Trying – Murder at Slaughterbridge Manor

By: Gladys Luna

Scott’s (Darren Boyd) 50^th birthday is just around the corner and the man has a very special evening planned to celebrate surrounded by all of his friends and family. The first game is to solve his own murder, so we can see him trying different places around his country house that he finds comfortable to be “murdered” in. Once he finds the perfect spot, he goes to meet with Karen (Sian Brooke) who’s been busy hanging up the birthday banners in the house. He gets her up to speed about his plans and. although she does not agree with them, he truly doesn’t mind about her opinion. Soon after the guests start to arrive and the first ones to come are Nikki (Esther Smith), Jason (Rafe Spall) and Tyler (Cooper Turner). Tyler is still carrying Bev’s (Clare Higgins) cardboard box picture with him while Nikki and Jason argue about the reason why the woman does not allow him to drive. Princess (Scarlett Rayner) and Victor (Phil Davis) are next to arrive in the car that Bev left for the young woman. The next ones to show up are John (Roderick Smith) and Jilly (Marian McLoughlin) who have brought Stevie (Matilda Flower) with them in a caravan that, according to Jason, they carry everything you can imagine. This draws Princess attention who immediately sets her mind into figuring out if what her father says is true.

Scott welcomes them and expresses how excited he is that his long-time friend Jason is giving a thirty-minute-long speech for him, something that takes the other man by surprise given that he was not prepared for that. The guests are now settled into their rooms and Victor has taken the time to leave chocolates on everyone’s pillows just like they do in hotels. Tyler finds the chocolate and eats it while feeling a little bit nostalgic when watching his grandma’s picture that now he has placed next to the window. Victor appears to be feeling kind of sad as well as it seems that Bev’s recent passing reminded him of his own wife’s death and has him thinking a lot about it. He goes to Tyler’s room to check on him and the kid opens up about his true feelings. Victor tries to give him some comfort by saying that even though at first the burden is heavy, it becomes lighter over time.

In the meantime, Princess is still intrigued and interested in proving her father’s words, so she asks John for the most peculiar tool. The man happily agrees to borrow it to her. Game time has arrived so Scott calls everyone to the foyer and takes the time to explain the first game of the night for them: to solve his murder. He gives each one of them a character to play and makes sure to share the rules of the game. Before they know it, he has disappeared and is asking them to find him. The whole group splits and Jason takes the chance to talk to Nikki about his concerns about the speech he is supposed to give for Scott since he realizes that he doesn’t know much about him, but his wife assures him that he will certainly find something worthy of saying. Jason starts asking others their opinion about Scott but, unfortunately for him, nobody appears to know him that well either.

Later on, Princess and Victor are teaming up to find Scott but while the young woman is very invested in the game her grandpa is more concerned about other things. Thefore, he ends up confessing that he is ready to move on and leave his grief behind. And, as a first step, he has downloaded a dating app and asks for his granddaughter’s help to set him a profile. Princess takes a look at the progress he’s done so far but she realizes that he still has a lot to learn and she will help him with it.

Jason has teamed up with Tyler, but his mind is onto the speech and, unluckily for him, he hasn’t found anything important to say yet. Meanwhile, Princess is trying to take some new photos of Victor, but it is not as easy as she thought it would be. She decides to go and ask John to lend her some props to make the photo session more interesting. Jason and Tyler are now looking through Scott’s stuff that would give him a clue about what to say on his speech while the birthday man is getting bored in the library waiting for someone to find him. After a while, and seeing that nobody has yet showed up, he decides to read a book about the sea to pass the time.

The night has come and everyone is gathered at the dining room ready for dinner when Karen asks about Scott and it is right then when the man shows up, looking all serious and disappointed. He takes his place at the table and to break the tension, Karen encourages Jason to start with his speech. The man tries hard to deliver something special, but nothing comes out properly so, in order to stop him from making a fool out of himself, Scott stands up and admits that the reason why Jason is struggling with his speech is because there’s nothing meaningful to say about him. Additionally, the fact that no one came to find him had only confirmed that his existence is not of importance to anyone, so he has made a choice and that is to go and sail the Atlantic Ocean. He then cheers his daughter and goes to the kitchen leaving everyone (especially his wife) dumbfounded before such a revelation. As expected, Karen follows him to clarify the situation. Once they are alone, she confronts him about what he just said, and he admits that his prior decisions at work have only caused more damage to the planet which is something that keeps his daughter awake at night. Therefore, as a way to leave a better world for her, he will now do the opposite. He recognizes that he has led a life of failures but he won’t fail his daughter. The couple returns to the dining room and he suggests playing another game but Karen opposes it. Tyler comes with the idea of playing something called “Does that Float?” which everyone ends up playing at the caravan given that it is filled with all sorts of objects that would help with the game.

The weekend is now over and everyone is getting ready to go back home. Jason apologizes to Scott for ruining the speech and his friend forgives him. Jason asks Nikki to let him drive and she agrees under the condition that he won’t lose his temper over other people, and he accepts. However, they haven’t left the driveaway yet and he is already putting on a tantrum, so they switch seats again. On the other hand, Tyler decides that it is time to move on and has left Bev’s cardboard box picture in one of the rooms. Princess gets into her car and while waiting for Victor to join her, she tries to set her destination on the car’s GPS and realizes that on the favorite list is her biological mother’s address and she is shocked by it. Victor gets into the car, and she pretends that nothing has happened and hides the GPS from him.