As this episode of Beyond Paradise begins, Rebecca Thompson (Carolyn Pickles) finds a woman with an arrow sticking out of her back. Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) and Martha (Sally Bretton) talk about Richard just before Anne (Barbara Flynn) arrives and interrupts. Anne is eager to plan the wedding which is next week. Esther (Zahra Ahmadi) asks Zoe (Melina Sinadinou) if Jack finally asked her out. Esther wants to know what’s going on and promises not to get upset. Zoe shows her a tattoo on her wrist. Esther is not happy because her daughter is only 16. She demands Zoe get it removed and insists the tattooists will be prosecuted. Esther leaves after she gets a call from Margo (Felicity Montagu).

She meets with Humphrey at the crime scene and tells him about the victim’s injuries. The victim is identified as Niamh Kirby. She had binoculars and a bird book so she was likely out bird watching at the time. Rebecca explains she was out walking when she heard a scream. She ran towards it and found the victim. Rebecca made the call around 8:32 and heard the scream just before that. Kelby (Dylan Llewellyn) finds an eggshell nearby. Once they’re alone, Humphrey tells Esther he feels like Rebecca was hiding something. He learns about Zoe’s tattoo. As Niamh (Seeta Indrani) is rushed to the hospital, she says something about Lewis. Humphrey scans the area and wonders how the shooter escaped without being spotted by Rebecca. He wants to speak to the victim at the hospital. Kelby is tasked with sweeping the scene for evidence.

Humphrey asks him to get a photo of the billboard as well. Zoe arrives at work and tells Martha about her argument with Esther. Martha learns about the tattoo. Zoe reminds Martha what she said about taking what she could of her dad to remember him. Zoe thought her mom would understand, but she did this for her dad anyway. Anne arrives for tea and says she has some calls to make. Humphrey speaks to Lucy (Eva Feiler) at the hospital. Lucy says Niamh is still in surgery and she didn’t seem to have anyone. She mentions that Niamh was saying something about Lewis. Martha thinks she should have a conversation with Anne who would rather talk about other things. At the station, Margo is asked to find Lewis. Esther reveals the land where the incident belongs to the victim’s brother-in-law, Patrick Kirby.

He’s trying to develop the hotel and spa. Margo remembers a case from ten years back. The victim’s husband and Patrick’s brother was Lewis who went missing. Niamh accused Patrick of murdering Lewis and made an official complaint, but she had no proof. Patrick claimed Lewis was unhappy in his marriage and wanted a fresh state so he went to study flora in a Montana national park. Patrick got a few text messages from his brother before he went off-grid. They soon learn that the brother-in-law owns the archery club. Esther says a wildlife activist group has been fighting the development for years. Rebecca just happens to run the group. Margo is told to see if she can find a connection between Niamh and Rebecca. Humphrey and Esther decide to speak to Patrick Kirby (Mark Frost). They tell Patrick what happened this morning.

Patrick admits they had a misunderstanding many years ago, but that’s water under the bridge now. He usually walks around the development site as part of a visualization technique. Patrick got a call from his solicitor who told him the activists have run out of money. He says there will be something for everyone once the site is developed. One section has a risk of subsidence so he’s leaving it untouched. Patrick says the guests can enjoy nature there. When Humphrey asks about Lewis, Patrick claims he’s in California studying flora. Humphrey and Esther notice that he’s missing a bow. Patrick quickly suggests it was stolen. He admits he’s the only one with keys to the club. Humphrey learns Niamh is out of surgery. Kelby finds a bow. At the hospital, Niamh admits she can’t remember much.

She can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt her. Niamh was out there trying to find a specific bird, but she can’t remember what it was called. When the bird book falls to the floor, a piece of paper falls out. Niamh suggests it’s rubbish and he should throw it away. Lucy comes in to check on Niamh who blurts out that the eggshell sounds like a peregrine falcon. They mate for life. In private, Humphrey tells Esther that a letter to Niamh fell out of her book. It mentions that the land doesn’t belong to Lewis anymore. She is threatened that matters will be taken further if she doesn’t stop writing letters to the council and defaming the writer’s name. It’s signed “P” so they suspect it was written by Patrick. Niamh should be discharged today although she was recently diagnosed with young-onset dementia.

Anne contacts Margo. After the call, Margo tells Kelby they’ve been tasked with something very important. Humphrey uses a UV light to confirm that the bow belonged to Patrick. Esther reminds everyone that Rebecca Thompson was at the scene at the time of the shooting. Humphrey believes they’re missing something, but he doesn’t have time to figure out what. Esther goes to the restaurant where she learns Zoe left early. They talk about the tattoo and argument. Martha believes she might be partly responsible for the tattoo. Esther thinks it might be her fault. She confesses she made up the story about Zoe’s dad singing Three Little Birds to her when she was born. She lied about him dying on the way back from the hospital, but the accident was actually on the way there.

He never even met Zoe. Esther explains why she lied to her daughter. Now, Zoe has done that to her body because of Esther’s lie. Esther isn’t sure she can ever tell her daughter the truth. Martha makes it home and finds Humphrey eating. She believes Anne is using the wedding planning to take her mind off of Richard. Martha argues that they have to do something. Humphrey asks if it’s good that Anne has something else on her mind. He questions how bad a wedding can be. Esther returns home to a note from Zoe saying she is staying elsewhere tonight. The next day, Kelby shows Margo the shirts he found but agrees to take them back. Once Humphrey arrives, Kelby theorizes that Patrick hired someone to shoot Niamh. Humphrey doesn’t believe that. Margo suggests Rebecca framed Patrick. Humphrey picks holes in that theory as well.

He wants to speak to Rebecca to see what she is hiding. Esther wants to ask Margo a personal question. She questions whether Margo regrets getting her tattoos. Margo admits she regrets one of them, but she will never divulge why. The other tattoos are part of her journey and who she is. Once Humphrey and Esther arrive, they tell Rebecca that the victim will be fine. Rebecca is celebrating the fact that the council has finally rejected Patrick’s development plans. She says they finally found evidence of the nesting site. Humphrey notices a picture that’s similar to the eggshell piece they found at the scene. Rebecca reluctantly admits she took the photo yesterday morning. She goes on to say she was doing what needed to be done yesterday morning.

Rebecca was desperate and had to prove the peregrines were nesting on the moor. Humphrey believes she was out planting evidence. She confesses to hearing the scream around ten past eight. Rebecca thought it was nothing, but she ran over after getting the photos just in case. Esther says she’ll have to come to the station to revise her statement. Rebecca says it is sometimes necessary to take drastic action for the greater good. Humphrey and Esther go over the timeline in the car. Esther believes they have enough evidence to take Patrick in since he could’ve made it to the moor to his solicitor’s office in time. Humphrey says he’ll update Niamh while Esther picks up Patrick. Just before the police arrive, an update Patrick is shown wrecking his office.

Kelby calls Humphrey to say no fingerprints were found on the bow. They found traces of wood fibers on the nock. Once Humphrey goes inside, Niamh shows him one of the videos Lewis used to make at the moor. She admits Lewis hated flying and he was happy at home. While getting tea supplies, Humphrey finds notes on the cabinets. One of them says “archery club”. Humphrey tells her that they arrested Patrick Kirby. Outside, Humphrey calls Esther to ask her to meet him at the moor and to bring an arrow. Once she meets him, Humphrey suggests Niamh wasn’t shot at all. He believes Niamh realized she would forget everything once she learned she had dementia. Humphrey thinks Niamh was seeking justice and protecting Lewis’s beloved moor.

He saw on the license in Patrick’s office that Patrick and Lewis were joint owners of the club before. As far as he was concerned, Lewis was gone. Humphrey believes Niamh took the keys and snuck into the archery club the night before. He suspects Niamh hid the bow. Then, she used the force of her body weight to stick the arrow in her back. She just needed to allow all the evidence to point to Patrick. They realize they’re going to have to let Patrick go. At the station, Humphrey suggests holding him longer to see if he’ll say anything about Lewis. He wants to find out who Patrick’s surveyor is and he wants a copy of the report for the hotel development. Humphrey may know where Lewis is if Niamh is right. He suggests Patrick buried Lewis at the site he’s not going to develop.

Humphrey suggests Patrick killed Lewis because Lewis wouldn’t sign off on the development of the land. Esther gives Humphrey one hour. Humphrey wants to look for a clue to help them find out where Lewis is buried. Kelby wonders if Lewis did fly to Montana. That triggers something from Humphrey. He explains that Lewis had a metal plate in his leg so that’s how they’re going to find him. After they find his remains, Humphrey tells Niamh they’re taking them to the mortuary. He promises they’ll get to the truth of it. Niamh apologizes and explains why she did what she did. Esther tells Margo that Patrick claims it was an accident. Patrick allegedly panicked and buried Lewis. Then, he took advantage of the opportunity to falsify the land ownership documents.

Esther goes home and checks on Zoe. She apologizes to Zoe for getting mad at her when she said she wouldn’t. Esther says the tattoo was pretty before asking to see it again. She surprises Zoe by showing her that she has a tattoo too. Martha runs into Humphrey outside and says Anne asked her to meet there. They realize they’ve been set up. Kelby welcomes them to their stag do and hen do. Humphrey tells Martha that they’re so lucky to be surrounded by people who love them. They agree to talk to Anne at a later time.

 

Beyond Paradise Review

This episode of Beyond Paradise was satisfactory although the quality wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. I expected the investigation to end differently so it wasn’t really predictable, but it really wasn’t believable either. Unfortunately, this was a typical Death in Paradise ending where there were far too many twists.

This was probably done to wrap up every possible story and to make viewers happy with Patrick’s arrest too. However, it made an already unbelievable conclusion even more unbelievable. They wrote themselves into a corner. It was either going to be someone mistakenly shooting Niamh while aiming for Patrick or what we got. The first scenario would’ve been predictable but at least more fathomable than what we got.

As for the personal dramas, it’s easy to see that the tattoo story will get Esther in trouble sooner or later. I think it would have been better to keep Anne in a relationship with Richard, but it’ll be interesting to see where that story goes. The episode was okay, but the writing needs to separate itself from Death in Paradise and everything that made that series stale.

Since the investigations consume three-quarters or more of each episode, they have to be stronger than this. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Beyond Paradise can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.