Summary
Another week, another murder. “The Murder Stone Part One” follows the show’s formula to the letter, with a new murder case and fresh suspects to question. It’s all rather repetitive and most of the characters are hard to engage with, but there is still intrigue in the mystery and the series is professionally made.
We recap the Prime Video series Three Pines season 1, episode 5, “The Murder Stone Part One,” which contains spoilers.
In Three Pines there’s been another murder. It may be an idyllic, hidden part of Canada, but it is also the home to a hell of a lot of anger and vengeance, something we’re supposed to just accept as an audience. This time around, in “The Murder Stone Part One”, it’s the Morrow family that comes under fire and close scrutiny. Armand (Alfred Molina) is on hand once again to investigate yet another killing and a beautiful chateau is the backdrop for all this week’s brutality.
Three Pines season 1, episode 5 recap
The Morrow family has gathered at the family Chateau, which is now a lucrative hotel business, to hear the last will and testament of Charles Morrow, the ruthless businessman and father. His children, Thomas, Peter, and Mariana are each left twenty thousand and his wife Irene gets the estate. But it is the estranged daughter Julia that gets the Chateau. This announcement is met with anger from the rest of the family. They are then shown the father’s final gift, an unsightly statue of the man himself.
That night they gather once more for a meal to discuss their father, and married couple Peter and Clara bump into Armand and his wife Reine-Marie. They are staying at the Chateau for their anniversary – what a coincidence. Armand watches the Morrow family meal from afar. It’s a heated debate as they argue. Julia believes she was owed the hotel as a reward for something horrible her father did to her in her youth. She argues that no one stood up for her at the time, but she has now found her son and is going to give him the hotel instead.
A violent storm follows that aggressive meal and a drunk Julia wanders the rooftop in the torrential downpour. She goes to her father’s statue, where she releases more of her pent-up anger. While Julia goes wild, Armand is having a rather painful dream. The next morning, he walks the grounds with his wife but is swiftly summoned. There’s been a terrible accident. Julia is found crushed underneath the statue.
Jean-Guy and Isabelle are quickly requested and investigate the crime scene with Armand. The Chief thinks this is no accident, Julia was bludgeoned to death before the statue was pushed onto her. This was staged to look like an accident, but it is very much a homicide. Armand orders all guests to be contained within the grounds for questioning. He notices that the cement hasn’t hardened on the statue’s feet and there are strange carvings all over the monument. There’s even excrement smeared on the statue too.
Armand informs the Morrow family and the hotel staff of Julia’s passing. They all deny seeing Julia after the meal. As usual, the gang starts to gather evidence and question all the suspects. Charles’ wife Irene explains how Julia became pregnant at fifteen and Charles ordered her to put the baby up for adoption. Irene wasn’t included in the discussion and is saddened to this day by the incident. Julia soon left the family, which created a rift between all the siblings.
Peter, who has been a suspect of Armand’s before, is seen on the CCTV footage wandering the grounds during the storm. Peter admits to looking for Julia, even though he lied about this earlier to Armand. Julia and Peter had argued the night before, but he promises he didn’t kill his sister – well, that’s that then. Armand shows Peter the carvings. Peter notices a carving of a dog that looks like a drawing he did as a child. Peter explains how Charles would set the children puzzles to solve, in an attempt to test and humiliate them. He thinks these carvings are Charles’ final puzzle. Each sibling represents a different carving.
Isabelle and Yvette check Julia’s room, where they find two wine glasses – suspicious! Yvette is flippant about Julia’s death and asks what she had done for a job. Isabelle informs her that she was a tech entrepreneur. Isabelle is tired of Yvette’s unprofessional antics, and I am growing ever more irritated by this character too. She asks Yvette to go fetch some drinks, just to be away from her. Then Isabelle discovers a note written to Julia, it says: “Meet me by the statue, we need to talk”.
There’s another break in the Blue Two-Rivers disappearance case. Suspect Kevin Kis sees his details on the news and panics, calling Isabelle. He asks to meet with her alone to prove his innocence and explain what really happened.
Armand interrogates Clara, who reveals her husband’s history with Julia. When she fell pregnant, Julia confided in Peter and told him she was going to elope with her boyfriend. He went and told his father, leaving the baby scan photo on his desk. Julia never forgave him for this betrayal and Peter never forgave himself either. Once again, Peter is a suspect in a Three Pines murder case.
Ending Explained
Interviewing the other siblings, Mariana states that she is the tortoise carving and she thinks that Thomas is the duck because Charles called him one when asking for a loan. Although Thomas thinks he’s the stag, because he’s the firstborn and daddy’s favorite, as well as being the one who famously shot a stag as a child. Armand asks why there was raccoon excrement found smeared over the stag carving. Thomas suggests jealousy on Julia’s part. Armand then questions the hotel manager, Maurice, and a hotel staff member called Elliot, who slept with Julia the night that she was killed. Armand is suspicious of this individual, but Jean-Guy has a more pressing suspect to seek out instead.
The handwriting from Julia’s note is a match with Thomas’s. He has a motive as well; the eldest son is in financial trouble. Jean-Guy says Thomas is nearly bankrupt, he needed the hotel to stay afloat. Thomas is enraged by this accusation and asks to get a lawyer. Next, there are gunshots heard coming from the roof. Armand runs to the rooftop, where he finds Thomas wielding a weapon. Thomas points the rifle at his throat, telling Armand to stay back, if he comes any closer, he will shoot. What secrets does this man have?
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