Queens Of Mystery - General Discussion

[kimaken]

Couldn't find this show listed anywhere so am setting up this topic.

Has anyone besides me watched this show? There ae 2 seasons available now (I found it on Acorn TV--it's an Acorn original series) but as yet no word on a season 3.

This show is a mystery series with elements of suspense, crime, drama, and comedy--it's about a late 20's detective-sergeant who's aided by her 3 crime-writing aunts to solve murders in the small town of Wildemarsh. 

 

[Kemper]

I have watched both seasons and really enjoy it. The cast is wonderful and the mysteries are engaging enough to keep me interested. I usually like the darker, noir style, but sometimes you just need something light.

[kimaken]

18 hours ago, Kemper said:

I have watched both seasons and really enjoy it. The cast is wonderful and the mysteries are engaging enough to keep me interested. I usually like the darker, noir style, but sometimes you just need something light.

I like the whimsical quality--from the cardboard settings in the openings to the bright colors throughout, the quirky elements (ie, in every episode the Chief is featured in a "what he really wanted to say" scene), even the darker mystery of what happened to Matilda's mom that runs through each episode. It's lovely mix of a lot of elements to make it a fun little show about small town murders, 

[BlackberryJam]

I enjoy the series and the Pushing Daisies-style narration. However, I need more on the mother mystery. It’s dragging on far too long. I need meaningful progress, or they can just drop it. 

I barely noticed the switch of the lead actress from S1 to S2.

[kimaken]

10 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I enjoy the series and the Pushing Daisies-style narration. However, I need more on the mother mystery. It’s dragging on far too long. I need meaningful progress, or they can just drop it. 

I barely noticed the switch of the lead actress from S1 to S2.

YES--Pushing Daisies was the show this reminds me of (with the background narration and style of dramedy). I'm with you on the background mystery about Matilda's mother -- I want it resolved for us BEFORE this show ends, and right now we don't even know if there will be a S3! I get the feeling either the aunts know more about what happened and refuse to share with Matilda OR they know more about the early investigation but no final details about their missing sister and fear that even the investigation information may be more harmful than helpful to their beloved niece. And who's the big guy smoking cigs in the Windmill--is he supposed to be that Bulgarian person that Matilda's mom worked for before she disappeared? Is he supposed to be Matilda's father?  Inquiring minds want to know!

[Mrs. Landingham]

I love this series! I agree with you all that we need a bit more on the mystery disappearance of Matilda’s mom, Eleanor besides a few seconds of Smoking Guy in the windmill. 

All the interruptions between David and Matilda are tantalizingly insane.

Spoiler

Is anyone else as annoyed as I was when we saw Natasha in the final scenes hanging up her wedding dress in her closet? So she bought the dress after all. I guess we’re not done with her. I really hope David doesn’t run back to her after he saw George proposing to Matilda at the club. Natasha is so over the top rude and controlling, she’s practically cartoonish. Although it did show real maturity when she finally said Matilda’s real name to David instead of pretending to not know her real name, and telling David to go talk to Matilda if he really loves her. I wonder what David was going to tell Matilda when he said he wanted to “explain” about the engagement.

 

[kimaken]

23 hours ago, Mrs. Landingham said:

I love this series! I agree with you all that we need a bit more on the mystery disappearance of Matilda’s mom, Eleanor besides a few seconds of Smoking Guy in the windmill. 

All the interruptions between David and Matilda are tantalizingly insane.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. I'm so hoping there's a 3rd series, and if so, they bring the mystery of Matilda's mom's disappearance to a satisfactory conclusion. As for David and Matilda, while I think they'd make a lovely couple, I'm enjoying George's interest in her and hope he doesn't turn out to be a bad guy for her! 

[Irlandesa]

I really hate this Daniel and Matilda thing. I haven't seen enough of Daniel to know why I should even root for him and Matilda.  They gave him a fiancee to drag stuff out even though so little of the episodes even focus on him. And I hate the "oh fiancee is a bitch so she deserves to be dumped" trope shows do when they trudge out a fiancee as a couple blocker.

For whatever reason he has gone through with his engagement until the last episode of the season when he suddenly realized he couldn't.  So he has to go to break up with her while she's shopping for a wedding dress. He couldn't have done it before or at least waited until later?

I am sorry but in my book, that makes him a fucking asshole.

I also don't know what the show is doing giving Matilda another boyfriend AND she still has Terry mooning after her.  Terry, by the way, whose feelings for Matilda I feel more connected with than Daniel's.

But hey, the coloring was quite beautiful in the last ten minutes of the episode.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Irlandesa

[BlackberryJam]

Oh, Terry is the only one I like for Mathilde. George is a big blank slate and Daniel, well, he’s so…drippy. Yes, he’s a total asshole for how he broke up with the fiancée. It’s 2022. Can’t we do better storytelling than bitchy fiancée bulldozing poor man into marriage until she deserves a humiliating breakup?

[Mrs. Landingham]

10 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Can’t we do better storytelling than bitchy fiancée bulldozing poor man into marriage until she deserves a humiliating breakup?

Agreed. I’m so baffled by it. It’s lazy writing, too. Natasha and George are just plot contrivances who will be sacrificed at the altar of The One True Pairing of Matilda and Daniel. I’d rather Matilda be single. 

[kimaken]

9 hours ago, Mrs. Landingham said:

20 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Can’t we do better storytelling than bitchy fiancée bulldozing poor man into marriage until she deserves a humiliating breakup?

Agreed. I’m so baffled by it. It’s lazy writing, too. Natasha and George are just plot contrivances who will be sacrificed at the altar of The One True Pairing of Matilda and Daniel. I’d rather Matilda be single. 

I don't think it's as much "lazy writing" as it's part of the campy-ness of the show--the awestruck/lovelorn looks from Terry when Matilda arrived for duty at the police station on her first day; the instant attraction/love-at-first-glance moment between Matilda and David when they first met and their lingering looks whenever they run into each at a crime site or elewhere; the aunts constantly setting up Matilda for blind dates, only to have something go wrong, etc. (I especially liked the one where Matilda thought they'd set her up with the good-looking mechanic so she "let him down gently" at the pub/restaurant, only for us to see he was actually waiting for his male date to arrive/return to the table).  Even Natasha, the used-to-getting-her-own-way, bossy fiancee is played for laughs.

[roseha]

I've been watching this show off and on, but I haven't yet tried the final two-parter of Season 2.  And now I'm not sure if I want to.  I guess I didn't remember the romance between Matilda and Daniel from last year, but Daniel comes off, I totally agree with @BlackberryJam as so drippy that I don't even want to see the character at all.  And the delay on the central "mystery" of Matilda's mother is getting ridiculous.  

I like in general the idea of a "light" mystery show that doesn't become gruesome, in that respect this show reminds me of Agatha Raisin or Shakespeare and Hathaway, but unlike those shows and unlike Brokenwood Mysteries (which can get more serious at times) I just don't find Queens of Mystery the least bit funny.  Maybe it's me, I don't know.  I do like the cast but I'm not sure that's enough to stay with these story lines.

[Suzn]

I like this show so much.  I love the light whimsical tone and it is beautiful to look at with all the light, the colors and lovely places.  It's wonderful to see older women with different temperaments/personalities in a variety of situations.  The mysteries are interesting and fun.

If I have any criticism, it would be dragging out things with Matilda and Daniel.  Get them together or move on!  I'm sure they don't intend to solve the mystery of Matilda's mother until the very end, but some interesting discoveries and progress would be welcome.

I had watched the first season when it first came out and didn't notice that Matilda was played by a different actor!  With the same hairdo,, coloring and clothes, it certainly isn't obvious.

I want to add how wonderful the opening credits are.  Such fun.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Suzn

[HollyG]

What happened to Cat's baby? I thought maybe Cat is Matilda's mother. I have dosed off a few times, did I miss something?

[Suzn]

9 hours ago, HollyG said:

What happened to Cat's baby? I thought maybe Cat is Matilda's mother. I have dosed off a few times, did I miss something?

She is estranged from her daughter.  Cat invited her to the art exhibition.  I think her name is Anne.

I checked - the daughter is Annie.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Suzn

[HollyG]

3 minutes ago, Suzn said:

She is estranged from her daughter.  Cat invited her to the art exhibition.  I think her name is Anne.

Thank you for the info!