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.

The brother killed his brother, they then mentioned Bergen and they all thought the place. That feels like its been forgotten about in all the Annie murder stuff.

@XxSideshowAuntSallyx Doh. Of course.

Loved the BBC intro - "conspiracies, corruption and crochet cardies ... it's Shetland"

OK - mt theories having watched tonight's episode.

I don't think it's Rossi - I think he is out for revenge but I don't think he murdered Annie but I do think he might be Noah's father.

As to the murders - my feelings are that it's one of 2 scenarios

• Karin Jacobson is some sort of spy and Annie recognised her that night at the hospital when she was there with Tara
• Or, as in most Shetland stories it is some sort of family revenge drama playing out in Tosh's friendship group. Perhaps somebody saw Annie and Bergen together and misconstrued it. Perhaps it was to do with the gambling club (although I think that storyline seems to have played out in the Harris family). Am I alone in finding the relationships in Ian Bett's family a bit off? He greeted his sister first, and warmly, before his "son" who seems to have been an afterthought.

"Bring him in!"

On what charge? They've got nowt on him. Yet.

The spooks were suspicious of Jakobson and his company, though, weren't they?

@Lunde yes I agree it seemed weird you wouldn’t run and give your son a big hug first. Even if they hadn’t just been through the trauma of their mother dying!

I think it’s all a red herring and it will be option 2

Yes, pairs of brothers aren’t coming out of this series too well.

Is there any further significance to Lisa having been in an argument with Annie Betts the day she died? Why did Bergen dump Nathan if he loved him? And do we know exactly what Astrid’s condition is? Her mother said nursing her was very tough, hence Bergen took off on his free time, yet she walked all the way into Lerwick by herself in bad weather.

Yes, I also thought Ian not hugging his child first was odd, but maybe he was being sensitive to his shock, rather than cold?

And I’m clearly the last person in the world to recognise Euan Rossi as Professor Quirrell. My 12 year old said ‘He looks weird without a giant turban and Voldemort growing out of the back of his head…’

I too thought it was odd that Ian didn't rush to hug his son.

They are pointing our attention to Karin and Euan, but perhaps too obvious at this point in the series.

Agree there could be more to come re Lisa.

Also maybe Ian Bett’s sister. There was a lingering shot on her as Euan watched their house a couple of episodes back.

I don’t think anything will come from Tosh’s friendship group but a side domestic story re her and Donnie. Man he’s so annoying!

Could be more to come re the Chinese restaurant and link to initial murder but could be a red herring.

I’m enjoying watching it unfold though.

I think all this is to make us realise how difficult it is to police a small Island like Shetland. We always had Jimmy and Duncan and how Jimmy's personal life often got caught up in his cases and his frustration with Duncan. Now we have Tosh having the same issues with her friends and Donnie not actually realising how hard it is for her.

We need to know what the poker games have to do with it all.

I wonder if there is something on the stepmother. She didn’t mention the Talin link and was at the hospital.

Donie's a bit thick not realising how difficult it is for Tosh being a senior police officer on a small island with more than its fair share of crime and criminals.

Do Tosh and or Donie have family members living on Shetland ?

Will we have Ruth's friend in London rushing to Shetland to save her, sparking a relighting of their "friendship" ?

Oh, that would be fun, a hot spy flying in from the metropolis, and given Ruth’s taste in men as demonstrated so far (poor, smalltime crook Cal and his jumpers and Teenage Fanclub and mixtapes), he’ll be some kind of maverick given to off the books misbehaviour. Euan is being quite weird. Surely it’s fairly spycraft 101 not to park visibly outside someone’s house, walk up in broad daylight, sit down and start talking to a kid and, when challenged, just get up and walk off, and then attack and threaten the injured widower of your supposed former tutee?

Incidentally a Swedish friend says that only one of the actors playing the three Swedes is actually Swedish, the others are Danish and Norwegian (but I can’t remember which is which!)

Maybe Donnie being a dope about Tosh’s job causing him social difficulties is the first step in a plot line to split them up, so Tosh can have amorous adventures with visiting forensics experts?

I think you're right. Donie and Tosh will split.

Donnie (Donie?) was pretty much just 'amiable background childcare' for the last while. He has a clear function in this series of being the partner struggling with the impact of Tosh's job on his friendships and community relationships, but that's not going to work dramatically for very long, whereas if they split, that leaves open a lot of other potentially storylines.

I enjoyed this episode in terms of story development but somehow wasn't engrossed.

I think Annie must have recognised the couple with ill daughter and become suspicious.

But now have no idea who murdered her and / or Bergen.

I hadn't quite thought that Rossi was rogue, but still thought even if he suspected he had a son, wasn't clear why he came to Shetland. And hard to believe after all this time he was out for revenge.

Not sure why he would have all the gun equipment. But maybe he too had some previous encounter with Jacobsons (name?) - but then how would he have known they were on Shetland unless Annie had phoned him and had a convesation or ...

All Tosh's friends seems totally lacking in understanding. Unless they just dont take her seriously anyway. Surely anyone who is friends with someone in the police would know they cant share details. It comes up in enough tv series!

I dont want Tosh to end up a single mum, but honestly that Donnie.

Where would the series be without Shetland's disfunctional families - sigh.

Surely anyone who is friends with someone in the police would know they cant share details. It comes up in enough tv series!

That situation happens so often! I wait in vain for the respondent to turn round and snap back, "I can't talk about it. Don't you ever watch cop shows on TV?"!

I agree Tosh appears to lack nice friends!

But perhaps they're still not used to her having morphed from the pissed-up party girl of season 1 (doesn't she get woken from a drunken stupor on a friend's floor to go to the crime scene when Mima Wilson is found dead, and pukes up chocolate vodka after her first look at the body?) to the earnest, clean-living, work-forcused detective of season 9 (or whatever season we're in)?

Mind you, I'm not sure how much 'Shetland time', as in the time that has actually passed for the characters, has actually passed since the first season.

Actually none of the 3 Jakobsons actually speak Swedish as their first language. Although Nathalie Merchant (Karin) might be a Swedish citizen these days

• Astrid is played by a Norwegian
• Karin was born in Romania but came to Sweden as a child - speaks 7 languages fluently
• Stefan is Danish

Impressed by the actor who plays Stefan as most Danes are rubbish at speaking Swedish.

Tosh came from the mainland so has no family on Shetland, Donnie I think is meant to be from Shetland, he was working at the place that got closed down (I want to say Sullom Voe but I think I'm wrong).

The only one whose family we have seen bar Jimmy and now Ruth is Sandy.

And an interesting fact I've just found out, Steven Robertson was actually born in Lerwick so is actually a Shetlander in real life!

Bit late to the new series, do not think I can make it through the first episode it’s so bad.
I was laughing at the freestyle ceilidh moves and general lack of effort and I’m surprised that there are so many Glaswegians in Shetland. Which police officer signed off Malcolm’s firearm license?

Ooh found the thread again.

I was amused by the "bring him in" request. They expect a couple of local officers to basically find and arrest someone known to be an armed dangerous secret agent.... Would that require like a specialist armed team...

And yes to tosh and donny. Do we ever see toshs kid or any reference to juggling work and motherhood?

And I also get the characters muddled 😬.

And we similarly thought he's not a good spy if he's acting suspiciously!! Surely you'd try and play by the social norms of knocking on doors and pretending to be normal...

I agree with all you've written @OneMoreStepAlongTheRoadIGo

I'm a newbie to Shetland - just started bingeing on the old series and a bit in love with Jimmy Perez!

I'm only sticking with it because of Ashley Jenson, her facial expressions and her character, she's the only one actually getting anything done in this series. Tosh is so dreary, she couldn't carry this programme. Donnie has no role other than babysitter / house husband. Billy runs back and forth with bits of paper and Sandy comes from the side like an extra reading from a script. I forget who the Boss is as he is another character who is wheeled in and out.