R.I.P. Tide – The episode begins with Stuart Granger (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) and Susan Stirling (Jenni Baird) welcoming this year’s newcomers to the Surf Festival and the ensuing competition. He’s soon running off to an appointment but promises to be back in time to present the Stirling Cup to the competition’s winner. He will eventually reappear at the Dolphin Cove beach, but it will only be after washing ashore with a knife in his back.

DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) is on her way into Dolphin Cove as well, until Cab Driver Trevor Bongiovanni (Ron Smyck) learns of her identity and makes her get out. He rants about some past offense while helping her and her bags out of his cab. By the time Mackenzie foots it to her mother’s cluttered beach house, Detective S.C. Colin Cartwright (Lloyd Griffith) and Aaron McGrath/Constable Felix Wilkinson (Aaron L. McGrath) are just beginning their visual inspection of the crime scene. They are very shortly joined by Senior Sergeant Philomena Strong (Catherine McClements) who not only encourages them to speak with Susan Stirling but mentions bringing in a more senior detective to help with the case.

Cartwright is right in the middle of questioning Granger’s last appointment, Grant Edgar (Stephen Hunter), when Clarke makes an unexpected appearance. Despite Cartwright’s constant insistence that Clarke must leave, she practically deduces everything he knows without him so as much revealing a thing. She will also turn their attention to the home’s surveillance where they discover that Granger is never shown leaving the home. Learning that all the windows and doors were locked from the inside makes things even more confusing, for the moment.

Seeing Granger’s convertible outside causes Clarke to wonder aloud why a mechanic would come to see a house that he likely couldn’t afford. Before Cartwright can even attempt to offer a response, Sergeant Strong will show up. Clarke is caught completely off guard and as brief as the encounter is, it’s clear that they are acquainted. Clarke also fears/respects her enough to follow her orders to leave. Clarke will suggest checking Granger’s lungs while exiting.

After learning that management doesn’t have a more senior detective to spare for her case, Strong will seek out Clarke’s assistance. Strong will find her cleaning out her mother’s house and only briefly attempts a bit of small talk before asking for Clarke’s help. Clarke will initially claim she doesn’t have the time but Strong knows just how to play her and does so expertly. She practically recruits Clarke’s help without even asking. Clarke will even spend a good deal of the morning getting her old Jeep back in working order.

Things are awkward the moment Clarke shows up at the station. After being introduced it becomes clear that her reception is varied. Despite that Clarke’s powers of deduction prove invaluable within just the first few minutes. Her first priority will become where Granger likely went into the water but the brief arrival of Reggie Rocco (Celia Ireland) will sideline that for the moment.

Reggie clearly falls into the group happy to see Clarke and as much as Clarke returns the sentiment, she is clearly stunned that Reggie is now a cop. Felix will later point out that Reggie is only a volunteer. Cartwright will soon have everyone’s attention when he brings attention to deleted text from Granger’s phone, indicating that he and Becky Hayden (Vivienne Awosoga) were having an affair. When questioned, Stirling will admit to knowing about the affair and claims that Granger agreed to break it off so as not to damage the Stirling family name. Stirling will also claim to have been running on a local trail at the time of Granger’s death.

Becky isn’t taking Granger’s death as nearly as well as Stirling and even gets affronted when Cartwright asks why Granger would risk breaking his prenuptial agreement with Stirling for her. Becky will insist they were in love. The interrogation practically ends when Clarke deduces that Becky is pregnant. Elsewhere, Reggie and Felix begin investigating a destroyed letterbox.

While Clarke reaches out to DI, Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon), to learn more about a recent incident at her London precinct, Reggie and Felix begin investigating a vandalized letterbox. Neither party appears to learn much at the moment but Clarke’s efforts are sidelined by Cartwright with the rest of the surveillance footage from the open house. Cartwright will leave her with the footage and shockingly enough, she’s still reviewing the footage when he returns the following morning.

Clarke will awkwardly decline Cartwright’s invitation to the pathologist, Glenn Strong (Tai Hara). Cartwright becomes suspicious when Glenn becomes just as awkward when he hears Clarke’s name. Cartwright will later learn that Clarke left Glenn standing at the altar. Although the autopsy isn’t officially complete, Glenn is confident that the murder weapon is a run-of-the-mill kitchen knife that punctured the right lung. Glenn has also noted the missing jacket button that Clarke took note of earlier.

Being that Clarke is yet to turn up at the station by the time Cartwright makes use of his time by helping Reggie and Felix with the vandalized letterbox. Their combined efforts will eventually lead them to question Zayne Wyatt (Dylan Hare). He immediately runs upon seeing them. Shockingly enough the ensuing foot chase will take them by the charity house where Clarke is trying to donate some of her mother’s belongings. Maggie doesn’t appear to be happy with Clarke’s botched wedding and is even unhappier when Clarke joins in on the chases, leaving the donations in the process.

Zayne isn’t completely forthcoming during his interrogation but appears to answer their questions honestly. He admits to the letterbox crime as well as seeing Grant and Granger at the open house. He claims he was there to get his now useless engagement ring back from Becky. This reveals nothing more than the fact that Becky also had a key to the open-house property.

Clarke is completely floored when she returns home to find her box of donations awaiting her arrival. She’s no less surprised by Frankie, but it is Glenn who leaves her speechless. That changes once Glenn mentions the water in Granger’s lungs. As it turns out, Granger did drown but he was dying from the stab wound at the same time. A few minutes more the blood would have constricted his airway enough to cut off his breathing. The discovery ultimately leads to them conducting an experiment that although Granger couldn’t have been stabbed in the house, he could have been stabbed anywhere within 5 minutes of the water.

Returning to the station, Clarke will learn that Granger has been spending thousands of dollars to keep Grant’s garage afloat. She doesn’t get long to sit with this thanks to Reggie’s enthusiasm over learning that Grant joined the high school’s tennis team in an attempt to get close to the captain of the girl’s team, Stirling. They all agree it’s an intriguing discovery but this was years ago.

At one point, Reggie will offhandedly mention that it is almost as if they are investigating the wrong crime, which turns out to be exactly right. It takes Clarke a bit of deducing and visiting Stirling’s regular running route, but she learns that Stuart had actually planned to kill Stirling, but she and Grant would conspire against him. Being that it was Stirling who committed the actual deed, she will be the one arrested and charged.

Clarke will say an awkward goodbye at the station and surprisingly enough, she will open her mother’s home to Cartwright as a rental. Clarke will also get a chance to say goodbye to Glenn when she returns home to find him tending to the donations that Maggie returned. Although their meeting is standoffish, he will eventually ask her why she left him at the altar. She tells him that she wanted more than Dolphin Cove. Despite being amicable, the answer doesn’t appear to sit well with him.

When Strong calls Mooney to convey her thanks for letting Clarke help with the case she will learn that Clarke has actually been suspended. She’s apparently being accused of evidence tampering. This ultimately leads to Strong offering Clarke a position in the department. Clarke doesn’t offer much of a response and pretends to be ungrateful but it’s pretty obvious she will be taking the position.

 

Return To Paradise Review

I can’t say the series was terrible but there was absolutely nothing about it original. You’ve seen one quirky detective series, you’ve seen this one. Clarke is a bit of an eccentric but she’s nothing new. Despite this, I do find myself interested in learning more about her incident in London. Clarke’s mother and their relationship offer a bit more of a mystery but unfortunately not too much more intriguing.

Maybe I was expecting too much but I was surprised with how drab the case was. Perhaps the creators were relying on the past popularity of the other Paradise series. Despite the negativity, I’d give the episode a 5.3 out of 10.

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