Shetland season 8

[laplage]

Anyone else looking forward to the new season starting on Wednesday? It will seem a bit strange without Perez but looks to be a good cast and storyline so far as we know.

Perhaps Ellen thought that her father might be the minister & that set her onto drink & drugs?

If he was though could/would that have been kept a secret for so long?

Was Grace off with Ruth when they first met?

If so, does anyone know why?

So this weeks was weird!

Didn't seem to add much to anything!

I think Ellen's uncle, the one who found the boy with the cash, is actually her dad. The mum asked him, not her husband, to find her killer.

Bain family incest, @ButtonSister ?

I’ve been speculating that Ellen’s mother asked her brother rather than husband because she knew Ellen’s father was actually the deceased minister, Ruth’s dad.

There’s clearly some unspoken understanding that Ellen’s mothers husband has a peculiarly low status within the clan. Possibly because they all know he’s not Ellen’s dad?

There’s clearly some unspoken understanding that Ellen’s mothers husband has a peculiarly low status within the clan. Possibly because they all know he’s not Ellen’s dad?

But surely he's the boy's father?

So they think badly of him because his wife cheated & he stayed?

Or did this happen before they were together?

I think that he just isn't the same character as them-suspicious & nasty!

From the very beginning I’ve seen the boy as the reconciliation baby - no idea why!

But even he despises his dad. (Though he obviously adored his sister.)

Oh God. I thought I was paying attention but I feel like I've missed an episode!

Too many similar looking men.

I thought that was just because Daddy was a bit of a wet lettuce, gullible, too polite…

But finding out you were the product of incest could send you into a quivering wreck enough for your cousin to drop you off at the local MH facility, I’m sure!

I’ve wondered about Ellen’s subdued dad since the start. I think there’s something dodgy about him that we’ve yet to see.

Mmm watching 3rd episode - some iffy and stilted acting. Also the Ruth/Cal dialogue is a bit juvenile - not very Shetland. Some identity issues I think without the solid presence of Perez.

I assumed the 2 men were brothers as they look so alike - so Ellen's uncle is Stella's brother and her husband was cuckolded, possibly?

Haven't watched episode three yet but possibly need to start again from the beginning !!

Why did Ellen’s (supposed) dad, Wet Lettuce, react so dramatically to the photo of the corn doll, far more than Stella did? If it’s just a matter of the Knoxes being traditional enemies of the Bains, you’d think Stella would have reacted equally strongly?

Deacon Blue suddenly switching from amiable cleansing lady who overdoes the eyelliner to evil blackmailer was a bit sudden.

Im feeling a bit buffeted by the conflicting sides of Ellen we’re getting. She’s been dead pretty much since the start of the season, but we’ve already had London honey-trap thief Ellen, fragile MH in Langbank Ellen, party girl drughead Ellen, pagan Ellen, nice Ellen befriending the Knoxes etc etc.

Ruth’s black and yellow jumper was great, and Tosh’s blue one with the contrasting yoke also fab, but not with that shirt under it! Am finding Ruth’s minister brother’s combo of sort of Fair Isle and dog collar weirdly distracting…

Ellen is starting to feel oddly reminiscent of Laura Palmer. Is there a diary to turn up yet? Will Ruth and Tosh start talking backwards? Do the owls know more?

Im feeling a bit buffeted by the conflicting sides of Ellen we’re getting. She’s been dead pretty much since the start of the season, but we’ve already had London honey-trap thief Ellen, fragile MH in Langbank Ellen, party girl drughead Ellen, pagan Ellen, nice Ellen befriending the Knoxes etc etc.

So true. It’s very hard to engage when almost her whole story is backstory. The writers have piled far too much onto an invisible character.

Also, I realised what was bugging me about Beardy Pagan Gollum man howling and gibbering around the pyre, and it wasn’t his face paint or chest beating — it was the giant funeral pyre.

Made of quite long lengths of wood, not logs chopped for a domestic fire, or driftwood, or building planks.

On an island that, as Tosh explicitly pointed out to Ruth in the first episode doesn’t have trees.

It would have taken the most committed pagan years of work to amass that amount of wood on a treeless island, let alone transport it all to the right spot!

Beardy pagan Gollum reminded me of Robin in Ghosts.

good point @Tiepolo

Very good point @Tiepolo
Plus how come nobody noticed it being piled up.

Regarding Ruth’s jumper - had forgotten I meant to drop this here yesterday! Similar, not cheap, quality will be gorgeous. (I know because I have a few other things of theirs.)

https://www.lafetiche.com/shop/bryan-black/

I thought I was following the plot quite well until I read this thread and realised that the friend's dodgy boyfriend who works at the hospital is not actually the same person as Ellen's (second?) cousin 🤦

Turned to DH halfway through the last episode and said ‘This a bit boring, isn’t it’.

I think they could have made a lot more of Ruth’s character, she should be really shaking everybody up, but she just seems to be a moody grump - albeit one with a gorgeous sweater!

At least Beardy Gollum was ginger and didn't drive a Skoda. If he'd had the same brown hair and car as 98% of the other men I would have been totally lost.

Ruth has little jurisdiction though so there is little she can do apart from supporting Tosh and the team. I think the chemistry between her and Tosh is developing nicely.

At least Tom looks different too - in his hat.
I just hope there won't be a scene where all the brown haired males are together - imagine all our collective minds blowing!

I've just read that Ashley Jensen is married to Kenny Doughty who played Aiden in Vera!

That's lovely - hope they'll be very happy