Blue Murder

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            I almost stopped watching Blue Murder after the first episode.  That would have been a mistake.  Had I stopped after the first episode, I would have missed out on a really great series.  I’m glad I trusted my instincts that maybe the first episode was overdone, as so often happens with new shows.  It’s also good that I went with my usual practice of at least going through the first season of episodes before truly deciding on a series.  So many bumps that happen in the first episode can be figured out by then, which is what happened here.

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                DCI Janine Lewis (Caroline Quentin) definitely has her plate full.  She’s raising three kids, is pregnant with a fourth, and has a cheating husband.  And that is just her home life.  At work Janine has been recently promoted, she has an extremely cranky boss, manages a rambunctious group of men (including an old love interest), and has murders to solve.  To say Janine has a lot going on would be an understatement.

                Even though there is a lot going on for Janine at home, the people we see the most are the ones she solves murders with.  Her main partner is DI Richard Mayne (Ian Kelsey).  Years ago, there was an attraction between the two of them.  Now, after spending years apart, they are together again, with Richard serving as Janine’s second-in-command.  The attraction is still there, but with all that is going on at home, Janine does not have much time to think about it.  Richard does, though, which is part of the reason why I think the attraction is stronger on Richard’s part at first.  As time moves on, that slowly shifts into a different story.                            

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                DS Tony Shap (Nicholas Murchie) and DS Ian Butchers (Paul Loughran) are the other two members of Janine’s team.  Shap is rough, mocking, and has zero problem lying to people if it means getting the information he wants from someone.  If he was allowed to rough people up, I’m sure he would do that as well.  This makes him very much a contrast to Butchers.  While some of Shap’s behavior does rub off on Butchers (which is not much of a surprise since they spend so much time together), for the most part Butchers is by the book.  Instead of going to questionable means to get information, he will just keep looking, no matter how many doors he has to knock on, or how much Shap teases him about his weight.

                Richard, Shap, and Butchers are Janine’s team all the way through the series.  Part way through, two different women join as well.  First it is DC Lisa Goodall (Rhea Bailey).  A young detective, Lisa struggles to do what’s right and procedure while at the same time ignoring all of Shap’s less than ethical mumblings in her ear.  After Lisa leaves, DC Kat Skerton (Belinda Everett) joins the team.  With a lot more confidence and spunk than Lisa, Kat is much better at knowing what to do when.  She’s also really good at putting Shap in his place.  In fact, I think Kat has a great time putting Shap and his comments back where they belong.

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                The murders Janine and her team look into are typical murders.  I know that sounds horrible, but I’m saying this in comparison to the very obscure murders that happen on Midsomer Murders.  In Blue Murder, the cases that come across Janine’s desk are ones that I suspect real police officers and detectives face every day. 

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       Now, back to why I almost stopped watching this show after one episode.  The reason for this is because it was so irritating!  Janine’s kids were disrespectful to her (one was even in trouble with the law); her husband, Pete (Joe Tucker), was not much better, possibly even worse; and her boss, DCS James Hackett (David Schofield), was absolutely awful.  Shap and his behavior were not exactly the most appealing either.  So, that is why I’m happy to say, that starting with the second episode, a lot of these irritating aspects started to lessen.  Yes, the kids still had their problems.  And yes, Janine’s husband kept throwing their family into turmoil as he went back and forth about what he wanted in life.  And yes, her boss stayed crabby.  But after the first episode, it was not all so over the top and not all of the situations were on top of each other.  Still, there was always a lot going on for Janine, which makes it no wonder that she went through so many nannies. 

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                As for the relationship between Janine and Richard, at first, I did not think they would make a good match.  In fact, I thought Janine would be better with the constable that showed up at her door to talk to her son.  When a Major in the army showed an interest in Janine, I really thought she had found a good match.  By the end of the series, though, I could see how well Janine and Richard could be together.  They had grown so comfortable with each other, that in some ways it seemed they were already in a romantic relationship.  Richard would stop by Janine’s house every morning and they would go to work together.  There were times where Richard even helped Janine with her kids, especially when they were struggling with something.  While Janine and Richard were not fully together by the end of the series, it definitely seemed to be heading in that direction.

                I have to wonder if no one knew the series was going to end when it did.  Otherwise, I would think the situation between Janine and Richard would have been fully resolved.  Despite this, I feel the show ended on a good note.  Along the line, Janine’s cranky boss was replaced with the much more reasonable DCS Louise Hogg (Saskia Wickham).  Butchers stood up to Shap about all his teasing.  Janine’s whole team got along for the most part.  Even her kids were figuring out how to move on with their lives in the end.  Yes, the series ended on a good note.