White Out – Part 1
Gamache is a seasoned detective with a lot of experience in the field. He’s not sure what to make of the protestors, and decides to take them into custody. This sets off a chain of events that leads to the disappearances of three people.
Blue Two-Rivers has been missing for over a year and no one has taken the case on. It’s possible that Blue left because she was asked to by the peacekeepers, but her mother is adamant that she didn’t do anything. Gamache promises to try and find Blue if he ever hears from her again.
That night, during a Christmas party, Gamache speaks to Pierre Arnot, a colleague who happens to be running the division overseeing the Two-Rivers case. They couldn’t find anything out the ordinary and believe that Blue and her boyfriend Tommy took a ride out in a truck and left town. Since then, they haven’t been seen again. Pierre warns that Gamache is going to obsess over this case and it’s going to break his heart, knowing what how obsessive the inspector can get.
Although it looks beautiful on the surface, beneath the surface of Quebec village Three Pines, there’s a lot of secrets and grudges. This much is especially true during a choir performance at a church, as numerous dirty looks are thrown at CC, a woman who’s having an affair on her husband Richard. She regrets having her daughter Crie and calls out Richard (in French) as a bad husband.
Some in the community find CC unlikable, with some clearly likening her to a modern day Cruella De Vil (and not the Disneyfied “This puppy murderer is just misunderstood” way). ..
CC is having an affair with her close colleague and photographer Saul Petrov. CC also shuts down Clara Morrow, a promising painter who wants to show Petrov her portfolio but CC rudely blows her off completely. ..
The community has a big curling match going on, explaining why they’re all gathered together. CC sits separately to everyone else. She starts to feel hot, taking off her gloves and attempts to stand up. As she does, CC touches the arms of her metal chair and ends up electrocuted.
Inspector Gamache and his team are called to the scene of a murder that appears to have been committed without any prior planning. The victim was found dead with an electric shock running through their body, and it seems as though whoever did this must have been very intelligent. It’s possible that the killer was someone who knew exactly what they were doing, and took great care in planning their act.
Gamache’s investigation leads him to believe that the killer is someone with a lot of anger and frustration who has been using jumper cables to kill people for fun. He hypothesizes that the killer may have been inspired by a video or article they found online that showed how to commit suicide using jumpers cables.
CC’s next of kin is her husband Richard Lyon and his daughter, Crie. Gamache speaks to Richard in confidence, who tentatively admits that she and Saul spent a lot of time together. He’s a portrait photographer and was also helping with her new book.
Inspector Gamache and his team head to the local bistro, where they are welcomed with open arms by the entire village. Gamache is drawn to a beautiful painting on the wall and learns that Clara painted it. After a brief chat with her, and Clara’s partner (Peter) who doesn’t seem best pleased that Clara is still an undiscovered talent, it’s down to brass tacks – dinner. ..
Gamache’s team includes the local rookie, Yvette Nichol, second-in-command Jean-Guy and Isabelle. Be Calm (the name of CC’s book) also happens to be the name of the community center up in town. While setting up their base of operations there, Yvette gets working on the list of credit card transactions and all those hotel rooms CC ended up paying for. ..
Isabelle looks into the connection between the Curling match and the electric chair execution that took place. She was wearing metal clawed boots at the match, which could have been connected to an electric chair execution that took place.
In the morning, Gamache speaks to Saul Petrov, who has a story that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Gamache warns him not to leave Three Pines for the time being.
Gamache and Jean-Guy do the preliminary reports for various different residents in town, including the eccentric writer Ruth Zardo who really doesn’t seem all that bothered about CC’s death. Gamache shows up and speaks to all the residents at their book club, pointing out their grievances with the deceased and how CC ruffled their feathers (no pun intended, given Ruth is cradling a duck). ..
The detectives are able to piece together that the two men in the picture were likely involved in a robbery two weeks ago. They also learn that Blue and Tommy had been using the same social media accounts. Pierre is especially concerned about Blue’s recent behavior, which seems to be spiraling out of control.
Despite the picture being posted a few weeks ago, it appears that Blue’s jacket is still hanging in the closet. In the morning, Gamache heads back to the Community Center, where he works out just how many suspects there actually are. It’s the whole village. So how on earth are they going to whittle down the list? An what if it was really all of them together that’s responsible? ..
The Episode Review
The show starts out with a shocking crime, which quickly becomes the focus of the show. Armand Gamache, the protagonist, is a likable character who is able to keep things interesting for his viewers. The group of characters are also interesting and provide plenty of potential suspects for the crime. The show has some similarities to more elaborate murder mystery series like Midsomer Murders, but it also manages to elevate its material with Armand Gamache as its lead character.
We don’t know the full story here and I’m not sure if the Indigenous community has something to do with this. We already know that CC was into her paintings and getting her portrait taken, and we also know that no one in the community likes her.
It seems like a bit of a red herring to point the finger at everyone in the village and yet run this Blue Two-Rivers story parallel to what’s happening. It must be all connected but quite how remains a mystery right now.
Either way, this is a very solid and promising start to this show. It sets things up nicely for the second part of this opening chapter. ..
