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'm not convinced Noah's father is innocent in all this. Something seems off about him. Plus, the "Manchester gunman" (Kyle?) was in the derelict building that was that dad's alibi wasn't he?

TBH, I'm more than a little confused with all the separate bits going on. What happened with the fishermen in the end? Are they out of it now after the death on the boat?

Ha, I didn't even realise that was Ian Hart until this episode. The dodgy wig doesn't help.

I can't even recall this "seaman's shelter" coming up before.

Doesn't feel like a satisfactory "who did it" that we may be able to guess at /solve.

I was only half watching last night as it is so dire

I really like Ashley Jensen and her character but the rest is just awful.

This will be my last series I think.

I'm really struggling to follow this, and I do not care about any of them, apart from poor little Noah, who is acting everyone apart from Ian Hart off the screen.

The whole espionage thing feels a bit guesstimated. Would MI5 arrange for a high security terrorism suspect to be arrested in front of a pub full of witnesses, while the man in charge points at the code breaker? Or are we meant to assume the pub has been pre-cleared and filled with plain clothes police?

Yes, and would an analyst, new to field operations, really just take someone else’s word for it that a strike team was somehow present, totally invisibly, in what appeared to be a deserted apartment complex? Wouldn’t she have an earpiece connection to enable her to call them in once she’d seen Brutus? And body armour?

Also, what defence secrets is an attaché at the Swedish embassy going to be able to leak that makes her such a big target for British security services? And quite a lot of people hold down responsible jobs alongside a serious cocaine habit, without dashing off to snort by the bins in the middle of a key operation, endangering themselves and their key protégée — are we to assume Rossi never ordered a strike team at all, so he and Annie were approaching a dangerous armed target with no support and unarmed?

Maybe that’s my real problem with Annie, and why I struggle to believe in her brilliance. She was security services-trained, in close quarters with a man she is supposed to know well, who was agitated, impulsive, sniffing, rubbing his nose, and basically doing ‘Cocaine Acting 101’ but didn’t notice?

Eddie Santini!! Of course! What a character he was! 😃

Or are we meant to assume the pub has been pre-cleared and filled with plain clothes police?

Presumably, but even then, as you say, it's pretty ridiculous. Shetland used to be so much better than this.

Especially if it's all done primarily to intrigue and recruit an impressionable young analyst?

I know at least one person who was recruited at Oxford (right combination of language skills), and it was more a matter of endless aptitude tests and rounds of vetting. No high-octane staged terrorist arrests to impress you!

I'm not convinced by the actress playing Annie. Her expression just after the arrest of the terrorist in the pub suggested someone trying to decide between two nice jumpers in a shop. (I mean, I don't blame her -- the writing is very thin this season, and you have to be very good to do anything much with it...)

Did Ruth's old flame ex-spy friend literally fly up to Shetland just to have a conversation with her and Tosh in the airport, and then leave again?

Also, can someone explain the seamen's mission? I thought this was a Christian welfare charity for sailors that offered cheap accommodation and resources, but the building they're referring to in Shetland seems to be derelict, with no staff or anything else?

It's where they found Annie's extremely drunk husband - it's an ex-mission that is currently being used as a squat

They call it the old mission' sometimes, so I've assumed it used to be that charity but is no longer around, and the building is just being left to Shetland's druggies and homeless population.

How does the guy holding Ruth at gunpoint in the first episode fit in? Or doesn't he? I'm losing track of it all; too many threads and too many interchangeable men!

Fair enough, I suppose that makes sense. I think I just wasn't connecting the term 'seamen's mission' with the squat we were seeing every time the police show up there to find Ian Bett or investigate Kyle Frost (where Sandy suddenly got all macho for a nano-second!)

Mind you, it also feels a bit mad to me that everyone keeps referring to the house where Annie and Bergen's bodies were found as 'the croft', as if it's the only one!

What is the significance of Noah's dream about being chased and eaten by an upright, person-sized lizard in the house where Annie and Bergen were shot? If we remember him telling Ruth he saw a dinosaur (a pair of diggers) at the research centre, is he remembering someone in a mask/protective clothing at the scene of his mother's death?

And how is Lisa, who's clearly having some form of guilty freak-out in the church, involved, other than knowing Kyle Frost, and is it related to her having been seen having an argument with Annie Bett the day of her death?

I’m quite enjoying the developing relationship between Tosh and Ruth now, at last. I think it could be an interesting factor in future series, except that I read that Ashley Jensen doesn’t intend to do many more series.

The boy playing Noah is a wonderful actor, in my opinion.

Did anyone else think that the cuddle between Tosh and Donny near the end was one of the most awkward cuddles ever? They were a good distance apart on the sofa and she just sort of leaned stiffly in. How did they ever conceive a child?

I keep thinking Noah being called Noah must be significant. But I can't see how: my biblical knowledge gets as far as the ark and the flood but no more than that.

Yes the Tosh/Bonnie cuddle was v awkward. And where is their child? Even just a reference to her, such as 'she's asleep now' from Donnie to Tosh, to show she hasn't been completely forgotten about.

Also, why so few people at Annie's memorial? Even if her parents aren't around, she was from Shetland and brutally murdered - sure this would have garnered more attendees?

Tosh and Ruth seem to have forgotten about the guy at the beginning (as indeed I had) but what was his connection to Bergen?

And yes why did spy guy fly to Shetland to have a quick chat in a cafe and then go home - not much use surely?

I like the ,Ruth/Tosh relationship though.

Tosh/Donnie I mean! Don't know why no edit option available!

Tosh and Donny's child. Where was the poor child ?
Tosh didn't even mention her when she got in from work.
I thought that was odd.
Is this a new writer on the show ?
It's sort of disjointed.

As with last week I found the story line interesting if far fetched, but the personal relationships a bit flat.

interesting that Ruth said to give Donnie a bit of slack. But yes the cuddle was a bit strange, but then they were both thinking they had let the other down. Hasn't Donnie always been a bit of a dunce and it was almost like Tosh took pity on him, when she thought she wanted a more settled life.

The service wasn't the actual funeral, it was some sort of family get together / support event, so not sure why it even needed to be in the church. Its almost like they are finding things for Ruth's brother to do, bother being there, when poot old Sandy only got a couple of lines as usual.

I think the Ian Hart character, or maybe it is his acting, is just hopeless. I did suspect he wasn't quite the top notch agent he made out to be, but would he really have gone all the way to Shetland for some revenge trip, given his history of failures.

What I dont understand is that when Ruth got the call from old flame, chief spy last week, it sounded like he said he had gone rogue. But if he is retired how would anyone know.

I think quite often in Shetland there are events that they dont always see through to the end. Maybe some passing remark in the last episode.

But always thought the first scene of the man holding the gun, was far more to give Ruth the opportunity to do a quick recap as to why she was there in Shetland.

But as others have said, the outstanding star of the series is the young boy.

Maybe he turned to Ruth because she got the dinasour reference.

What could those crocodiles mean.

I was thinking about the "lizards" reference from Noah - I was wondering whether there was someone at the house that night who had dressed in plastic to commit the murders so looked/sounded like a reptile - like a crime scene suit of fisherman gear.

Was the old house used to hide drugs? Were they dragging something behind them? Such as drugs rolled up in plastic sheeting etc that might have looked and sounded like a lizard tail?

One further thing - have we ever found out what Bergen, Annie and Noah were doing at the "Marine" research centre on the night they died? Were the only drugs manufactured there the ones for Astrid?

I was thinking about the "lizards" reference from Noah - I was wondering whether there was someone at the house that night who had dressed in plastic to commit the murders so looked/sounded like a reptile - like a crime scene suit of fisherman gear.

Were they dragging something behind them? Such as drugs rolled up in plastic sheeting etc that might have looked and sounded like a lizard tail?

One further thing - have we ever found out what Bergen, Annie and Noah were doing at the "Marine" research centre on the night they died?

oops, not sure how I remembered lizards a crocodiles

I can't believe that big London policeman got the plane up for a 5 minute chat in the airport and then went home straight away. Did they edit a few scenes out? Even Sandy did more in this episode!

I always remember Donnie as being a bit of a loner in previous series so surprised at all his friends.

I had wondered if the big London policeman wanted to pass on or learn information which might be secret, as his channels of communication might be hacked.

That was the only reason for his journey that I could think of, especially as when they wanted to contact him again he was already on his way back.