Hotel St Marc – As this episode of Miss Scarlet & The Duke begins, Jeremiah Slade (Robert Wilfort) checks into Hotel St Marc in France. The hotel manager (Greg Haiste) apologizes and explains they’re very busy today. Once Jeremiah goes to sleep, Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips) handcuffs him to his bed and calls him Charles Percival. She explains he is a notorious conman who defrauded half of London including her client Lord Morgan. Eliza has already set the wheels in motion to have him extradited. Jeremiah denies everything and threatens to call for help to get her arrested.

After the intro, Eliza offers to remove Jeremiah’s gag if he promises to remain calm. Once the gag is removed and he gets his glasses, Jeremiah argues she has no right to treat him like this. Eliza says otherwise considering some of his victims lost their life savings. Jeremiah denies being a fraudster and instead claims to be a lawyer. Eliza says they’re pretty far from big cities so there wouldn’t be much work there for a lawyer. Jeremiah finds it arrogant that she won’t even consider the possibility she could be wrong. Eliza agrees to explain her case since they have time to waste.

Charles Percival has been wanted by Scotland Yard for 12 years. He is versatile because he has never played the same trick twice. Charles plays different characters with unique appearances and demeanors. He was recently a bookmaker offering incredible odds on the biggest horserace in England. Although hundreds were fooled, Percival disappeared in thin air and left no leads to follow. She says there was almost none. There was a reservation at the Hotel St Marc. The passage and reservation were all booked by Jeremiah Slade. He claims she has been duped because someone wants to blame him for crimes he had no part.

When Jeremiah begins screaming, the hotel manager comes to check on him. Eliza pretends to be Jeremiah’s wife in hopes of convincing him to leave. The manager steps into the room so Eliza tells him what is going on and who Jeremiah is. The manager says he is just trying to figure out if she is working with the other detective who is supposedly from Scotland Yard. She is approached by Patrick Nash (Felix Scott) who knows she is there looking for a conman. Eliza pretends she hasn’t found him yet. She soon finds out that Patrick has a man who he believes is Percival held captive in his room. The man says he is Sebastian Baron (Joseph May) and claims not to know who Charles Percival is.

Patrick thinks there will be a big reception when he returns with Charles. Eliza congratulates him and leaves. Patrick warns Sebastian that he’ll break his thumbs if he makes a sound. He confronts Eliza to see why she doesn’t have any professional curiosity. Patrick ends up believing she is jealous. Mr. Arun (Vikash Bhai) gets a table for four and sits with Miss Kinsky. Eliza approaches the hotel manager to tell him the other detective cannot know she also has a prisoner. He agrees to keep it between them but asks her to stay in her room and not bother the other guests. When she goes back to her room, Patrick is already there with Jeremiah.

They begin discussing who has the right Charles. Jeremiah tells Patrick who he is, but refuses to say more about his work there. Patrick suggests stretching Jeremiah’s legs to make him tell them what he is doing there, but Eliza won’t allow it. Eliza believes she is right about this. Once she gives Patrick the key, they release Jeremiah who begins talking. He explains he is there to see a client who married a local woman. They’ve decided to end their union. Patrick mentions a prior incident in which an innocent man was arrested after being identified as Percival.

As they leave the room, Patrick argues that she’ll have to let him go at some point and he’ll go straight to the police. She believes Patrick will have to set his prison free instead. Sebastian says his father recently passed away and he is the owner of the estate. Before he takes on the responsibility, he’d like to spend a few months traveling around. Eliza and Patrick argue about whether Sebastian is telling the truth. Patrick says they did some digging on the bogus bookmaking firm set up by Charles. They found travel documents and bank details belonging to Sebastian who says someone wants to damage his reputation.

Eliza tells Patrick they need to talk. She suspects there is something wrong here, but Patrick thinks she is wrong and he is right. Eliza wonders who created the false trail if he is right. She can’t understand why Percival would send her to the same hotel he is staying in. Eliza thinks one of them is right, both of them are right, or neither of them is right. She recommends speaking to the two men at the same time. When Sebastian is asked about the documents, he says his dad was a ruthless businessman. Jeremiah ridicules that story. They end up arguing about their clothes and guilt until Patrick pulls out his handgun.

The hotel manager arrives to tell Eliza that the police are there. Eliza admits to Patrick she called them because she thought she had caught a wanted criminal. She tries to reason with the chief of police and apologizes for the confusion. Eliza tells him about the two suspects and suggests detaining both while they make more inquiries. He makes them wait there while he looks at the suspects. Patrick and Eliza sit down for a drink while they wait. He doesn’t think this is good because there is little crime out there and the local police may try to use this to make a name for themselves. Eliza learns that Patrick is doing this for the glory. He wants the world to know he found Percival.

Patrick wants her to come work for him, but he knows she doesn’t trust him. He thinks he uses the cane to make her feel guilty and to make her think it was her fault he took the bullet. Patrick says it was her fault. Eliza changes the subject by questioning if neither of those men is Charles Percival. She tells him about the game she used to play with her father when they’d try to guess three things about a stranger. They try to guess what Mr. Arun will order and both of them are correct. Then, they begin wondering why the police chief hasn’t returned yet. They go look for him and hear Slade screaming. The chief is on the ground.

Once Patrick goes for help, Eliza is unable to find a pulse. Patrick returns and says the manager sent word to the police station. They’re unable to find any signs of trauma. Sebastian says he poured a glass of water for him and himself. They continued talking for a while before his breathing became shallow and he fell to the floor. Sebastian asks for a doctor since he drank the water too, but Jeremiah argues that he didn’t. He also claims Sebastian tried to stop him from calling for help. Jeremiah goes on to say Sebastian is there to kill him because he is the man they’re looking for.

In private, Jeremiah tells Eliza that he is in hiding because the net is tightening around him. He isn’t sure exactly who Sebastian is, but he saw him in his house with a gun once. Jeremiah believes he is a paid assassin. Eliza says she has been hired to take him back to England and that is exactly what she will do. Sebastian pleads with Patrick to call a doctor. He also claims to be Charles Percival and claims Jeremiah is a hired killer. Sebastian warns Patrick that Jeremiah will kill Eliza if he has to. He catches Patrick off guard and grabs his gun. Patrick is forced to give him the handcuff keys so he can free himself.

Sebastian identifies himself as Thomas K. Malone of the New Hampshire Malones. He explains that he is a detective working for an agency in Boston. Thomas claims the man downstairs is Charles Percival and he is going to take him in. Patrick asks if he is going to kill them like he killed the cop, but Thomas denies killing him. Patrick and Eliza end up restrained together. As Eliza tries to find a way to free herself, they discuss how they can stop Thomas from taking Percival to America. Eliza learns that he broke into her office and learned about her lead. She asks if he is incapable of telling the truth. Patrick confesses his brother used to same that.

It was his brother’s idea to set up the agency and he was a good detective. He’d help anyone including a family from Cork that was fresh off the boat. They paid his brother upfront to find their missing daughter who was found with some drunk lunatic down by the docks. His brother was stabbed through the heart. He claims that’s what you get for being honest. Patrick thinks some people are survivors and that is why they should work together. Eliza says she’ll never work with him and she doesn’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth. Patrick frees himself with the tie pin as Eliza suggested before saying his name was Michael.

Later, the manager tells Eliza that someone has stolen a horse and carriage from outside. She asks about sending a telegram to Scotland Yard, but he refuses to help this time. She sits down and starts writing to the Duke, but before Mr. Arun asks her about being English. He says he met the woman on the boat. Although he thought they were getting on, he thinks he misread the situation. Once Eliza admits she isn’t particularly enjoying her stay, Arun wishes he’d never set foot in this place. He is in the motel business and someone suggested he look around there. He should’ve known to never trust the lawyer who works for the owner.

The owner is keen on selling. He was supposedly married to a local girl and things ended badly. Arun says he was supposed to meet the owner and lawyer. When Eliza asks the lawyer’s name, Arun says it is Jeremiah Slade. They didn’t show up so he decided to leave, but he didn’t get very far. Eliza interrupts Patrick to say there is only one road that leads from the hotel to the outside world. Arun tried to leave, but the snow made the road impassable. Eliza believes Thomas and Percival are still at the hotel. When they check the room, they find Malone handcuffed to the bed frame.

He tells them how he tried to leave in the stolen coach, but had to return and got knocked out. They refuse to let Malone work with them. Eliza tells Patrick they’re going to need the element of surprise. She asks Patrick to check room 18 before meeting her in reception. Once he joins her, Eliza says the policeman didn’t come in from the snow because his coat was dry. They believe he was there all along. While checking the guest list, the name “Papillon” catches Eliza’s attention because it was the winning horse from the Grand National.

That name was used to check into room 12 so they decide to carefully check it out. In that room, Jeremiah is held captive by Miss Kinsky who admits to poisoning the police chief. Patrick and Eliza burst in before Kinsky can force the hotel manager to drink poison. Eliza realizes that they’re working together and Charles Percival is several people. They separate everyone before learning from the hotel manager or Charles that Miss Kinsky was paid by a Russian gang in London because they lost money on the Grand National. She must’ve followed him to room twelve where he had hidden Samuel.

Although he was the first to use the name Charles Percival, the others work with him and sometimes pose as him. There were others, but it was Samuel and Henri recently. Henri was supposed to play the role of the hotel owner since they were going to sell the place to Mr. Arun. As for the real owner, he is in the local town drinking himself to death because his wife left him. They refuse to accept a bribe from Charles. In the morning, they speak to local police. Patrick says the Chief of Police wants to interview the prisoners and it is his investigation now.

Eliza doubts they’ll get their money anytime soon. Patrick suggests going into town for breakfast now that the road is open. He thinks this turned out well after all since they worked together.

 

Miss Scarlet & The Duke Review

Miss Scarlet & The Duke remains a mostly enjoyable police drama with beautiful aesthetics, fun stories, and reliable performances. This episode was a bit messy towards the end as Eliza and Patrick tried to figure out which one of the bunch was the real Charles Percival. On the other hand, the series has done a good job of creating original investigations through three seasons.

The relationship between Eliza and Patrick was the biggest selling point of the episode since the characters are so different yet so alike. There is a possibility that the relationship will turn into something more in future episodes. Some episodes are better than others, but Miss Scarlet & The Duke is usually safe, reliable entertainment that can be charming at its best.

Hotel St Marc was a good episode thanks to the banter between Eliza and Patrick. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Miss Scarlet & The Duke can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our independent site at this link. Find out more about advertising opportunities on Reel Mockery here.