Loveday Writing

This episode was all about quizzes and bets.

The episode kicks off with Alexa telling off a human statue for trying to get tips from kids who took selfies with him, before meeting Harry to be briefed on the case of the week – Nick Dunbar Jones, who was found dead in a recycling bin outside of a bar called The Grosvenor, after a quiz night that the bar held every week. He fell from a balcony and died on impact, with an autopsy showing he was highly intoxicated. The answer sheet from the bar’s quiz night was found stuffed in his mouth, along with red cotton fibres.

Back at her apartment, Alexa and Madison look into Nick’s trivia team, which consisted of Elliott Griggs, cosmetic surgeon to the rich, Cori Michelle Sage, who owns a chain of pharmacies, and Baxter Wells, former real estate agent and pest to Alexa (who previously appeared as a murder suspect in Season 4). They all told the police that they went home alone on the night of the murder, to their separate homes, which they live in alone.

Alexa and Madison go to The Grosvenor for a quiz night, the first since Nick’s death. The Grosvenor is owned and operated by Lydia Redfern, who inherited it after her husband, Winston, passed away. Alexa manages to sweet talk Lydia into letting herself, Reuben and Madison join the quiz night. She runs into Baxter, who tells Alexa about an $80,000 bet that he, Nick, Elliott and Cori had about who could bed Lydia first.

As the quiz is getting underway, Madison goes outside to conduct research on the suspects on her phone, as phones are not allowed to be used whilst the quiz is underway. Meanwhile, Baxter dishes dirt on Elliott and Cori to Alexa. Alexa walks up to Elliott and Cori to talk to them directly. Madison returns and informs Alexa that Elliott is broke from his divorce and Winston wasn’t as rich as he appeared. Madison is then thrown out of the bar by bartender, Fletcher, for using her phone.

During a break, Madison approaches Lydia and asks her about Elliott, Cori and Baxter. Lydia says that the three of them couldn’t stand Nick and that Nick was decent. Alexa then asks why she is so chummy with them if they are so awful. Meanwhile, Madison calls Harry and questions how Nick’s answer sheet was stuffed in his mouth when they are turned in. Harry tells her that Elliott, Cori and Baxter asked for the answer sheet back as they had an argument over it. Alexa also notices that her wine glass is chipped and Reuben replaces it for her, she also asks Baxter if Nick represented Elliott’s ex-wife in their divorce and Baxter confirms this.

As Madison returns to the bar, she notices Lydia handing off a parcel to a courier and throwing out a document she receives from them. Madison grabs it out of the bin and tells Lydia that she used her phone to check in on her elderly aunt. Lydia tells her that Fletcher can be a bit of a stickler because he’s ex-military and lets her rejoin the quiz night.

Alexa goes to the kitchen to snoop around and Elliott catches her in the act. Alexa tells him why she suspects him as Nick’s murderer. When Alexa uses a pepper shaker to defend herself against Elliott, he falls and begs her not to attack his hands. Alexa tells Madison that Elliott is not the murderer, due to his fear of Alexa to kill Nick or anyone else face-to-face, and that the bet was Cori’s idea. Madison tells Alexa that she asked Harry for more details on Winston’s death, Harry told her that he died from a heart attack caused by an overdose of Aphrozil, an injectable diabetes mediation, and that Cori is also a diabetic.

Alexa approaches Cori in the bathroom and asks her about Winston and whether they took the same medication, and if she committed the murder. Cori throws her glass at the bathroom mirror and leaves when she notices the glass cut Alexa’s arm. Fletcher bandages her wound and informs her that he was a combat medic when she commends him on his skills. Fletcher also tells her that he writes the quiz questions and handles the team’s fees. He also tells her that Cori is the only one that he actually scares him.

When Alexa goes back to her table. Madison tells her about Cori’s competitiveness and asks Reuben to ask his hospitality mates as to why Lydia would sell the bar’s candlesticks on TradeMe. Alexa buys Cori a replacement cocktail and asks why her, Elliott and Baxter were fighting the night of the murder. Cori tells her that they were fighting as Nick was acting like an arse and cost them the quiz, but they eventually all went home. Cori also tells her that Nick was going to tell Lydia that night about the bet. When Alexa tests her theory that Cori can’t stand the sight of blood or needles, she tells Cori it’s not proof that she didn’t kill Nick. Cori then tells her that she was hooking up with Elliott’s ex-wife, Valencia, on the night of the murder.

When Alexa comes out of the bathroom, Madison tells her that Reuben checked with hospitality mates and he’s pretty sure Lydia is closing the bar. Alexa tells her that this leaves Baxter and Lydia as their main suspects. Madison tells her that there’s a theory that Winston accidentally overdosed himself with Aphrozil as there were two needle marks on the body and two used doses found with him.

Madison then sneaks into Lydia’s apartment and finds flyers on the table, and hides when she hears someone come in. Meanwhile, Alexa asks Fletcher at the bar if he knew about the bet, he tells her that he heard some talk about it and that Nick met her in her apartment briefly before the quiz. He also tells her that Winston was a terrible husband, constantly criticising Lydia, and that he feels she deserves better.

Meanwhile, when Madison hears the mystery intruder leave, she walks out of her hiding spot and finds Lydia’s bed dishevelled, as well as a blue key card and a note for Lydia. Alexa goes into the kitchen to snoop around again and Lydia catches her in the act. Alexa tells Lydia that she knows that she is auctioning off what she can, and cutting corners on the food, and asks how much debt the bar is in. Alexa also informs her that she knows about her email to the bar’s clientele begging them to buy gift vouchers to try and repay the debt. Lydia tells her that she didn’t know Winston was mismanaging money and was angry about the quiz’s popularity due to the attention she was getting, and was also taking the Aphrozil to lose weight due to his jealousy. When Alexa asks her if she thinks Winston overdosed by accident, she says she hired Fletcher to give the injections to prevent an overdose. Lydia then gets a message on her phone and shows it to Alexa, saying it’s not what she thinks it is.

Back at their table, Madison shows Alexa the note and keycard she found. When Lydia closes the night, Alexa goes on the stage and asks everyone, except the suspects, Reuben, Madison and Fletcher to leave, as Harry arrives. She tells them (and the audience) that Lydia knew about the bet and agreed to a proposition by Baxter that he won the bet in exchange for half the winnings. She also tells them that Baxter and Fletcher knew about the bar being in debt, and that in every photo on the bar’s wall, Fletcher is constantly lingering in the background. She also reveals that Fletcher killed Nick and Winston as he was in love with Lydia and thought she deserved better than both of them, and assumed Nick was taking advantage of her when he saw Nick leaving Lydia’s apartment.

The episode ends with Reuben, Harry, Madison and Alexa playing a trivia board game at Reuben’s.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid episode. Whilst the motive for the murder was a little cliché, I appreciated the twists and turns that this episode provided with suspects and the murder weapon. I also appreciated the reappearance of a murder suspect from a previous season.

Stray Observations:

Episode title: The name of the quiz team consisting of Nick, Elliott, Baxter and Cori.

-Baxter has been sending Alexa monthly DMs for the last 18 months.

-Madison, Alexa and Reuben’s quiz team name was The Chowderheads.