Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise’s Mervin twist is a game-changer – but it risks undermining his story

Right…

He was then accused of murder after he was spotted skulking near the home of a potential victim, which is when said secret was unveiled – and instantly set the series on a new course that has the potential to make season 14 the most captivating yet.

Mervin wasn’t in Saint Marie to chow down on some bokit or dip his toes in its crystal blue waters. He was there to visit his mother Dorna, who he’d never actually met – or rather, was too young to remember, hence his edgy demeanour.

We don’t know if he was seeking a relationship with her, or if he simply had some burning questions that only she could answer.

Why did you give me away? Did you think about reaching out? Did you ever love me?

There is so much about Mervin we still don’t know.

But sadly, that reunion wasn’t to be because his mother had died a few months ago, news which was delivered to him by one of her neighbours.

While he hadn’t quite readied himself to meet her, hence his initial decision to fly home without making an introduction, as far as he was aware, the option still remained if he did change his mind.

But very quickly, that choice was taken away from him.

Mervin will never meet his mother.

After doing some digging, Selwyn informed him that Dorna had been out in her father’s fishing boat when a storm rolled in hard and fast.

He’d had dementia and she had been caring for him until his Dᴇᴀᴛʜ just four months ago when she decided to scatter his ashes at sea, only to end up becoming the victim of a freak accident.

But after examining the police file given to him by the commissioner, Mervin spotted a key detail that changes everything: the coroner’s ruling was wrong. His mother’s Dᴇᴀᴛʜ “was not an accident” after all.

But if Dorna was murdered, who was responsible for committing the heinous act? And what drove them to do such a thing?

Now, it’s not unexpected that the show’s creator and lead writer Robert Thorogood has gone in this direction. Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise is a murder mystery, after all. And Mervin’s backstory also offers up an another opportunity to weave in a compelling ongoing puzzle alongside the case of the week, and one that will deepen our understanding of him.

As we’ve learned more about all of the lead detectives over the years, particularly the more challenging and emotional dimensions of their respective characters, we’ve come to appreciate and even like them – warts and all.

But for that to happen with Mervin, does his mum really need to have been murdered?

If that was indeed her fate – and there’s every chance there will be another explanation, and I’ll look very silly as a result – then there’s not really much to distinguish it from being another case of the week.

Of course this time, it’ll run over multiple episodes and revolve around one of the main cast, but they are one and the same, which is far less interesting.

Instead of taking a different tack, the show has once again chosen to travel down that same road, which has all the markings of a missed opportunity.

While Mervin has yet to explicitly say what he hoped to gain from meeting Dorna, his desire is undoubtedly rooted in two components: to learn more about his mother by having her personally fill in the blanks, which in turn will help him to understand himself more clearly.

But it’s also about wanting to feel a sense of belonging and community. There’s a whole culture that the DI has never really tapped into, but through his mother, that was set to change – or at least there was the potential for that to happen.

Like I said, my words, not Mervin’s. But he cuts a sad, solitary figure who had finally worked up the courage to seek out more for himself.

And that can still happen, as Selwyn noted.

“I know you feel this island doesn’t offer as much as it did when you arrived, but is that a reason to leave?” he said. “Perhaps by getting to know Saint Marie, the island where your mother spent her life, you might get to know a little of her.”

There is the possibility of extended family and chosen family, a whole circle that he doesn’t yet know exists, that he’s never really had, who can answer his questions and help him feel connected to both his mother and the parts of himself that have always been there, but have lain dormant.

It’s an incredibly rich and poignant direction in which to take Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise, with plenty of inherent unknowns and tension that would have been enough to sustain our interest. But by throwing foul play into the mix, it cheapens it, somewhat.

We already have plenty of that, so did we really need more?

The uncertainty around Selwyn’s future also provides another mystery to keep viewers locked in, creating space for Mervin’s own deeply personal journey to carve out its own path.

But by threading in a wider question or another criminal element, the simple emotion of his mother’s passing, one that was initially without suspicion, is minimised.

Like I said, perhaps there will be something else at play. Perhaps Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise will demonstrate a newfound confidence in deviating from what we typically expect and offer up a more innocent explanation.

Could his mother still be alive, with some outlandish reason behind it all? The show is certainly no stranger to pushing credulity.

But if this is the direction it’s going in, with Mervin deciding to stay because he wants to solve yet another case, rather than being motivated by a desire to learn more about his heritage, it undermines what we were initially promised.

Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Fridays at 9pm.