S03.E03: Hotel St. Marc

[Door County Cherry]

Eliza tracks down a conman, but she is not the only one who hopes to claim the reward. 

[nora1992]

Half-way through the episode, and I have no idea who’s right.  Great episode!

[Cetacean]

Goodness, that was convoluted!  I am glad I taped it, I want to rewatch!  Could have sworn the cigar man was involved as well.

[HoodlumSheep]

We basically got fun little bottle episode and I enjoyed every minute for it. Did wonders for Mr. Nash's character imo. All it took was lil more honesty.

The multi-suspect shenanigans were fantastic.

No William this episode??? I wonder if the actor had another gig going on this season.

[kirinan]

Color me surprised; this is one of my favorite episodes yet! Lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up till the end. And Eliza and Nash were very good together. They’re a lot more alike than she’d like to think. I hate to say it, because I still adore him, but I didn’t miss William at all. Seemed from the next episode preview he might not be in next week’s episode, either. That might be a little too much without him, though. Still, as long as he’s messing with Arabella, I wouldn’t mind a little more Nash.

Edited January 23, 2023 by kirinan

[dargosmydaddy]

Three episodes in, and I have to say the quality of the mysteries has really improved this season! Last seasons' were so predictable.

I thought this was the most fun episode in quite awhile, in addition to being well-written. I don't like Nash and I do like William, and I still loved this episode.

[Door County Cherry]

I don't remember the specifics of the episode since I saw it about a month ago but I remember loving it too which surprised me because there was no William. I definitely liked Nash more in the ep than I had in the past.  

As for William and whether he's in next week's episode. 

Spoiler

He's in it but he doesn't show up until near the end so it's basically another episode without him. 

 

[katalizt]

I definitely missed William tonight, I almost didn't finish the episode. It was all case and very little character. I did not enjoy it. 

[Dowel Jones]

That was a hoot.  Agatha Christie might be proud.  He's guilty!  No, he is!  I'm an American!  She's working for the Russians!  Eliza and Patrick should go to the prospective buyer of the hotel and explain it to him, and claim as their fee a portion of the money they saved him.

Nash did take Eliza down a peg with his remembrance of his brother.  However, that doesn't mean the rest of his story was true.

I liked Eliza's trouble with the telegram to the Duke.  "How am I going to explain this?"

[libgirl2]

I really enjoyed that episode. It was fun!  And I liked Nash. 

[kirinan]

10 hours ago, katalizt said:

I definitely missed William tonight

I need to amend my statement from, "I didn’t miss William at all" to "I didn't miss Eliza using William as a crutch to solve a case." I always love having Stuart Martin on my screen, but it was nice to see Eliza have to actually work with someone as equals to solve a case, instead of having to run to William for help. It was a different dynamic, and one I liked.

[tv echo]

That was twisty and fun, but I missed William.

I wonder if Nash and Arabella are supposed to be representative of more compatible matches for Eliza and William, respectively, at least on paper.

[nora1992]

38 minutes ago, tv echo said:

That was twisty and fun, but I missed William.

I wonder if Nash and Arabella are supposed to be representative of more compatible matches for Eliza and William, respectively, at least on paper.

I like Nash for Eliza: he’s never told her to find something else to do, but encourages her work.  His ethics leave a bit to be desired, but he isn’t beyond redemption.  

[taanja]

13 minutes ago, nora1992 said:

I like Nash for Eliza: he’s never told her to find something else to do, but encourages her work.  His ethics leave a bit to be desired, but he isn’t beyond redemption.  

Yes. William does seem to think that someday Eliza will change and settle down and want to be a wife and mother. He has implied it more than once and even said it out loud to her but she just dismisses the idea.

I liked this ep - it was fun. The case was great because i had no idea who was what! They were ALL in on it!

My question -- I have several actually. The actor who plays Nash -- is he someone's special something? Like the actress who plays Eliza or the showrunners significant other or relation? I ask because he seems as if he got the job because he knows someone behind the scenes. That fake mustache is SO distracting! it keeps looking like it's slipping off his face!

Is the actor who plays William otherwise engaged? It felt to me that this ep was written with Eliza and William in mind and when the actors who plays William was unavailable (for whatever reason) they stuck the character of Nash in and just tweaked some of the dialog to make it work. It would have been REALLY cute if that had been Eliza and William working together.

Not to say I didn't enjoy the episode. It was rather enjoyable. And I don't mind Patrick Nash. On paper perhaps he is more compatible with Eliza but the "spark" is missing. And did I read somewhere above that the speculation is that William is spending time with Arabella? ugh! Say it ain't so!

[Dowel Jones]

1 hour ago, taanja said:

Is the actor who plays William otherwise engaged?

To be honest, I was half expecting William to walk into the hotel in pursuit of yet another "Percival", and complicate matters even further.

[libgirl2]

6 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

To be honest, I was half expecting William to walk into the hotel in pursuit of yet another "Percival", and complicate matters even further.

that did cross my mind too! 

[tennisgurl]

That was a really fun unique episode, my favorite one this season so far. I really had no idea where this was going until the end, there were so many twists and turns. I guessed early on that the hotel owner might be the real con man, but it turned out to be much more complicated than that. He's the con man! No, he is! He's an American PI! She's an assassin! Everyone is in on it! Except the cigar/wine guy, who I was sure was involved in something but turned out to be the only person who was exactly who he seemed to be. Great episode. 

I missed William and it was weird not to have him around, but it was fun seeing Nash again. I still don't trust him and his ethics leaves some to be desired, but I thought he and Eliza had pretty good chemistry and he did seem to actually open up to her a few times. I think the show might do something where William spends time with Arabella, the kind of proper woman he has always thought he would be with, while Eliza gets closer to Nash, a more rough and tumble man who she seems to have more in common with, until they realize that they are still pulled to each other despite their differences.

The two possible con men arguing over who is the real con man, including insulting each others, clothes, was cracking me up. Especially looking back on it knowing who both of those guys really were. "Look at that waistcoat!" "You dress like a mortician!" 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by tennisgurl

[chaifan]

I like Nash, because he sees Eliza as a competent detective, practically an equal in that regard.  He knows she's smart.  The only way he got as far as he did in this case is because one of his men broke into her office and looked at her board.

I think William has a certain amount of respect for Eliza, but still sees her detective business as a hobby, not a serious pursuit. 

I do wish it was Eliza who escaped the handcuffs, and had to release Nash, not the other way around. 

And I'd really like to know how her hair is so perfect all the time, especially when she's doing it herself while away from home!

 

[Magnumfangirl]

This felt like an episode made to keep the show under budget.  👎  It wasn't horrible, but I doubt I watch it again.

[Daff]

20 hours ago, nora1992 said:

I like Nash for Eliza: he’s never told her to find something else to do, but encourages her work.  His ethics leave a bit to be desired, but he isn’t beyond redemption.  

I do agree with this, but for all his effort at being charming and persuasive, it falls short because of the constant lying. I disliked the reporter for similar reasons, but he didn’t even attempt to be charming, so ended up coming off as smarmy. 

[taanja]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:49 AM, Dowel Jones said:

To be honest, I was half expecting William to walk into the hotel in pursuit of yet another "Percival", and complicate matters even further.

I would have LOVED that! IMO he was missed.

[blackwing]

Fantastic and fun episode.  Location cut off from the outside world because of snow, all the suspects in the same building.  Dame Agatha would be proud!

Nash was 1000% more enjoyable in this episode than he was last season.  I really liked the way he and Eliza worked together.  My favourite part of the conversation was when they were playing that game and trying to guess the other guests' stories.  They seemed like old friends.

I think what is great about this episode is that she didn't need William or the doors he opens for her.  Nash still wants to hire her and thinks she is great.

[chaifan]

17 hours ago, blackwing said:

My favourite part of the conversation was when they were playing that game and trying to guess the other guests' stories. 

That was also my favorite part.  I think it would be fun in future episodes to make that a thing, but also to have William try and get in on it, but always be wrong.  I'm not usually keen on love triangles, but I'd like to see William realize that another man may be vying for Eliza's attention. 

 

[taanja]

2 hours ago, chaifan said:

That was also my favorite part.  I think it would be fun in future episodes to make that a thing, but also to have William try and get in on it, but always be wrong.  I'm not usually keen on love triangles, but I'd like to see William realize that another man may be vying for Eliza's attention. 

 

Yup! That would be delightful!

I already like the way William looks at Eliza and Moses when they are laughing together. He always looks jealous of their easy friendship.

I would love to see his reaction to Nash's obvious attraction to Eliza. Ha!

[Nolefan]

Sorry, but this episode was just a snooze fest for me. Feel like the show runners are trying to create/force some chemistry between Eliza & Nash. The out of nowhere story about Nash’s brother just felt really contrived to produce some sympathy for a character that’s been really sleazy up until this point. Wondering why the show runner feels the need to suddenly do a 180 with the character? Makes me really wonder when William is missing from the entire episode. Are they trying to replace William with Nash? Hope not, because this episode just shows how Eliza & Nash don’t have anything close to the electric chemistry of Eliza & William. It’s Miss Scarlet & The Duke not Miss Scarlet & Patrick. 

[RedbirdNelly]

I loved the episode. I normally would miss William, but not in this case. Fun change of pace.

[LisaM]

I missed Ivy, Moses and William. The mystery was fine but I was bored.