As the episode begins, Chloe Mills (Freya Hannan-Mills) tells Lynsey Mills (Kathryn Bond) she feels so rough, but Lynsey thinks that’ll change when she gets out there. Chloe says it is weird she feels normal on the water. Chloe worries about her father but she is told they’ll call him and he’ll understand. Lynsey tells her mother that she is worried because it has been too long. She is told that Chloe will grow out of it. Once she boards the boat, Lynsey sends a text message. Rosie tells them to be careful since most people die 15 minutes away from home before they leave on the boat. Jamie Mills (Philip Cumbus) approaches Rosie and asks what is going on since Chloe texted him earlier. He isn’t happy because it was supposed to be his day with Chloe. He complains that they do this every time it is his day with Chloe. As Rosie walks away, he warns her that he is going to call Lynsey because it is his day.

At Pearl’s restaurant, Mike (Howard Charles) orders a large bowl of chips and more after Pearl (Kerry Godliman) encourages him to treat himself on his holiday. Jamie tries to get in touch with his daughter and leaves a message saying she doesn’t need to run off every time she feels ill since he can care for her. He calls Lynsey before finally getting a frantic call from Chloe who says the boat is taking on water. When he learns that the boat is sinking, he agrees to call the Coast Guard. When Pearl returns to Mike, she finds out that the guests nearby disappeared without paying. She checks their table and finds a note apologizing and something about a lifeboat. Chloe and Lynsey are rescued before being brought back to Jamie. Chloe walks away with Jamie while Lynsey tells the rescuer well done. Pearl gives them coffee while Mike tries to find out what happened.

Jamie gets upset when he learns the boat is gone and Lynsey only checked on it last night but not this morning. Henry Wright (Daniel Fathers) tries to calm him down but Heather (Victoria Carling) encourages him to stay out of it. They get into a scuffle before Jamie accidentally punches Mike. Rosie (Annette Badland) watches as Mike pulls Jamie back and stops the fight. After the intro, Mike learns from Pearl that Jamie and Lynsey own the sailing club next door. Pearl tells him he showed great restraint before Mike reveals an old mate invited him to go paintballing. Another friend invited him to Gran Canaria but he turned both of them down and intends to have a staycation. She asks him about his New Year’s Eve plans and says they have a party at the restaurant. They have three rules, no kissing, no singing, and no resolutions. It is just hard drinking.

She tries to convince Mike to join them before tending to her guests. Charlie (Rohan Nedd) asks Pearl about Dolly (Frances Barber) being with them on New Year’s Eve and reveals Ruby’s parents will be there for drinks. She reminds him of the rules and he asks her to plead with Dolly to chill out a bit. When Dolly returns with a younger man, Rosie enters and talks to Pearl. She says when the Coast Guard found the boat the pipe connecting to the bilge pump had been severed. As a result, they were powerless to stop the boat from sinking. Rosie explains it wasn’t one of the boats they rented out and instead belonged to Lynsey. Although Lynsey will say it was kids messing with her, Rosie thinks she was targeted. Rosie says Lynsey is trying to protect Chloe and prevent her from finding out her father was responsible.

She claims Jamie likes to make Lynsey look negligent so he can swoop in and save the day. Then, they discuss having their children young and how that makes them protective. Rosie gives her Jamie’s address and warns her not to fall for his charm. She also says Jamie is a vegetarian and Chloe has bought into it too. Pearl is told not to be fooled by the house and cars since their old house was repossessed six months ago. Rosie says Jamie has gambled their lives away with wild punts and grand gestures. She says he only owns the number plate but doesn’t say what that is. Pearl goes to Jamie’s place and finds a nice car with the number plate JAMI3 BOY. She looks around before Jamie finally shows up and scares her. He immediately claims Rosie worries too much and she got into Lynsey’s head. He says the house is their dream house but they’re a little behind schedule.

Jamie claims he gave Lynsey confidence and she wouldn’t have a sailing club if it wasn’t for him. They’re a team but she has lost sight of that. When asked if he knows anyone who would want to hurt her, Jamie insists no one has tried to hurt her. He is adamant it was an accident and says he knows boats. He tells Pearl he won’t tell her how to investigate a case or fry a fish. He thinks the problem is that Lyns has too much on her plate and she forget to check the boat. The conversation ends when Jamie gets a call from Chloe and learns something has happened. He checks on them and learns someone smashed the boat’s windows and Chloe cut her hand. Lyns won’t say whether she forgot to lock the doors and encourages Jamie to help or leave her alone to deal with it. Jamie walks away with Chloe and Pearl asks Lynsey if they can have a quick chat. They talk in private and Lyns admits she doesn’t think it was an accident but doesn’t believe Jamie did it.

When asked who might want to hurt her, Lynsey admits she hates to say it but Henry Wright might know something since he runs a rival sailing club. She says she’ll always be grateful to Henry for saving them and teaching her to sail when she was a lonely kid. She didn’t go to the police because Henry is like a father to her. When asked about that, she says she thinks it could’ve been Henry’s wife Heather. They go inside and Lynsey shows Pearl all of the emails Heather sent accusing her of all kinds of things. She says none of them are true. She asks Pearl to find out what happened before saying Jamie is in his element when he is the hero. Pearl returns to the pub and shares a drink with Dolly who wants to know about Rosie and the family. That night, Lynsey asks Jamie if he is going to be okay in that freezing house but he says it is their house. Pearl tells her mother that Lynsey and Jamie pretend to hate each other but they don’t.

They’re in debt and would be homeless if it wasn’t for Rosie. Jamie tells Lyns he’ll be okay since he has a portable heater and sleeping bags. He says being there means he can get the house fixed sooner and they can move in together quicker. He wonders what they’re going to do about all of this before Lynsey admits there is something she needs to tell him. Peal wonders if they intentionally sabotaged the boat for the insurance money and worries that Chloe could be in danger. When Mike arrives at the restaurant in the morning, he learns that Pearl wants to go sailing. She admits she wants to visit the other sailing club and Mike tells her about the other things he could be doing. Pearl confesses she has an ulterior motive and she needs a sidekick. When they leave, they find Jamie fighting with Henry. Mike has to get involved again. Once things calm down, Pearl tells Heather that Jamie thinks she sabotaged the boat and Lynsey does too.

Pearl asks about the emails so Heather says she sent them a long time ago because she was ungrateful after everything they did for her. Pearl says Lynsey told her none of it was true and Heather says Henry promised the same. However, it has been hard for her to shake those ideas and the family is strange. She encourages Pearl to look closer to home. Pearl steps outside and tells Nikki (Sophia Del Pizzo) where to find Heather for a statement. Nikki wants to make sure Mike is going to Pearl’s New Year’s Eve party because she doesn’t want him spending it alone. Pearl gets into the boat with Mike moments later and he asks about the sailing club turf wars. They talk about it briefly before Pearl pulls out drinks and questions Mike about her New Year’s Eve party. He admits he said he would go. It is the first New Year’s since his wife passed. He talks about his ex being an extrovert and says he might’ve been back then too before Pearl says he should come to her party.

She promises there won’t be any ulterior motives and will only be heavy drinking. Before they leave, Mike thanks her for taking him out and says it is nice. Later, Lynsey calls Jamie and complains about his macho stunt while admitting she shouldn’t have told him about the emails. Rosie takes the phone and encourages Lyns to calm down and think about Chloe. She hangs the phone up before visiting Pearl and asking her what she thinks. Rosie says she’ll have to find ways to fill her time when Charlie is gone. She talks about the book club she used to go to and reading murder mysteries. She never told anyone but she used to read the end first. She pleads with Pearl to find out who is behind this.

Later that night, Pearl tells Charlie and Ruby (Isobelle Molloy) to lock up because she has some night surveillance to do. Pearl goes out and watches someone. She follows the person and soon finds Chloe trying to set one of the boats on fire. Pearl approaches her but Chloe tells her to go away. She threatens to call her dad and believes he will save her. Pearl gets her to put the match down before comforting her. Pearl takes her home where Lynsey and Jamie argue about the boats. Lynsey claims that they caused all of this. Rosie brings Chloe something to eat and says she’ll tell her parents to calm down. She steps away and Chloe tells Pearl it is worse when her parents are quiet. Pearl takes the boring food and says they should make something hot. Next, Pearl speaks to Rosie in private and says she is going to transfer the money back to her but Rosie doesn’t want that.

Rosie believes Chloe is crying out for help. She goes on to talk about how she was always there for Lynsey even though they butted heads a lot. Pearl believes Chloe needs Rosie’s love now and Rosie says she’ll give her all the love in the world. The next day, a man approaches Mike and asks him to scoot over. When Mike does, he learns that the man’s wife was Eva the Diva and she died not too long ago. Mike apologizes and says the plaque is a good idea. The man says this time of the year is hard. Meanwhile, Pearl serves guests before getting sick and hurling in a bucket. Dolly encourages her to keep it down and says she has been doing this since her daughter was a teenager. They discuss Pearl’s cover story which was food poisoning. She wonders what has happened this time. Then, we see Rosie preparing food at home. Pearl leaves before Rosie serves the food to her loved ones.

They sit down and get ready to eat as Pearl arrives outside. Rosie opens the door and Pearl tells her she knows what she is doing. She accuses Rosie of poisoning their food since she has been sick after eating a piece of Chloe’s sandwich. She also knows that Rosie started the rumors about Henry and Lynsey. Rosie says she nipped things in the bud because Lynsey was spending time with a man much older than her. When Pearl asks if she was poisoning Lynsey’s food, Rosie says that makes it sound awful and her daughter liked being looked after. She says her daughter is making a mess of things and they need some guidance. She thinks it was a way to make them see sense, but Pearl is worried what she is teaching Chloe. Pearl says she really wanted to be wrong before the police approach them. After that, we jump forward to New Year’s Eve and Pearl finishes serving her guests. When the guests leave, the door is locked and the drinking begins.

Ruby’s parents, Amber and Craig, are introduced to the others. Dolly shocks them by saying Ethan (Paul Luebke) is her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Mike hangs out with Nikki and two of her friends. Pearl tells her mother that Rosie just wanted to feel needed. Mike contemplates calling Pearl. Nikki checks on him moments later to make sure he isn’t going home. He says he isn’t. He runs through the streets and shows up at the restaurant just after Pearl left. He finds her outside watching the fireworks. He tells her everyone is breaking all of her rules before giving her a kiss. They embrace and kiss until the episode ends.

 

Whitstable Pearl Review

I can’t help but feel like Whitstable Pearl is a wasted opportunity. The show has a lot going for it, including beautiful scenery and respectable acting. Every episode has been watchable but they’re never fully engaging. There is something missing from this show that leaves it without any pizzazz. It doesn’t have enough personality to make it stand out from other shows in this genre.

I can’t quite put my finger on it but the show is missing something and it leaves a feeling of disappointment. I am not saying the show is awful because it isn’t, but it isn’t nearly as good as it could be. It just doesn’t have the special sauce needed to distinguish it from similar shows. The episode was decent so I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10. Catch up with previous and future recaps of Whitstable Pearl on Reel Mockery here.