The Dublin Murders - spoiler alert!!

[PatsyMFagan]

Tonight's episode is the finale …. if anyone else is watching this, I made need a translation as I still have very little idea of what is going on !

[StokeySue]

I’m way behind with it. So far I don’t think I’m any more confused than I’m supposed to be. Might watch some tonight depending on how the afternoon goes

[Suelle]

I've stuck with it and think I know what's happening, although there's still a lot to resolve tonight.

The male detective is turning into quite an unpleasant character, even making allowances for childhood traumas - someone that damaged would surely never have risen in the police ranks without his problems coming to light. However, 'damaged' police personnel seem to be a popular plot device, even though it would be unlikely to happen in real life.

[PatsyMFagan]

Yes, I agree Suelle …. The Lexi thing has left me thoroughly confused - I still have no idea what the students were up to … did I miss something there ?

[Suelle]

Yes, I agree Suelle …. The Lexi thing has left me thoroughly confused - I still have no idea what the students were up to … did I miss something there ?

One of the students accidentally murdered Lexi, as she was causing rifts between them. Lexi only took the name that Cassie had made up for her undercover work (and her imaginary twin) because one of the students had known Lexi while she was undercover, and thought the girl on the bus was her. We still don't know who she really was.

[PatsyMFagan]

I thought Lexi was a villain(ess) in her own right and being investigated by the police ?

[Suelle]

I thought Lexi was a villain(ess) in her own right and being investigated by the police ?

You've got me worried that I've missed something now!

[Suelle]

Well - that was rather unsatisfactory! I hate things like that which fizzle out without a proper ending.

[PatsyMFagan]

Yup …. I still think that 'Lexie' was known to the police and under surveillance … However, there are gaps in my recall as I did watch a couple of episodes while very tired

[cyprusmoira]

Well - that was rather unsatisfactory! I hate things like that which fizzle out without a proper ending.

Ditto, neither plots had a satisfactory explanation.

[scullion]

we have binged on this over the last two evenings.
i think lexie was unknown to the police - hence the 'jane doe' ashes scattering (though why the ashes would be released to cassie seems strange). i think that she was a complete doppelgänger (i have seen one - the similarity was truly remarkable). the way 'lexie' had come across the name was a bit ambiguous, they may have tried to deal with it by the encounter on the bus but it wasn't well done and didn't explain anything.
i think the ptsd thing could have easily been brought to the surface by the murder in the same village. the triggers would be there along with the resentment at being hounded for something he didn't do, boarding school, the feeling of parental rejection and with the feeling that the other crime perpetrators were getting off the hook.
i'm not sure that leaving the viewer with the thought that there was a possibility of wolves still wild in ireland was a bit iffy - i think they would have been noticed since the mid eighteenth century.
it did leave me wondering if there would be a related series but it would have tenuous links.
it was ok - but not in the league of 'the bridge' and other scandi noir series and it took our minds off the rain - although we did watch it with subtitles - there were a few bits that were mumbled, that even turning the volume up to block out the noise of the rain didn't make clear.

[scullion]

Yes, I agree Suelle …. The Lexi thing has left me thoroughly confused - I still have no idea what the students were up to … did I miss something there ?

i think it was a weak 'cult' type sub plot - although that was part of my feeling that there may be another visit to the series. if they did, they should get a more careful writer for it.

[Suelle]

The possibility that the children in the past had disappeared because of supernatural 'happenings' (including what might have been imaginary wolves) was a weakness in the plot, IMO.

I have read the books many years ago, but can't remember if the supernatural was posed as a possibility by the author.

[scullion]

i didn't see any 'supernatural' bits that couldn't be explained by the ptsd and the usual way of the mind playing tricks - and the poor device of the wolf. i'm not a believer in the supernatural so that plot line wouldn't have been considered - it would have to work without that slant.

[PatsyMFagan]

I now understand and agree with both your views …. I too was wondering at some point of there was going to be a sequel

[Suelle]

i didn't see any 'supernatural' bits that couldn't be explained by the ptsd and the usual way of the mind playing tricks - and the poor device of the wolf. i'm not a believer in the supernatural so that plot line wouldn't have been considered - it would have to work without that slant.

Did you think the implication was that the children had been killed by wolves? I didn't see it that way, especially as Adam had 'seen' wolves in the police station and (IIRC) his home, making them some figment of his PTSD.

There were quite a few references, from various characters, to unexplained noises in the woods, including creepy laughter and if Adam believed Jonathan when he said the older teenagers hadn't harmed the two children who disappeared, then I think there were just enough hints that something supernatural was involved rather than the disappearance still just being unexplained.

It's fascinating that people can watch the same programme and come to different conclusions, but perhaps that's the mark of a good, or at least attention catching, programme (or book).

[Suelle]

Just saw this on my Facebook feed - this reviewer inclines towards the supernatural too, as in 'eaten by a tree-god':

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/dublin- ... -8-review/

[scullion]

i still don't go for the supernatural slant - if someone said they heard eerie laughter, that could be because of the topography and acoustics of the woodland and when one person says they hear/see something a subsequent, suggestible, person may also believe they hear something.
there is much more likelihood of the back of his tee-shirt having been ripped by brambles and the child adam being scared out of his wits by an alsatian. you could drop in here a suggestion that the dog belonged to a person (as yet unknown - another series plot?) who abducted the other two children.

[PatsyMFagan]

Just saw this on my Facebook feed - this reviewer inclines towards the supernatural too, as in 'eaten by a tree-god':

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/dublin- ... -8-review/

Reading this has reminded me : Just how did Rosalind know who Adam was when nobody else seemed to recognise him ?

[KC2]

We caught up with it a couple of days ago

Reading this has reminded me : Just how did Rosalind know who Adam was when nobody else seemed to recognise him ?

One crazy identifying another? A sixth sense?

[scullion]

i took it that she was bright and had put two and two together with the hints that he'd dropped to her.

[StokeySue]

Just finished it

I think the idea was that Rosalind had spotted Adam, because abnormally keyed up to picking up the clues which she said he had dropped

You have to enlist the supernatural to accept wolves, despite the one Frank saw at the end, as the last wild wolf was killed in Ireland in 1786 according to Wiki. So that’s a bit of a lose end