It looked like things couldn’t get any worse for Detective Sergeant Mackenzie ‘Mack’ Clarke at the end of season two of Return to Paradise. But at the start of season three, her mum arrives in Dolphin Cove.
Mack’s bohemian – and troublemaking – mum Jillian is played by Kerry Armstrong, and she almost immediately becomes the prime suspect in a murder case.
Where did things end up in season two?
The wedding of Mack’s ex, Glenn, to Daisy (Andrea Demetriades), ended in disaster, partly due to Mack stopping the wedding to investigate a murder. Glenn and Daisy’s relationship fell apart and Glenn left town.
“At the end of season two, Glenn has had his heart broken in multiple ways,” Tai Hara, who plays Glenn, tells TV WEEK. “The wedding was called off and Glenn realised that maybe he was the problem. So he took some time.
“He’s been on the road really finding himself and soul-searching,”
It looked like things couldn’t get any worse for Detective Sergeant Mackenzie ‘Mack’ Clarke at the end of season two of Return to Paradise. But at the start of season three, her mum arrives in Dolphin Cove.
Mack’s bohemian – and troublemaking – mum Jillian is played by Kerry Armstrong, and she almost immediately becomes the prime suspect in a murder case.
Where did things end up in season two?
The wedding of Mack’s ex, Glenn, to Daisy (Andrea Demetriades), ended in disaster, partly due to Mack stopping the wedding to investigate a murder. Glenn and Daisy’s relationship fell apart and Glenn left town.
“At the end of season two, Glenn has had his heart broken in multiple ways,” Tai Hara, who plays Glenn, tells TV WEEK. “The wedding was called off and Glenn realised that maybe he was the problem. So he took some time.
“He’s been on the road really finding himself and soul-searching,”
What happens when season three returns?
Mack is at the Dolphin Cove Art Fair when she first sees Jillian – and things get very dramatic very quickly. As part of an art installation, Jillian stabs famous artist Viktor Shevchenko (Lani Tupu). Jillian was supposedly using a retractable knife… so why is Viktor found dead afterwards? Mack doesn’t believe her mum is capable of murder.
“As Mack says, ‘She won’t even kill ants in the kitchen, she just asks them to leave,’” Anna Samson, who plays Mack, tells TV WEEK.
Anna says Mack’s mum is different to her in so many ways, “though the similarity is that they both have a tendency to run away when things get hard”.
“So Mack’s mum has been absent for big stretches of Mack’s life, leaving her to parent herself, often which are too restrictive, too fear-based. Because her mum takes up so much emotional room, Mack has cut off access to her own emotions at the source: the heart. Her mum arrives to challenge this and to open up Mack’s heart again. It’s dangerous territory.”
So who’s the new guy?
A forensic pathologist has arrived in Dolphin Cove to take Glenn’s place. His name is Leo Drake, and he’s played by Aussie actor Jacob Collins, who’s previously appeared in The White Princess and Young Wallander, as well as Doctor Who.
“After loitering in several continents over the years, I figured at the beginning of this year that it was time to move back home,” Jacob tells TV WEEK. “This job came through a month after moving into a new place in Melbourne. The timing was right and I could tell it was an incredibly fun team I’d be joining.”
So what’s Leo like as a forensic pathologist?
“Leo does get good results – it’s just that both his methods and his conduct are far sloppier than some may like,” Jacob says. “Upon answering this question, I’m starting to see why I may have been cast.”
While Mack is trying to work out what she thinks of Leo, Glenn is winding up his soul-searching and heading for home.
“He’s come to the conclusion that there’s still an unresolved puzzle in his heart that he needs to figure out once and for all,” Tai says. “So we pick up with him returning to finally speak his truth to Mackenzie.”
Catch Return to Paradise on Sunday at 8.20pm on ABC or ABC iview.
