When Rex finds a body with signs of foul play during Charlie and Sarah's romantic weekend getaway in Apple Bay, they discover the idyllic community they're staying in may be more hostile than it looks.
Tropes:
- Amicable Exes: Eric’s ex-wife Marie left him months prior to the episode after his drinking habits became too much for her to handle. They remained on friendly terms however as she still loved him, with her being very broken up about his death. This was despite the fact that Marie had been having a secret love affair with Ian unbeknownst to Eric ever since their divorce.
- Busman's Holiday: The events of the episode take place in Apple Bay, a small town chosen by Charlie, Sarah, and Rex for their weekend trip. However, their romance is interrupted upon discovering the body of Eric Gordon hanging from the rafters of his garage, with the three deciding to help with the investigation when the signs point to the situation actually being a murder instead of a suicide.
- Cassandra Truth: According to Angus, Eric frequently got into conflicts with his former pub’s new owner Tom McGimsie, calling the latter a thief who stole what was his despite Tom insisting that he bought the pub fair and square after Eric was unable to pay taxes anymore. Turns out Eric was right all along. Tom cheated Eric out of his pub by getting Lauren to temporarily inflate the tax rates to absurd levels and give Eric bills impossible enough to pay that he would be forced to sell.
- Drowning My Sorrows:
- Eric became a frequent drinker after having lost his pub, which eventually got so out of control that it caused his wife Marie to divorce him.
- Also Lauren, doing so as a way to cope with the loss of both her daughter and Eric. The first time Charlie and Sarah encounter her she’s passed out drunk on a park bench, with the two of them bringing her back to the bed and breakfast to sober up.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Apparently even Tom was disgusted by Marie's secret love affair with Ian if his claim of having no regrets trying to frame her for Eric's murder is of any indication, not that it makes Tom any less of a slimeball.
- Frame-Up: Suspicions of Eric’s murder falls upon Marie as being the culprit after the inner tube used to strangle him turns up in the trunk of her car, despite her claiming that she doesn’t know where it came from as she doesn’t even own a bicycle. She’s telling the truth. It was planted there by Tom in a desperate attempt to frame her after his plan to make Eric’s death look like a suicide failed, having known of her and Ian’s secret love affair.
- Happily Married: Ian and Angus, a same-sex couple from Toronto who own the local bed and breakfast. While they are open about their love for each other, Reeves suspects that things might not be what they seem. She’s right. Ian has been cheating on Angus with Marie, the two of them having been seeing each other ever since Marie and Eric’s divorce. When Angus does find out, he’s displeased enough with his husband’s actions that he kicks him out telling him to never come back.
- He Knows Too Much: Tom talked Lauren into conspiring with him to get Eric to sell his pub to him in exchange for Lauren receiving a ten percent commission on all of Tom’s future purchases. Due to her suffering from financial troubles from the ongoing gentrification combined with the grudge she held against Eric, she agreed to his terms and proceeded to raise the property value and taxes of Eric’s pub to astronomical levels so that he would be forced to sell, with Eric being none the wiser. But when Tom got greedy and decided to go after Eric’s house next, it led to Lauren backing out of the deal when she realized how much damage her actions caused Eric the first time, Eric figuring everything out and Tom killing him to stop him from going to the police. Then after both his plan to make Eric’s death look like a suicide and framing Marie for everything failed and he realized that the police were closing in on him, Tom went on to try and kill Lauren to keep her from ratting him out.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: After being saved from being murdered by Tom, Lauren reveals that she secretly resented Eric for apparently not doing anything to save Kendra when she was washed out to sea. Wanting him to suffer for his cowardice, she decided to conspire with Tom to temporarily inflate the tax rates so that Eric would lose his pub. However, Lauren underestimated just how much damage her actions would cause to Eric’s life and how badly he would take it, with his death completely destroying her as he was the last tie Lauren had to her daughter.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: Prior to Charlie, Sarah, and Rex’s arrival, Apple Bay had been undergoing gentrification, with prices for goods and services having inflated enough that the locals are left struggling to get by. Eric was unfortunate enough to have lost his pub after he was unable to pay his property taxes and was in danger of also losing his house, which multiple business owners had set their eyes on obtaining for demolishing to replace with something else. However, things start to not add up when the tax assessment and valuation records for both Eric’s house and previously-owned pub vanish from the town hall and their folders turn up empty in his garage, implying that Eric had been doing something with them. Even more suspicious is Jesse’s findings on the situation revealing that the assessed values and property taxes of Eric’s house and pub had suddenly increased to near-unpayable levels months prior with the latter’s having dropped after it was bought by Tom, causing Charlie and Sarah to suspect Lauren to have had something to do with it. Lauren had been fudging the assessment numbers as part of a deal she made with Tom to manipulate Eric into selling his pub, with Eric never seeing any money from it due to the creditors having taken it all. Eric had the assessments in his possession so that he could figure out what was really going on, only for him to end up murdered by Tom.
- Jurisdiction Friction: While trying to investigate Eric’s death, Charlie and Sarah butt heads with Gina Reeves, the local sheriff who is distrustful of people from outside the community out of the belief that they bring nothing but trouble like the ongoing gentrification. She eventually warms up to the three when they aid in solving the case and catching the culprit, admitting that Eric’s killer would likely have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lauren conspired with Tom to have Eric lose his pub by inflating property taxes as punishment for him not lifting a finger to save Kendra from drowning. She would come to regret her actions upon finding out how much damage they actually caused and that they indirectly led to his death, with Lauren realizing that she inadvertently destroyed the last remaining tie she had to her daughter.Lauren: Kendra was a good person, he whole life ahead of her. But Eric didn’t save her.
Sarah: Oh, Lauren. What happened to your daughter was a tragic accident. But I’m so sorry, it wasn’t Eric’s fault.Lauren: He just stood there as the waves pulled her under! Watched from the shore as she disappeared! He kept on living when Kendra was gone! That coward deserved to lose! (sobbing) He just wasn’t supposed to die… - Never Suicide: Eric’s body is first found suspended from a noose, implying that he hung himself after his depression over losing his pub finally got to him. However, when Sarah takes a closer look, she discovers him to have already been dead before he was hung, with Eric’s real cause of death having been from him being strangled with an inner tube from a bicycle.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The town assessor Lauren Humphries lost her daughter Kendra fifteen years ago when she was washed out to sea by a rogue wave. Eric used to be Kendra’s lover, with him and Lauren having been very close with each other after the accident. His death ends up hitting her hard as well. Even more so when Lauren discovers that she had an indirect hand in it, as despite having resented Eric for not doing anything to save Kendra and wanting him to suffer for it, she never wanted him dead as he was still the last tie Lauren had to her daughter.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the case is solved and they witness Angus kicking Ian out for cheating on him with Marie, Charlie, Sarah, and Rex decide to quickly leave Apple Bay behind due to them having played a role in the couple’s breakup.
- Spanner in the Works: Lampshaded by Reeves, who claims that Tom would very likely have gotten away with murdering Eric and Lauren had Charlie, Sarah, and Rex not come to Apple Bay for their vacation.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Discussed by Sheriff Reeves, who claims that small towns like Apple Bay tend to attract people with secrets to hide. She’s not completely wrong, as we have Ian and Marie who have been having an affair behind Eric and Angus’s backs, Tom McGimsie who cheated Eric out of his pub and almost his house with help from Lauren and then killed him when he caught on to their scheme, and even Charlie and Sarah with their relationship that they’ve been keeping from their coworkers.
