As the fourth episode of Beyond Paradise begins, a young boy sees what appears to be a drone outside his window. In the morning, there is a crop circle and a man lying in the middle of it. After the intro, DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) tells DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) that he stopped by to get honey and got to see the bees. As they drive away, DS Williams tells him about the dead man. Esther and Humphrey go to the crop circle to check the body. She says there were reports of strange lights in the sky. Humphrey finds it exciting so Esther reminds him it isn’t for everyone including the victim. There has been no confirmed cause of death yet. At this stage, the paramedics believe it could be heart failure.

There is no identification for the victim yet. They meet with PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) who is shaky because he isn’t used to dealing with dead people. When they check the body, Humphrey notices some buttons are missing. He questions whether the victim was probed since that is what happens during alien encounters. They find a scar on the victim that Esther believes could be linked to heart surgery. Humphrey says even if it was a heart attack, it doesn’t explain how the victim got there. They find a book page in the man’s sock. When they check it, they find it is the last page from Great Expectations.

Later, Humphrey looks at the video of the supposed UFO that someone shot last night. Esther doesn’t want to believe it and says it is the third crop circle the farm has had this year. Humphrey mentions the croppies who chase crop circles. Sally Woods (Sirine Saba) tries to keep onlookers away from the crop circle until the police are finished. Kelby is asked to give them a description of the man to see if anyone knows him. Andrew (John Hollingworth) and Cassie Parker (Ingrid Oliver) come over to speak to the detectives. Andrew doesn’t remember seeing anyone who matches the victim’s description. He confirms they live on the farm. They didn’t see or hear anything last night. Cassie says they need a decent harvest and half of their field is flattened by who knows what.

Kelby tries to deal with the crowd. Andrew tells the detectives that they shut the gates to the public around seven. Esther tells them they’ll need to talk to Sally before they can leave. As they walk away, Esther tells Humphrey that they’re brother and sister. He moved away although he came back after his divorce. They inherited the farm from their mother while their dad Nick was a crook. He was locked up about nine years ago for a robbery at the Bristol airport. Their mom took her life just after the trial. Humphrey and Esther find Josh Woods (Chris Jenks) asking his step-mom Sally for money. When he grabs the money, Humphrey notices an alien tattoo on his hand. Once he leaves, Sally says she left at a quarter past seven.

She tells them about the alien theory before saying she doesn’t remember the man. She believes the car park was empty when she left. The detectives agree to let them open so the people can tour the new crop circle. Humphrey believes they have their work cut out for them. At the station, Margo (Felicity Montagu) takes calls and complains about others trying to push their work off on them. Humphrey takes the honey to Martha (Sally Bretton) who says she doesn’t have hay fever. They begin talking about babies before Humphrey says he has a good feeling about the next round. Martha reminds him that he usually has a good feeling about everything. Archie (Jamie Bamber) comes in and speaks to Humphrey before he learns that they’re being reviewed by the South Devon Tourist Guide.

Before Humphrey leaves, he arranges to see Martha at the clinic later. Margo is moody when Humphrey gets back to the station. She tells him about the illegal rave in the woods last night that might’ve been in their half. There are a few stragglers insisting on sticking around. Kelby agrees to go down and take the pickup, but Margo reminds him he doesn’t have his advanced license. Esther finds something interesting on a 999 call. They hear a man pleading for help and asking someone not to take his phone. They returned the call, but it went straight to voicemail. Kelby confirms they never found a phone at the scene. Esther says the operator was worried enough to try to pinpoint the location by triangulating the data.

They only got a 2-mile radius in an area of open farmland. It happens to be the farm where the crop circle was discovered. Humphrey thinks they have to consider aliens, but Esther and Margo deny it. Margo says the Parkers might do it themselves to bring in the crowds. Since it may be a murder inquiry, Humphrey wants to know if the coroner’s office has identified the body yet. He also wants background checks on everyone associated with North Farm. Kelby rides his bike to the scene only to find that he forgot to charge his battery. Esther learns that they’re likely going to say the cause of death was massive cardiac arrest. They’ve also made preliminary inquiries about the victim’s pacemaker.

The unit was issued to a hospital in North Wales six years ago. Humphrey wonders how he ended up in a field so far away. Margo learns that Nick was involved in a gold heist and has a record as long as her arm. He died in prison six weeks ago. Margo remembers him being arrested for the Bristol airport robbery. Humphrey wants to question everyone again to see if they saw two men together. Martha tells Archie that they’re asking for a small tasting menu, but everything seems too easy. Archie suggests she is overthinking it. They discuss the dish she was working on yesterday. Archie thinks this place is unique because Martha can name the person who grew the vegetable and made the oil.

Kelby struggles to make it to the location. Esther and Humphrey talk to Andrew who isn’t sure they would’ve paid attention to two people on the path. They talk about his father. Andrew agrees to ask his sister if she saw anyone. Esther gets a call from Kelby who needs them and the bike charger. Anne (Barbara Flynn) speaks to Archie at the café because she wants to show her support. They discuss the food critic who is sitting nearby. Anne offers to flirt with him, but Martha doesn’t think that is a good idea. Kelby tells Humphrey that he found a vehicle with a driver’s license inside. It is confirmed their man is David Jones. The car is arrested to him at an address in North Wales.

In the boot, they find a map for walking tours of Shipton Abbott. They question why the body was ten miles away from the car. Humphrey finds that a portion of North Farm was marked out on the map. Archie and Martha serve the food critic. Kelby gets the bike charger before Humphrey leaves although he doesn’t have a place to plug it up. Martha calls Humphrey to say she is running late before suggesting they reschedule. She insists she’ll call the clinic to set up a new appointment, but doesn’t after the call with Humphrey ends. Martha thanks the food critic for coming. She tells Archie and Anne that he said it was the best lunch he had this year. He also promised to send them a copy before he submits it.

Margo scolds Kelby for taking so long once he gets back to the station. Humphrey goes through everything they know about David Jones and his death. They wonder whether the unknown man drop off David and went to the rave. Margo says police visited the address they have for David and it was empty. He was a loner who kept to himself. Kelby learns that David visited Nick Parker in the prison six weeks ago. Humphrey and Esther visit Andrew and Cassie who say they don’t know a David Jones. Humphrey notices that there are Charles Dickens books on the shelf next to him. Andrew says he doesn’t have time to read. Instead, the books belonged to his father. They haven’t seen or spoken to their father since they lost their mom. They explain that their mother went inside herself when he was arrested.

Humphrey asks them to look at the picture of the CCTV image. Cassie looks at him before admitting she knows him. She knows him as Harry Preston. He was one of the gold robbers along with their father. As they leave, Esther questions why Harry would visit Nick when he gave evidence against him at trial. Humphrey believes the page came from Parker. Cassie comes out to give them a letter from their father that came just before he died. Martha joins Humphrey on the boat as he reads the page and the letter. She tells him about the food critic. Humphrey tells her about Nick and his letter to his children. Martha confesses that she didn’t reschedule the appointment and it wasn’t because she didn’t have time.

She doesn’t want to do it anymore. Martha can’t feel those things just to lose them again and she doesn’t think it’ll work. She suggests being a family on their own. Anne interrupts when she comes home with the fish and chips. Humphrey scares Margo in the morning. She complains about him sneaking around. Humphrey goes through what they know about David and Nick. With Nick close to death, David came out of hiding to visit him. Humphrey suspects David traveled to North Farm to deliver a message to Nick’s estranged children. When he got there, he suffered a heart attack in the crop circle. Esther thinks someone else parked Nick’s car.

She wonders if someone stole his car. They quickly think about Josh. He is brought in for an interview and immediately caught in multiple lies. They checked social media and found that Josh likely posted about the crop circle to tell others although he tries to deny it. Josh admits that he borrowed the car, but the keys were still in it. He picked it up on the road next to North Farm. When he is shown a picture of David, he says he didn’t see him. Then, he is asked what he was doing at North Farm. Outside the interview room, Humphrey says Andrew has been paying Josh to help him create the circles because the farm has been struggling lately.

A guard at the prison said Harry was there for about an hour. He really liked Nick and they used to sit and do puzzles together. Martha learns that the review for the café is excellent. The critic wrote that there is chemistry between Martha and Archie. Martha gets upset and says he had no right to say something like that. She gets a drink with Anne who thinks she overreacted a little. Anne thinks her feelings for Archie are coming back and she is in denial, but Martha says she is wrong. She tells Anne what she told Humphrey last night. Martha suggests he might have a better life without her. Anne tries to convince her otherwise. Esther tells Humphrey that Harry’s arteries had narrowed and he had a blood clot.

Even if someone else was with him, he likely would’ve died anyway. Humphrey remembers Nick’s sentence was harsh because he refused to give up the location of the bullion. The only member not in prison was Harry who gave evidence against the others. Humphrey suggests he visited Nick and tried to convince him he wanted to make amends because he is the only one who knows where the gold is. The map might’ve been Nick’s way of showing where the gold is. It was supposed to be delivered to Andrew and Cassie as their inheritance. However, Harry went to North Farm to try to find the gold for himself. He went there thinking the book page would tell him where to look.

Harry picked the one night when they were creating crop circles. Andrew would’ve recognized him. Harry ran from him and the drone before stuffing the page in his sock. He called 999 while having a heart attack. Humphrey thinks Andrew just watched him die. Esther and Humphrey agree that Nick wouldn’t have trusted him with the location of the bullion. The letter was also a clue and it was sent directly to his children. Nick likely thought his children were smart enough to figure it out. Humphrey and Esther try to figure out the puzzle. They manage to use the page and letter to mark a place on the map. When they dig at that spot, they find the gold bullion.

Humphrey tells Cassie and Andrew that there is a reward so Nick might get what he wanted after all. He warns Andrew that he could be charged with manslaughter. Andrew tells Cassie that she at least won’t need aliens to keep the farm afloat anymore. Archie tells Martha he spoke to the critic who agreed to change the text. He thinks the critic was right about them having chemistry. Martha says they work well together. Anne listens to them as Archie questions whether there is still something there. When he tries to kiss Martha, she pushes him away and slaps him. Humphrey arrives outside. Martha comes out to join him before they leave.

 

Beyond Paradise Review

The fourth episode of Beyond Paradise was fun with a science-fiction twist that turned out not to be aliens after all. It was good to see Chris Jenks back as Josh Woods because the character brings more humor to the series. The personal dramas of Humphrey and Martha are equally interesting. They help move the episode along when the investigation stalls or becomes too tedious.

The series is formulaic since it uses the same layout as many other shows, but it is easy to overlook its faults. The soundtrack for the series has been excellent so far because most of the songs fit the desired mood exceptionally well. Overall, this was another charming, fun episode of Beyond Paradise. Despite not being perfect, Beyond Paradise is still more enjoyable than most shows on right now.

The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Beyond Paradise can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link. Learn more about advertising with us at this link.