*CW: suicide*
The second half of the miniseries. I did enjoy Stonemouth, although not as much as The Crow Road. Yes, there’s a lot more Peter Capaldi in that one than there is Ncuti Gatwa in this one, which is a factor but not the whole story.
Despite threats to stop digging, Stewart continues to investigate Callum’s death after his funeral. With Ellie’s help, they try to figure out what kind of trouble he might’ve been mixed up in, and as they search for the truth, they don’t shy away from the most troubling possibilities—including Ellie’s own family.
To be fair to Stonemouth, it’s at a disadvantage being only two episodes instead of four. That means everything is more compressed. There’s a big mystery to solve within two hours, and all the character drama needs to fit in between that. As such, it doesn’t have as much room to breathe as The Crow Road, and as Stewart and Ellie’s investigation ramps up here, that’s even more the case. I’ll admit that, for me, it feels like a bit of a jumble of organized crime/smuggling, lies, and possible personal motivations, and the reveal of the killer isn’t altogether satisfying for me.
But like I said, I still enjoy it. When those character moments come, they’re really well done. I especially like Callum’s funeral, a hard conversation between Ellie and her mother, and a sweet exchange between Stewart and Ferg.
What this episode doesn’t have is much of anything in the way of Ncuti Gatwa. Dougie’s only appearance is at the funeral, where he sits out-of-focus behind Stewart and doesn’t really get to do anything. That’s a bummer. In something like this, I generally prefer it if the actor I’m watching for starts out with less screentime and gets more in subsequent episodes. When it happens the other way around, it can feel anticlimactic.
I know we just did this last week, but here are my final thoughts:
Accent Watch
You wouldn’t know it from this episode, since he has no dialogue, but Scottish.
Recommend?
In General – Maybe. I liked it, and the acting is good.
Ncuti Gatwa – Not a must. There’s hardly anything here.
Warnings
Violence, sexual content, language, drinking/smoking/drug references, and strong thematic elements (including suicide.)
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