A few days before Christmas, a billionaire shipping magnate dies of a single gunshot wound at his own company's anniversary party. The team treats it as a suicide until a mini-cab driver contacts them from London, after receiving an unsigned Christmas card from St. Marie claiming the man was murdered.
Tropes:
- Absence of Evidence: Parker has his "Eureka!" Moment when he listens to the Victim's recorded Suicide Note and realizes that the victim's body was found by the sea, but there are no ocean sounds on the recording.Parker: It's what isn't there that I didn't notice rather than what is there, if that makes sense.
- Always Murder / Never Suicide: Played With. The team investigates the Victim of the Week's supposed suicide as a murder, but eventually concludes that it really was suicide - out of guilt for a real murder that he and his wife committed forty years earlier.
- The Atoner: Andrew Berridge always felt guilty for the murder he and his wife committed, and he tried to make amends by reaching out to their victim's son and offering him a share of his rightful inheritance. When his family quashed that plan, he decided to take his own life, but not before sending a card to the son that would draw him to the island and (hopefully) lead to the truth being revealed.
- Book Ends:
- At the beginning, Bliss tells Marigold not to go swimming in the villa's pool, so as not to get water on the dishware laid out for the Christmas party. At the end, after being told that he is the sole heir to the villa and everything that goes with it, Colin whoops for joy and jumps in the pool, fully clothed.
- The episode begins with an aerial pan over a beach on St. Marie, and ends with a pan away from the same beach, this time with the words "MERRY CHRISTMAS" written in the sand.
- The Bus Came Back: Danny John-Jules returns as Officer Dwayne Meyers, to join the team in Florence's absence.
- Call-Back:
- An early scene finishes the Cliffhanger ending of Episode 8, revealing whether or not Neville finally screwed up his courage and asked Florence out. He didn't; before he could get the words out she swatted a mosquito on his nose and inadvertently caused him to face-plant on her porch, spending the rest of the evening stanching a bloody nose and waving off her apologies.
- Dwayne left midway through Season Eight to spend more time with his estranged father; in this episode he admits to Marlon that his father is back in London, seriously (perhaps terminally) ill.
- Christmas Episode: The first of three to date.
- The Comically Serious: Commissioner Patterson gets a call with new information about the Carlton case just as he and Marlon are about to enter Sainte Marie's children's hospital to spread some Christmas cheer. Cut to the pier, where Parker turns from waving goodbye to Florence and sees Santa Claus and his elf exiting their car and striding towards him with the same Serious Business expression.Parker: I don't believe what I'm seeing...
- Crossing The Burned Bridge: Implied. When Parker asks the Carlton family if they have any idea why a mini-cab driver in London would receive a Christmas card from St. Marie bearing the victim's name, the victim's Trophy Wife, Bliss, scoffs and asks what connection a "nobody" like Colin Babcock could possibly have with their family or company. Cut to the end of the episode, when Colin is revealed to be the real Phillip Carlton's long-lost son and sole heir, and Bliss's share of the family inheritance has been reduced from £333 million to... nothing. Cue Bliss dumping her boyfriend and competing with Marigold to schmooze up to Colin post-haste.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The real Phillip Carlton turns out to have been murdered forty years ago, and the "Phillip Carlton" everybody thought was him was an imposter.
- Disappointing Heritage Reveal:
- Zig-Zagged with Colin Babcock, who confesses that he came to St. Marie because he suspected that the dead Phillip Carlton could be his biological father. Parker is sorry to tell him that the dead man was not his father - instead, his father was the real Phillip Carlton murdered forty years ago, and Colin is now the sole heir to his family's company and fortune.
- Played Straight with Marigold Carlton: she's appalled to learn that her biological parents were first cousins, making her the result of inbreeding.
- Also Played Straight (partially) with Colin, who is not thrilled to learn that his biological mother, Natasha, seduced his biological father just so she could murder him and steal his identity, and then discarded their baby (Colin) like garbage.
- Driven to Suicide: Andrew Berridge spent forty years with his guilty secret, but finally couldn't live with it any longer.
- Extra-Long Episode: Billed as the series' first "feature-length" episode, it clocks in at just under an hour and thirty-three minutes.
- Fake Static: A video version: when Neville tries to ask Florence out on a date over a video chat, he assumes that she didn't hear him because the screen froze, but Florence later admits to Catherine that she heard it and just isn't sure how to react.
- I Am Very British: Catherine throws up her hands when Colin Babcock, visiting St. Marie from London, asks if she can cook chicken and chips - which is usually something only Neville insists on having.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Natasha's exact words as she confesses to murdering the real Phillip Carlton so her cousin Andrew could assume his identity and they could live together as husband and wife.
- I Regret Nothing: Natasha says she's not one bit sorry for what she did, even if she is sorry for putting her daughter Marigold in an awkward position.
- I Reject Your Reality: Natasha admits to murdering Phillip Carlton forty years ago, but shakes her head when the Commissioner tells her that she and her cousin "lived the lie" of enjoying Phillip's life and fortune; on some level she still believes that Phillip's fortune was hers and Andrew's, and they were living the life they were entitled to, after she removed Phillip from their path.
- Idle Rich: In a Foreshadowing moment, Phillip Carlton watches one of his company's container ships pass the harbor and remark to his right-hand man that it makes him realize just how unimportant to the whole enterprise he is.
- Impersonation-Exclusive Character: Philip Carlton, the suspected murder victim, is revealed to be an impostor who killed the original Philip Carlton years ago with his cousin/lover, who has been his wife ever since.
- Interrupted Declaration of Love: Neville's plan to confess his feelings to Florence was cut off when she tried to slap a mosquito off his forehead and ended up accidentally hitting his nose, causing a serious nosebleed that made him lose his confidence.
- It's All About Me: Natasha says she did what she had to do to be with the man she loved; if a lonely, innocent young man with a very rich family had to die to make that possible, well, that was just his bad luck. Even Natasha's man - her cousin Andrew - couldn't live any longer with what they'd done, but Natasha says she's not sorry for a moment.
- Karmic Jackpot: Everybody gets what they deserve for Christmas, though not necessarily what they wanted:
- Colin Babcock, a recurring Butt-Monkey for his boss, his landlord, and his girlfriend (whose Christmas present was to warn him he was about to get dumped), ends up the heir to a £1 billion shipping fortune and a luxury villa on a Caribbean island;
- Phillip Carlton's first wife Natasha is arrested for the murder she committed forty years earlier;
- His second, Trophy Wife Bliss, who was cheating on him with a boy toy and didn't even wait until his body was cold before moving her boyfriend into the villa, is left penniless, with the revelation that her husband was impersonating the real Phillip Carlton and thus had no claim on the Carlton estate to pass on to her;
- His daughter, Spoiled Brat Marigold, is hit with the quadruple whammy of: 1) her father killing himself before Christmas; 2) her mother being arrested for the murder of the real Phillip Carlton forty years earlier; 3) learning her biological parents were first cousins, making her inbred; and 4) the entire family fortune going to the real Phillip's rightful heir, reducing her expected inheritance from £333 million to zero.
- Bruce, Philip Carlton's loyal right hand, is The Resenter because he's worked for the Carlton shipping empire for forty years and gotten nothing more than a paycheck out of it; but he is the only suspect with no stake in the Carlton Estate, which means he's the only one whose fortunes aren't completely wiped out by the revelation that "Phillip Carlton" is an imposter and any claim he or any member of his family had to that Estate is void. After Natasha has been arrested, and Bliss and Marigold have been ejected from the villa, Bruce is still there to welcome Colin to his new life.
- Kissing Cousins: Natasha Berridge and her cousin Andrew were lovers, who killed the original Philip Carlton so that they could take his identity and get away from the family that judged their relationship.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Dwayne and Marlon have to cross the water to Guadeloupe in pursuit of a suspect, creating a
Filming Location Cameo. - Let Off by the Detective: Bruce, Phillip Carlton's right-hand man, confesses to blackmailing his boss, but after Natasha is arrested for murder, he is at the villa to greet Colin, indicating he still has his position with the company.
- Love Makes You Evil: Natasha Berridge and her cousin Andrew loved each other, but their families and society wouldn't let them be together. Traveling abroad, they met a lonely young man who happened to have a very rich family, and it was the answer to all her prayers. Even Andrew eventually couldn't live with the shame of what they'd done, but Natasha never regretted her actions for a moment.
- Match Cut: In the driver's seat of his mini-cab in London, Colin Babcock looks longingly at an old postcard of a St. Marie beach clipped to his sun visor; the scene then dissolves to the same beach, opening the events of the story on the island.
- The Matchmaker: Catherine threatens to withhold her special chicken-and-chips from Neville if he doesn't admit to her how his attempt to ask Florence out came off.
- Make It Look Like A Suicide: Subverted. Natasha moved her husband's dead body away from the spot where he shot himself, not to disguise the nature of his death, but to divert attention away from the spot, which is where their murder victim of forty years ago is buried.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: When Natasha, Bliss, and Marigold quashed Phillip Carlton's plan to reach out to Colin Babcock, Phillip decided to take his own life, but first sent a Christmas card to Colin that would draw him to the island, hoping that the inquiry into his suicide would reveal the truth of what happened forty years ago. It worked.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The Summation ultimately reveals that "Philip Carlton" had been dealing with this for years after he and his cousin/lover killed the original Philip Carlton and took his identity, with "Carlton" planning to kill himself and expose the deception.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Phillip Carlton's heirs - his first wife Natasha, their daughter Marigold, and his second wife Bliss - banded together to quash his plan to reach out to Colin Babcock and offer him a share of the estate, which would have reduced their one-third shares to one-fourth (i.e., £333 million versus £250 million). Their actions were the final straw that drove Phillip to suicide after sending a cryptic Christmas card to Colin to bring him to St. Marie. At the end of the episode, Natasha is under arrest for murder, Colin is proven to be the sole heir to the Carlton fortune, and Bliss and Marigold have inherited a heaping pile of nothing.
- Overzealous Underling: Bliss's boyfriend Rufus Adler admits to attacking Colin Babcock at Parker's shack, insisting that he wasn't trying to kill Babcock, only scare him away because of how angrily Bliss reacted to his arrival, fearing he might be presenting a claim to the Carlton fortune. Bliss and the rest of the family are aghast, and nobody objects when Rufus is arrested.
- The Resenter: Bruce, who has been Phillip Carlton's faithful right-hand man for forty years, but never gotten anything for his loyalty and hard work except a salary - no shares in the company, no pension, and certainly no golden parachute.
- Suicide, Not Murder: The team suspects foul play when the postmortem reveals that the victim's body was moved after death, but the Victim of the Week's suicide turns out to be just that.
- Think of the Children!: Commissioner Patterson's words when informing Marlon that they are re-donning their Santa and elf costumes to visit the island's children's hospital.
- Through His Stomach: The team is at a particularly low ebb on Christmas Day, when Catherine drops by the station with enough holiday leftovers to make a feast, and the mood changes instantly.
- Wham Line:Natasha: So the Christmas card was wrong. Phillip wasn't murdered.
Parker: No, the Christmas card was right. Phillip Carlton was murdered... but the man who shot himself here last week, was not Phillip Carlton. He was an imposter.
