It was when Marcella’s husband paid some tough guys to beat him to a pulp so he could “feel something”, that I gave up once and for all on the idea that this might be a credible, grown-up show. Marcella finds so many different ways of being preposterous – bizarre character decisions, endless moments of implausibility, strange tangential storylines that seem to have nothing to do with the overall plot – that it’s almost impressive. And, yes, guiltily entertaining.
But let’s not kid ourselves: this is a long way from good television. Sure, it has the affectations of good television – the “dark” storylines, the tortured lead, the stylish credit sequence, the chilly visuals – but the substance behind these stylish elements is sorely lacking. Beyond Marcella herself, I don’t feel able to identify with any of these characters and their decisions. Anyone else feeling similar, or has this frosty drama won you over?
Detective. Witness. Suspect.
If nothing else, this week’s episode confirmed that Marcella – for her many other faults – is a pretty fine detective. Her hunch about Peter Cullen turned out to be completely on the money, despite the many naysayers on her team, while her boldness in confronting Cullen as he tried to do in poor Maddy was admirable, if foolhardy. And how about her trick for avoiding giving a DNA sample? Swabbing the cheek of a homeless woman, then forcing herself to throw up to distract the nurse taking the test? Pretty ingenious, no? Dark too.
But Marcella’s not out of the woods (or rather the Heath) yet. Cullen may have been responsible for some of the bag-over-the-head killings but his preferred technique doesn’t match the most recent slayings. For now, the case remains open. And while she might have sidestepped some awkward questions for the time being with her DNA switcheroo, there’s a number of other ways she might find herself rumbled – the eyewitness account of the taxi driver, who mentioned a woman lugging a heavy object to her car, for example.
Of course, whether or not Marcella was that bag-lugging woman is a mystery we’re unlikely to solve for a few weeks yet. I still find it highly unlikely that Marcella might have been responsible for the murder of Grace Gibson – if she was, it would be one of the most daring decisions made by a primetime drama, and one I just can’t see ITV being willing to go through with. Alternatively Marcella might have carried Grace’s (still alive) body somewhere only for someone else to have carried out the act. Of course, it may not have been her doing the carrying at all – though aside from Marcella, female suspects are a bit thin on the ground. Grace’s mother Sylvie perhaps? We’ve seen enough hints of her bloodlessness to suggest she might have the ruthless nature, if not an immediately obvious motive. Thoughts please!
Also under suspicion
Off back to prison with you, Peter Cullen: you probably won’t be getting any cushy jobs in the bakery this time around. Cullen’s now on the hook for the original Grove Park murders, as well as the killing of Maddy’s partner, who turned up with his throat slit on the Southbank, and the attempted killing of Maddy and Marcella. Not to mention the manslaughter of his wife.
Unfortunately though, Cullen remains only a killer, rather than the killer. His predilection for watching his victims breathe their last rules him out of the more recent murders (not to mention the failed attempt by Guy the baker). And this week’s botched effort, on an elderly man who has his dog to thank for warding off the perpetrator, didn’t look like Cullen either. The assailant seemed too lithe and energetic leaping over that garden wall to be a heavy-set middle-aged man like Cullen. The answer to the killer’s identity surely lies in the hotel room keycard he dropped.
As for the other suspects, the illustrious Clive Bonn – who plenty of you seemed to have forgotten about entirely – is back on the scene: the police spotted him on Hampstead Heath and also know he had Carol Fincher on his dating profile before he deleted it. Despite these damning details, Marcella reckons Clive’s merely a bit of a scumbag, rather than an actual murderer, and was at Hampstead Heath enjoying a bit of nocturnal mischief. What a scumbag though – “there’s nothing more greedy than a deceived woman” is a line worthy of Roosh V himself.
Other goings on
More woes for the Gibson family: still mourning Grace’s death, this week they had to contend with an even more traumatic prospect – their cash-cow Lambeth development deal going south. Someone from the planning commission spotted that the green community spaces promised as part of the deal were ever so slightly exaggerated. (Of all the unrealistic aspects of Marcella, the idea of a land deal not going through in Boris Johnson’s London because of ethical concerns is probably the least believable.) Now they’ve got just three days to get the development up to snuff or the whole deal’s off. In a completely out-of-character move, Sylvie entrusts this salvage job to Henry – presumably so she can shout at him when he fails.
This Gibson lot really are a strange bunch, a point underlined by Jason’s discovery of Stephen, Sylvie’s partner, lying on Grace’s bed next to one of her dresses. Still, Jason can’t exactly talk, given his decision to pay someone to smash his face in. “It worked,” apparently, so expect another kicking next week. Jason’s not averse to doling out violence himself, headbutting Stephen and threatening to reveal his unorthodox grieving process to Sylvie unless he gets Jason his job back.
Finally, after playing Pontius Pilate with a local spaniel last time around, Bendek upped his game this week, committing an act of savagery on the dog’s owner. In his defence, said owner was coming at him with a baseball bat, but it still suggests a man capable of some real barbarism. The bloke he’s lodging with doesn’t seem much better: we saw him preparing to carry out what looked like a hit. The target? Andrew Bailey, the planning officer threatening to sink the Gibson’s Lambeth deal.
Notes and observations
- Marcella and DCI Tim spent another evening on the sofa together, but again it never got past the “clinking beer bottles” stage. Hurry up with the inevitable, you two.
- Some gloriously odd dialogue this week. Marcella bluntly asking Cullen “Can I have your shoe?” was my personal favourite.
- Marcella’s managed some impressive ratings, according to Broadcast. Episode one managed 8 million, when catch up is taken into account, while episode two was the week’s second biggest non-soap drama behind The Durrells.
