Death in Paradise's Don Gilet can thrive in his new role – if the show does one key thing

In the Christmas special, as Gilet’s Mervin Wilson finds himself on the island of Saint Marie for (ultimately rather tragic) personal reasons, he’s called into action when three Santas are shot over the festive period (we’re assured none of them are the real Father Christmas, though, don’t worry).

What follows is a 90-minute episode of Death in Paradise-ness that largely feels comfortingly – or frustratingly, depending on your mood – familiar.

That is, aside from the addition of Don Gilet himself, whose take on the 'reluctant detective inspector' role is genuinely original.

After creating a string of lovably awkward bumbling types with varying degrees of success across the past 13 years, it’s refreshing to have a DI who is self-confident, quick-witted, almost bordering on arrogant – bringing a change of tone that feels much-needed at a time when the show was at risk of going stale.

However, while the main man himself offers something new, the nature of his debut in general was far from groundbreaking.

After so many years of peculiar so-and-sos leading their team, you’d think the staff at Honoré Police Station would be used to their new detectives having quirky behaviours, and that they’d accept that those new detectives probably aren’t going to be overjoyed at taking on a stressful situation against their will.

After four previous DIs have been in the exact same situation, surely they’d trust the next in line to get the job done in their own, admittedly odd, ways, even if they do have to have a grumble about it now and again?

Heck, the commissioner himself has even started to lean into Saint Marie’s unorthodox – arguably legally questionable – approach to tackling crimes, with Don Warrington’s Selwyn Patterson encouraging Mervin to 'do a Poirot' when revealing the real killer.

Why, then, does the majority of the episode revolve around tropes that we’ve seen before, forcing in tensions that certainly feel overplayed, and arguably go against the nature of this otherwise rather open-minded, happy-go-lucky line-up of characters?

It’s a grind to watch Shantol Jackson’s DS Naomi Thomas roll her eyes as Mervin takes to a basketball court at a seemingly inappropriate time, as if Neville (Ralf Little) hadn’t gone down his own strange avenues to get to the truth countless times over.

And while the commissioner is slightly more chummy with Mervin than he has been with his predecessors, he still feels needlessly overbearing to a clearly talented crime-solver who cancelled his trip home to lend a helping hand. Give the man a break, Selwyn!

The quicker the show moves on from these tiresome dynamics, the quicker the Gilet era can really begin to excel.

For all that the entire 'Paraverse' is built on the fish-out-of-water concept, Death in Paradise has always been at its strongest when it has a settled, close-knit group of characters who get on, help each other out and establish genuine human connections.

Think of the fun rapport between Ben Miller’s DI Richard Poole and DS Camille Bordey (Sara Martins) by season 2, who needle each other in increasingly amusing ways but ultimately get one other on a deeper level, or Kris Marshall’s Humphrey taking on a mentorship role for JP (Tobi Bakare), helping him to grow and improve as both an officer and a human.

In what is – despite the name – a heartwarming show, these sweet moments, rather than the cases themselves, really make the series worth watching.

For season 14 to thrive, it should be built on these moments.

The promising sign is that, from the off, we can see hints of what sort of dynamics could develop next year.

In brief spells, Mervin and Naomi have already shown that they can be open and honest with each other, having surprisingly touching heart-to-hearts that peeled back layers on the former’s psyche.

And Mervin has also demonstrated that he has respect for the team as a whole, with DI Wilson only taking around an hour to shower the Honoré crew with the type of praise that took Richard Poole two seasons to dish out.

Should Death in Paradise build on this – and ASAP – in the upcoming run, they could be onto a winner.

Already, the casting of Gilet looks like the shot in the arm that the series has been calling out for – now, it’s about making sure the characters and relationships around him enable the new detective to build on this strong start.

Here’s hoping it happens.

Death in Paradise is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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