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REVIEW: Murder at the Cottage | Episode Two

October 14th, 2022 12:05 PM

By Dylan Mangan

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It's a story that doesn't seem to stop.

The murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier has spawned podcasts, documentaries and hundreds, if not thousands, of articles - all focused on trying to figure out what happened on the night of the 23rd of December 1996.

We have covered the story from all angles - reporting on latest events and even reviewing the original West Cork podcast.

With the news this year that gardaí are launching a full review of the investigation that took place all those years ago, we decided to take a look at the two documentaries that, along with the podcast, brought the story to international attention.

You can read our review of the Netflix documentary here.

Catch up with our Episode One Review.

Episode two begins with Jim Sheridan leafing through old photos of Sophie. Her as a child, as a woman, as a mother.

He looks at each photo says he wants to show these because he has to show graphic ones of her murder afterwards.

He laments the need to show these distressing images, but is there a need?

Do we really need to see bruises and scratches and bloody blocks? Time enough has passed and enough people in the previous episode describe the brutal nature of the murder.

However, they do add a gruesome level of detail to the episode.

And the devil is in the detail in shows like these - something Sheridan does have to be commended for.

We get small details that are left out of the Netflix series. 

We learn that Marie Farrell said she saw Ian Bailey washing his boots at Kealfadda bridge.

We learn that he got up that night to go to his studio just down the road.

We learn he had a fire in his garden in the days following the murder.

All small details, but with enough devilment to draw you back into the case again.

To have a present day interview with Marie Farrell is something of a coup.

It would make you wonder as to where the case would have gone had she not been fearful of revealing the details of her definitely not an affair back in 1996.

There's a lot less Jim in this episode, and it's a welcome absence.

It's not that he shouldn't be there at all, but too much and it starts to feel like an episode of Jim Sheridan's West Cork travel show.

In the previous episode he described himself as a storyteller. 

Once he gets out of the way of the story he proves himself right, and he makes a compelling 45 minutes of television here.

Those small details work in tandem with Sheridan's cinematic tendencies.

Voiceovers are used to dramatic effect. It does add an authentic feel to hear Ian Bailey reading from his own interview with the police.

However, re-enactments of a shadowy figure following Sophie down a Schull street are a strange inclusion, and only seem to exist to fill space.

Overall, it's a more successful episode than the first.

It builds up to another crescendo culminating in Ian Bailey sitting down to speak.

He sings a song as he makes his way to his seat.

And despite ourselves, we strap in for episode three.

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