Loveday Writing

This episode was all about appearances, ballet, and archery.

The episode kicks off with Alexa walking by a lake with her famous sourdough bread in a bag, only to be stopped by a ranger. The ranger assumes that Alexa was going to feed the swans and tells her he needs to confiscate her bread, we then cut to Alexa arriving at Reuben’s with her bread to meet up with Harry, telling him that someone fell in the pond.

Harry gives her the details of this week’s case – Isabel Frey, a ballerina found dead with two arrows in her back at Pilkington Dance Academy. The police’s main suspect is her dance partner, Damon Kennedy. The night Isabel was killed, he sent her a text to meet up for an unscheduled rehearsal for a big audition she had coming up. Damon denies sending the texts as he was out with another dancer, Penelope. They were seen arriving at a hotel at 6pm and weren’t seen again until check out the next morning.

When Alexa and Madison do some digging, they find that Isabel lived with wealthy her father in the family mansion and didn’t have a job but kept herself busy with many hobbies like skiing, surfing, pottery, and ballet classes. They also discover that the arrows found in her body were traced to an archery club where she and Damon had lessons. Damon had an injury to two of his fingers, which would make him using a bow impossible, although Madison finds the timing of the injury to be too convenient.

Later, Alexa goes to Isabel’s family home and runs into Caitlin, Isabel’s sister, who is now taking care of her father who has dementia. Caitlin tells Alexa that she never met Damon or was around much as she has her own business. Meanwhile, Madison goes to the archery club to find out more about Damon and Isabel’s lessons, and take one herself. She finds out from the instructor that the recurve bow that was used to kill Isabel is a hard one to use and would require an experience hand to do so. Madison is also banned from the club by the instructor, until she completes a health and safety course.

Later, Alexa and Madison go to the Pilkington Dance Academy where they meet Cynthia Pilkington, the Academy’s namesake and ballet mistress who definitely meets the stereotype. Madison goes to the men’s locker room to look in Damon’s locker, but is caught in the act by him. He tells her that he and Penelope have been friends since preschool. Later, Penelope tells Alexa that she and Damon were at the hotel for their anniversary, but Alexa can tell Penelope is lying, which means that maybe Damon and Penelope murdered Isabel together.

Later, Alexa and Madison go to the hotel Damon and Penelope stayed at on the night of the murder and discover that their room was an interconnected one, and that the man that stayed in the adjacent room, Augustus Barnes, runs an American ballet academy. When Alexa confronts Penelope about Augustus, she denies meeting him. When Alexa calls her out for lying, she admits that she is afraid that Cynthia killed Isabel, even though she was supportive of Isabel auditioning for a dance company in London, and that she’ll be next.

Later, when Alexa and Madison are watching footage of Isabel rehearsing, Alexa notices that she was only an average dancer, not international material. Madison also discovers that Damon’s phone was hacked by a third-party app and he didn’t send Isabel the texts about the unscheduled rehearsal. Madison also discovers payments to the Pilkington Dance Academy from Isabel’s father, Ian.

When Alexa confronts Cynthia about the money, Cynthia tells her that Isabel was paying to help keep the Academy going financially, in exchange for lessons and the international dance opportunity. Cynthia also tells Alexa that Caitlin found out about it, but apparently had no problem with Isabel using their family’s money to pay for it. Meanwhile, Madison goes back to the archery club and finds out that Isabel finished her beginner’s lessons, and went on to have additional lessons.

After visiting Caitlin and seeing Ian in his vulnerable state, Alexa eventually figures out that Caitlin posed as Isabel to take archery lessons, and killed Isabel out of resentment for selling the family chalet and taking the family’s money, as well as being Ian’s favourite.

The episode ends with Alexa, Madison, and Harry enjoying an afternoon of archery, with Alexa (or rather Lucy Lawless) making a meta joke about her not having participated in archery for decades (a reference to Lawless’ days as Xena) and getting a bullseye. Harry follows with his own bullseye moments later.

Overall, I felt that this was a more comedic episode, especially with the gags revolving around archery and Alexa pretending to be a dance mum to dig up dirt on the Pilkington Dance Academy. While a murder via archery was unique, I did feel it was a little over-the-top for such an ordinary and cliché motive, although you could also argue that this is a good reason for the murder itself to be over-the-top.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Really, you’re going to put Chowder in a tutu and hope nobody notices the whiskers?” (Madison to Alexa on lying about being a dance mum)