Loveday Writing

Harry then gives her the case of the week – Jean Hartigan, a resident at the Day Dawn Retirement Village and a former judge, found dead in her bathtub after a night of drinks at the Village bar. She was found by her new husband, fellow resident, Frankie Jones, who lives in a separate unit in the Village, two months ago. Harry finds her death suspicious as she was in good health and had taken LSD the night she died, and her son, Kane, isn’t convinced that she would take LSD.

Harry tells Alexa that the suspects include Frankie, Village Manager, Jeff, Village Nurse, Tabitha, and the new gardener, Will. This reveal causes Alexa to hastily leave.

Back at her apartment, Beth tells Alexa that she found the Village’s community page on Facebook, which had a video of Jean’s hen’s night and a post from Frankie the day after Jean died paying tribute to her. Beth also tells her that the residents seem to love Will. Alexa then tells Beth that there was a mark on Jean’s chest that the coroner thought was left by a necklace, but Beth can’t find a picture of a necklace that matches it.

Alexa then speaks with Kane, who tells her that Jean never drank or took drugs as she was in a fatal car accident when she was younger and a drunk driver was at fault. He also tells her that Jean would have never given Frankie the time of day if his father and her first husband was still alive, and suggests that he’s to blame for her death.

Alexa and Beth go to the Village, using a cover story that they’re half-sisters checking it out for their father. Jeff tells Alexa that there is a lengthy waiting list and asks for a bribe. Alexa leaves and finds Will in his garden station, and he tells her that he was released to a prison apartment and is working as the Village’s gardener as part of his community service requirement. When Alexa meets up with Beth, she finds her talking to another resident, Marianne, who tells them that Jean had a top tier unit whilst Frankie could only afford an entry level unit.

Later, Alexa goes to the Sailor’s Thirst pub to speak with Frankie. Frankie tells her that he loved Jean and he’s not a gold digger, joking that part of the reason she loved him was that he was good for opening jars as she had terrible arthritis. He also tells her that he had his regular Wednesday night singing gig at the pub the night she died, although when Alexa leaves the pub, another singer’s name is listed for Wednesday night on the chalkboard outside.

Later, Alexa sneaks into Jean’s unit and finds it difficult to turn the bath tap on and off, meaning that someone else had to turn it off and Jean was murdered, which Alexa tells Jeff when he catches her in the act. When Alexa goes back to her apartment, she finds Will there as he got her address from Jeff. He offers to be her inside guy at the Village and tells her that there are a lot of partiers there, but Jean wasn’t one of them.

When Beth goes to the Village to access their WiFi, she spots Will taking what looks like an envelope from one of the residents. Later, Alexa goes back to the Village and Marianne finds her snooping around Jean’s unit. Alexa asks Marianne if she can see her unit, under the guise of checking out if the layouts are identical. When she sees all of Marianne’s travel photos, Marianne tells Alexa that she used to go on organised tours all the time and she met Jean when she first moved in.

Marianne also tells Alexa that the night Jean died, it was a typical Wednesday at the bar, and Jean was feeling unwell and admitted to taking LSD. She also asks Alexa if she’s spoken to Frankie or Jeff, as the facilitators don’t seem to mind facilitating. Later, when Alexa sees Tabitha looking for Will, only to briefly leave when he’s not at his garden station, Alexa goes in and finds an envelope filled with money.

Later, Beth confirms to Alexa that Jeff was elsewhere when the other deaths at the Village took place, so he’s guilty of taking bribes but not killing people. When Beth tries to hastily leave, Alexa asks her what’s wrong and Beth reveals she looked at the content on Will’s device and found multiple deposits into his bank account, and Jean gave Will $2,000 the day before she died. Alexa confronts Will at the Village and he tells her that the residents were his friends and he wouldn’t want to hurt them or rip them off. After Alexa leaves, Will goes to her apartment and tells her that he’s starting a landscape business and that some of the residents are investors.

Later, Alexa goes to the pub and confronts Frankie over the fact that his lied about his alibi. He reveals that that he did go to the pub but didn’t tell Jean that his regular gig was cancelled as the pub is trying to attract a younger crowd with younger musicians. When she asks him if Jean wore any jewellery due to the mysterious mark on her chest, he tells her she didn’t as she couldn’t work the clasps due to her arthritis.

Later, Alexa goes back to the Village to confront Tabitha about supplying drugs to the residents. Tabitha reveals that she supplied medical marijuana and other drugs, like LSD, and Jeff pays her a bonus to keep the supplies going. Alexa then asks Tabitha to go to Jean’s apartment with her to have a look around, only for Jeff to catch them in the act. She tells Jeff to keep Will around, as he was going to terminate Will’s community service, or she’ll tell the police about his bribes.

When Alexa returns to her apartment, Madison has returned. Alexa then tells Madison and Beth that she found evidence of a poster being stuck on the ceiling above the bath, meaning someone wanted Jean to see something before she died, and that the murder was personal. When Alexa and Will go back to the Village, Will gets Marianne out of her apartment whilst Alexa snoops around. She discovers something at the bottom of one of her high heels and goes through her travel photos.

When Marianne returns, Alexa reveals to her (and the audience) that the car accident Jean was in when she was younger was her fault as she was the drunk driver. She crashed into a car filled with teenagers, with one being Marianne, and another being Marianne’s best friend, Sandy. However, Marianne was let off lightly as the judge felt that she suffered enough, which angered Marianne. When Marianne discovered that Jean had moved into the Village, she put her plan in motion, spiking her drink, offering to help her into the bath, and put a poster of Sandy’s photo above the bath to torture her, before drowning her, pushing her high-heeled foot onto Jean’s chest to keep her down.

The episode ends with Harry, Reuben, Madison, Beth and Alexa going to the pub. Will goes but leaves shortly after with Alexa telling him that he’s found his calling and to send her a prospectus for his business. They then dance as Frankie sings a song dedicated to Jean.

Overall, I felt that this was another solid episode. I appreciated the reappearance of Will and the possibility that he both has or hasn’t changed. It seems like he is slowly changing his ways, and I appreciated that he helped Alexa with her investigation, he would have made a good detective. It will be interesting to see if he makes more appearances.

I also appreciated Madison’s return and it will be interesting to see whether she and Beth will work together or whether Beth will move on, in future episodes. In regards to the case of the week, I appreciated its setting and the motives behind it.

Stray Observations:

-Harry didn’t know about Will.

-Frankie thought LOL meant “Lots of Love”.

-Beth gets excited when she sees Pentaque being played at the Village.

-Harry’s cousin, Chris, did six months for a botched liquor store robbery. He barricaded himself inside the beer fridge to evade police. Harry said that they just waited until he got too cold and had to come out again, implying that Harry was involved in Chris’ arrest.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Come on girlfriend, I know a revenge sale when I see one.” (Alexa-Jaime)
• “You know what? I’ll throw in his teddy for an extra couple bucks.” “Oh, you’re diabolical.” (Jaime-Alexa)
• “You’ve been shopping?” “Well, I love a good bargain. Or receiving stolen property, depending on how you look at it.” “Do I ask?” “Do you wanna know?” (Harry-Alexa going back and forth when Alexa shows up with the PS5 in her bag)
• “God, don’t you ever knock?” “The last time I knocked you didn’t answer.” (Alexa-Beth)
• “Come on, a detective can’t change its spots.” “Can you?” “I’m more of a stripes guy.” “Yeah, it matches the steel bars.” (Will-Alexa going back and forth on Alexa investigating Jean’s murder)
• “Can I help you?” “That’s my line.” (Beth-Reuben whilst Beth is at Reuben’s Café)
• “Going somewhere special?” “Tinder date, but the best I’m hoping for is a free panini.” (Alexa-Marianne)
• “You can go all over the world, but your broken heart goes with you.” (Marianne to Alexa)