Shetland’s back...

[Patienceisvirtuous]

...tomorrow and I’m excited!! Anyone else?

Get on my screen Jimmy Perez!

It looks great from the trailer too...

dresses like an eighties Jackie photo-story heroine 😂
Very true, though! She’s such a great character and beautifully acted.
Sounds as though Sandy will be in trouble - there was a lot of talk of an investigation. I don’t know how it works in the police, but I’d definitely get suspended from my job for that level of clanger!

But I must admit I watch Shetland because (1) the landscape of all the locations is lovely -- I love a bit of brooding seascape, bog and rain-sodden croft and (2) I fancy Douglas Henshall's slightly mad pale-eyed stare as Perez something rotten.

Yeah - me too

I don't need Shetland to be this complicated.

Let me reiterate I love Tosh and her sceptical, resigned face! (And, more seriously, I thought the storyline of her rape and recovery from it was handled in an exemplary, intelligent way.)

I was also amused by Perez actually wearing a tee shirt while meeting Cassie in sunny Glasgow — I’ve watched every season of Shetland, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually seen his elbows before.

I watched the seasons out of order, so only saw the first series fairly recently, and one of the things that struck me was how much more chic Perez’s look has become — much better haircut, classic peacoat and good jumpers — whereas he looked a bit more rough and ready earlier on.

eighties Jackie photo-story heroine

I’ve never actually seen his elbows before.

But can ANYONE answer my questions? Particularly about Alice.

DarlingNikita, No, I don't think we've ever seen Alice or her husband before -- I assumed they were old friends who'd come back to Shetland after a period away (as Alice at least seems to have known Fran too?) and got back in contact with Perez.

You're right that the Perez as grieving widower thing has come up suddenly again this season, when he seemed happy to contemplate a relationship with Asha a couple of seasons ago. I assume part of that is to set up the Alice thing.

Not sure about Olivia -- as I can't decide whether it's a very weird performance (I don't know the actress) or whether we're supposed to think there's something major we don't know about her connection to the traffickers that would help explain how Zeze (sp?) ended up in their hands in the first place? I mean, wouldn't both Zeze and Daniel have British passports, as British citizens, even if they grew up in Nigeria? And where did Olivia get the money to pay the traffickers?

Sandy screwed up massively -- I was completely taken aback over him not noticing a steamed-up car in the middle of a crime scene with two dead bodies, but thought it was just to remind us how good a cop Tosh is. But given the suicide pen episode, was it to show us that Sandy is really careless to the point of danger? He's certainly been written as the cop who is most entangled with the lives of suspects/criminals/victims involved in various investigations on the island at other points...?

Older or not, Perez is attractive. Though I have a friend whose preference is for Duncan...

are we meant to know who Alice and her husband are? Were they in the last series and I've forgotten? I can't work out if she's acting like a relative or an ex but she's behaving oddly. Also, I don't remember there being very much stuff about Jimmy's dead wife in the previous series but now they seem to have picked up the idea of him as 'grieving, lonely widower' again.

I'm not aware that we've met Alice and her DH before (and I have watched Shetland since the beginning). However, at the party - in episode one of this series - which Jimmy popped into only very briefly, we were given to believe that they were part of the same friendship group (along with Cassie's biological father, played by Mark Bonnar). They joked about living together and being a 'dysfunctional family'. I'm sure when Shetland first started Jimmy was a recent widower (but that's about six/seven years ago in real time but maybe not so many years in drama time).

Thanks both! I'm glad I'm not the only one flummoxed by the introduction of Alice and her husband. I guess it's down to careless writing.

Olivia's performance does seem odd and yes, I can't decide if we are to think that she's dodgy.

I quite fancy Duncan/Mark Bonnar too. That sort of fragile-boned look.

Oh, hang on, my main question is -- how do you seriously injure yourself to the point that you later die, in a police cell with an ordinary pen???

Olivia's performance does seem odd and yes, I can't decide if we are to think that she's dodgy. She comes across as impulsive and very highly strung (but in a way that doesn't entirely seem to be just related to what's happened to her children). I am not sure we've heard her 'back story' yet; there is most likely a reason why the children were living with their father in Nigeria rather than with her. Whether it's relevant to the investigation or not remains to be seen, but may if it's revealed it may explain why she behaves as she does.

What does not ring true to me is this guy killing himself at the 1st opportunity - and when he has a wife and 2 babies. Nothing can be that bad enough to do that. So I switched off from the story line after that.

Will continue watching though for the Shetland ambience and for Perez.

I can’t watch it because Jimmy is dark and Spanish looking. It says so in the books!

Which is why I have carefully not read the novels, because it's sandy-ish/red-headed/dishwater-blond TV Perez that I go for (though, oddly, not Douglas Henshall in anything else).

Back in the days of Lord of the Rings fanfiction, there was the same schism between people who wrote book Legolas (black-haired) and film Legolas (platinum). It got quite tetchy.

@Pishogue I have no idea exactly how Calum did it, but certainly a stamped-on or snapped cheaply biro yields plastic shards plenty sharp enough to do a fair amount of damage if applied to the right places with enough determination and force. It might work as a stabbing weapon, too?
I distinctly remember my Biology teacher talking the class through how to perform a tracheotomy using a ball point pen. Several people did pass out, though!

*Cheap, not cheaply. Stupid predictive text.
And silly Finty for not checking...

I also wondered about the Mum character- how is she affording to stay there??

The Tosh phone thing was funny!

hopeishere, she did mention having to borrow money to come to Shetland. But yes, I'd imagine she had to borrow a fair amount.

I am always baffled by his pea coat (I think that’s the name?). It seems so un-Shetland and inappropriate for the weather etc. Is that on purpose?

But it's his signature look, Jess! Like Sarah Lund's jumper.

A face like a sexy slapped arse and a peacoat.

i think Dougie Henshall has had a wee bit of filler in the end of his nose. He had a slightly foolish looking sneck but it looks straighter to me

Jess...peacoats are heavy wool and were originally worn by sailors so capable of keeping out the cold

Ooh thanks gatekeeper! Didn’t know that.

Ok, which previous Shetland season should I start watching on YouTube?

I would advise starting at the beginning, Pishogue. Enjoy.

OK, I've caught up.

This new property bloke in Glasgow is a bit of an odd turn. Is he the one behind the trafficking?

They were laying on the 'house built on slavery' and Jimmy glaring at him a bit thick.

Also, the Glasgow police detective was very weird. One minute she's annoyed and 'hasn't got time to babysit' Jimmy, the next she's happily driving him all over town.

I still think Alice's husband MUST be more involved than he has been so far. But I'm not sure how, unless it IS to do with the house they're doing up; or is he housing trafficked people in their centre?

And how did Alice know exactly when Jimmy would be home from Glasgow so she could stand moodily in the rain and kiss him? I thought he only decided to come back at the last minute on the half-hourly Shetland to Glasgow plane shuttle, yeah right

Poised and ready with my bingo card...