The episode opens with a man (possibly Tom) locating a skeleton. Retrieving the skull, he carries it to the shore where he washes it in the water. He sits quietly watching a fire crackle, with the skull lying nearby on a rock.

Crime scene technicians process Peter Ayre’s (Sandy Grierson) house while he is being interrogated at the police station. DS Alison “Tosh” McIntosh (Allison O’Donnell) warns that he is facing criminal charges for illegally removing Ellen Quinn’s (Maise Norma Seaton) body from the morgue. Peter claims to have shared the same beliefs as Ellen who would have preferred her body burnt. He denies any connection to Ellen’s death. DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) asks about his beliefs. He says Ellen needed cleansed because she was tainted with sin. Pushing photos of Ellen’s tattoo and sheep with the symbol spray painted across their bodies across the table, Tosh points out that he has the same tattoo. He blames them for Ellen never finding peace. After the interrogation ends, DC Sandy Wilson (Steven Robertson) tells Tosh and Calder that PC Alex Grant (Conor McCarry) describes Peter’s place as a “house of horrors”.

Grace Bain (Phyllis Logan) criticizes the police department for the delay in solving Ellen’s crime and for allowing her body to be unlawfully taken from the morgue. Tosh assures her that Ellen’s remains have been located. Kieran Quinn (Barry O’Connor) and Stella Quinn (Dawn Steele) question why Peter tried to burn Ellen’s body. Calder tells them that Peter claims the two of them shared the same beliefs. Grace points out that Peter and Reverend Alan Calder (Steven Miller) are friends. Calder says Ellen was friends with Tom Knox (Dylan Blore). Grace disputes the allegation. Kieran refuses to believe Ellen was anything more than a “normal kid”. Outside, Calder receives an update on Amma Calder’s (Nina Toussaint-White) background check.

Two Kennedy Court Apartments – Liam Kenmuir (Ian Dunnett Jr.) tells Sandy that he heard from his co-workers at the hospital that Ellen’s body was removed from the morgue. Rosemary Strachan (Gemma Laurie) claims Peter came to the parties. Liam says the parties were held on Stanley Hill last summer.

Tosh scolds Calder for not informing her of Amma contacting Ellen on the day she died. Calder claims Amma denies any contact with Ellen. Later, Amma claims to buy her cigarettes from a parishioner. Tosh says her background report reveals she shared a flat with Kirsty Bell in Ealing, a borough in London. She adds that Ellen and Kirsty were together on the night Philip Remis (Joseph Thompson) was killed. Amma admits to putting Ellen in contact with Kirsty when she decided to move to London. Outside, Calder and Alan discuss Amma’s connection to Ellen. Alan assures her that she had nothing to do with Ellen’s murder. Inside, Amma explains how she met Ellen at a cottage in Nibon. She claims Ellen wanted to return the money to its rightful owner because they were after her. Tosh accuses her of not helping Ellen. Amma tells her that she urged Ellen to contact Azir Sadat at Langbank. Tosh asks why she did not contact the police after Ellen was murdered. Amma was afraid to lose her life with Alan.

Tosh questions if Calder stayed in Shetland, instead of returning to London to protect Alan and Amma. Calder says it is true. Elsewhere, Bobby Bain (Russ Bain) and Neil Bain (Neil Pendleton) talk to Cal Innes (Jamie Sives) about a drug scheme. Cal refuses to get involved with them.

Cora McLean (Anne Kidd) informs Tosh and Calder that Ellen went into cardiac arrest while being strangulated. She says wool/polyester fibers were found in her hair. Sergeant Billy McCabe (Lewis Howden) tells them that Peter’s phone was connected to the home Wi-Fi on the night Ellen was murdered. He adds that Peter mace online purchases like plumbing components. Calder asks if he believes Peter did not kill Ellen. He assures her that there is no way Peter could be in two places at once. Sandy sets down a box filled with Peter’s letters from a fan. Tosh rules out that Ellen sent them. Billy points out that all the letters have Shetland postmarks.

Tom tells Stella that he is not responsible for Ellen’s death. Stella believes him. She asks how Janet felt about his and Ellen’s friendship. He claims Ellen and Janet talked and knitted before handing her a scarf that she knitted. She breaks down sobbing. He gives her the scarf.

Billy, Sandy, Tosh, and PC Lorna Burns (Eubha Akilade) read Peter’s letters. Billy reminds them of Peter and Alan’s friendship. Calder assures her that Alan is a good guy. Tosh suggests he formed a strong bond with someone in foster care. Lorna informs them that Peter was under the care of Nancy Faulds for eight months in 2006 and 2007. She adds that Nancy died two years ago. Billy hands Tosh a list of hospital staff passes utilized on the night Peter removed Ellen’s body from the morgue. Seeing Liam’s pass on the list, Tosh points out that he is Rosemary’s boyfriend. Sandy says Liam claimed to be off duty that night.

Liam claims to have misplaced his hospital pass several days ago in town. Calder asks if he knows Peter. He denies any connection with Peter. Tosh asks about his childhood. He says his parents relocated to the Isles when he was three years old. Upon leaving, Calder assures Tosh that Liam is lying.

Rory Quinn (Jakub Bednarczyk) names a baby lamb Che. Kieran informs her that Grace wants them to come to dinner. Stella suggests the three of them have dinner alone.

Calder asks Cal if her dad and Stella were involved. He reminds her that Stella is their age before denying any knowledge of them seeing each other. Elsewhere, Donnie tells Tosh about seeing Farida Sadat at the nursery. She denies ever meeting Farida but knows Sandy questioned Farida and Azir about Ellen’s death. He claims Ellen was formerly their housekeeper.

Calder is working on Ellen’s case when Alan arrives with news about Amma. He questions why Amma never said anything about her meeting with Ellen. Returning from the restroom, she finds Alan looking at her casework. She informs him of their father and Stella’s relationship. Refusing to believe the allegation, he accuses her of trying to ruin their father’s memory. She assures him that she is only out for the truth. Upset, he admits to having hated living with her. He says they only started being happy when she left for London. After he leaves, she pulls a hair out of her scalp. The next morning, she gives the hair to a pathologist in Cora’s office.

Azir claims to have only spoken to Ellen several times. Tosh says Amma told her that he and Ellen were close. She reminds him of Ellen being his former housecleaner. He tells her that Ellen took over Heather’s cleaning duties when she was away. She asks him about Ellen’s belief that she was “stained with sin”. Sandy pulls Tosh away to tell her that Liam grew up in Hillside before his family moved to Lerwick. He adds that the family lived less than a mile from Nancy Faulds’ home. He assures her that Peter and Liam knew each other.

Stella tells Grace about her visit with Tom. She suggests they return the Knox’s land. Grace argues that the land deal was fair. Stella says he cheated the Knox family. Grace warns her to never talk bad about her father again. Stella accuses Grace of criticizing their father all the time when he was alive. She attributes the fraudulent land deal to Grace’s never being satisfied. Bobby says they couldn’t return the land even if they wanted to. Stella assures him that Ellen would have wanted them to do it.

Tosh tells Calder that Liam’s hospital pass was discovered in Peter’s home. Elsewhere, Cal asks James Innes (Kevan Mackenzie) if he knew anything about Stella and Mr. Calder. James says no.

Tosh asks Peter about Liam but he denies knowing him. Calder suggests Liam sent him the “love letters”. Tosh says he utilized Liam’s hospital pass. Tosh questions if Liam murdered Ellen for him. Liam was seen near the cottage at Nibon.

Bobby talks to Cal Innes about the farm being in trouble to the point that they could lose it. He confesses he hasn’t told the family yet. Cal questions why he took the farm on because he always thought Bobby would go to university. Bobby explains that was the plan until his father did. When he looks back now, he believes that was the start of everything going to crap. Cal offers him drugs since he needs cheering up. Although Bobby says he is too old for that stuff, Cal reminds him he was looking to blow ten grand on it. Cal thinks he should try it before committing. Tosh and Calder look for Liam who tries to escape using the backdoor.

Calder grabs and arrests him on suspicion of murder before realizing she doesn’t have the power to read him his rights. They believe Liam was friends with Peter Ayre, but Calder says that isn’t true. He says he didn’t even know who Peter was until he came to Shetland. Calder denies giving Peter his pass to access the mortuary. He says he was just trying something before they hear a noise nearby. Rosemary comes out with a bloody knife. At the station, they learn that there is a freshly killed sheep carcass about a mile from the cottage. Tosh wonders if that was some type of homage to Ayre. Calder knew Ayre had some kind of hold on her that went back years. He also knew that Rosemary helped Peter Ayre steal the body. Calder and Tosh try to get information from Rosemary.

When Tosh says she doesn’t seem like the type, Rosemary suggests it is always the quiet ones. She says she has been friends with Peter since he came to Shetland when she was eight. Rosemary wanted to be friends with him because he noticed her. Peter was already into that stuff before she met him. She was just happy that he let her join in. Rosemary doesn’t think there was a relationship between Peter and Ellen. The detectives believe otherwise. Rosemary explains that Peter misses things about people and he missed that Ellen was a fake. When asked about the tattoo, Rosemary says Ellen was plastered when she got it. It was at Peter’s place following one of the parties at Staney Hill. Ellen latched onto Peter who invited her back to the croft. They kept drinking and doing drugs.

Rosemary is told that Peter said Ellen claimed she was stained with sin that night. Rosemary says he felt guilty about something. She claims nothing happened after that and Peter didn’t give it a second thought. Calder doesn’t believe that. She thinks Rosemary would kill for Peter since she already killed the animals for him. Rosemary insists she killed the animals for herself because she enjoys it. Bobby and Cal talk about Marie, Kirsty Gunn, and other women. Eventually, Cal is asked about his relationship with Calder. Bobby claims Stella is a one-man woman although Cal heard otherwise. He heard something about a scandal before Kieran. Cal says it might’ve been a man of the cloth. Tosh and Calder talk about Rosemary and her interview.

Tosh checks the incident report from the party because something happened to Ellen around then that made her feel guilty. Ellen went off the rails then and was admitted to Langbank a week later. Then, Tosh looks up the incident report for Akmal Sadat. She takes a call and gets a message for Calder. Cal’s van won’t run so Bobby tries to help him get it started. Cal leaves moments later. Tosh questions why Calder ran a DNA comparison on Ellen Quinn. When Calder says she can’t tell her, Tosh believes it is personal and decides to remove her from the investigation. Before leaving, Tosh tells Calder that it wasn’t a match. Outside, Calder ignores a call from Cal who leaves a message saying something is going on with Bobby.

At the end of the episode, Cal’s van is shown crashed and it appears his body has gone through the windshield.

 

Shetland Review

The detectives learn that Liam and Peter have known each other since childhood. Liam gave Peter his hospital pass, so he could remove Ellen’s body from the morgue. Peter believes Ellen needed to be cleansed of her sins. A box of letters shows a deeper connection than friendship between Peter and Liam.

Bobby and Neill approach Cal about a drug deal. Cal initially refuses the offer but later agrees to join them.

Calder believes her father and Stella were in a relationship. She has her hair tested to see if she and Ellen are half-sisters. The results reveal no match. She tells Tosh about Amma’s visit with Ellen on the day she died. Amma was friends with Kirsty before she married Alan. Kirsty and Ellen were involved in a robbery scheme in London. She tells Alan about her past. Alan is none too thrilled when he learns Calder is investigating their father and Stella. He accuses her of trying to defame their father

Tom gives Stella a scarf that Ellen knitted. Stella tells Grace to return the Knox’s land but she refuses. Bobby says they couldn’t, even if they wanted to.

Tosh removes Calder from Ellen’s murder case after learning about the DNA test. Cal is involved in a serious car accident.

The snail’s pace progression makes the show unbearable at times to watch. When a new revelation is introduced, the story runs on it and doesn’t want to move on. Reducing the series to six episodes could have eliminated most of the filler. While weekly releases are becoming the norm, it is difficult to remember what happens from one episode to the next. It doesn’t help to watch other shows and movies between episodes. By the time, the next episode rolls around, all the important details are forgotten.

The “beliefs,” sins, symbols, animal sacrifices, corn dolls, and pagan practices make me think of a cult. Ellen, Peter, Rosemary, Liam, and possibly Billy appear to be involved in a sect. If this is the case, there is only one person who could be the leader.

The episode deserves a 6 out of 10. Get more Shetland recaps here. Support our independent Reel Mockery site by donating. Our onsite advertising can be combined with other methods to build brand awareness. Join our newly established forum to discuss the latest movie and TV show releases.