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.

I think Shetland in general is a bit, well, thinner these days. Major characters, with major inter-reactions with each other, are no longer in it, and. as @Binman says it's as if we are just down to the bare bones a bit.

Do we ever see Tosh's kid or any reference to juggling work and motherhood?

Good point, that. You'd never know she was a Mum. Which is quite ridiculous when you think of it.

Was it Rhonda that was the PF in the earlier series? I liked her. She added an extra dimension. There was definitely more scenery, intrigue and rounded characters in earlier series. It's all a bit dull now. I did like Tosh's blue fair isle jumper though.

I like that we don't get any of the 'juggling work and motherhood' stuff. Donnie is a capable co-parent, and appears to work flexibly from home, so there's not a whole lot of juggling from Tosh's POV. We did see little Louise last season when Ruth was new -- Donnie and Louise came to the station and Tosh introduced them.

Rhona was (I think) the fiscal in earlier series, though there was a slightly odd interval with a temporary one before Harry. All I remember about her is that she first appeared on the panel at Perez's hearing when he was investigated for misconduct after Donna Killick's death, and that she always looked sort of anguished and watchful, as if she were concealing major reservations or a dark secret. But she never got a plot.

Mind you, it's not really clear what Harry's role is these days, dramatically -- Rhona was a combating presence around the station, and got her own plotline in the season where she was in a relationship with Anna Chancellor's character (and possibly others I can't remember?) Harry just seems to drift around looking sceptical.

I have no idea what's happening.

And bring back Perez.

Having just seen that Euan the (presumably rogue) spy has a hidden gun, I am wondering if he killed Bergen but someone else killed Annie? They were found on different floors of the Croft.

I thought he was just picking up the gun for the first time from a locker after the phone call. But that doesn't mean he didn't have another -- though do we know whether he was on the island when Annie and Bergen died? Surely they've checked when he arrived on the island?

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😂

@KitchenAngst yes I forgot he may not have been here in time for the murders, but was that checked? And now we know he’s not acting alone…it’s too much for my brain so I will watch the scenery and the jumpers!

I think it’s entirely possible there were two separate murders by different perpetrators at that house - for different reasons.

Obviously highly unlikely in real life, but we’re being led to believe it was a single killer, so it’s worth considering alternatives.

I also thought it odd they didn't check out the supposed secret agent. They just went along with him declaring he was and they shared information with him

Surely the first thing you'd do is check out with your superiors...

I think the writers are running out of ideas and are not developing the characters anymore and you just can't invest in them. I think they're trying with Tosh this series but it isn't working, I mean where was the baby when they were both at the pub? What's Donnie doing now?

Shetland was more than the cases it was about Jimmy and his relationships with the various characters, you see this in the books, Anne Cleeves goes into so much detail. You could understand his dour demeanor with Fran's death and Duncan. We haven't learnt anything about Ruth or Tosh so I don't care much about them. I want to know why Ruth is so abrasive but without knowing she just comes across as rude. We saw a spark of Tosh's jealousy when Donnie's friend was around.

Sandy had a storyline with Mima being murdered, you saw his family. He was having a relationship in one of the following series too. His feelings for Donnna Killick clouded his judgement and you could see that in the way he handled the case. You also had back stories to characters and they always had a Shetland link. We need more of that.

Rhona is very much missed, you wouldn't even know there was Prosecutor Fiscal most of the time as you hardly see the new one. In one book she finds the murder victim in her shoal and she's the only one Jimmy really listens to. She was replaced in one season because Julie Graham wasn't available.

I want to know why Ruth is so abrasive but without knowing she just comes across as rude.

I think they gave quite a bit of time to her background in her first series, and with the very stagey opening episode of this series gave her the time to speak a re-cap. (Including as now seems unavoidable a negative Shetland family experience!)

What I think is wrong is that the scenes between her and Tosh are now always the same. Ruth ready to dash in, Tosh ready to say lets think about it, what are the rules.

In their first series together they had some interesting conversations. I wonder if it is a different script writer this series.

And agree with comment by PP, Sandy is just and extra allowed a few lines.

And it would be great to have a case where there weren't always unpleasant knobheads (usually outsiders) in pretentious glass and concrete modern statements, and local families somehow locked into a daily drama of family tensions and old vendettas.

Why not a story about the nice couple who run the corner shop and then unruly tourists misbehave, and it all escalates, and in no time Shetlanders come together and launch a campaign to stop unpleasant outsiders ruining their island. Something that says more about living there than most episodes do. And yes I supppose it would have to have a few murders thrown in!

Oh. You’ve reminded me of the nice shopkeeper - was it last season or the final Perez season?

That was bad. (As in sad.)

I think he was picking it up from where it had been dropped for him - I think he is out to exact revenge for Annie from the person he thinks is guilty

I thought Ruth checked him out through a contact in London?

Wasn't that just in this episode though. When the London person was shocked and said he's dangerous?

So he'd already been involved and just going along with it all up til today's episode?

When the London person was shocked and said he's dangerous?

Yes that was the cliff hanger at the end of the episode.

Not that we know what he is supposed to have done.

And as in all good spy thrillers (if not Shetland) he may well be the lone good guy fighting back against a corrupt establishment, and so on ...

If would be interesting to see a plotline fpr Shetland put together by MN Telly Addicts would be. (With no extra scene for cake fridges allowed!)

Yes exactly - so my point was she didn't check him out initially just believed he was a valid spy, shared info etc before actually checking him out! Would anyone really just accept someone saying "oh yes I'm a spy...." like that

I think he dropped a word she recognised due to her past with the bloke in London? But she should still have verified it!

A severed head is found in the cake fridge on the same day Duncan arrives back on the island and Donna Killick’s body is surreptitiously dug up and stolen, and a local extra is killed on a filmset by a famous Hollywood actor firing a supposedly dummy gun. Rhona and Anna Chancellor, back together, arrive on Shetland for their honeymoon trailed by some newly-released baddie one of them put away, and Donnie and Harry the fiscal turn out to be money-launderers, Baby Louise is kidnapped, and Tosh goes completely apeshit and has to be controlled by Ruth.

Meanwhile Billy and Sandy solve both the cake fridge severed head and the film gun swap together, with Billy’s collie.

definitely a worthy plot for the next series!

Maybe an assumption - but I assumed that London guy was shocked because Ruth said Rossi was on Shetland and it was a surprise to London and they fear he's gone rogue ... which he pretty much has.

they fear he's gone rogue ... which he pretty much has

Not if he is a Tom Cruise type role. The lone spy with true integrity, being gunned down by villians and his own boss!

Maybe they have a cross-over planned with Slow Horses, and Gary Oldman will pop up in a dirty jumper.....

I think there will be something about the stem cells and where they come from, if lab is not legit then stem cells probably aren't either.

And why was Annie at A and E?