As the third episode of Beyond Paradise begins, DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), Esther, and Kelby meet with Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn) so they can guard the Solo Mare. They go inside and speak to the current owner of the painting, Terrence Witham (Rufus Jones). Esther (Zahra Ahmadi) tells Terrence that Kelby (Dylan Llewellyn) will be spending the night with the painting to keep it safe. Terrence isn’t impressed by Kelby and they’re not impressed with him. Humphrey says the painting is a horse’s bottom. Then, Humphrey is introduced to Louise Fitzallan (Pooky Quesnel) who says the artist, Augustus Craig, was her great-great-great-grandfather.

Kelby thanks Humphrey for trusting him with this job before they leave him. As they drive away, they pass by protestors who yell “Justice for Edith”. They call themselves Edith’s army and claim Edith really did the painting. Kelby plays with his flashlight to avoid falling asleep. Someone walks by outside while Kelby sits down for dinner. Kelby is surprised when the light shuts off behind him so he begins looking around. When he looks out the window, he sees a man in an orange cap running away from the building. Once he sits back down, the light turns on again. Anne checks on him in the morning after waking him up. Kelby agrees to stay until Lady Louise and Mr. Witham come up.

Humphrey says hello to Martha (Sally Bretton) before they go inside. Anne thanks Louise for agreeing to buy the painting on behalf of Shipton Abbott. She thanks Terrence for letting the painting come back home. When they try to unveil the painting, they find that it has gone missing. Terrence threatens to sue. Esther doesn’t think anyone hid in the room. Humphrey finds a broken window latch so the window could’ve been opened from the outside. Kelby tells them about the person he saw although he isn’t sure he would recognize them if he saw them again. He explains that he opened the door when the power went off to see if anyone was messing with the electricity. When Terrence confronts him outside, Esther asks him to go back inside and let them do their jobs.

Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) tells them about the graffiti under the gallery room which says “thieves”. Margo and Kelby are sent to the station. Esther and Humphrey discuss whether Kelby could’ve been out of the room for longer than he claims. Martha comes over and admits that Anne blames herself. She is convinced that Humphrey will get the painting back for her. At the station, Margo says the forensics team just arrive at the scene. Humphrey asks her to get background checks on certain people. Margo thinks they’re missing a few such as the Heads of the Arts Committee who organized everything and the caterers. Humphrey asks if he should investigate his future mother-in-law and fiancée.

Humphrey tells Kelby that he shouldn’t blame himself. They try to figure out who would steal the painting and how they’d sell it. Humphrey questions where the master fuse board is and who had access to it. Later, Edith admits that most of Shipton know about the feud over the painting. Augustus had a stable girl named Edith Jay who went on to be an artist. Some claim that Edith was Craig’s secret protégée. Even though the painting is signed by Craig, some believe that Edith painted it. They visit Isla Jay (Annette Badland) who says she knows Solo Mare was painted by Edith. She thinks it is in Terrence’s interest for it to be painted by Craig. Isla admits she would’ve taken it if she could’ve.

Humphrey tries to get her to give him the name of the person in the orange baseball cap, but she won’t. Isla shows them the sketch of the Solo Mare done by Edith. Anne is worried she’ll never live it down. Martha tells her to calm down because Humphrey can figure out what happened. When Martha’s dad was chair, he only talked about bringing the Solo Mare home. Humphrey arrives and asks Anne where she stands on the feud. Martha’s father had sympathy for the Jay family and suggested looking into it if the Solo Mare was ever found. Archie Hughes (Jamie Bamber) joins them and admits he doesn’t know who took the painting. Archie thought it’d be nice to grab a beer with Humphrey sometime.

Humphrey agrees to meet with him after work. Later, Esther calls Humphrey to say there were 9 protestors outside the gate. She working through them. Only Louise and Terrance were staying at the house last night. Humphrey talks to Louise about the feud surrounding the painting. She claims she didn’t hear or see anything until this morning. Humphrey tells her what Kelby saw. Staff goes home at six. If anyone was in the garden after that, they would’ve been trespassing. Terence claims to saw and heard nothing because he was asleep. He knows what the Jay family has been saying, but says it was absolute nonsense. Humphrey asks how someone would sell a stolen painting like this.

Terrence thinks they’d already have a buyer in place since he can think of a dozen private collectors who’d pay good money for it. Humphrey asks about the price agreed upon between Terrence and Louise. Terrence says 500,000 and a buyer might pay more even if they knew it was stolen. He explains that art is enhanced by the tales that surround it. Kelby looks through mug shots in hopes of finding the man he saw last night. Esther tells Humphrey that there is nothing on the protestors. Margo says the forensics team got prints from the window, but there were 30 people in the room so they’ll need to do exclusion prints on all of them. Margo checked with the power company which said there were no disruptions in the power supply that night.

Humphrey is told that the Chief Superintendent has been on and wants him at the hub early in the morning. They discuss the power being cut in the house. Margo admits the Fitzallans aren’t as loaded as she thought. The husband inherited the house, but they struggle the afford the running costs. Terrence allegedly discovered the Solo Mare at a small-town auction in January 2022. Humphrey couldn’t find a motive for Terrence since he already owned the painting. Instead, they’re back to the man in the baseball cap. Louise calls someone to tell them they were seen and shouldn’t do anything else. Humphrey gets drinks with Archie who wants to talk about sports. They talk about Humphrey and Martha.

Humphrey admits he wakes up and still wonders what she sees in him. Archie used to think they were perfect together, but Martha didn’t feel the same way. He asks whether it bothers Humphrey that they’re working together. Archie insists it shouldn’t. Later, Humphrey returns to Martha and says they have loads in common, including her and cheese and onion crisps. They agree to eat with Anne who is still upset about the missing painting. Humphrey didn’t know what to tell Archie when he asked if they were planning on starting a family. Humphrey said they were thinking about it. Margo forces Kelby to stop looking at mug shots and go home before she leaves for the dress party at Jamie Elvin’s place.

The next day, Kelby questions locals to see if any of them know about the guy in the baseball cap. Humphrey runs into a woman when he tries to meet his new Chief Superintendent. That woman ends up being Chief Superintend Charlie Woods (Jade Harrison). They talk about the efficiency of Humphrey’s station. Once he finds out who she is, he is invited to her office. Kelby finds a workplace where everyone is wearing orange caps. Humphrey tells Charlie about the Solo Mare painting. She says they’re thinking about bringing him and his team into this building. Humphrey complains about the impact it’ll have on the community. Kelby sees a man in an orange cap who runs away from him.

Martha catches up with Anne who tells her about the Turner visit they had in 1987. She urges her mother to stop blaming herself when she wasn’t even there. Back at the station, Humphrey tells Esther about his visit with the CS. He learns about Kelby finding the man in the baseball cap. Margo gets another call about Trowman moaning about her sheep. Terrence also called to see if he could get his stuff from the gallery. Kelby tells Humphrey that it looked like the man was with a woman who was passing something to him. He says it looked like Louise from the manor. Then, they speak to Aaron Cole (Taylor Uttley) who has previous arrests for criminal damage, theft, and common assault.

He quickly denies stealing the painting. Humphrey presses him to tell the truth about why he was at the manor. He warns Aaron that Louise may not protect him. He admits she wanted him to steal the painting. He was supposed to paint that stuff on the house the first night. Then, she was supposed to leave the window open and the alarm off on the second night. Louise allegedly phoned him yesterday to call it off, but Aaron wanted money anyway. Louise says Aaron was at school with her son James. Louise says her husband is in Antigua with his secretary and most of their money instead of away on business. Louise explains why she felt obligated to go through with the purchase of Solo Mare.

Charles had arranged to borrow the money and convinced Louise to use the manor as security against the loan. She hopes to claim on the insurance to pay back the loan and save face. The painting had to be stolen last night because she didn’t own it until then. Louise says it wasn’t in her interest to steal the painting any sooner. Terrence takes his stuff from the gallery. Humphrey is starting to believe they may never find out what happened. Anne says taking over his place on the Arts Committee was her way of holding onto him for longer. Martha misses him too. She admits she doesn’t get her way as much as she used to because she is stuck with the strict parent. Anne says she isn’t sure she could’ve coped on her own so it is good that Martha came back.

She always wanted Martha’s dad to be content and happy. Anne believes that is what Humphrey is doing for her. Humphrey tries to figure out what happened to the painting. Esther asked for the sale memo from when Terrence originally bought the painting. The only thing of note is that the artist might’ve used the canvas before. If Craig painted over Edith’s painting, it would still be an original Craig painting. Humphrey keeps coming to the power being turned off. He believes there had to be two people involved. Margo says she has been on the phone again about her sheep and she is threatening to go to HQ. Kelby agrees to go although he can’t see how someone could lose 25 sheep.

Once he leaves, Humphrey suggests Kelby was telling the truth and someone was hiding. He explains that Terrence worked with magicians and show people. Humphrey mentions that Terrence listed Banksy as one of his heroes before reminding them what happened to his Girl with Balloon painting. Humphrey thinks Terrence saw the same thing Esther did that the painting was of the period and keeping with the work of Augustus Craig. He believes Terrence found Edith Jay’s signature under the painting. Terrence knew it was Edith’s painting and he knew it would be worthless compared to a Craig painting. He believed they would want to test the painting, but that would ruin his reputation and cause Louise to demand her money back.

Humphrey suggests he constructed a frame designed to hide the painting within it. He explains how Terrence created misdirection so they wouldn’t suspect him. Humphrey believes he carried the painting out when he helped Terrence with the frame. Margo learns that Terrence left the manor five minutes ago so she is asked to put out an APB. Kelby finds the missing sheep and they’re blocking traffic. Terrence gets out to ask who is in charge just as Kelby learns that there is an APB on his vehicle. Kelby chases Terrence and tackles him. The painting is recovered when Humphrey gets there. Louise has offered to buy the painting anyway at a tenth of the price.

Louise ends up taking the painting to Isla. Martha is thrilled to hear that Humphrey found the painting.

 

Beyond Paradise Review

The third episode of Beyond Paradise wasn’t as enjoyable as the episode before it, but it was still good in its own right. It did a good job of being different and delivered an interesting twist at the very end. The series is still charming enough to remain likable despite some hiccups along the way.

Kris Marshall and Zahra Ahmadi are a good team for most of the part while Dylan Llewellyn and Felicity Montagu add some humor to the series. Beyond Paradise is cliché and it has been done before obviously, but all three episodes have been watchable.

Viewers should give it a chance because many will probably enjoy the laidback humor and interesting storylines. The third episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Beyond Paradise are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.