Bad Tidings, Commentary

The Barnaby's have suddenly moved into a new house again. This one has a more open and light layout than the previous one...

Although Cully has "a flat on the other side of town," she often visits the lovely and warm home of her loving and warm parents. We later learn that back in her school days, Cully wanted to be a veterinarian. 

Here we have our first glimpse of Troy's replacement. Wait, that looks like Troy himself! 

No, upon closer inspection we see that it's not Troy, but Detective Sgt. Scott from the fast paced Met in London. He's a bit arrogant and cranky, but with an odd stride and clumsy habit of knocking his head and falling down, he gets slightly humbled. Slightly.

Here Tom experiences his first interaction with Scott at work. He gives Scott a few tips and glances to let him know he needs to soften his approach. "It's not what you said, it's how you said it."

This is where Scott chooses to live. Both Tom and Cully tell him it's a dump, but Scott says it's fine and temporary because he doesn't plan on staying for long in the slow countryside of Midsomer. Tom takes him to task for this attitude so Scott promises to be willing to at least learn a few new things. Later it's revealed that when applied, Scott could "charm a toad out of a tree." 

These are all squeaking noise making things. But which one belongs to the murderer? Or are these all just red herrings? 

Joyce seems really agitated in this episode. And poor Tom has to deal with her demands. She wants Scott to stay at their home, but Tom begs no, he doesn't even know the man yet! I'm with Tom on this one.

The new guy catches Cully's eye at first glance, but Tom reminds her that he's Troy's replacement and she's surprised (or maybe she's reminded that she misses Troy?).

Cully has a very rough time in this episode! She wants to reunite with some old friends. Tom warns her that they've probably changed, and Cully learns the hard way. They're now all liars, jerks, and well--maybe killers too! Poor Cully almost becomes victim #4!

Speaking of Cully's old psycho friends--they even get a kick out of almost drowning her in the river. At least Scott shows up to help her get away. 

After all this mayhem, the body count is 3. There is a lot of blood and one charred corpse so be ready to turn your eyes away. There are no sexual situations although it seems they were exploiting the new guy by having him shirtless in one scene, ew. 

One of my favorite lines in this episode is said by Tom: 

"We're a lost race, do you know that? We care more for our gardens and our pets than we do for our kith and kin." That's right, Tom! And that's why Midsomer needs you!

Let's carry on to S7E3 here.