Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise’s new detective breaks the mould in more ways than one
He's more than just the token detective.
A full-on assault on Santahood and a new detective turned prime suspect: Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise sure knows how to make Don Gilet’s debut memorable.
Gilet’s Mervin Wilson takes over the reins from Ralf Little’s Neville Parker as lead detective in Saint Marie and his arrival on the island elevates this Christmas special from your traditional festive must-watch to the most important change in the franchise’s history thus far.
It has already been a year of shake-ups for the Paraverse, starting with Return to Paradise‘s Anna Samson taking on the role of Mackenzie Clarke, the franchise’s first female lead detective.
While Samson claimed that a woman taking the helm didn’t ‘change the DNA of the show as much as one might think‘, we would argue that it did. Return to Paradise may march to a similar beat as the existing shows in the franchise but it inherently reframes the way we see roles of power much in the same way that Gilet being the franchise’s first Black lead detective does.
Before he even opens his mouth, his presence as an intelligent, Black, senior detective re-writes the code, stripping the antiquated colonial subtext that was bred-in from the arrival of Richard Poole (Ben Miller) and continued through all his replacements.
White lead detective followed white lead detective, propped up by Black subordinates, all reinforcing a perhaps mild, but nevertheless present white-saviour theme and the notion that Black somehow means lesser.
Don Warrington’s Commissioner Selwyn made the white detective/Black sidekick pairing palatable for many years, owing to Selwyn’s status as the most senior member of the police force (but not the lead actor and not the one leading investigations).
But the Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise veteran can no longer (and should no longer) bear that load, a fact that has now been acknowledged by the show’s creative team.
Gilet’s merit for the role, however, doesn’t solely rest on his Blackness. It’s clear that he is aptly suited for the part, offering a fresh, more inclusive take on what it means to be British beyond his race.
For those itching for the culture-clash aspect, it’s still there, just not packaged up in a buttoned-up, suit-and-tie white man melting under the Caribbean sun.
Instead we get Mervin, whose less formal way of speaking and relaxed dress sense is accompanied by a London swag (and by swag we mean a deep-seated resentment for anything that isn’t instantaneous).
There’s nothing more London than aggressively smashing the button for a lift in the hopes that the 57th press will finally make it arrive faster than the 56th.
Mervin chafes against the slower paced lifestyle of Saint Marie, manifesting in a poor phone signal, a lack of air-con and a million other little gripes over the course of the episode.
His ‘bah-humbugness’ is made even more raw owing to the fact he doesn’t even want to be there. “Like stepping back in time,” he laments loudly and openly.
His exasperation aside, this is the first time that Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise has offered fans something beyond the stereotypical male Brit (Ardal O’Hanlon aside) who – despite charming idiosyncrasies – maintained a whiff of upper-echelon stuffiness about him.
To be clear, Mervin’s more casual approach does nothing to diminish his credentials or intelligence, and yes, he still has his own set of quirks. Instead it gives fans a more modern side of British culture to chew on – and it’s refreshing.
