denies the murder though.
The team assembles in the studio. Mooney recounts events to figure out how the poison got in the drink. Nobody has any idea how, but in the silence they can hear... a mouse. It's Rothko the... not dead mouse. Everyone is very confused. (Also note Madeleine's jumpsuit!)
While trying to figure out how the mouse survived, Mooney has a brilliant idea.
We get the usual flashback as he's putting things together and then it's time for the big showdown after Ruby and JP get the paint brushes to the lab.
At the lunch table outside, everyone is gathered. Mooney sums up the crime and says the killer used misdirection. He puts a can of Boom Ting on the table and says it's thanks to the mouse that he figured out the impossible murder.
He looks around and is like, "Sandrine did it."
Everyone is shocked and surprised.
Madeleine explains that nobody went near the can of Boom Ting... before the murder. But afterwards, Sandrine was the first to the crime scene and the body. She sent Anthony to phone for an ambulance, used a little vial of poison to kill the (by then only unconscious vic) and poured the rest of the poison in the Boom Ting can to make it look like that was the source of the poison. She engineered the whole thing by exchanging the paint thinners with something more potent that caused the vic to fall unconscious (and put the mouse in a coma) and then poisoned the seemingly already dead victim.
Her motive was the fact that the victim wanted to take Anthony to London - she was afraid she'd be left by her fiancé and protégé artist.
Cut to Mooney's beach house where he's recounting his day to his dead wife's picture frame. It's a little heartbreaking - the thing about Mooney is that he hides his pain behind this happy facade and it only shines through occasionally, but deep down he's still mourning. But he also wants to try and move on, but he struggles to "replace" his dead wife. Still, he picks up his phone to call Anna.
Cut to Anna, sitting in Catherine's bar, waiting for Mooney. He comes to the table with their drinks and Anna says she's very surprised he called - but glad that he did. Look at them:
So sweet!
A few tables over, Madeleine, JP and Catherine are watching and happy for Mooney. Ruby shows up with a small cage that she puts down in front of JP. I'm guessing that's Cecil 2.0 in there.
Actually, it's Rothko. Ruby: It's fate! After all these years a little mouse turns up homeless and here you are... mouse-less.
:D
And that's the end of 902.