Kris Marshall ia awful in this....

Sorry Rebecca, but you're wrong. About EVERYTHING.

Kris Marshall is a PERFECT replacement for Ben Miller in this show. He is a good actor, his personality is much sunnier than was Miller's, and I don't find him "painful" to watch at all.

Add to that: Last week we watched the rerun of the episode in which Det. Richard Poole is murdered and Det. Humphrey Goodman comes to Ste. Marie to replace him. Most of the mysteries on this show -- "Death in Paradise" -- are interesting and well done, but this particular episode is beyond brilliant. The new DI (Detective Inspector) is faced with a murder case which boils down to only four suspects, and it is one of the most intriguing cases we have ever seen. Could one of you say you figured it out before the end?

It seems that "Death in Paradise" is one of the few hour-long shows that do not title each episode, so we can't refer to them by name. Regardless, the one Poole/Goodman episode is canny enough to baffle even the most observant followers of Jane Marple and Nero Wolfe, it is that good.

Cheers,
Dan







God Bless America!

I agree, Rebecca. I like the actor alright, but either the script or the director is making him look more like an awkward teenager than a grown man. The scene where he is putting the hammock together is embarrassingly unrealistic. Season 4, episode 3 has some major errors in direction. Just one is when Dwayne is supposed to be looking for a small plant, and the scene opens with him examining a large leaf on a large tree. Then he gets a call from Florence who knows exactly where in the "woods" he happens to be standing. And it gets worse when she asks him if he sees any discarded cigarettes and he looks up and around before he looks on the ground and finds them. Careless direction, I think.

The truth is that both you and daneldorado are right because in this case it comes down to personal taste. Of course there are actors who are empirically bad no matter what they do. Yet, for the most part, shows like this are open to a wide variety of preferences, which lead to "I hate" or "I love" opinions. I find this especially true when an actor is replacing an original, beloved (or love to hate even) character. I've been as guilty of that as anyone when it comes to certain shows and actors.

Badly mistcast: My hubby discovered this show for us at the start of season 3, so we had no vested interest in Richard's fate. We went back and streamed from the beginning and grew to enjoy his fish-out-of-water, stiff-stodgy Brit, by-the-book behavior. I noticed that some posters here weren't able to see below/beyond/over that part of him, but we did. While he kept his superficial "self" intact, it was obvious he really cared about his team and their well being.

Anyway, along comes Humphrey, who was our first DI on Saint-Marie. Our second watching of season 3's premier was harder because we now cared a great deal about Richard. (I especially loved his "My name is Richard" line in episode 2.6. I think it was partly because it really mattered to him that Camille and everyone else respected him, and he knew they cared about him.) But we already liked Humphrey because we'd watched season 3 as it aired in the US.

Bottom line: The PTB were smart to make Humphrey a completely different fish-out-of-water; one who bumblingly tried to fit in. We like both characters and both actors.

Not a good actor: Certainly he's no Sir Laurence Olivier, but he holds his own in this light comedy-drama and has given a multi-layered performance in many episodes (e.g., With his father, with Fidel at the end of seasons 3 and 5).

Painful to watch: I guess that's personal preference. I disagree.

Dirty hair: Okay, he could use a good stylist, no question about that. But I see his hair as wild and messy and very wind blown. The thing is that Caribbean/tropical islands are often if not usually quite windy. I've had many a day in Hawaii or the USVI when my just washed, just brushed, properly styled hair looks messy and salt blown within a short time; some days, you just give up and put it under a hat or slap it into a pony tail. He can't exactly do that. Salty wind can especially make fine, straight hair look like it hasn't been washed or brushed in a week.

The klutz character: Agreed that it was going a bit beyond fun, but I'm hopeful that his possible new love will help with that.

Kris Marshall is very likeable and a good actor.