'A Taste for Murder' Episode 4 Has Too Many Ingredients
Lara: Your wife is dead. She's gone, and I'm sorry for you. You can't stop living. You can't put every bad man behind bars, Joe, and even if we could, it won't bring her back.
A Taste for Murder continues with what is, unfortunately, a less-than-satisfying episode: we have the local Mafia, a diving accident that could be murder, and Inspector Lara Sarrancino giving Joe a lesson on the wild side. Even this week’s dish, Arancini Coccanti (Crunchy Fried Risotto Balls), isn’t really connected to the case, which begins when a marine archaeologist from Florida, hunting for a prehistoric wreck, turns up dead.
Joe seems to have remembered he’s on holiday, and is relaxing with his daughter Angelica on sous-chef Luca’s boat. As they approach the dock, Joe sees Gianni and heads over to find out what’s going on. Angelica complains to Luca about her dad’s bloodhound tendencies; he’s sympathetic, but reminds Angelica that her dad got him out of a lot of trouble recently.
The lead researcher, Sadie Mayweather (Kosha Engler), is the wife of the now late Nick Mayweather (James Anderson). She was supposed to dive with Luisa Zenati-Hughes (Kaisa Hammarlund), but Luisa waffled, leading Nick to take her spot. At the last minute, however, Sadie gave up her tanks when Luisa changed her mind, only to turn around and find Nick dead. Leo Hughes (Fred Pearce), Luisa’s stepson, pulled him out. Lara insists most drownings at sea are accidents, but Joe finds that Nick ran a cryptocurrency business, which resulted in massive losses. Lara agrees to look at the postmortem, as she rolls her eyes, and Gianni smiles.
Angelica and Daniele are together at the beach, where his attentions slide past the PG-13 range. She swats him off and announces she’s going for a swim. She looks back just as she gets to the ocean, only to see him head off, and follows, which is how she discovers he’s dealing. Meanwhile, Joe discusses the case with Elena as she sets the tables and learns that she fantasizes about taking scuba diving lessons with Gennaro.
The restaurant is short-staffed, so Angelica is waiting tables, and Joe recruited as dishwasher. Joe’s attention is caught by a rowdy trio of men, who, according to Elena, are “nobodies wanting to be somebodies.” It’s Angelica’s table, and they’re harassing her; it’s apparently Angelica’s day for inappropriate groping. When Bernardo Renzi (Dusan Bucan) touches her, she slaps him. He lunges for her, and Joe steps in, but freezes when our old friend Fabio Pigozzi pulls a gun. Gennaro retaliates by holding Fabio in a chokehold. Rocco di Biasi (Bruno Bilotta), the leader, ends the standoff, and, learning Angelica is Joe’s daughter, invites him to have a drink. Elena interrupts and says she needs Joe in the kitchen. On his way out, Joe does a hard stare at Fabio, as Gennaro tells the two gangsters it’s over. (What exactly? The extortion, the free meals at the restaurant, the insults?)
From the kitchen, Joe watches as Gennaro makes a cordial farewell to di Biasi and Fabio as though they’re all best friends. Luca, his shift over, comes over and explains that di Biasi is a notorious boss; Luca’s brief smuggling career was with a gang whose leaders were di Biasi’s men.
At the station, Lara tells Joe he was right, the drowning death was suspicious. She has set up further interviews, but Joe tells her that’s not why he’s here. What does she know about Rocco di Biaso? Her friendly expression fades as she leads him to a room stuffed with files. Fifty years of Camorra records are kept here; Di Basio is a small player in a huge organization. (The Camorra is similar to the Mafia and has existed for over 200 years.)
That evening, Lara takes Joe dancing and points out a couple of tough-looking men, her “fan club” – they know she’s state police. It’s a clumsy attempt by Lara to help with his grief; Joe looks mostly confused and says he’s trying. She advises him to try harder. She also advises him to keep out of her cases unless she asks for help, specifically meaning di Basio – they can’t put all the bad men in jail, and even if they did, it wouldn’t bring Sofia back. (Ouch.) They miss the ferry back, so Lara unlocks a cell, and they collapse together onto the bunk. They almost kiss, but she pushes him away and leaves him to sleep it off. Both of them look worse for wear the next morning. “Prison works,” Lara comments, hiding behind dark glasses, and tells Joe he isn’t her type.
Gianni presents them with the records for the cryptocurrency – more than 23,000 investors across 45 countries, of whom one third suffered five-figure losses, with each record not in any particular order. Lara dumps the folder on Joe’s desk, and Gianni takes pity on Joe and offers him coffee.
Sadie is distressed to learn that the case is no longer being treated as an accident and claims that her husband’s reputation was not damaged by the collapse of his cryptocurrency venture. Joe asks about her scuba gear, which Luisa Zenati-Hughes rented locally; each diver was responsible for checking their own. Leo was their dive assistant. They met years ago in Florida; Sadie and Nick returned to Capri when he fell ill. It was Luisa who identified artifacts at the site, which were their first clue to the ancient shipwreck.
Next, Joe and Lara visit Luisa’s home, where massive renovations are taking place. Her husband, Henry Hughes (David Bark-Jones), has dementia, and his son, Leo, is fighting with his stepmom over his care. Luisa invites Joe and Lara out onto the terrace and explains that Henry was a brilliant stem-cell scientist before he fell ill. Lara asks about Sadie’s decision on whether to dive or not. Luisa explains that Sadie was tired, and Lara comments that it almost seems she was determined to be with her husband. Luisa tells them she and Nick exchanged their equipment – mouthpiece, regulator, and tanks – at his request.
Lara and Joe interview Sadie again after discovering the boat had a camera on its hull. Sadie knew, but the camera was broken, and they didn’t have the budget or time to fix it. Sadie points out that she was among many who lost money on Nick’s venture, including her family, friends, and Luisa. The tox report revealed Nick had high quantities of helium in his trachea, no surprise since divers mix helium, hydrogen, and oxygen to dive to lower depths. But if you breathe helium, your body does not absorb oxygen and stops producing CO2, so the diver does not feel the urge to inhale.
The restaurant is empty when Joe returns, and Elena tells him Gennaro has a head injury, “a reminder from di Biasi.” Elena is furious that he was so careless; meanwhile, he claims he has no idea who attacked him. He asks if Joe’s hungry, and they go out for Arancini Coccanti (Crunchy Fried Risotto Balls), served in a paper cone, just like his Nonno’s shop. One of his grandfather’s favorite recipes, Gennaro found it was the only food his Nonno would accept at the end of his life. Eventually, Gennaro admits that di Biasi is looking into Joe; the attack was a command to keep silent.
Daniele runs into Angelica at the beach, she asks if he’s dealing drugs, and after she tells him she saw, he claims it was left over from the joints they smoked on the beach. He confesses that he carries “things” and is allowed to sell some on the side. He claims that, unlike her, he has neither money nor choices, but promises to give up dealing for her. (Dump the creep already, Angelica!)
Lara and Joe go out for lunch, leaving Gianni with the list of 8,000 investors. We don’t know how he did it, but he finds a Mrs. Hughes who lost $40,000. No, it’s not Phyllis Logan, it’s Luisa, who joked earlier that she uses her married name for debts. Lara and Joe buy Arancini Coccanti, and Joe reminds her to make sure she uses marinara, not chili sauce, recalling Gennaro’s story about customers who’d chosen the wrong bottle. The two squirt bottles are identical – and the two make the connection that the oxygen canisters were swapped. They return to the boat and discover one marked LZ-H, and, a few inches below and mostly erased, a word that could be “helium.” Joe tests his theory by writing with a felt-tip pen and then erasing most of the word with his fingertip.
Luisa admits Nick tipped her off just before the company went under, and she withdrew the majority of her funds. But there’s been an accident in the kitchen – Henry Hughes is in distress, having cut his hand badly, and there’s glass all over the floor. Joe can see how much and how competently Leo cares for his father. While Joe helps Leo pick up glass, he notices a black stain on Leo’s jeans from a leaking felt tip in his pocket.
Apparently, this is enough to take him in for an interview, where Leo confesses he wanted to take his dad home and resented his stepmother squandering his father’s money on lavish renovations. She was supposed to take the helium cannister. As Gianni takes Leo down to the cells, Luisa arrives, insisting he’s only 16. Gianni tells her Leo will have a lawyer present. Even though Leo hardly appeared in the episode and accidentally murdered the wrong person, we’re left feeling sad for him and his father.
By the time their work on the case is done, Lara and Joe have come to an understanding. She actually apologizes and offers to look at Sofia’s file. Joe, in turn, is committed to helping her bring down di Biasi’s empire after he learns the truth from Gennaro about di Biasi’s extortion. On a note of hope, Gennaro and Elena are now reconciled, canoodling together while prepping for the evening rush.
A new episode of BritBox’s A Taste For Murder will release every week through May 5, 2026.
A Taste for Murder
