‘Patience’s “Vampire” Premiere Puts Viewer Loyalty at Stake
The 'Patience' season premiere introduces Bea Metcalf’s memorable replacement, DI Frankie Monroe, played by Jessica Hynes.
From the outset, I’ve loved the central character in Patience, Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis), the smart, kind, socially inexperienced autistic girl from Criminal Records who ends up part of the homicide team. But the first season relied too heavily on the series source material (Astrid) and failed to forge enough of its own territory. However, with the unexpected exit of Laura Fraser as DI Bea Metcalf, the showrunners have a chance to course correct for Season 2.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but Fraser never seemed to bring the right energy. Metcalf was sweet and supportive of Patience in ways that were necessary to draw the character out and make her part of the team. But nothing particularly stood out about the performance.
The season premiere introduces Metcalf’s memorable replacement, DI Frankie Monroe (Jessica Hynes). Monroe is rude and impulsive, relying on stereotypes and practically bullying Patience in the first episode. It’s quite uncomfortable and makes us instantly dislike the character. Having an aversion to the new co-lead is a tough place to start a fresh season. It does mean there’s plenty of room to improve, but Monroe’s abrasive behavior makes the episode really hard to get through.
Fear not: Both the season and Monroe will get better. To help us along, this first episode, “Vampire,” boasts a well-crafted mystery – one that also appeared in Season 3 of Astrid – with several cheeky references to Stoker’s Dracula.
The Body in the Tower & the New Detective
This week’s victim is photographer Jonathan Starper (Julian De Backer), found dead in Monk Bar Tower, among an exhibition of his works. He is impaled through the chest with a large wooden stake, and Dr. Parsons (Liza Sadovy) later discovers he’s been drained of blood – after being strung up by his ankles post-mortem. There is no blood on the scene, but there are two puncture wounds on his neck that resemble teeth marks.
Metcalf’s absence throws both Patience and DS Jake Hunter (Nathan Welsh), and Patience processes the loss of her friend and working relationship over the next couple of episodes.
After an introduction as a reckless motorcyclist, DI Monroe is officially introduced to the team as Metcalf’s replacement. Making this transition harder is Monroe and her dismissive attitude. She rejects Patience because of her age, tries to send her on a coffee run, and doesn’t take any of the observations or evidence Patience presents seriously. Hunter tries to speak up for Patience, explaining she has autism and asking Monroe to be kinder.* Monroe claims to be “all for inclusivity” but won’t dole out special treatment. When both Hunter and DC Will Akbari (Ali Ariaie) sing Patience’s praises, Monroe slaps them down, saying the team wouldn’t need her if they were competent.
*Hunter has suddenly taken on the role of protective older brother. It’s a leap from his insensitivity last season, but it’s absolutely welcome.
The Blood of the Not-So-Innocent
The first suspect, Marina Murray (Jeany Spark), is also Starper’s agent and the one who found his body. After a rather aggressive interview, Monroe declares Marina was sexually involved with Starper based on “body language” and her own gut feeling. (It’s actually rather annoying that Monroe is correct.)
Working on intel from Patience, the police bring in ex-con Kevin Gill (Chris Gascoyne), who had been involved in a hit-and-run with Starper months back. But they have no evidence linking him to Starper and no motive – yet.
Dr. Parsons discovers Starper had RH-null type blood: an incredibly rare universal donor who can only receive blood from someone with the same “golden blood.” Patience delivers an info dump about the blood being used for dubious anti-aging claims, and Monroe rudely dismisses her since she isn’t a police officer. She even admonishes Parsons for inviting Patience to the morgue and starts addressing Patience as “Headphones.”
Undeterred from a puzzle, Patience points Hunter to a new person of interest: Jessica Shaw (Tanya Moodie), who runs the blood bank. When questioned at her swanky home, Jessica confirms she knew Starper. He wanted to make money selling his golden blood, but Jessica insists she didn’t help.
Hunter and Akbari discover a “vampire clinic” in St. Petersburg offering golden-blood treatments and track down CCTV footage of Kevin there with Starper. When they re-interview him, Kevin admits that Starper owed him for gambling debts, and Monroe guesses they went to the clinic to sell Starper’s blood. Kevin says the clinic was a scam and that Starper still owes him £125k.
Akbari finds records of a sick girl with RH-null blood who received an urgent transfusion hours after Starper’s death. He seeks out the girl’s father, Jimmy Brams (Ansu Kabia), who is incredibly offended at being accused of stealing the blood of a man he’s never met. Except that’s not true.
The family finances show Brams was withdrawing large amounts of cash over the past several months. Surveillance also finds the father with medical equipment for home transfusions. The team surmises that Starper was extorting money in exchange for his golden blood. One warrant later and they’re back at Jessica’s house where they find Brams in her kitchen and liters of RH-null blood in her fridge.
Jessica admits to introducing Brams to Starper, who made the family pay a hefty fee for his blood. In need of double the usual amount for his daughter’s bone marrow transplant, Brams didn’t have the £100k that Starper demanded. When they went to beg, they discovered Starper already dead and decided to drain and steal his blood to save Brams’ daughter. Waste not, want not.
The Not-So-Sanguine Conclusion
The team takes a second look at Marina. Akbari suspects she was paying Starper’s debts and was then cast aside after he found the Brams family. Monroe projects a motive where Marina felt used and angry. Previously, Patience discovered a bloody chair missing a leg at the crime scene: evidence indicating Starper was impaled after falling on it.
In a move that’s way too risky, Patience goes alone to Marina’s house searching for evidence, but ends up witnessing a crime in progress: Kevin shows up to violently threaten Marina for more money, then kidnaps her.
The police find Kevin and Marina, and Monroe tackles Kevin. He escapes her hold and then threatens her with a syringe. Hunter tries to talk Kevin down, but Monroe headbutts him to get out of danger. It’s a bit over the top.
Marni Cerise
At the station, Marina confesses. She proposed to Starper, and he not only turned her down, but he also slapped her and fired her. Marina didn’t intend to kill him – she angrily shoved him, and he fell off the tower onto the chair below. She left him for dead and returned to her party, solidifying her alibi. Marina is arrested for murder.
The episode ends on a tense note, with Patience and Hunter in trouble with Monroe. Hunter goes to bat for Patience again, but is denied: Monroe has no interest in letting Patience assist the team.
Echolalia
- On the purely positive side, Patience and Elliot (Tom Lewis) continue their adorkable flirting, inching ever closer to a real date.
- Patience has a brain wave about the mystery numbers on her mom’s puzzle box.
- Shout out to the directors and cinematographers: this season is full of outstanding shots! The opening tilt on Patience at the York Minster is phenomenal.
Patience Season 2 airs Sundays on PBS at 8 p.m. ET through the end of July. It is available to stream for PBS Passport members and on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video channel. All episodes of the first season are streaming on PBS Passport.
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