The Brokenwood Mysteries - General Discussion

[Prevailing Wind]

6 minutes ago, Maren said:

It was annoying filler that went nowhere. 

Except for letting us see that Gina CAN quit being obsessive.

[WildPlum]

Well that season went by fast ...

 

Mixed bag, but some good stuff.

[roseha]

I found the second to last episode - I guess you could call it the "Tabitha" one - really disappointing.  If they wanted to indicate that Beth wasn't happy about Mike's obsession with his work, they could  have written it with her coming to that conclusion on her own, and not subjected everyone to an hour's worth of Tabitha and her inane delaying tactics.  On top of that the crime story was really dull, there wasn't a single interesting guest character and it was obvious from almost the start who were involved in  it.  The "how" was the only unique part but that didn't make up for the rest.  I was actually looking at the screen and couldn't believe it when there were over 40 minutes left to the show.

I did think the finale with the motorcycle gang was a much more interesting story with all the multiple characters involved.  I suspected the killer also though I was a little put out when it seemed that they were going to hang the whole murder on a very minor character.

The abrupt ending of the last one was interesting.  No cliff hanger or anything.   I wonder if they are planning a Season 10. I hope they are though I think this season was a little hit or miss.

[Milburn Stone]

On 6/3/2023 at 9:35 PM, roseha said:

The abrupt ending of the last one was interesting.  No cliff hanger or anything.   I wonder if they are planning a Season 10. I hope they are though I think this season was a little hit or miss.

I was struck by the super-abruptness of that ending also. I conjectured it as an omen that there will be a Season 10. I mean, if you know it's the series finale, not just the season finale, don't you give the audience a little bit of closure before you cut them loose to wander the rest of the television universe forever?

As for Tabitha in the previous episode, I loathed her, of course. Thinking about it now, I'm realizing I loathed her because I've known people like her in real life that I also couldn't stand. And that, in its way, was a rare accomplishment for these writers--creating a character whose behavior resembled that of actual human beings. I don't wish there were other characters like her (God forbid), but I do wish the writers had been able to create other characters in whose reality I could believe for even a second. The show would have been better for it. Well, there's always Season 10.

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Milburn Stone

[ForReal]

On 6/3/2023 at 7:35 PM, roseha said:

The abrupt ending of the last one was interesting.  No cliff hanger or anything.   I wonder if they are planning a Season 10. I hope they are though I think this season was a little hit or miss.

 

On 6/23/2023 at 5:28 AM, Milburn Stone said:

I was struck by the super-abruptness of that ending also. I conjectured it as an omen that there will be a Season 10. I mean, if you know it's the series finale, not just the season finale, don't you give the audience a little bit of closure before you cut them loose to wander the rest of the television universe forever?

I felt like I missed something at the end of the last episode of season. They said they knew who did it, and if they just had more time, they could prove it. Next thing we see, they are stopping the gang from leaving town, and that's the end. How (and when) did they prove who did it? I thought I'd missed something, but the credits were rolling...

I wished Mike had been the one to realize that he is married to his job, not realizing it by default. He could meet someone who gets that and is fine with that. Gina would be, but I don't want to see him with her.

I liked this season, as a whole. It was kind of calm but quirky. I also wish they would have had a little more faith in 

Spoiler

Trudy

instead of assuming the worst. She's been decent to them the past few seasons, so they could have returned the favor.

[Milburn Stone]

6 minutes ago, ForReal said:

I felt like I missed something at the end of the last episode of season. They said they knew who did it, and if they just had more time, they could prove it. Next thing we see, they are stopping the gang from leaving town, and that's the end. How (and when) did they prove who did it? I thought I'd missed something, but the credits were rolling...

I know. I went, how the hell are they charging

Spoiler

Mama Sass?!??

 

[ForReal]

6 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I know. I went, how the hell are they charging

  Hide contents

Mama Sass?!??

 

I mean, I knew it had to be that person, but it's like they skipped the step of the proof! They had the evidence, all they had to do was show how they linked it to the individual. It so feels like a scene was missing.

[Mittengirl]

According to AMC, Season 10 will launch on Acorn on April 29.  I was hoping it would start sooner, so that I wouldn’t have to subscribe for so long.

Edited March 17 by Mittengirl

[roseha]

Thanks @Mittengirl, I just checked in to see if this show was coming back.  It's the only thing I watch on Acorn currently now that Vera has moved over to Britbox, so I will keep my subscription for the time being.

[Seelouis]

It’s back! I caught the first episode of the new season on Acorn last night!

[BlackberryJam]

I  thoroughly enjoyed that episode. Chalmers has really grown on me. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I really enjoyed the dino episode and was totally surprised by who the perp was.  I've been watching old Murder, She Wrote episodes and I've seen them so often, I know who the perp is as soon as they show up.  It was nice to be surprised by this one. 

But I don't remember Todd. Have we seen him before?  What did surprise me is that for such a small town, they have their own "geoscience department."

I did laugh out loud when Kristen handed the coffee to Rowena, who said it was just awful & Sims said, "We're trying new beans..."

[TeslaNewton]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

But I don't remember Todd. Have we seen him before?

According to IMDB, he's been in five episodes. The first one was cinema episode.

[Mittengirl]

I think Todd was in the “Brokenwood Musical” episode.  The boyfriend of the killer, I believe.  IIRC, she had knitted Todd a sweater out of the same yarn she used to kill the director who tried to rape her.

[roseha]

Yes I think Todd goes back to the "steampunk" episode if I am remembering correctly.

This was a fun premise for a first episode of the season and I was glad that the killer wasn't obvious though I did wonder from the start why the eventual culprit wasn't being investigated more.  I do like that they do a good job of attention to detail, when Rowena mentioned going to school in Indiana and then her boyfriend mentioned it was Kentucky, it was caught immediately.  I was also glad they showed the murderer wiping off fingerprints from the professor's laptop, I was going to wonder why they hadn't checked that.

I did like the way the episode ended, with Frodo, Ray, Todd and the rest of the locals gloomily taking down all the dino publicity, and then the two old codgers sharing a beer.

Just a thought, I hope we see Missy again.  She and Chalmers have a fun rapport that brings out his sense of humor more.

Edited May 2 by roseha
added a sentence.

[TeslaNewton]

18 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I think Todd was in the “Brokenwood Musical” episode.  The boyfriend of the killer, I believe.  IIRC, she had knitted Todd a sweater out of the same yarn she used to kill the director who tried to rape her.

He was in that episode, but he wasn't the boyfriend. He was the one swooping in on a bald eagle (in the musical). I watched it yesterday.

 

9 hours ago, roseha said:

Yes I think Todd goes back to the "steampunk" episode if I am remembering correctly.

I thought so, too, but according to IMDB, he wasn't.

[dgpolo]

10 hours ago, roseha said:

Just a thought, I hope we see Missy again.

I thought they had an interesting dynamic. Todd was in the episode with the horses and dogs too, I think. The one that was ticking at my brain was the old codger with the dog, and when I watched the ep there was no info up yet on IMDb, but I thought he had been in the same ep (with the horses and dogs- and tortoise!) so I looked that one up and yep! he was in it.

[roseha]

14 hours ago, TeslaNewton said:

He was in that episode, but he wasn't the boyfriend. He was the one swooping in on a bald eagle (in the musical). I watched it yesterday.

 

I thought so, too, but according to IMDB, he wasn't.

Actually I think it was "Tomaty" who was in the steampunk episode.  If I am getting that right...I guess Todd came along later.

[laredhead]

After reading all of the posts about when certain characters previously appeared, I think I need to rewatch all of the episodes.  There's too much time between new seasons to remember everyone - lol.

[Seelouis]

I miss Mrs. Marlow!

[Prevailing Wind]

...and her cheese sticks.

 

[Mittengirl]

I miss Jarrod (sp?).  I wish they would bring him back to work in Mike’s vineyard.

[badgerwoman]

On 5/1/2024 at 10:18 PM, roseha said:

 

I did like the way the episode ended, with Frodo, Ray, Todd and the rest of the locals gloomily taking down all the dino publicity, and then the two old codgers sharing a beer.

one of the things I love about the show are all the recurring characters.  And Sims.

[mledawn]

3 minutes ago, badgerwoman said:

one of the things I love about the show are all the recurring characters.  And Sims.

Yes, from the second time we see Frodo, I knew I was going to enjoy that community element. And Detective Sims has definitely grown on me over time. I loved her calling Chalmers “Alan Turing”.

[BlackberryJam]

I enjoyed this last episode. I liked that they recognized cultural appropriation without making that the motive for the murder. 

I figured out who done it pretty early and that it was Gina's birthday. 

Just a nice fun episode. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I liked Gina's look of disappointment when she took off the blindfold only to see Sims & Chalmers there.

[badgerwoman]

On 5/8/2024 at 10:55 AM, BlackberryJam said:

I enjoyed this last episode. I liked that they recognized cultural appropriation without making that the motive for the murder. 

I found it interesting that they had an authentic  taco truck in little Brokenwood.   

The opening had me worrying about Frodo for  a short period of time.  

 

[dgpolo]

2 hours ago, badgerwoman said:

I found it interesting that they had an authentic  taco truck in little Brokenwood.   

The opening had me worrying about Frodo for  a short period of time.  

Authentic? Vegemite?

Me too!

[Mittengirl]

4 hours ago, badgerwoman said:

The opening had me worrying about Frodo for  a short period of time.  

Me too!  I hoped they wouldn’t go that dark, but I was still worried.

[badgerwoman]

12 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Authentic? Vegemite?

Me too!

the vegemite was not authentic . :) 

I had a friend whose husband was recruited to work in New Zealand (speciality medical degree) so they went.  they thought of staying permanently but  their kids starting having kids and they came home.  the residency would have happened because of his profession but it was still complicated.  I checked online if there were many south or central Americans moving to NZ and the numbers are small in comparison to  pacific Islanders.

My friends miss New Zealand a lot.

 

[TeslaNewton]

17 hours ago, badgerwoman said:

The opening had me worrying about Frodo for  a short period of time.  

The opening scared the crap out of me!

[Mittengirl]

Todd sure is getting around this season.

What are the names of Ray & Trudy’s pubs?  The Snake & Tiger and …. Something & Leopard? Croc & Cheetah?  

[Seelouis]

10 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

Todd sure is getting around this season.

What are the names of Ray & Trudy’s pubs?  The Snake & Tiger and …. Something & Leopard? Croc & Cheetah?  

Croc and Panther seems to be the newest one. Frog and Cheetah is another. Oh and don’t forget Porky Pigeon Pizza! Hilarious!

Edited May 15 by Seelouis

[Mittengirl]

Was Ray also the one who had the Lord of the Ringz tour?

[badgerwoman]

10 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

Was Ray also the one who had the Lord of the Ringz tour?

Yes, many seasons ago. 

[roseha]

Regarding episode two, they really did try to fake us out with Frodo in the beginning and while I did think about if for a second, I was then convinced they wouldn't kill off Frodo.  He even got a couple of nice scenes in the episode three, though they weren't really essential to the plot unless you count Sim's bad coffee as essential.  Clearly her coffee is to Brokenwood what Nick Yemana's was to the 12th precinct. 

I enjoyed both episode 2 and 3 although I may rewatch them with captions, sometimes the accents of the guest actors throw me off when they are speaking quickly.  As for episode 3, I like the way the story was finally resolved, after it seemed they were coming to too easy a solution.

 

Edited May 17 by roseha
deleted spoiler and tag

[Prevailing Wind]

5 hours ago, roseha said:

Clearly her coffee is to Brokenwood what Nick Yemana's was to the 12th precinct. 

As mine was to anyplace I worked where they asked me to make the coffee. Once, then never again did they ask. LOL

[roseha]

By the way it was good to see Uncle Walter back in episode 3.  The actor really does a fine job.  Going back I think he was first introduced as Jared's uncle at least as far back as the Duck episode.

[giovannif7]

I normally love the series, and I enjoyed the first three episodes of the new season, but hate that they dug up the long-dormant "killer lesbian" trope for the latest episode... 🤨🙄👎

[dgpolo]

My daughter and I loved this ep! We laughed more than the first three eps combined. The dialogue between Plummer the Rev and Mike was hilarious! 'role playing' 'he's very good at that too' Lucas!! lol. And the next production Plummer will be in will also be sans pants. 🤣

[Prevailing Wind]

I had a vague inkling of who the perp might be, but the episode kept me truly guessing.

I didn't remember seeing Harper in a previous episode. I guess I should go back a few years and re-watch. That Todd is popping up all over the place!!  (But he's no replacement for Mrs. Marlowe, who tried to teach Sims how to make coffee to no avail.)

[TeslaNewton]

8 hours ago, dgpolo said:

My daughter and I loved this ep! We laughed more than the first three eps combined. The dialogue between Plummer the Rev and Mike was hilarious! 'role playing' 'he's very good at that too' Lucas!! lol. And the next production Plummer will be in will also be sans pants. 🤣

I loved Mike's expressions during this exchange. 😂

8 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

I normally love the series, and I enjoyed the first three episodes of the new season, but hate that they dug up the long-dormant "killer lesbian" trope for the latest episode... 🤨🙄👎

I saw it more as the mother-hating daughter trope.

2 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I had a vague inkling of who the perp might be, but the episode kept me truly guessing.

I didn't remember seeing Harper in a previous episode. I guess I should go back a few years and re-watch. That Todd is popping up all over the place!!  (But he's no replacement for Mrs. Marlowe, who tried to teach Sims how to make coffee to no avail.)

She was in the Ghost Train episode (I am currently doing a rewatch).

[dgpolo]

3 hours ago, TeslaNewton said:

She was in the Ghost Train episode (I am currently doing a rewatch).

Yes, last night the ep wasn't up on IMDB yet (just looked again and it still isn't) so I couldn't look her up. Also Jools' husband. So I googled the character name then I had the actor's name so looked that up on IMDB and he was the younger man she was with when the old millionaire was dying? I think the catering girl went off the balcony?

Anyway did anyone else hear Harper on the phone, I think she said Mrs Marlowe?! I hope so.

[Seelouis]

44 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

 

Anyway did anyone else hear Harper on the phone, I think she said Mrs Marlowe?! I hope so.

Yes she did!!! I thought that was a nice way of saying the character is still around even if the actress isn’t playing the part anymore. 

[TeslaNewton]

8 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Also Jools' husband. So I googled the character name then I had the actor's name so looked that up on IMDB and he was the younger man she was with when the old millionaire was dying? I think the catering girl went off the balcony?

Yup! It took me a beat to place him. I liked how the detectives recapped where we saw those characters. 

[badgerwoman]

7 minutes ago, TeslaNewton said:

Yup! It took me a beat to place him. I liked how the detectives recapped where we saw those characters. 

I knew Jools immediately but was unsure if that actor was the same from the birthday party episode.  Good episode.

[roseha]

12 hours ago, Seelouis said:

Yes she did!!! I thought that was a nice way of saying the character is still around even if the actress isn’t playing the part anymore. 

Oh I missed that reference.  I like that they did that.   I get the impression that the actress who played Mrs. Marlowe has retired.

I didn't love this episode but I did like seeing Dennis Buchanan the hilariously awful attorney again though the story didn't  give him as much to do this time.  I didn't remember that he and Jools had a history though of course they used it for the final punchline.

I see there is at least an episode 5 to come, I hope we will get at least 6.

[Prevailing Wind]

5 hours ago, roseha said:

I hope we will get at least 6.

Yes, there will be six.  https://next-episode.net/the-brokenwood-mysteries/season-10

 

[MMEButterfly]

9 hours ago, roseha said:

Oh I missed that reference.  I like that they did that.   I get the impression that the actress who played Mrs. Marlowe has retired.

I didn't love this episode but I did like seeing Dennis Buchanan the hilariously awful attorney again though the story didn't  give him as much to do this time.  I didn't remember that he and Jools had a history though of course they used it for the final punchline.

I see there is at least an episode 5 to come, I hope we will get at least 6.

I didn't take it they had history. I thought he was unfortunately standing in Jools' sight (instead of her husband) when she came out of hypnosis.

[Seelouis]

2 hours ago, MMEButterfly said:

I didn't take it they had history. I thought he was unfortunately standing in Jools' sight (instead of her husband) when she came out of hypnosis.

It’s both. They do have history. They dated briefly. And he was in her line of sight.