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Walking on Water

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Sing it with me, "he's just a sweet transvestite, from Transexual Tran..." Ooops my bad, wrong opening tune. Walking on Water begins with an oddly provacative rendition of "Natural Woman" performed by a man. Images of the singer are spliced in with images of a commercial fishing boat and a deeply disturbing painting of skulls and other images of terror. This should let you in on the type of episode to expect.

When the singer finishes we get a closer look and there are few illusions left that this is just a husky voiced woman in a wig. The singer kisses his one audience member. An older man who had been watching him perform tells him reassuringly to go out there and show him.

At the office, forensic superstar Dr. Frankie Wharton is fretting over testimony she is to give in a court. Detective Constable Mel Silver and her boss Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd are helping Frankie prepare. Okay, Mel is helping her prepare, Boyd makes her feel self conscious about the outfit she is wearing, later he lectures her on the silliness of her profession. "Detection, analysis and then solutions." Because we know that's how every cold case is run (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Frankie detects, analyzes and concludes that Boyd believes that forensics are just a tool. Frankie is thinking someone else is just a tool, but he's the head of the unit and so she just leaves for her court appearance.

Frankie is giving testimony in an appeal by Mark Lovell of his conviction for the murder of his adoptive father. We learn from a radio newscast that the remainder of Mark's adoptive family disappeared and has never been found nor has the family's boat, the "Miss Maria." Boyd and Mel speculate about Mark's guilt or innocence and conclude that they need to find the missing Miss Maria. The police the first time around only focused on the one murder but the boat may yield evidence about what happened to the other family members. Not sure how or why but somehow Boyd makes this a cold case for the squad.

One mystery is solved immediately. The singer sits in front of a mirror and removes her wig, revealing a man. We next see that same man in court testifying on his own behalf. Yes, convicted killer Mark Lovell likes to dress up as a woman and perform torch songs.

Boyd and Mel go over charts and weather patterns and try to figure out where in the estuary the boat could be and more importantly whether it can be salvaged.

Frankie is doing a good bit of concluding in her testimony. All of which favors Mark Lovell. He is acquitted. Boyd, Mel and Frankie are joined by the final two members of the squad, Forensic profiler Dr. Grace Foley and Detective Sargent Spencer Jordan. They are all very excited about the acquittal and Boyd begins in earnest to search for the missing Miss Maria. Boyd explains that the USS Richard Montgomery sunk in the Thames Estuary with tons of ammunition aboard. The navy said it was dangerous and that boats should not go anywhere near it. A salvage expert detected something on a sonar readout that they think could be the wreck of the Miss Maria on the edge of the exclusion zone.

But hold your horses, before the entire teams jumps on board this case, Frankie points out that she was instrumental in the acquittal and it could be embarrassing. Boyd wants to hear none of it. He does not care about reputations, anyone's reputation when it comes to seeking JUSTICE.

Spence points out the prohibitive costs of Boyd's ideas to which Boyd counters, "four murders, four murders." Okay, is it me or does anyone else think that Boyd has just jumped to another conclusion. We know Thomas Lovell was murdered but no one knows what happened to the other members of his family. Is it not a wee bit premature to say that they have been murdered? Sure it is the only way he can justify the expense of investigating the disappearances but what kind of investigation will it be when you start with the conclusion?

Even Boyd's sonar captain says that Boyd is jumping to conclusions when he insists that it the Miss Maria near the Montgomery. The Captain says, I just said it was a fishing boat. The guy then goes on to note the many difficulties of raising a boat from the bottom of the sea. Boyd says he has everytihing handled. He then asks Boyd if he has consulted with the family and considered their feelings. Here is a man who does not know Peter Boyd. I would have to think long and hard before I could site an example where Boyd has taken a victim's family's feelings into consideration. 11 years have passed since the Maria disappeared and raising the wreckage would be tantamount to opening a grave.

Just as an aside you can note that the boat Boyd is standing in front of while speaking with the sonar guy is called the Faustian. Is it an accident that Boyd is striving for worldly knowledge perhaps at the expense of spiritual ones.

Boyd and Grace go to visit the newly freed Mark Lovell at his home. They are greeted at the door by Maria who tells them Mark does not live there any longer but that she knows him intimately. Maria commands Boyd to sit down. Grace is gracious. She chats with Maria about Mark until Boyd can take it no longer. True, that is not a very long time but he does try. Boyd breaks into the conversation and says to cut it out. Addressing Maria, he says, "you look good but not that good." Mark seems to enjoy playing the game with Boyd. When Boyd says they have to talk to him about the case, Mark channeling his best Maria leans forward and says let's go to your place. Grace looks on amused, Boyd looks something other than amused.

Spence and Mel visit the Lovell's fish shoppe. They both are in a playful mood. The store appears to be deserted but Spence is sure someone should be around, he calls out "Chop" and says offhand to Mel, "that's what they say up north isn't it?" Spence spies a cup of seafood on the counter and Mel tells him it is cockles. She then says, "you are not seriously going to eat that." Spence says he'll try anything once. She tells him to put a lot of vinegar on it and a little salt.

Inside the store, Spence finds some vinegar and a young woman who is not happy to see them. She calls out to Martin and Steven who rush out to deal heavy handedly with the scum from the press. Mel steps in between the cockled Spence and the angry Martin Lovell. When Mel identifies Spence and herself as officers the Lovells calm down some but not much. Brothers Steven and Martin and Steven's wife, Mandy. The Lovells do not seem pleased to hear that their cousin Mark is out of prison and has moved back to his old house in the neighborhood. They still believe that Mark is guilty. Making matters more tense, Spence tells them of the plan to raise the missing Miss Maria from the Thames estuary.

At the station, Boyd tries to deal with a defensive Maria. Mark insists upon being called Maria. Turning to Grace seated silently in the corner of the room, Mark says, "you are not like the others." Mark gives the background on the Lovell family. He says that Thomas inherited the cockle business with his brother John. When John died, Steven and Martin took over their father's share. Maria says that Mark did not like boats. Maria has an annoying habit of speaking in the third person sometimes. It annoys Boyd as well and he asks Mark to stop, Maria says no. Anyway, Mark's aversion to the family business was only the beginning of the family turmoil.

Sometime when Mark was really good looking he decided it was time to let his parents, his father in particular, know the real Mark. He said at the time he thought he was gay. He says he knows now that Maria is not gay. Maria says that Mark had to tell Thomas what he really wanted to do and that was to perform in drag. Boyd correctly surmises that his father would not take it well and in a flashback we see Mark's father beating him severely. Afterwards, a drunk Mark returns to the shop to steal money fromt the shop to fund his escape from home but finds Thomas dead in the doorway of their shop. He says he has no idea why anyone would want his father or any of his family members dead.

Frustrated, Boyd continues to test Mark. There is a knock on the door, Boyd glances at his watch, someone enters the interrogation room and hands Boyd a note which says, Give this to me at 11:30 and is signed Boyd. That Boyd is always thinking ahead, he must know a ton of ways to escape from a date that is going poorly. Boyd uses it as an excuse to let Mark know that they are going to raise the Miss Maria the next day. Mark continues to be coy and says he will have to miss the event due to an appointment. Grace suggests that after his appointment he come and talk to her. Maria says that he never turns down an opportunity to talk about himself.

Frankie goes out with the salvage crew for no good reason. Seriously, why does she need to be on the boat? They take the time to tell us that Frankie doesn't like boats. Boyd get a funny (or crude depending on you tastes or lack thereof) line when he tells her if she feels ill to lean over the starboard side.

A funny moment happens when Maria meets with Grace and asks her to explain how she does her job. I spend enough time making fun of Grace, I'm going to pass this time. Mark tells us more of the night his father was murdered. Mark went out to The Five Bells and got drunk. He got into a fight with his sister. She wasn't happy with his uniqueness. Mark sees the Miss Maria leave the harbor and this is confirmed by the tavern owner. He tells Boyd he saw Thomas on that was the last time he saw the Miss Maria.

Mark is still close to his aunt April, Stephen and Martin's mother. She had a breakdown when John died after being washed overboard, he couldn't swim. Maria says Mark felt, "numb, despised and guilty" when he found his father's dead body."

Okay so usually recovering ship wrecks is a long and involved process but apparently not when Frankie is involved. The Miss Maria is recovered and placed in a warehouse for Frankie to inspect it. Grace brings Mark with her to the scene. She tells him to wait in the car so as to avoid a confrontation on this particularly difficult night with his family. How about we give Grace the benefit of the doubt and say that based on the three encounters she had with Mark where there was nothing about him that would say he would shy away from challenging his family, she told him to stay just as a formality.

A crowd of Lovells have gathered outside the warehouse demanding to know what is going on with the remains of the family and the boat. Spence is trying to keep order but the task increases monumentally when Mark enters the fray and asserts that it is his boat yard and his family on the boat.

The Miss Maria is nothing short of creepy and scary. The US version gets almost nothing of the eerieness.

Grace meets with Mark's prison psychologist. He says that Mark was capable of doing anything he put his mind to and does not rule out murder as one of those things. Mark was obsessive and had a remarkable ability to hold a grudge and plot out his revenge. Mark eventually was able to make the situation work out for him by allying himself with one of the more powerful and influential inmates. Prison Psych man says that he does not want to elaborate on what type of relationship Mark had with Jack because he fears for his family. The conversation between Grace and prison psych is a little odd when you realize that they are just discussing homosexual behavior in prisons. Mark's relationship of an unspeakable nature was with the man we saw him kissing in the opening scene. Maria returns to visit Jack and Jack says if he needs anything just ask. Jack also cautions Maria not to do anything stupid and not to let Mark do anything stupid either. Apparently this refers to the quest for revenge that the psychologist referred to earlier. Omninous warning that the Lovell family may have more tragedy in the near future.

What of the Lovell family of the past. On the Miss Maria, Frankie finds the remains of a child and a woman who have been tied together. Another woman may have been tied and freed herself and tried to get out of the hatch. If true it had to have been a frightening experience because Frankie finds scratches on the hatch as if someone had tried to claw their way out. She also finds what looks as if it could be a bullet hole. The hull of the Miss Maria was smashed from the outside.

Grace says the method of killing is too detached and impersonal for Mark to be the killer. The other mystery, beyond whodunit, is how did Thomas Lovell get back from the Miss Maria, which sank two miles out, to die on land. Spence suggests that someone gave him a ride back. The team puzzles over it for awhile.

Meanwhile, out on the dark, deserted docks Maria walks alone. She stops in front of a telephone booth. The beauty of cell phones is that her caller is standing a few feet from her, it is Mark's cousin Steven. Steven tells Maria, he looks amazing. Still he wants to know why Mark has returned, it can only mean bad things for the family and the family business. Maria told Grace quite pointedly that he did not want to discuss Steven and the reason seems to be that they have a complex and close relationship. Steven rushes over to the phone booth to speak face to face with his cousin. Mark is angry that Steven did not support him eleven years ago at the trial. He is hurt and disappointed that Steven could believe that he was capable of killing his family. Mark touches Steven's face affectionately. Steven is still worried about what Mark might do to the family. Mark says goodbye and adds that his name is Maria.

Dull bits can lead to important clues. The team discovers that Thomas Lovell had signed over the family home to his wife. They also find that Thomas owned a lot of waterfront property and they conclude that he wanted to avoid personal risk that may come from debts on the other property.

Frankie is being creeped out at the Miss Maria. Not so much in the US version. When she really thinks she is hearing something, Steven Lovell suddenly appears. She gives him the usual you are contaminating the crime scene line that doesn't work on anyone. She throws Steven out and he returns to the store to get into a loud argument with his brother over Mark. Steven's wife walks in with papers which show that Mark is going after what he considers his share of the inheritance. A man named Doyle who appears out of nowhere in the story is with her and says that Martin should have put his share in Mandy's name as Steven did.

Mark is at home ignoring Boyd's attempt to phone him. He is consumed with talking to his cat and busying himself to get dressed to go out. Someone, breathing heavily, is approaching from the outside. They burst into his home and the last we see of Mark is a justifiably panicked expression on his face. Moments later we see someone who looks like Martin, but it could be that mysterious Doyle fellow, operating an earth mover dump a dead body and cover it with cockle shells. The initial investigating officer arrives on the scene and says this is Mark Lovell's work. Boyd says, "or Mark Lovell."

Mel and Spence go to Mark's home to check it out. These two are still in their comedy gold mode because we see Mel peek through the mail slot in the door and get scared by a kitten. Mel jumps back just as Spence appears behind her to say "nosy neighbor." They get their we don't have a warrant but we went in any way story straight. Mark's house is a mess. It looks as if someone were searching for something and did not care how much stuff they destroyed in the process. Most frightening is a large knife with blood on it.

Oohh, here comes a scene where Frankie gets to speak with a living character. Boyd is even kind of nice and supportive. He asks if she is okay, it's nice. Frankie wants him to see what she found on the boat. Boyd says it is a piece of plastic in a plastic bag. Boyd makes up for being useless when after she begins to list the chemical elements she found on the plastic he realizes that it is cocaine. Frankie then learns the real reason for Boyd being solicitous. He wheels in a headless corpse that he wants Frankie to identify. Frankie protests that the body has no head and no hands. Come on did she really think this was going to be easy. She yells at him saying, "did it not occur to you that I might already have my hands full?" Under his breath, Boyd says, "consider yourself lucky." Oh that Boyd. Spence calls in from Mark's place. Boyd asks Frankie how long it will take for her to be ready to go over to meet Spence and Mel. Frankie says at least a couple of hours. Everybody's favorite boss tells Spence they will be there in an hour.

Mark's kitty has crawled under the bed to hide from his would be captors. Mel first tries to stick her hand under there to retrieve it but is rewarded with scratches on her hand and laughter from Spence. They have to pick up the bed to get it. Sure it's not important to the plot but it is darn amusing.

Since Frankie is forced to do dna analysis to identify the corpse she learns a big secret about the Lovell family. Frankie has a sample of Mark's dna from the appeal and from Steven Lovell because he trampled on her crime scene at the Miss Maria. Egads, just because she could use his dna to exclude him from the Miss Maria crime scene does that mean she can use his dna for any purpose? What about Mark's dna? Gheez the guy was acquitted of the crime but still he has no rights. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the show, Frankie only wants to show that Mark and Steven share mitochondrial dna, which means that they have the same mother. The funny thing is that Mark was adopted. Who bothers to adopt their own kid? Still Frankie concludes that the body is most likely Martin Lovell because it has an appedectomy scar and Martin's medical records (egad) show that he had his appendix removed.

Mel, Spence and their new friend kitty go tot the docks and run into Doyle. He says Mandy is in London and he doesn't know where Steven is. The last he saw of Steven was the night before. As they are leaving they notice a notice posted of development plans by Waterside Housing Ltd. The case officer is C.M. Porteous. The site is "Lovell's Seafood" Waterside. They were looking for development information earlier, I wonder what became of their research.

It seems Doyle was less than honest with the police. Mandy was not in London but on the boat in bed with him.

Steven comes into the office to identify Martin's remains. He says the fight they had the night before was just normal brother stuff. Steven said that Martin stormed off to confront Mark.

Spence does the research on property development he was supposed to have done earlier and discovers that the Martin, Steven and Mandy Lovell, along with Finn Dawley plan to tear down the existing property in favor of new housing, shopping, health clubs, the works. The Lovells are "Waterside Development."

Mark dressed as Mark goes to see his aunt April. The thing is that he calls her "Mum." If we did not know about that he and Steven had the same mother we might think April was just ga-ga and he was playing along. Instead it seems to be a Mother and Child Reunion.

Boyd wants to know where the Lovells could be getting the money to fund the new development. Spence speculates cocaine.

Frankie comes in and says that they identified the murder weapon, the knife used on Mark. She also says that the blood belongs to the dead kitten. The DEAD kitten? Spence, Mel, you got some 'splainin' to do. Frankie says the intruder kicked it or threw it against the bookcase. Did Mark have more than one cat? Hope so because otherwise the last we knew of it, Spence and Mel had left it in their car while they went looking for witnesses.

Mark Lovell shows up at the office still in his Mark Lovell attire. He seems to want to know what happened to his cat or cats. He seems much less interested in his dead cousin, Martin. However, he does deny vehemently that he had anything to do with the murder. At the prison, Jack is meeting with his lawyer, Miles, who says that "she" meaning Maria could not have killed Martin based on the time of death because Maria stayed over with his family. Jack is afraid of something she might do. Miles passes along an envelope from Maria. Jack tells him to protect Maria from the law and he'll do the rest.

Mark has a strange way of expressing himself. He seems to draw very disturbing pictures. Grace gets her hands on them and Mark says she has no business reading other people's diaries. He then explains how when he was younger he was cheating on a girl by seeing a boy. Grace realizes that Steven was the boy when she sees that Mark has drawn lots of pictures with him.

Boyd goes to the Five Bells looking for Finn Dawley. Durham and his wife tell him that Finn was in the building trade and convinced Thomas about the wonders of property development. They also say Finn was a natural sailor, he traded in a life in London to live on a boat. Boyd's visit has attracted the attention of a man in black. He would not attract our attention but the camera pans to him and zooms in for a closeup.

Mandy comes in for a meeting with Spence and Mel. They tell her that Mark has an alibi for Martin's murder. They also ask her point blank if her husband smuggles cocaine. She, wisely enough, denies it. Her alibi for the time of Martin's murder is that she was with Finn. She says she would not call it a relationship but rather just sex. She explains that her husband does not have sex with her because he prefers to have sex with other men. Spence calls Boyd who is hanging out by the sea (I'm beginning to think that's why he took this case). Spence and Mel left Mandy alone in the interrogation room and she called someone on her cellphone. Boyd was none too pleased with Spence for that lapse since the purpose of Spence calling was to tell Boyd he thinks Mandy was lying. It would seem to be a more egregious lapse but there is a police officer in the room with Mandy.

That guy in black who was watching Boyd at the bar is watching him again at the beach. Mel arrives to give him documents about Thomas Lovell's business partnership. Frankie calls to say that Thomas was Mark's real father. The Lovells are a really really close family.

Boyd stares out at the water and begins to walk on a sand barge. Mel thinks it is a bad idea but proceeds to follow him anyway. Rest assured it is a bad idea. The sea air seems to be fueling Boyd's power of deduction, he speculates that Thomas Lovell while out on the Miss Maria with his wife, daughter and granddaughter stops to help a boat in distress. Someone from the other boat shoots Thomas in the shoulder, a second shot grazes his head. Thomas falls overboard and the attacker thinks he has drowned. Instead Thomas (with the a shot up shoulder) swims fifty yards or so to the mudbank and walks back to shore. The attacker finds the women in the hold, ties them up. He then returns to his boat, ties the two together and tows it out to the exclusion zone over the USS Richard Montgomery. Once there's a hole in the hull in the boat he abandons the Miss Maria and takes his own boat back to shore. As the two detectives try to picture the events they try to remember the tip to use to tell which way the tide is going. It seems as they have been developing the theory they have become completely absorbed in their own thoughts and have lost sense of their surroundings. The tide it is a turning and now Mel and Boyd are still standing on a sand barge but the water is rising around them. You do not need me to say that standing in the Thames Estuary while wearing heavy winter coats is not a good thing. They are up to their knees in water and start trying to walk back, quickly. It is not quick enough for Mel because she panics. Fortunately, they stumble upon a dinghy. Depending on your sensibilities, fortunately or unfortunately they also stumble upon Martin's head (only not in America because that part was cut out - grrrrrr).

Grace tells Mark that he will be safer if he stays in the office. Not so sure because she also tells him that Thomas was his real father. Mark says he feels as if he may have always known. He says he has to go see his lawyer Miles.

Mel and Boyd make it back to shore. They are helped out of the dinghy by Durham and Finn. Mel goes into the Five Whistles to go pee. Boyd finds that he has locked himself out of his car. He is carrying Martin's head in a small bag, only of course the US audience has no idea what's in that bag. To his surprise the door to the tavern is now locked. Unlike the car, he finds another entrance to the tavern. He is about to ask Mel what is taking her so long but just as he finishes saying "pee" he sees Mel seated at a table with a look of concern stricken across her face. Mel is being held captive by the man who was watching Boyd earlier. Boyd puts the head under the table and as commanded sits with Mel at the table. The man asks Boyd who he is working for but as Boyd reaches into his pocket for his identification, another man reacts by pointing a gun at him. Boyd and Mel slowly display their badges. Boyd and Mel are very confused and who can blame them. The man says they must be good because they found Dawley. It turns out that the man is a cop as well,i Detective Superintendent Server. The tension weighs heavily in the air, moreso since the other man still has a gun trained on Boyd. Boyd tells Server that his career is over and he can accept that or shoot him.

At the office, Spence does his best Boyd impression to scare the truth out of Mandy. She says they were all involved in drug smuggling. Steven shows up and starts spilling more beans. He says that Finn got them involved in drug smuggling a few months before Thomas died. Martin, in particular, had a taste for it (sure blame the dead guy). It was all so easy. Thomas found out and said he was going to the police. A tearful Steven says that Finn killed Thomas and the other Lovells. After the murders, Finn forced them to continue with the drug operation. His explanation is a bit weak but I guess they were afraid for their lives, although that's not a reason Steven gives.

Server says that he works for witness protection. They knew Boyd was investigating Finn because his login number was attached to a search on Finn. Actually, it was Spence using Boyd's login number but in the grand scheme of things, what with the chain of command and all, should that really matter. Finn's real name is John Bryson. he used to be a coke runner but then made a deal with the authorities. As a result of his cooperation many large drug cartels have been derailed. Server says that the "lives of a few fisherman are worth diddly shit compared to the lives that could be saved" with his help. The meeting ends as tensely as it began. Mel does have an "aha" moment. When she and Boyd arrived back to shore in the dinghy they were helped by Finn. She noticed he had scratches on his hand but for some reason she does not make a connection until she sees her own hand when she retrieves her identification from the table. It must be that he somehow had an encounter with Mark's kitty.

The kitten still lives. Frankie swabs the cat's claw and finds Finn's dna on the claw. Boyd must have made nice with Detective Superintendent Server long enough for to get Server to come along as they arrest Finn, aka John Bryson. As they lead Finn away in handcuffs, a shot rings out, fired from an unseen assailant. Finn is killed with one bullet, his blood splattering on Mel who walked beside him. Of course with Finn's history, there are any number of persons who would have wanted him dead. Perhaps that will be enough to keep the suspicion away from Jack and Maria.

In the office, Grace was having an "aha" moment of her own while looking at Mark's drawings. In one of the drawings there was a dark figure. She realizes that this was the person against whom Maria wanted to exact revenge. At the prison, Jack burns a piece of paper which looks as if it is part of one of Mark's drawings; on it the name, Finn Dawley. Jack used his connections to have Finn executed for kiling Mark's family.