Loveday Writing

When Harrow and Grace brings his son’s body in to the morgue, the Deputy Coroner informs him that his suspension has been lifted, on the condition that he doesn’t interfere with Fairley’s and Grace’s work.

When the final moments of the season 2 finale aired, I questioned not only whether the man was Harrow’s son, but if he was his son, whether Harrow knew about him. When Nichols asks for his help in tracking down his son’s mother, it’s revealed to the audience that Harrow did know.

He explains to Nichols (and the viewers) that he met his son’s mother, Tanya, in London in his last year of post-grad study. She worked part-time in a Tesco around the corner from the hospital where he was studying and working. When he graduated he got his job under Jack Twine and they came out to Australia. Three months later, Tanya told him that she was pregnant and going home. He tried contacting her numerous times and went over to London to find her. He ended up speaking with her family and they told him to move on and live his own life, and he was ashamed to say he did. Nichols asks if he told Steph and Fern about him and he says no, but Fern interrupts them, letting them know she has overheard the entire conversation.

The next day, Harrow and Nichols go to the crime scene with the body shown at the beginning of the episode. The body is revealed to be that of a homeless man, Peter Craig Morrow. He was stabbed multiple times and the rat crawling on him was his pet, Maestro. While there, Harrow spots another homeless man watching him and Nichols from behind the crime scene tape, before the man quickly disappears.

Later at the Institute, Peter’s daughter, Emily, tells Harrow and Nichols that she saw him every fortnight, and tried to get him to move in with her to no avail. She also mentions that he thought she was an impostor, suggesting he had Capgras Syndrome, and she didn’t understand his hatred for being indoors. When Harrow, Grace and Edwina are examining Peter’s wounds, they discover that the injuries are consistent with two people killing him.

Harrow and Grace go back to the crime scene, which has since been cleaned up, and Harrow discovers the homeless man who was at the crime scene earlier, Neil, back again. Harrow tries to approach him and he is reluctant, however when he emphasises that he is from the Coroner’s Office and is trying to find out what happened to Peter, Neil talks to him. Neil also states that Peter thought everyone was an impostor, and that he and Di (another homeless woman seen in a photo with Peter) were close friends, and that he doesn’t want Di getting in trouble.

When Harrow relays his conversation with Neil to Nichols, Nichols berates him for talking to potential witnesses, and shows him CCTV footage of Di Bavenstock hurrying away from the crime scene. Later, Harrow goes back to the crime scene where his son’s body was found, to try and make sense of what happened and why he was there.

Later, Harrow goes to see Steph and Fern, only to find Callan home alone. Callan informs him that Steph is in Toowoomba for a job interview and Fern is trying out for a new cleaning firm, suggesting that they are going to move. When Callan tells Harrow that Fern told him what happened on the boat, he informs Harrow that he empathises with him, revealing that he found himself feeling a similar shame as his previous girlfriend was pregnant with his child, also a son, only to miscarry him at 15 weeks.

Back at the Institute, as he is working away and talking to Maestro by himself, Harrow hears Maestro sneezing and then notices he is not eating. He runs tests and discovers that Maestro has Rat-Bite Fever, and that he bit Peter’s killer, which means his killer would have the disease too. He consults with a hospital friend, asking if Di Baverstock came in with Rat-Bite Fever symptoms, she didn’t, but his friend tells him that a 16-year-old boy came in with those symptoms, along with a friend.

Harrow tracks the boy down and goes to talk to him. The boy, Jordy, lives with his stepfather and mother, with the former clearly abusive to him and his mother. Harrow talks to him, which reveals that Jordy and his mate provoked Peter, and Peter tried to defend himself with his knife, only for the two of them to overpower him, with Jordy stabbing him multiple times.

When Jordy is arrested, Nichols comments that it was a random stabbing, however Harrow counters that it wasn’t random, it was inevitable due to Jordy being the victim of domestic violence. Overall, a part of me found this outcome unsatisfying, however it did make sense as none of the evidence (at least not solid, concrete evidence) pointed to Neil, Di or anyone else.

After Jordy is arrested, Harrow goes to see Neil, who leads him to Di. Di tells him that Peter’s Capgras Syndrome progressed to the point that Peter thought Maestro was an impostor, and he was going to kill him. Di grabbed his knife and Maestro to save him, and Peter came at her, leading to her accidentally stabbing him (lightly) in the chest, dropping Maestro in the process, and running away. She also tells Harrow that his Capgras Syndrome came about after being hit on the head by drunken idiots.

Later at the Institute, Harrow asks Emily if Peter ever told her why he hated being indoors. When she says he didn’t, Harrow reveals that Peter’s father would lock him in his bedroom every night when he was a boy while he would beat his mother and then come for him, and apparently he was ashamed of this.

The episode ends with Maxine’s replacement, Renae Warrington (Miriama Smith) being introduced. She introduces herself to Harrow by taking his coffee cup and letting him know that while Maxine extended him a lot of latitude, it ends now with her, and indirectly to Fairley by taking his office and offering him Maxine’s old office with a refurbishment budget. Harrow also impersonates Fairley to get the email of the DNA results from his son’s crime scene, only to find his DNA doesn’t match with his son’s. He leaves the office to hear another man, first unseen, asking him if the DNA results have come in. Harrow tells him they have and asks him who he is. The man identifies himself as James, Harrow’s son, and asks to keep the results a secret as people are after him and needs them to believe he’s dead. Harrow is momentarily distracted by sirens, by the time he turns around, James has run off.

Overall I felt that this was a solid season premiere. It fired on all cylinders by picking up from where we were left off, having a crime of the week story that touched on an important issue, character development with Harrow and Callan, and the twist reveal that the man we initially thought was Harrow’s son actually wasn’t his son at all (or at least that’s what we’re being led to believe right now).

I felt that having the episode pick up from where we were left off, and Harrow being aware of his son’s existence was the right way to go – having a time lapse of some kind in the premiere would have led to unnecessary exposition. While I did debate whether Harrow being aware of a secret son he had that no-one else was aware of, was out of character for him (considering that he is capable of keeping extreme secrets, let’s not forget he kept the secret of disposing Fern’s stepfather’s body in the first season. On the other hand there was no reason to think that he had a son prior to this season), in the end I felt it would make more sense if he did know as the focus would be on why people are after his son, rather than how he came about, and it makes this story arc more like a mystery and less like a soap opera.

I also appreciated Callan’s reveal that he had an unborn son prior to meeting Fern as his character has been intriguing but underdeveloped over the course of the show, at least up until now. I also appreciated the overall theme of boys, fathers and shame, presented through Harrow’s choice to not look for his son after being directed not to by Tanya’s family, Callan’s inability to deal with the grief of losing an unborn child at a young age due to a lack of emotional maturity, and Peter’s shame over his inability to cope with his childhood abuse due to the lack of adequate help.

The only thing I really have questions over was why Tanya couldn’t be found through his son’s passport? His surname, date and country of birth would be on there, perhaps being born in the United Kingdom would make her harder to find, I guess.

This premiere has also perfectly established this season’s story arc by leaving the reveal of James being alive until the final moments, which in turn raises the questions that the viewer will have to be compelled into continuing to watch the season – who was the man found by the boat? Who are the people after James and why are they after him? Where is Tanya (if she is alive)? Why is James in Australia? Is James really Harrow’s son and who he says he is?

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of this season.

Stray Observations:

Episode title translation: Marta Semper Certa Est – The Mother is Always Certain.

Running gag: The rat, Maestro, fitting in at Harrow’s office.

-Apparently Harrow knows a lot of facts about rats.

Best one liners and quotes:

• “Did you spray those on?” (Harrow to Fairley regarding his pants)
• “I am to be fed twice a day and you need to change my litter.” “Yeah, not really into cats.” (Harrow-Nichols on the former’s suspension being lifted)
• “Ventre, half full-cream, half non-fat, two decaf, two regular, no foam latte with whipped cream, coconut sugar and a touch of vanilla essence.” “You forgot the nutmeg.” (Harrow-Fairley on Fairley’s coffee order)
• “I’m going to apologise to the rest of the cast of Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura…” (Fairley to Harrow on his son’s autopsy interrupting his rehearsals)
• “How did you get through nursing school?” “Blackmail.” (Harrow-Edwina)
• “Hey, leave a message. No promises.” (Fern’s voicemail greeting)
• “You don’t check your voicemail do you?” “It’s a pain, why?” (Callan-Harrow)
• “I got the food, you put it in – Ed.” (Edwina’s note to Harrow on the pet food for the rat)

*Image via Google.