As the second episode of A Remarkable Place To Die begins, Anais Mallory (Chelsie Preston Crayford) looks around the house. Martyn (Roy Billing) shows Constable Jarrod Renner (Dahnu Graham) about an old mine. They reach a gate with a chain on it. Jarrod says it looks like the lock has been smashed with a hammer. Martyn says the key is missing from the museum. Jarrod cuts the chain so they can go inside. Anais flips through a book and finds a bag of drugs. Jarrod and Martyn discover that a collapse has killed someone who had a shovel with them. Anais speaks to her mother, Veronica (Rebecca Gibney), who says she and Lynne really didn’t go up to the lodge. Veronica reveals she sold the piano. Anais learns about the latest death. Martyn tells Anais that the shaft has been closed for two weeks due to the rain. He came by to see how well it was drying out. Usually, they should be bringing guests over multiple times a day.
Simon Delaney (Matt Whelan) gives Anais an update. SOCO looked at the victim’s arm and found ligature marks on the wrist. She asks him to collect a bag and get it checked. Martyn tells Anais the keys are kept in the office. He introduces her to Janice (Rima Te Wiata). The building gets locked, but there are many volunteers with access though. Janice believes someone could’ve taken the key without it being noticed. They have CCTV but not in the office. Janice tells her about the gold rush. Anais notices a display’s hammer is missing. Martyn blames the kids and says this will be the third one stolen. Anais joins Simon who is looking over the body. There was a torch near the victim. The shovel was moved, but they tried to put it back. Anais believes the man was trying to dig his way out and reach the ventilation shaft. She also thinks the man tried to break the lock with the shovel. They find a vial of possible gold in the man’s jacket. At the police station, Anais says the victim’s name is Sean Connery.
Martyn Fernleigh is the volunteer who handles the tours. He said there were no hand tools on display in the tunnel. The cigarette tin contained what appeared to be fine grains of gold. Sharon Li Feng (Lynette Forday) learns there were a couple of sightings of Sean (Adam Gardiner) around town. He was seen in the company of another man. Jarrod and Hoana Rata (Roimata Fox) are tasked with following up on that. Ihaka (Alex Tarrant) is doing the autopsy tonight. Simon tells Anais that he sent the bag off for testing. Anais catches up with Ihaka. After a while, Ihaka and Anjali Bali (Utsa Chatterjee) begin the autopsy on the victim. The ligature marks on the wrist confirm the victim was bound. He managed to free himself at some point. The victim may have been there for about a week. Ihaka says the rock fall didn’t kill him. When Anais leaves, she gets a call from Simon who confirms the gold is gold. They also got a call from a woman who rented her holiday home to Sean Connery.
Anais goes back to the station where she tells everyone what she learned from the autopsy. Sean’s stomach was empty so he would’ve been hungry. He was suffering a massive impaction of his lower intestinal tractor prior. Anais says they’re looking at a conundrum here. Ihaka found a key in the man’s stomach. It happens to unlock the lock used to secure the gate. Anais and Simon speak to the woman who rented the flat to Sean. She says he had his bag and his brother’s bag. She saw Sean carrying a long box later. The woman saw one of them doing martial arts one morning. Simon gets a call from Sharon Li Feng who got the brother’s name from the electoral roll in Westport. Anais and Simon return to the museum where Martyn is putting the hammer back. Scoop (Phillip Chandle) takes a picture of them. Anais tells him he can’t print that. Martyn tells him the museum doesn’t need that aggravation.
Janice has a surprise for the detectives. She shows them a video of Sean and his brother, Michael Connery (Edwin Wright). Sean has a phone in the surveillance video. Martyn says the Connery family has been trouble since the gold rush days. Janice mentions Liam and says that’s another murder mystery. Liam Connery was a miner who was murdered in the late 1860s over a dispute over “the big rock”. Liam is buried in the cemetery. Once Anais and Simon reach the cemetery, they both receive calls. Veronica learns that her daughter has a date tonight. Simon finds the grave. Martyn drives by and looks at them before leaving. Simon tells Anais that the bag contained traces of methamphetamine. He got them to run the prints. Anais isn’t eager to take that any further. She notices the soil has been disturbed near the grave. She finds a small box with two small pieces of gold inside. Sharon joins them. They tell her that the shovel had Chinese characters on it and Liam was buried near Chinese graves.
Sharon reveals that the phone showed up at the community policing unit about a week ago. Someone slid it under the door at night. Sharon takes the box back to the station to see if it actually contains gold. Simon talks to Jarrod and Hoana about dating. Janice joins them. They continue looking through newspapers to see what they can find about Liam. Hoana finds out that Edmond Templeton was accused of stealing a 31oz nugget of gold. Liam Connery took the complaint to the police. Martyn has been through this stuff so he doesn’t think they’ll find anything. Hoana mentions Anais being with Dr. Cooper. Anais finishes a call with Simon before joining Ihaka at the bar. She asks him about metachert. Luke Staunton (Charles Jazz Terrier) interrupts and introduces himself to Ihaka. He leaves a short time later. Anais and Ihaka talk about the gold rush and why they came back. Anais tries to find out more about her sister’s autopsies.
She’s not comfortable with some of the findings of Lynne’s death, but there is nothing in the autopsy report that supports her concerns. Ihaka refuses to comment on David Mehrtens’s findings. Anais gets upset so Ihaka thinks they should finish up. Anais’s vehicle won’t start so Ihaka offers to give her a ride. Hoana calls Anais who speaks to Janice. Janice explains that a Templeton was accused of killing Liam. The Templetons were just a mining family, but they became an institution around there. All the Craigmore businesses used to be theirs. Janice says an Ed Templeton is still living near Arthur’s Point. He volunteered with them but dropped out to focus on his business. Anais asks Ihaka if they can make a detour to Arthur’s Point. They try to find Ed Templeton (David Oakley) who does not appear to be home. Anais goes into his workshop anyway.
It appears the workshop has been ransacked and someone has been attacked. As they try to leave, Anais and Ihaka find Ed hanging on the door. Simon and Anais look around the crime scene. They find a bloody awl although it’s not the weapon used to cut Ed’s throat. Simon questions what Ihaka is doing there. Anais explains he was giving her a ride home. She goes outside where she finds Ihaka sleeping in his car. Anais tells him she is fine and doesn’t need a ride home. Ihaka suspects Ed has been dead for a few days longer than the goldmine victim. Once Ihaka leaves, Anais asks Jarrod and Hoana to begin knocking on doors. Anais speaks to Simon and takes the car. She visits her mom who is with Maja Staunton (Indiana Evans) and Mrs. Stafford. They decide to leave a short time later. Maja overhears Veronica complaining about her daughter’s behavior. Anais and Veronica continue arguing. Anais asks why Luke is still so important to her. Veronica says Luke has been supportive since she lost her father unlike some others.
Anais asks why she didn’t tell her about Lynne. She believes Lynne was using meth at the lodge. Veronica denies that Lynne was on drugs. She refuses to believe anything else happened. Veronica asks Anais to leave. When she’s alone, she calls Luke and asks him to talk. They talk about Anais and how it’s been difficult since she got. Luke agrees to swing by. Maja catches up with him and tells him about her run-in with Anais. Maja points out that he didn’t mention seeing Anais last night. He tells about Ihaka being with Anais before leaving for his meeting. Once she’s alone, Maja uses her phone. Anais visits Dr. Mehrtens (Peter Hayden) who talks to her about Ihaka. Anais eventually asks about Lynne’s death. Dr. Mehrtens says there weren’t any drugs in Lynne’s system to the extent that they might have contributed to the accident. Anais asks if there were traces of meth. The doctor reminds her that he was close to her family. It would’ve shattered Veronica to learn that Lynne had a problem.
Mehrtens says the traces they found were insignificant so he was persuaded to leave it out of the report. Then, he claims he persuaded himself to leave it out. Anais joins Ihaka and Anjali. Ihaka says they’ve found major blunt-force damage to the laryngeal cartilage and a broken hyoid bone. The victim is also missing two teeth and his left earlobe is badly torn. It was done with a knife and it was done postmortem. He died from asphyxiation. Sean tells Martyn and Janice about Ed Templeton. Simon tries to get information from them. Janice says Ed wore a big signet ring with an E on it and a big, hoopy earring. Simon tells Martyn that Sergeant Mallory wants to speak to him. He joins Anais at the museum. She asks him about the hammer and Craigmore Farmstays which is his business. Martyn admits he has business links to the Templetons. His grandmother was a Templeton. His grandfather, Walter Fernleigh, married her. They owned the farm.
Anais accuses Martyn of deliberately trying to put them off track in regards to Liam Templeton’s murder. Anais says Craigmore is an Anglicization of “Charraig mhor” or big rock like the nugget he showed them. Simon interrupts to say Ed had a half-brother named Nathan Templeton. Ed also had two gold teeth. At the station, Anais tells Sharon that Ed’s teeth were extracted. She wants to have the gold nuggets from the grave tested for traces of dental cement. They theorize about the case. Nathan Templeton has a criminal history. They need to find him and Michael Connery too. A woman stops to speak to Jarrod who is putting up flyers. She explains she’s a nurse at the Lakes District Hospital. The nurse believes that the man in the picture was brought into emergency. Anais goes to the hospital. She learns that a man calling himself Conway was brought in by ambulance later yesterday after he collapsed. The man suffered a puncture wound. It was days old and may have been inflicted by a screwdriver.
Anais speaks to Michael Connery who claims he got beaten up going home from a bar. She has to break the news about Sean. Michael insists he was good with his brother. He wouldn’t mess with him anyway because he’s into that taekwondo stuff. Anais asks him about the puncture wound. Michael claims he doesn’t know who did it. He learns about the mining tunnel in Arrowtown where Sean was found. Michael explains they came out there to find out where their great-great-great-grandfather died and to pay their respects. Michael claims to know nothing about the gold left at the grave. As Anais leaves, she calls to get a search warrant for Villa Four at the old four mill. She tells Jarrod she wants to keep Michael Connery under watch. Hoana and Anais check the room. Although it’s been serviced, all of his gear is still there. The only thing worth noting was a missing towel. Anais finds two sets of underwear so she believes he was expecting his brother.
They find a bloody towel in a suitcase. Painkillers and a phone are found nearby. The phone is locked. Anais manages to guess it by using the date of Liam Connery’s murder. Michael has been calling his brother every hour for days. Anais gives Hoana the phone. Then, she checks the nightstand. She finds a small tin hidden on the inside of the drawer. Inside the tin, she finds a signet ring with E on it. She tells Hoana they need to get to the hospital now. Michael attempts to flee from the hospital. He beats up Jarrod and flees. Jarrod tells Hoana what happened. The doctor wants to keep Jarrod overnight because he might have a concussion. Anais checks Michael’s hospital room. She finds a note from Michael who professes his innocence and blames Sean. Anais speaks to Sharon on the phone about the letter. The team begins working to try to track down Michael. Simon picks up Anais. As they drive, they discuss the case and Jarrod’s condition.
Anais suggests this whole thing is Michael getting closure for his granddad. They arrive at Nathan Templeton’s place a short time later. Anais spots Michael’s car and warns Simon to be ready for anything. They eventually move in and find Michael speaking to Nathan who is held captive. Michael says he promised to make them pay before his grandfather dies. He played along with Sean who wanted to leave a little gold at the grave. Michael had other plans because his granddad has waited a long time for revenge. He warns Nathan that he’s going to die a slow, painful death just like his brother. Anais has been recording him. She confronts Michael and tells him to step away from Nathan. Simon approaches from the other side. Anais tells Michael that this has gone too far. When Simon tries to catch him off-guard, Michael throws the hammer at him. Then, he begins fighting with Anais and Simon. Michael flees and drives away in his car.
He crashes into another vehicle. Anais checks on him and tells him it’s over. He’s taken back to the hospital and handcuffed to his bed. Anais tells him he’ll be arrested for the murder of Edward Templeton, the attempted murder of Nathan Templeton, and the manslaughter of his brother. He asks how she worked it out. Anais walks him through it. A flashback shows Michael locking his brother in the mine and leaving him there. He went back to the gate later, but Sean never answered his calls. Anais plays the recording for Michael. Martyn arrives and apologizes to Anais. Jarrod is still in the hospital. The nurse, Shelby, wakes him up to check his vitals. Jarrod claims it was his plan to end up in there. Simon tells Anais that his ribs still hurt. He invites her to get a drink with him. She comes up with an excuse not to have to join them. Simon reveals there were two sets of prints on the bag.
One was a woman’s prints, but there were no identification matches. The other set of prints belonged to a man who has been in jail for over two years.
A Remarkable Place To Die Review
A Remarkable Place To Die could potentially be an enjoyable watch. It has potential at times and can surprise, but the series has a lot going against it. As mentioned previously, the lengthy runtime makes this thing painful to get through. There’s no reason to make viewers suffer through a mundane story for an hour and a half when the same story could be told in 45 minutes.
It’s also becoming another series where the main detective is not very likable. Anais was drinking with Ihaka while everyone else was going through newspapers and working hard to solve a murder. The dead bodies look pretty cheap, especially Templeton’s body in this episode.
The cases have been dry and unoriginal while none of the characters are easy to cheer for. Episode two was particularly sluggish with everything moving in slow motion. Dahnu Graham tries to bring a bit of humor to the series, but the Jarrod Renner character is over-the-top to the point he should be nowhere near a badge.
It’s hard to recommend considering how much could be achieved in an hour and a half instead of suffering through this. The episode scores 5 out of 10. Recaps of A Remarkable Place To Die can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.
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