"Best Beware My Sting" is a good S & H episode, but I am a bit surprised at the description of it as "lighthearted" and "fun" in a few reviews - I wouldn't characterize it as such. It begins typically enough for the series, with Frank and Lu being hired by corporate bigwig Gordon Minola to prevent the radical environmentalist group Mortal Coil, of which his older daughter Kate is a key member, from undermining his efforts to get a fracking contract for his energy company. Minola also wants the detectives to ensure that nothing sabotages the imminent wedding of his younger daughter Bianca to her wealthy fiancé Lucas de Boulay. There are laughs to be had, true, from the difficulty everyone experiences in trying to wrangle firebrand Kate, whose go-to move when she's angry is to throw things at people's heads. A verbal exchange through a glass window between Frank and Bianca's ex-boyfriend Rufus also affords some goofiness, but the story turns dark quickly, with a kidnapping and then a murder figuring into the plot. Suspicion points in various directions, but as it turns out, the person behind it all is truly a cold-blooded sociopath of a type not often encountered on the show.
There are good guest acting performances all around, particularly from Caitlin Drabble, Lucy Pearson and Tim Renouf. The storyline has a lot going on, which results in it feeling rushed in certain areas: the kidnapping and its subsequent resolution could have been given more weight visually and dramatically, and we should have seen more of the murder victim before the character's demise. I agree with the reviewer who pointed out that Bard aficionado Sebastian would surely have commented on the two sisters' names at some point - the writer missed an opportunity there, but gets points for a reference to a nearby location called "Shrew's Croft".
Overall I would say this episode has a slightly more serious feel than usual for this show, but that's not a bad thing at all.
There are good guest acting performances all around, particularly from Caitlin Drabble, Lucy Pearson and Tim Renouf. The storyline has a lot going on, which results in it feeling rushed in certain areas: the kidnapping and its subsequent resolution could have been given more weight visually and dramatically, and we should have seen more of the murder victim before the character's demise. I agree with the reviewer who pointed out that Bard aficionado Sebastian would surely have commented on the two sisters' names at some point - the writer missed an opportunity there, but gets points for a reference to a nearby location called "Shrew's Croft".
Overall I would say this episode has a slightly more serious feel than usual for this show, but that's not a bad thing at all.
