British Network Television & Radio
Is “marital infidelity” significant?
‘Death in Paradise’: S1.E2. “Wicked Wedding Night“
‘Wicked Wedding Night’, directed by Roger Goldby from a teleplay penned by Death in Paradise series creator Robert Thorogood, is memorable for numerous reasons. The episode, the second Death in Paradise instalment ever televised, introduces Catherine Bordey.
Catherine Bordey, played by Élizabeth Bourgine, is a Death in Paradise fan favourite. Bordey, further to being DS Camille Bordey’s mother, is the owner and head chef of the island’s best known eatery. Bourgine, in many ways, brings to her characterisation a believability that transcends the written word. There is an authenticity in Catherine Bordey that makes Bourgine’s character one of the most trustworthy Saint Marie residents on the Island.
DI Richard Poole, still complaining about the heat, has not yet become acclimatised to local weather patterns. You never really know what you’ve lost until you start missing it. Previously, during a brief conversation with Sgt Lily Thompson during the last episode, Poole likened London drizzle to being hit in the face with a wet flannel.
The first episode, with Thompson’s ringtone, revealed the murderer’s identity before the opening credits had started. Does something similar happen with this story? What is the music used in the opening teaser sequence?
‘Sull’aria… che soave zeffiretto’, translated to ‘On the breeze… What a gentle little Zephyr’, is from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. People familiar The Shawshank Redemption, a film adapted from Stephen King short story of the same title, will likely recognise Mozart’s piece.
Curiously, in both Goldby’s ‘Wicked Wedding Night’ and Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, the piece reflects Mozart’s original purpose. The song is about exposing marital infidelity. Interestingly, with his eyes on another woman, Moore’s eyes aren’t just for his then future wife.
During these scenes, immediately before the beach wedding, the music playing is Blondie’s cover song The Tide Is High. The lyrics “I’m not the kinda girl who gives up just like that Oh no”… can be heard in the scene.
DI Richard Poole, adjusting to his new surroundings as police chief of Saint-Marie, searches the island for a decent cup of tea whilst investigating the strange murder of a bride who was killed with a spear-gun.
The episode teaser, featuring a happy occasion, is a complete misdirect. Murder in Paradise, even though this episode includes a beach set wedding before the opening credits, never lets television viewers stay comfortable for too long.
D.I. Poole, relative to the Saint Marie’s Police Station, isn’t the only new police officer on the island. DS Camille Bordey, previously undercover on Saint Marie, is now part of the team. Bordey, after Sgt Lily Thompson was arrested for murdering both D.I. Charlie Hulme and James Lavender, took up a more permanent position with the island’s police.
The position allowed her greater access to Catherine Bordey. The mother-daughter relationship, Catherine and Camille, is interesting to watch. Élizabeth Bourgine and Sara Martins, because of their on-screen chemistry, are exceptionally believable as mother and daughter.
Naturally, when it comes to DI Poole, DS Camille Bordey’s working relationship with the Englishman is somewhat strained because of his irritability and a refusal to adapt to his surroundings.
“I am a detective sergeant in the Sainte-Marie Police Force. I graduated top of my year. I have three commendations for bravery. I have been shot twice and I could almost certainly beat you in a fist fight,” DS Camille Bordey said.
“Whereas you, you are a rude man! You are ignorant, full of your own self-importance, expecting everyone to follow you around and hang on your every word? From now on, you treat me with a little more respect, or I’ll be forced to forget I’m a police officer. Okay?
DI Poole literally uses the fact he’s a police officer in an effort to get himself decent a cup of tea. It’s a funny scene and it’s still not a decent cup of tea. Unbeknownst to DI Poole, following him, is DS Bordey. Why can’t he just make the best of a terrible situation?
A bride, Lisa Watson, is shot through the heart with a spear gun. Appearances are rarely what they seem. DI Poole and DS Bordey, from a distance, observe the bride falling from a balcony onto the rocks below. It quickly turns out to not be the bride’s room. How did the bride gain access to a room she wasn’t staying in?
DI Poole and the Saint Marie police team must figure out who would want the bride dead. Wedding days are not supposed to see brides murdered. Curiously, when observing hotel security footage, DI Poole and DS Bordey soon learn no one entered or left the fifth floor during the wedding celebrations. Did a member of the wedding party kill the bride? The evidence points us in that direction.
Further, something obvious to everyone, none of the wedding party members appear to have concrete reasons for wanting the bride dead. The wedding party members, Darren Moore, the groom; Michael and Diana Watson, the bride’s parents; Sally Watson, sister of the bride; and Adam Fairs, a friend of the married couple, all have alibis.
The hotel maid, Margaret Du Bois, is discovered strangled. All wedding party members, except Moore, appear to have alibis for the maid’s murder. DI Poole, fixated on a cleaning in progress sign, caused the entire thing. The new detective inspector, remembering what he said about coincidences, ponders various questions.
Curiously, because we’ve been so focused on the wedding party members, the hotel staff appear to have been forgotten. William, the fifth floor hotel butler, intended to murder Margaret Du Bois.
The butler, expecting to find the maid, opened the door and fired his spear gun. The sunlight apparently blinded him to the fact it wasn’t Du Bois in the hotel room. Later, when Du Bois is cleaning a room, the butler is successful. He kills the hotel maid.
Du Bois, not remotely interested in the butler, would never be with William. William, frustrated he couldn’t have what he wanted, believed Du Bois was using vacant hotel rooms for sexual purposes.
Music Used in Roger Goldby’s “Wicked Wedding Night”…
- The Tide Is High performed by Blondie
- Come Down performed by Lord Tanamo
- The Big Boss of Dubs performed by Tommy McCook and The Aggrovators
- Ou lé performed by Kassav’
- The Liquidator performed by Harry J Allstars
- Boom Shacka Lacka performed by Hopetown Lewis
- Soukous Star performed by DJ Zidane
- The Return Of The Los Palmas 7 performed by Madness