As the fourth episode begins, Christina Scott (Tuyen Do) receives a letter that surprises her. The note informs her that her husband did not commit suicide. After the intro, DCI Mike McGuire (Howard Charles) goes for a swim and we hear a voicemail from a woman to him. The woman talks about the loss of Mike’s wife and visiting her grave to lay flowers on it. Meanwhile, Dolly (Frances Barber) and Ruby (Isobelle Molloy) prepare for Christmas. Charlie (Rohan Nedd) checks with Pearl (Kerry Godliman) regarding the menu they’ll be serving. Pearl says oh god when Charlie kisses Ruby but Dolly tells her that is what love looks like. Then, Pearl talks to her mother about the Christmas decoration she picked out with her father.
Pearl gets a call and learns about Christina’s note while Mike checks out the flat he brought. Christina gets a visit from Pearl and tells her about her husband disappearing seven years ago. She explains that her husband’s car was discovered abandoned by a slipway in Oare and she was three months pregnant at the time. Police helped until they found a suicide note and quickly ruled it a suicide. Christina believes her husband is alive out there somewhere and needs her help. She admits she never saw the suicide note because the police didn’t show it to her. She claims she didn’t need to see the suicide note to know her husband didn’t kill himself and nobody believes her. Christina shows Pearl the letter and admits the police think it is someone being cruel and they won’t reopen the investigation. She goes on to say that the police believe she is mad and the other people in their lives think her husband is dead.
They want her to let it go but she can’t because she doesn’t want their son believing he wasn’t worth staying alive for. Christina says she knows in her bones that Robert is alive before showing Pearl his paintings. After Pearl leaves, she visits Robert’s parents Evie (Connie Walker) and Alan (Simon Paisley Day). Evie wonders if God is teaching her a lesson by making her son disappear. Evie says Minister Cameron (Gerald Kyd) tells her they really never leave them. Instead, they’re watching them but they’re spinning so fast they really can’t see them. If they slow down, they might catch a glimpse of them. Evie says Christina doesn’t live in the real world and turned away from them. She isn’t happy that Christina won’t let them take Arthur to church to be baptized. Pearl wants to talk about Robert but Evie doesn’t because he betrayed them and God’s gift.
She says she lost two children that day before reiterating the fact she doesn’t want to talk about Robert. When Pearl says she just wants to help Christina, Evie shows her a note similar to the one Christina received but she thinks Christina sent it. She thinks Christina sent the notes to get the police to reopen the case before saying she is sick and cruel. Only Minister Cameron can help her own. Evie gets upset and walks away. Alan follows her but returns and apologizes saying Evie never fully recovered after the accident. He reveals that Robert had a twin brother named Mark who died when they went swimming at Oare. He was only 12 and got caught in the undercurrent. Robert was the better swimmer but he wasn’t able to save his brother. Although it wasn’t Robert’s fault, he blamed himself for his brother’s death.
Evie couldn’t believe God would do that to her and she needed someone to blame. He admits they believe in whatever stops them from going insane and his wife believes in the minister and God. He pleads with Pearl to stop the madness while saying their sons are dead. Mike asks a woman about not putting a 30-pound frozen turkey in her pram, but she couldn’t because her baby was in the pram. He shows her a picture of her pushing the turkey in her pram and says her kid is never going to play piano. She asks for a lawyer before Mike gets upset and tells her to just stop. He asks DS Nikki Martel (Sophie Del Pizzo) to find out if there is a baby they need to worry about. When he leaves the interview room, Nikki gives him a small tree for his new apartment. He reluctantly takes it before getting a message from Pearl asking to meet because she needs his help.
Meanwhile, Pearl reads about the drowning on the Internet. She finds a page about Minister Cameron before Mike arrives and interrupts her research. Pearl asks to see the suicide note in the police files but he says he can’t give it to her. She tries to get him to compromise by saying he can read it to her. She offers to get him something to eat but he refuses and says he has stuff he needs to sort out. When she asks if he is okay, he admits it is a bad day but not her fault. She gives him the gift she bought for his new flat. She asks if he has plans for Christmas before he leaves without answering. Pearl goes to the church to meet with Minister Cameron but he is busy with a baptism and can’t be disturbed. She is told to come back later that afternoon before she changes the conversation to the Lazarus meeting. She learns it is their grief counseling meeting and it is open to everyone.
She asks if Robert Scott used to come to the meetings and the woman says he used to come with his girlfriend Alice. She claims he was the love of her life and vice versa. She says both of them are gone now but refuses to answer any additional questions. Next, Pearl watches from a distance as Minister Cameron performs several rough baptisms. Later that night, she visits Alan because she has another question. She asks him about Alice the woman he used to take to church. He remembers Robert having a girlfriend before Christina but can’t recall her name. He says she was a lost soul and ran away a lot. Alan believes she grew up in the children’s home nearby. He gets upset, slams his hand onto the table, and tells her she needs to stop this. He wonders if Pearl asked Christina if she wrote the note before getting mad again. Back at the restaurant, Pearl and Dolly try the pie Ruby prepared and agree it is delicious. She lies by pretending Charlie helped but they don’t believe her.
Dolly suggests Ruby should take over the kitchen for a few evenings so Pearl can get laid. They joke about Pearl’s nonexistent sex life before Pearl agrees it is a good idea for Ruby to take over once in a while. She tells both she is going to Mather’s Church but Dolly warns they’re like the Manson family with a priest. Dolly admits she always wanted to visit a church before we see Mike sitting on the floor of his new apartment. He looks at pictures of his wife on his phone and cries. Pearl calls and apologizes for asking for the note. She promises not to ask for any more favors before reminding Mike he didn’t answer when she asked if he had plans for Christmas. She steps inside the church and sits down with Dolly as the Minister preaches. He asks them if they can feel God before asking what they want to share this week. One woman says she felt Jason this week like they spoke about and it didn’t hurt as much.
Dolly leans over to Pearl and says cult while Cameron tells the woman she cannot rush healing. He approaches Dolly and asks what she would like to share about her loss. She says she lost her husband 30 years ago and should barely think of him anymore. She admits she is reminded of it every day. Dolly says she can cope with the loss of her husband but what she felt most was the loss of her daughter. Her daughter was only 8 at the time and she wanted it so much not to hurt her. She watches her daughter now and believes she is scared to love because she is worried about being hurt. When Dolly stops, Minister Cameron thanks her for sharing that with them. When they leave, Evie tells Pearl may God bless her. Everyone leaves so Pearl approaches Cameron and requests to ask him a few questions about Robert Scott.
She asks if he thinks it is strange that Alice disappeared and Robert allegedly committed suicide a few years later. However, Cameron walks off without saying anything. He asks her if she believes in God or just came to mock him in his house. She says she only came to ask about Robert. She asks about the two members of his group that have disappeared. He claims he failed and there is a world he couldn’t protect them from, but she doesn’t believe he knows nothing about it. He doesn’t care and says only God can judge him. Cameron also says Robert made a choice to turn his back on them long ago. He claims Christina wrote the note and accuses Pearl of encouraging her fantasy world. He asks her to leave so she does. She joins Dolly outside and claims that wasn’t a normal response to suicide. Dolly says Christians have a 2,000-year tradition of not having a normal response to anything.
Then, they talk about Dolly missing her husband and Pearl believes there is something she isn’t telling her. Dolly tells her daughter she isn’t a child anymore and life isn’t black and white. Nikki approaches Mike and confirms there was no baby to worry about. They talk about Christmas and Mike’s new flat as he prints a copy of the suicide note Pearl asked for. He goes out with Pearl and gives her the copy. The note reads, “the pain of loving you I can’t go on like this”. She says it is like one of the quotes has been ripped off his sketches and he puts quotes on everything. Mike admits he read the file and it sounds like suicide since Robert had no friends and experienced tragic loss. Pearl isn’t sure since his life was getting better and he was going to have a kid. Mike suggests the responsibility of having a kid might’ve been too much.
Pearl talks about the people she has talked to about Robert before mentioning the girl from the kid’s home. The waitress hears her and says it was shut down. Pearl soon learns that the waitress had it shut down because the girls weren’t properly cared for. She explains the guy who used to run it brought the girls there and gave them free tattoos in the corner. The council investigated after she called and found more than just tattoos. Pearl asks what she knows about Alex Lowry. The woman remembers her as being Scottish and having big hair. She was troubled and got her first tattoo on top of a suicide scar she had on her wrist. She tattooed the word failure right next to the scar. Then, she got her chest covered with butterflies. She used to brag about finding someone who was going to take her away so she likely ran away with her boyfriend. Pearl is surprised to learn that the woman was pregnant the last time she was in the restaurant. She doesn’t know much about the boyfriend.
Mike’s phone rings but he doesn’t answer it. He admits it had been a rough couple of days and apologizes for yesterday. She invites him to a party at the restaurant. He returns to work after telling her not to go speaking to people alone. She immediately goes to the shut-down children’s home and sneaks inside. As she looks through the place, someone slams a door toward her and runs away from her. Pearl chases after the person but they’re gone by the time she returns outside. She goes inside and leaves a note for Robert with her name and number. She calls Mike and tells him she did something really stupid. She admits she thinks Robert is still alive and she scared him. Pearl asks Mike to call her. He gets in touch with her later that night. She apologizes for not listening to him before he says this is a small town and he might know who she is. He wonders if Robert might’ve killed Alice. When she asks where he is, Mike lies and says he is at home although he is outside the restaurant.
He tells her to get some sleep and bring him everything she has tomorrow so he can go through it. The next day, Pearl gets a visitor who doesn’t listen when she tells them they’re not open yet. The woman asks for a coffee and says she can sit on the balcony. Pearl agrees and decides to join her. When Alice gets closer to the woman, she sees the word failure across her wrist and she is asked why she is looking for Robert. Pearl tells Alice (Kate Bracken) that Christina hired her to find Robert. She believes she saw him last night but Alice says it was her and she has the note to prove it. She says Robert is dead. When asked why she came back, Alice says she is there to meet the father of her child and the man who killed Robert. Alice goes to the church and someone locks her in. She admits she has thought about what she would say numerous times. She says she was only 14 and a child at the time. She thought he’d help when she told him she was pregnant but he made her do things a child should never do.
Alan Scott walks toward her and reminds her she had to get his son involved. Alice says Robert gave her money so she could get away from him. She says she lied to him and pretended she didn’t know who the father was. However, she came back to tell him about Alan being the father. She also accuses Alan of beating Robert to death because she saw him leaving the car at Oare. Alan claims he didn’t mean to hurt his son. He says he loved Alice and he tried to explain that to Robert but he wouldn’t listen. He accuses her of killing his son by spreading her legs for anyone who’d give her attention. He asks why she sent the notes so she says he now knows what it feels like to be scared. She warns him that they’ll find him while looking for Robert and there is nowhere for him to run. He pulls out a knife and approaches her slowly while Pearl enters. Pearl tries to get in but can’t. Instead, she watches as Evie hits Alan and knocks him out.
Evie says he will never hurt her or anyone else again. Pearl calls Mike and tells him he isn’t going to like this. That night, Pearl hangs out with the others at the restaurant and Mike joins them. The corners are crowded so she invites him to sit on the balcony and he accepts since Christmas music isn’t playing out there. Dolly looks at her daughter before she goes outside to talk to Mike. They hang out on the balcony as the episode ends.
Whitstable Pearl Review
Whitstable Pearl isn’t great, but I guess it is a good way to kill time when you have nothing else to watch. I do appreciate the relationship building taking place over the last few episodes. Pearl and Mike have a lot in common so you know that relationship is going to bud and blossom sooner or later. I can’t complain about the acting since everyone seems to have done pretty well in their respective roles.
However, I don’t find the investigations all that mysterious or interesting. I’ll also say that the episode was a bit too easy and convenient for Pearl. I can believe Alice showing up at her restaurant after getting the note, but the scene when the waitress gave her all of the evidence about the kid’s home was just too easy. It wasn’t a bad episode but I think this is sadly a show we’re going to forget about days after it has ended. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Previous and future episode recaps of Whitstable Pearl can be found on Reel Mockery here.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
