Loveday Writing

Alexa then meets with Harry at a restaurant to be briefed on the case of the week – a bakery delivery van was found at dawn three weeks ago in a lake near Rangiriri. Josh Boyer was found inside, already dead, when the van was pulled out of the water. He was 28 years old, worked as a part-time security guard, and was making deliveries for his fiancée, Steph Rozentals. When Harry mentions her name, Alexa tells him that she makes the finest sourdough in Auckland (at least according to Briar Lee).

Harry also tells her that the coroner ruled his cause of death as drowning, with traces of water and flour found in his lungs, as well as blunt force trauma on the back of his head, which is consistent with him hitting his head on the back of the cabin as he veered off the road. His time of death was between three and four in the morning. Harry is sceptical about the drowning being an accident as it would be odd for Josh to fall asleep at the wheel an hour into a drive he’d done plenty of times. The main suspect is Steph’s ex-husband, Zachary Rozentals, who used to run the bakery with Steph prior to their messy divorce.

Alexa tries to go the bakery, only to find two Rozentals bakeries in the same street, with Madison revealing Zachary opened a rivalry bakery a few doors down from Steph’s after the divorce. Alexa takes a chance and walks into Zachary’s bakery. He proceeds to tell her that Steph’s bread is second-rate and asks Alexa where he knows her as she looks familiar to him. She then goes to Steph’s bakery and briefly speaks with pastry chef, Milo, before complimenting Steph on her bread and asking if she can see the kitchen. Steph initially declines but changes her mind after Alexa tells her about her own baking practices.

When Alexa asks Steph about her relationship with Josh, she tells her that they met when he’d stop in late on his security rounds and came in for coffee, proposing to her on a hot air balloon ride the week before he died. She also tells her about bad reviews that her bakery had received recently.

Back at Alexa’s apartment, Madison plays her a video a customer uploaded online of a fight between Steph and Zachary on the street, which ended after Josh swooped in between them. Alexa has Madison try both Steph’s and Zachary’s respective sourdough bread, with Steph’s bread being the superior product. Madison also tells her that Josh left the Navy five years ago for health reasons but he’s pretty fit as he dives, kick-boxes, and worked as a bouncer in the past. Harry then comes over and tells her that the flour in Josh’s lungs was a European variety.

When Alexa goes back to Zachary’s bakery to speak to him, he tells her that he recognised her as she took over the sourdough order at Reuben’s Café, and that he knows she works with the police. Alexa then goes to Reuben’s and asks him why she took over Zachary’s sourdough order. He tells her that she came in with her bag of bread and swept him off his feet, and that he couldn’t say no to her. He also tells her that he told Zachary that she worked with the police to get him off his back. She tells him he owes her one, and then we cut to the next scene with Reuben going to see Zachary to distract him so Alexa can sneak in and take photos of his kitchen. She finds a small hole in the wall and takes a photo of a nearby bag of flour, when Madison calls her to tell her that she can’t find any information about Josh’s discharge from the Navy, but Beth is going to do some digging as apparently Navy gossip is her specialty. Alexa also asks them to find out more about Josh and Zachary as the flour in Josh’s lungs came from Zachary’s kitchen, which means he was murdered.

Alexa goes to see Steph at her house and asks why Josh would go to Zachary’s bakery. She tells Alexa that Josh took the delivery van at 2pm the day before he died, drove towards the motorway and that was the last time she saw him. He went to the gym and then Piha before making the deliveries. When Alexa asks if Milo was with her, she tells Alexa that Milo worked for Zachary after the divorce, but he joined her bakery as Zachary sacked him on the day that Josh died.

Later, Alexa goes to see Zachary at his bakery. He tells her he was baking all night on the day Josh died and fired Milo on impulse as he wants to shake things up. Madison tells Alexa that the GPS data backs Steph’s story on where Josh was that day, and that she found Briar Lee’s deleted lukewarm review of Steph’s bakery.

Alexa goes back to Steph’s bakery to speak to Milo. He tells her that Steph is easier to work with, especially when Josh isn’t around as he is unhinged and hit him once. Meanwhile, Madison meets with Briar Lee at Reuben’s without telling Alexa. Briar Lee tells her that she stopped reviewing for months as there was an attack on her website with spambots posting links on it to porn and incel websites. Madison tracks the spambots to Croatia and that Josh paid for the attack. Briar Lee reveals to Alexa that she started reviewing again after Josh died as he not only got spambots to attack her website, but he also tracked her down and screamed at her through her apartment door.

The next day, Alexa goes to see Steph again, only to find people rushing out of her bakery due to a bad smell. It’s revealed that Zachary put a dead fish in there to drive people to his bakery. When they start arguing in the street, Zachary suddenly collapses. Later, Milo tells Alexa that the paramedics think that he has a delayed concussion. Later that night, Alexa sneaks into Zachary’s bakery and looks around, finding two baking paddles.

Madison tells Beth that despite loving social media, Josh didn’t post anything about his proposal to Steph. Meanwhile, Will comes to Alexa’s apartment with part of an avocado tree for her. When she mentions her case, he tells her he went to Steph’s bakery the day that Josh died and he had the best bread he had ever tasted, but the baker told him it was no different to any other and he’s been back since and it hasn’t been there.

Alexa sneaks into Steph’s house and finds a spear gun when Madison calls her to tell her that Steph and Zachary left the hospital together. Alexa leaves and comes back, watching Steph help Zachary into her house and kissing, from her car. Alexa knocks on her door and asks Steph why she lied about accepting Josh’s proposal. She tells Alexa that she didn’t say no, just not yet, and she said she was engaged to honour his memory. She also tells Alexa that she and Zachary kept the feud charade up as it’s become part of the Rozentals brand.

Back at Alexa’s apartment, Madison and Beth tells Alexa that Josh was kicked out of the Navy for getting into a pub brawl with three civilians, with two of them ending up in the hospital. Alexa then asks them if they would be offended if she ended a text message with a full stop, and they both say yes as it seems harsh. Madison and Alexa then go to the lake where Josh’s body was found, and figure out that there would have been no time for Zachary to drive up there, dump the van with Josh’s body in it, and make it back in time to bake and then open the bakery.

On their way back home, Madison and Alexa stop at a nearby bakery that Beth recommended. Alexa buys two loaves of bread, one of them being Kumara. When she gets back to her apartment, Alexa gets Will to try the bread, he identifies the Kumara bread as the bread he had at Steph’s bakery on the day Josh died.

When Zachary goes to his bakery at night, Alexa is there waiting for him, holding Josh’s spear gun. Alexa then uses his phone to text Steph about needing help and to come to the bakery, putting a full stop at the end. When Steph arrives, Alexa explains to them (and the audience) that three weeks ago, Zachary came into his bakery and found Josh waiting for him with his spear gun. Josh then asked for his phone and texted Milo, in his style, that he was sacked so he wouldn’t come in and interrupt them. Steph then saw Josh’s phone but no Josh in her bakery, so she figured he was at Zachary’s. Meanwhile, Josh shot a spear at Zachary and missed, and they had a fight. When Steph went in and found Josh attacking Zachary, she hit him over the head with the baking paddle, then they dumped his body in the lake and stopped at the nearby bakery to buy Kumara bread to put on the shelves.

The episode ends with Madison and Alexa watching a video of Briar Lee reviewing Rozentals with Milo now at the helm, and giving Alexa’s sourdough bread a higher rating, as they wait for Reuben to close up the Café.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid episode with interesting perpetrators, and I appreciated that the opening of the episode was actually used as part of the investigation. I also appreciated getting the back story on how Alexa came to make sourdough bread for Reuben’s Café.

Stray Observations:

-Alexa has been nurturing her sourdough starter for 18 months.

-Alexa unlocks her apartment door with a mobile app.

-Apparently, Reuben told Alexa that his mother used to supply his sourdough.

-Reuben tells Madison and Beth that he was engaged once but his fiancée left him for an actor.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Have you been stalking Briar Lee online?” “Oh, stalking is such an ugly word.” (Madison-Alexa)
• “When I said ‘make yourself at home’…” (Reuben to Alexa when he sees her behind the counter at the Café)
• “I took Zachary’s flour bag down to the tech guys myself, do I want to know how you got it?” “Nicked it.” “Yeah, I thought as much.” (Harry-Alexa-Harry)
• “You’re not supposed to do the interviews, I am the seasoned detective.” “And I’m the trained digital intelligence analyst, also it was Briar Lee who you called a ‘Gen-Z muppet’.” “I have interviewed plenty of muppets.” “Not ones who marked your sourdough seventh best.” (Alexa-Madison going back and forth on Madison interviewing Briar Lee)
• “You don’t have any use for guavas do you? I have a client who doesn’t know he has a hedge full of them.” (Will to Alexa after he brings her part of an avocado tree from another client)
• “You two give co-dependency a bad name.” (Alexa to Steph and Zachary)