‘Agatha Raisin: Love, Lies, & Liquor’ Recap

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 402 of ‘Agatha Raisin’. To revisit the Holiday Special, click here.
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Often times, murder mysteries and crime dramas, work hard to establish a solid division between good and evil. Where the hero is pure and the criminal is pure evil, and they stick to that structure, because audiences simply love it. For it really does harken back to the age-old battle of good versus evil and it invests us heavily since we want nothing more than evil to get its comeuppance. And of course, it also gives us a sense of comfort and escape, since in the real world… the line between good and evil is blurred and operates more often than not in a grey area. Since heroes are sometimes flawed or in over their heads and villains aren’t as evil as we like and it is the grey that is of note today, because that is squarely where Agatha Raisin: Love, Lies, & Liquor, on Acorn TV, spends its time.

For this latest chapter in Agatha’s adventures sees her and James venture off to The Palace Hotel, wherein James is planning to work on his new book and spend time Agatha to properly find inspiration. But while they are there… they encounter a boorish woman named Geraldine and shortly after a nasty confrontation at dinner, they part ways only to learn the next morning that Geraldine has been killed. Strangled by a scarf that Agatha lost in fact, making her the prime suspect in a case that the hotel management asks her to solve and well, let’s be honest… this was a great twist. Because not only did it add a sense of urgency to the case since Agatha was eager to clear her name, but it truly is a trope-busting move. For now, Agatha was more than a sleuth, she was a suspect and untrustworthy to everyone, but her friends, and she used that to her advantage.

Because she invited them to The Palace to help her out with the case and once everyone played their role and dug deep alongside Agatha, a grand reveal of the grey came into play. Because everyone they encountered, minus the supremely kind and humble front desk agent… had secrets and a past. To the point where Agatha realized that a great deal of the people involved here, were in on something illegal, and she was able to expose every last one of them, including the police officer that was eager to bust her for a crime she didn’t commit. But what matters more here, is that by digging deep, an interesting fact about the murder revealed itself. In that, no one being exposed here had motive to kill Geraldine. In fact, it was almost as if someone was going out of their way to avoid detection and suspicion. 

Which motivated Agatha to revisit the case from top to bottom and really look for the obvious clues that were missed by the noise everyone else made and what she found… was heartbreaking. For Geraldine and her former beau were involved in a murder/heist back in the day, one that left a girl named Samantha, an orphan. And that dark day broke Samantha so deeply, she spent a lifetime plotting revenge. To the point where she was successful and in plain sight. Making her nothing more than a flawed and broken villain that never got over or addressed her trauma and believed a killing spree was the only way to make herself whole again, and just like that… the case was solved and Agatha and her friends were able to move on with justice served.

If anything, this was simply a brilliant episode when all is said and done. One that really did offer up twists and turns and realism, the kind that made this story feel as though it was ripped out of everyday headlines and the show deserves a serious round of applause for giving us a story that goes against the grain in a fun and engaging manner, and it also deserves kudos… for some epic homages. After all, we’d be foolish to not point out that this saga features a bevy of tributes to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Courtesy of a Room 237 moment, one complete with an axe and a ‘Here’s James’ visual. Plus, there were creepy twins, a bartender named Lloyd, and a photo on the wall from 1921 and heck, the Palace even resembles The Stanley/Overlook Hotel, and well, you can’t go wrong with quality shout outs like that or an engaging case that once again reminds us, that Agatha Raisin is one of the most dynamic and fun murder mysteries out there. Until next time.

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