Millie – The series opens with the narrator explaining how all stories about Jamaica are ghost stories. When young Millie Black (Emeka Onuora) and young Orville Black’s (Zole Onuora) father left, a ghost took his place. Mama (Shanique Brown) became filled with rage and took it out on Orville. Fed up, Millie intervened and shoved Mama who fell backwards into a mirror. Mama sent Millie to England and she never saw Orville again. Later in England, teenage Millie Black (Ayesha Griffiths) receives a call from Mama with news of Orville’s death. Mama insists he went to hell but Millie refuses to believe it. Detective Millie Black (Tamara Lawrance) feels Orville’s spirit is restless. She is a Metropolitan Police officer. A 9-year-old boy, Victor Adebanjo disappeared while walking home from school on May 6. He reminds Millie of Orville. When Mama dies, Millie learns Orville is alive. She returns to Jamaica to search for him.

In Jamaica, Millie takes Detective Curtis Hamilton (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) is with his boyfriend, Daniel (Jomo Tafari Dixon), when Millie arrives. En route to Jamaica Police Station, Millie tells Curtis that a realtor is buying her to buy Mama’s house. He urges her to sell it and utilize the money for a fresh start. She wants her sister, Hibiscus (Chyna McQueen), to live in it. He assures her that Hibiscus rather live in the Gully. At the police station, Sister Agatha (Dorothy Cunningham) with the Convent of Grace High School shows them a photo of 16-year-old Janet Fenton (Shernet Swearine) who was last seen two weeks ago. She says Janet never misses school. Millie questions why Ruth Fenton (Sherando Ferril) never reported her missing. Sister Agatha claims she is hardly a mother to Janet. She recalls Janet talking to a guy, not local, at the bus stop. A short time later, Ruth is hanging out clothes when she sees Millie and Curtis and takes off running. They stop her and ask why she never reported Janet missing. Ruth says Janet sent her money for the rent last week. Millie criticizes her for asking Janet to pay her rent. Curtis asks who Janet is dating. Millie warns her not to call Janet a “wh**e” because it would mean she is her pimp. While searching Janet’s room, Millie discovers a card from “Hot Pinky”. She receives an anonymous text about Orville, who now goes by the name, Hibiscus, being arrested for prostitution again.

Millie arrives at the jail to find Hibiscus covered in bruises. A cell cop (Bertina Macauley) demands Millie pay her before Hibiscus is released. Millie gives her some cash but it misses her hand and falls to the ground. The cell cop sarcastically asks if she should expect him again next week. Millie curses her. At Hot Pinky, Millie shows Alicia “Hit Girl” Bonnet (Dorothy “Patra” Smith) a photo of Janet. Hit Girl admits to knowing her but refuses to speak further. A concerned Deltreece (Shaunak Antonia Wilson) texts Hibiscus asking if she is okay. She does respond to the text. Millie threatens to have Hot Pinky shut down if Hit Girl doesn’t tell her what she knows. Hit Girl still refuses to talk. Hibiscus takes off. Millie pays a Hot Pinky dancer (Angela Yap Chung) to learn Janet comes in with the landlord, Freddie Somerville (Peter John Thwaites). Curtis says Freddie likes young “ghetto” girls but his prominent family keeps him out of jail. A short time later, they visit the Somerville estate to speak with Leddick Somerville (Paul Issa) about Freddie. Leddick tells them that Freddie is hanging out with the “ghetto trash.” Millie informs him that the girl has been reported missing. He threatens to call Superintendent Barracat (Belinda Reid). Barrington Heywood (Christopher McFarland) offers to escort them off the property. Upon leaving, Millie approaches a servant, Marva (Crystal Fletcher), who is preparing lemonade. Marva voices concern about getting fired. Millie spits in the lemonade. Seeing no one is looking, Marva spits in lemonade. Millie shows her a photo of Janet. Marva claims to have seen her and Freddie with a Baby Boutique shopping bag. Janet may be pregnant.

Relieved to see Hibiscus, Deltreece races to embrace her. At the Hot Pinky Club, Corsica (Nestor Absera) tells Hit Girl that he is looking for Freddie and Janet. She denies any knowledge of their whereabouts. Rixton (O’Daine Clarke) approaches and asks what Corsica wants. She says he spent time in prison for fixing horse races and orders him to follow Corsica. At a restaurant, Millie receives a text from Barracat about her visit to the Somerville estate. She urges Hibiscus to stop prostituting. Hibiscus teases her about Richie (Derrick Levy). Millie tells her that all of Mama’s things are gone and she should come have a look. Hibiscus refuses. Millie warns her that the Gully is dangerous and a transwoman was recently sexually assaulted not far from there. Hibiscus gets offended when Millie calls her Orville. Later, Millie and Richie get intimate. Curtis arrives the next morning as Richie is leaving. At the Baby Boutique, Millie shows the manager (Alexandra Gregory) a photo of Janet. The manager remembers Janet bought clothes for an 8-year-old boy. CCTV footage shows Freddie confronting Janet outside the boutique. A news report about a fatality at Freddie’s house. At the crime scene, Millie and Curtis learn that Freddie is dead. She stuffs an envelope addressed to Carson Wray, 13 Walsingham Court, Kingston 17 in her pocket. She shows Curtis a positive pregnancy test from the wastebasket. Lance Stennet (Christopher Daley) believes the victim is Freddie. She points out that the intruder was barefooted and insists it isn’t Freddie. Barracat and Superintendent Luke Holborn (Joe Dempsie) arrive at the scene. Holborn asks her to explain why she believes the victim isn’t Freddie. She says the victim doesn’t have an earring like Freddie. She believes the victim tried to kill Freddie but he turned the gun on him instead.

Millie tells Barracat that Freddie was nearly killed for seeing something he shouldn’t have. The Somerville family is one of the richest in Kingston. Barracat warns her against trying to get one over on her and orders her to find Janet. Holborn tells Millie that Freddie is an informant in a big case. She explains why she left Scotland Yard.

Outside Raas Hot Jerk café, Rixton watches Corsica from a nearby vehicle. A truck pulls up, a man gets out and informs Corsica that Freddie is at his house. Rixton notifies Hit Girl. Elsewhere, Hibiscus, Deltreece, Shortie (Paris Lewinsky), and another girl are ambushed. Deltreece and Hibiscus seek refuge inside a building. Hibiscus tries to stay quiet as the assault continues. Macpherson (Philip Clarke) and another man beat Deltreece. Once she’s alone, Hibiscus tries to check on Deltreece. Millie-Jean asks if the name from the envelope, Carson Wray, gives them anything. Hit Girl calls her to suggest Janet might be with Freddie who is up in the hills. After the call, Millie says there are no Somerville properties in the hills. She says Somerville’s maiden name is Henrietta Wray. Curtis finds out that Freddie’s name is Frederick Carson Wray Somerville. There are five properties registered to Frederick Carson Wray. Millie asks if there is one in the hills. Curtis says Luke Crescent. Curtis and Millie arrive at the property and discuss whether they should wait for backup. As they approach the property, Millie says she should’ve worked the case quicker and opened her eyes wider.

She claims Jamaicans see stuff nobody else sees. They enter the Luke Crescent residence and begin looking around. Janet Fenton tries to flee from the house only to be stopped by Millie. She says Freddie said he was going on a trip to England. She claims he says she looks like Meghan Markle. Someone begins shooting at them from outside. Curtis is hit. Corsica (Nestor Aaron Absera) steps into the doorway before being shot by Millie. The others pull his body away.

 

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The opening is promising but quickly degenerates from there. The premise is laden with clichés, stereotypes, and modern agendas. Millie and Oliver’s story is heartbreaking and tragic while the rest is hardly worth watching.

The accents are all over the place. The two leads and several others are British. Jamaican actors like Michael Ward (Empire of Light), Romario Simpson (Granite Harbour), Eka Darville (Planet of the Apes), and Cherine Anderson (One Love) would have been great alternatives.

One of the weakest criminal investigations in a police procedural series I’ve seen in a while. The episode deserves a 5 out of 10.

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