Through a combination of cozy mysteries and warm personal drama, Beyond Paradise manages to surpass itself in season three. Two years ago, Beyond Paradise started out as a somewhat bland copy of Death In Paradise that did exactly what its parent series did. As the series progressed, it increasingly went its own way. Unlike Death in Paradise, and the other spin-off Return to Paradise, the focus is more on the personal lives of the main characters and less on the crime of the week.
But as the first two seasons did, Humphrey Goodman’s (Kris Marshall) police team still has to deal with a new crime every episode in the fictional southern English seaside town of Shipton Abbot. This season, they investigate sabotage during a sailing competition, a few boxes of poisoned chocolate and the kidnapping of a nurse. These are fun but somewhat predictable mysteries. The fact that none of this is all that high-flown is no problem, however.
Even the weekly crimes have a warm feel this season
Beyond Paradise is a series with a high cuddle factor and this is also reflected in the crimes that Humphrey tries to solve. A motif that you see a lot in this series is the protection of loved ones. Few people really mean harm. They also show very clear compassion for the victims and their environment. An example is when a police officer helps the partner of a missing woman with chores around the house. It is all so incredibly sweet, without it becoming too saccharine.
And here the series seamlessly transitions into the personal lives of the main characters. For example, Humphrey and his fiancée Martha (Sally Bretton) become foster parents of a girl named Rosie (Bella Rei Blue Stevenson), and that doesn't go without a hitch. Sergeant Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) falls in love again for the first time in years, and officer Kelby Hartfort (Dylan Llewellyn) decides it's time to go looking for love herself.
Beyond Paradise feels loving and personal.
These storylines are also incredibly loving and warm. Yes, there are setbacks, but the community of Shipton Abbot finds each other. This is very clearly demonstrated when Martha's mother Anne (Barbara Flynn) discovers a spot on her skin that may be a tumor. However, I do have the feeling that the storylines of Kelby and Esther are not quite finished yet. Esther's development in particular ended rather abruptly this season. Perhaps they will go into that further in a follow-up season.
In addition, Beyond Paradise offers everything that made the first two seasons so enjoyable. The beautiful, colorful coastal town as a backdrop, the sometimes awkward humor and the creatively filmed denouements of the cases. The actors also do well and this season has nice supporting and guest roles from Hugh Dennis, Jamie Bamber and Jason Hughes.
Season three of Beyond Paradise meant enjoying every Friday for six weeks for me. The light-hearted mysteries combined with the heartwarming Whether there will be a fourth season is not yet entirely clear. The annual Christmas special has already been announced, and I am already looking forward to it enormously.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
