The Artful Detective: The Murdoch Mysteries US Broadcast Discussion Page

[The Crazed Spruce]

Watching from the States, and want to discuss the show without being flooded by spoilers from Canada? Do it here!

[Grundoon59]

Good idea - thanks for creating this (although I am lucky to be able to watch on CBC from the States). 

[wanderingstar]

New season's begun on Ovation in the US.

17x01 - Do the Right Thing, Part 1 - They could've titled this episode "ALL the Murders" - lol. Loved seeing Sorcha Cusack (previously of Father Brown) in this episode. Also liked seeing Margaret helping Brackenreid investigate the murder on the ship. I'm so used to bingeing episodes of this show that I'm mad I have to wait a week for the conclusion.

Edited February 11 by wanderingstar

[blackwing]

I needed a better recap... the previously scenes happened too quickly I admit that I have kind of forgotten much of the storylines from the season 16 finale.  I recalled that Brackenreid had resigned, Murdoch had resigned, George became Detective.  William and Julia were chasing someone and got locked into a crate.  But that's it.

What happened to the Matilda Crisp person that was mentioned in the previouslies?  Are they still looking for her?  Is that going to be resolved next time?

The old lady that killed her husband that blackmailed William and Julia into exonerating her by threatening their child... awful.  She said to them at the end that she got them once and she can get them again... how?  If it's so easy to drug/kidnap a detective and his wife then why aren't more policemen being drugged and forced to aid criminals?  

William and Julia definitely need to have protection for Susannah.

I liked seeing George and Watts work together in this episode.

The Brackenreid plot, I'm not really sure what's going on.  I think he had sailed for England, is he coming back in this episode?  Looked like he's on a riverboat and not and ocean liner.  I don't much care for this plotline but it was nice seeing Margaret with something to do besides being a nag, and how happy she was that Thomas was relying on her.

[wanderingstar]

17x02 - Do the Right Thing, Part 2 - Hilda Fanshaw was evil, and threatening a child is beyond the pale. Still, I feel some type of way about Julia and Murdoch kidnapping her and bringing her to jail. I know they're Our Heroes, but I lost track of all the laws they broke when Fanshaw WASN'T threatening them.

Brackenreid and Margaret's plot was a bit hard to follow, but I enjoyed them working together. Margaret winding up to punch that woman was hilarious.

Great to see everyone back at Station House Four. I continue to adore and root for George and Effie.

[blackwing]

13 hours ago, wanderingstar said:

17x02 - Do the Right Thing, Part 2 - Hilda Fanshaw was evil, and threatening a child is beyond the pale. Still, I feel some type of way about Julia and Murdoch kidnapping her and bringing her to jail. I know they're Our Heroes, but I lost track of all the laws they broke when Fanshaw WASN'T threatening them.

Brackenreid and Margaret's plot was a bit hard to follow, but I enjoyed them working together. Margaret winding up to punch that woman was hilarious.

Great to see everyone back at Station House Four. I continue to adore and root for George and Effie.

I thought the laws they broke were done in connection with getting her exonerated... the suggestion that the maid did it, saying what evidence they discovered, etc.

I get why they brought her back to Toronto... her kidnapping of them and her kidnapping of Susannah happened in Toronto so they wanted her charged with kidnapping in Toronto.  She could also have been charged with murder of the maid in Rochester, but that would have required more evidence.  I'm not too concerned about Murdoch and Ogden kidnapping her and bringing her to Toronto, I hope they don't face any charges for their role in any of this.

I don't understand why they didn't take more precautions once they brought her to Toronto.  Obviously her gang were going to come for her, and it seemed like the station house was caught completely unaware.  Henry and George could have been killed.

I hope we are done with the Hilda Fanshaw character, I don't want to see her become a recurring villain like the others.  Too imperious, too irritating.

I liked Margaret getting more to do in this episode.  So the wife of the dead guy was having an affair with the captain, they killed the dead guy and tried to pin it on the guy who left in the lifeboat.

I hope George isn't going to be gone for long.

[wanderingstar]

17x03 - Murdoch and the Mona Lisa - I liked this episode. Enjoyed seeing Murdoch and Brackenreid teaming up after mostly being apart in the first two episodes. I miss George and Effie, though. And I do wish Julia had more to do. Hoping she'll be more involved in the mystery solving as the season goes on.

So, does the end mean the real Mona Lisa ended up at casa Brackenreid permanently? What's hanging in the Louvre right now-lol

[blackwing]

16 hours ago, wanderingstar said:

17x03 - Murdoch and the Mona Lisa - I liked this episode. Enjoyed seeing Murdoch and Brackenreid teaming up after mostly being apart in the first two episodes. I miss George and Effie, though. And I do wish Julia had more to do. Hoping she'll be more involved in the mystery solving as the season goes on.

So, does the end mean the real Mona Lisa ended up at casa Brackenreid permanently? What's hanging in the Louvre right now-lol

I enjoyed this episode as well.  I wish there had been some line about them hearing from George.  I did like that prominent participation of Watts, and that Henry got involved too.  

Agree with you that Julia was completely shoehorned in to this episode.  She is listed second in the credits but she is beginning to feel as extraneous as Margaret.  Her only role in this episode was to be the bored wife.  She's no longer the coroner, because they have Miss Hart.  Can someone remind me, why isn't she working?  She was working at some kind of medical practice along with Dr. Dixon, then there was that nasty guy who fired her.  She went to work at some Women's Clinic.  I think?  Why isn't she doing anything medical related?  And why can't the police consult with her more often?

I looked up the history of the Mona Lisa.  It has been stolen once and it was stolen by the Italian guy who was mentioned in this episode.  He took it to Italy with him, and it was recovered after a few years because he tried to sell it.  As far as I can tell, it never made it to Canada.  But it's a hoot thinking that it is collecting dust in the Brackenreid's closet.

Nice to see the portrayal of Emily Carr, who is a famous Group of Seven-adjacent artist.  That sketch of the church in the woods that we saw was a sketch of one of her most famous paintings.

[Prevailing Wind]

On 2/12/2024 at 3:58 PM, blackwing said:

Looked like he's on a riverboat and not and ocean liner. 

I think they sailed the ocean liner into NYC and are taking an excursion type boat across the lake into Canada.

Acorn dropped the first two episodes today, so I didn't have to wait for the conclusion. LOL.

I can't help thinking that in today's child-centric world, Julia would have been at that dinner, too, with Susannah, expecting everyone to enjoy the presence of a baby.  Wise of her to stay home with the kid.

[blackwing]

17.05 Station House of Horrors

I am not a horror movie fan so I did not particularly enjoy this episode.  I did find it interesting that the wishes came true for the most part but obviously not in the manner they intended.

Julia, wants to be free of responsibilities. She gets her wish, because she's in prison.

Violet, wants to blend in and be treated like everybody else.  She does because she turns into a zombie like everyone else.

Thomas, wants to rid the city of vermin.  The city has no more rats because they're all in Margaret's pies.

William, wants to never put Susannah in danger again.  This one didn't work for me, I guess the interpretation is that he won't put her in danger again because he's dead?

Too much creepy in this one.  James Gillies, ugh.  Naked zombies, ugh.  Rats in pies with tails sticking out, yuck.  Creepy doll, I don't like creepy dolls.

This Halloween ep was an interesting diversion but not one I need to see ever again.  Wish George had appeared.  Is he going to be gone for a lot of the season again?

[Prevailing Wind]

I just saw the episode with the oyster bar/bordello. I'm getting tired of Margaret over-reacting with outrage before she bothers to listen to Brackenreid's explanations.

[wanderingstar]

17x06, Dying to be Enlightened

I liked this episode a lot. I tend to like episodes where we see team-ups between characters who regularly don't interact - in this case, Julia, Effie, and Watts. And, of course, any episode that has lots of Watts makes me happy! I'm glad Watts is coming to some kind of peace about his sexuality and how much of himself he can safely share with the world. As always, I want Llewellyn Watts to be happy, dammit!

I liked Julia's skepticism of the wellness retreat. I know the leader (Serigalo?) wasn't exactly a total quack, but I still give guys like him side eye.

Like Effie, I am missing George.

 

Edited March 17 by wanderingstar

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode but I found Effie's utter devotion to... Sarimbala (?) a bit strange and out of character.  I get that they are writing her as this person who is lost without George, but she is one of the stronger characters on the show and always seems to know what she wants.

I liked the teaming of Julia, Watts and Effie.  Nice that Julia got to use her coroner skills again.  I also liked the culmination where Julia's case and William's case intersected.

[Prevailing Wind]

On 3/12/2024 at 1:35 PM, blackwing said:

Thomas, wants to rid the city of vermin.  The city has no more rats because they're all in Margaret's pies.

I suspected early on the rats were in the pies, but when the butcher turned out to be Todd McSweeney, I started singing, "The Worst Pies in London Toronto."

[peeayebee]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:35 AM, blackwing said:

17.05 Station House of HorrorsI am not a horror movie fan so I did not particularly enjoy this episode. 

I knew I wouldn't like this, and I didn't. I'm sure the cast has a ball making these Halloween eps, but I want a LITTLE bit of realism in this show. Hated seeing Gillies again. I just did not like any of the stories.

Quote

Thomas, wants to rid the city of vermin.  The city has no more rats because they're all in Margaret's pies.

Quote

...Rats in pies with tails sticking out, yuck. 

I thought from the very beginning of her pie-making that the butcher was providing her with prisoners. However, I didn't realize that was a rat's tail sticking out. I was wondering what it was.

I really expected the rosary Margaret got for their son to make an appearance in a pie, so it was weird that that didn't happen. All we got was Thomas biting down on something hard and then swallowing it so we'd never know. It could have been a rosary bead, someone's ring, someone's tooth, anything. 

Having prisoners AND rats as the meat was puzzling to me.

 

[blackwing]

40 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I thought from the very beginning of her pie-making that the butcher was providing her with prisoners. However, I didn't realize that was a rat's tail sticking out. I was wondering what it was.

I really expected the rosary Margaret got for their son to make an appearance in a pie, so it was weird that that didn't happen. All we got was Thomas biting down on something hard and then swallowing it so we'd never know. It could have been a rosary bead, someone's ring, someone's tooth, anything. 

Having prisoners AND rats as the meat was puzzling to me.

 

I assumed from the beginning that the rats would be in the pies, since the Julia and Violet stories showed that their wishes would come true but not in the way they would have wanted. 

I think when he bit into something hard, I figured it was the rat's skull or bones.  So I thought she wasn't deboning the rats, just putting them directly into the pies.  We saw the tail sticking out of one pie.

But nobody else was biting into anything hard, so I think she must have been deboning the rats.  Maybe Thomas just got a bad one.

The news about Bobby is the one thing that I hoped carries over into canon Murdoch.  I thought the continuity was nice, with him being Catholic.

[peeayebee]

So are you saying that the bags outside the butcher's did not have prisoner bodies in them?

[wanderingstar]

17x07, Cool Million - I liked this one! Loved seeing Violet be more involved in a case. And it was fun that she rode her horse in the race. Was also cool to see Julia back in the morgue, if only briefly.

Of course the culprit was a Carmichael! 

I Googled to see if Joey Witherspoon was a real person, and it looks like the character might have been a composite of several African-American jockeys. This article highlights some famous black jockeys.

[wanderingstar]

17x05, Station House of Horror - Finally saw this one, and I liked it. The Halloween episodes can be hit or miss for me, but this one was appropriately creepy, with fun jump scares. I also loved that Watts and Violet were in a vignette together. I like their relationship and their dynamic. I didn't even hate that they brought back Gillies because his character makes sense in the context of a Halloween episode (just don't make a habit of it, show!)

 

17x08, Cottage in the Woods - Enjoyed this one as well, but I like any episodes that feature all the women characters. I remember really loving when Violet, Louise, Effie, and Julia were on that volleyball team together. The four of them just have a fun rapport. This one had Friday the 13th vibes, what with the creepy campers and the "madman" running around. 

 

17x22, Why is Everyone Singing? - Not sure why this aired in the order it did on Ovation, but here we are. I enjoyed it. This is the second musical episode I've seen of a show I watch regularly (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did one last year). I particularly loved how they integrated the show's theme music. Helene as Julia was probably the strongest singer, followed by Shanice (Violet). Loved her duet with Watts. I also liked the conceit of the characters knowing they were figments of Murdoch's imagination. That was a clever way to have the mystery unfold and be solved.

Edited April 8 by wanderingstar

[Prevailing Wind]

11 hours ago, wanderingstar said:

17x08, Cottage in the Woods - Enjoyed this one as well, but I like any episodes that feature all the women characters. I remember really loving when Violet, Louise, Effie, and Julia were on that volleyball team together. The four of them just have a fun rapport. This one had Friday the 13th vibes, what with the creepy campers and the "madman" running around.

 

This one just showed up on Acorn. Watching the ladies out in the woods, I was glad Margaret wasn't with them, but, oddly, I found myself missing Ruth.  I enjoyed it anyway.  But mostly, I miss George.

[blackwing]

On 4/7/2024 at 9:54 PM, wanderingstar said:

17x22, Why is Everyone Singing? - Not sure why this aired in the order it did on Ovation, but here we are. I enjoyed it. This is the second musical episode I've seen of a show I watch regularly (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did one last year). I particularly loved how they integrated the show's theme music. Helene as Julia was probably the strongest singer, followed by Shanice (Violet). Loved her duet with Watts. I also liked the conceit of the characters knowing they were figments of Murdoch's imagination. That was a clever way to have the mystery unfold and be solved.

I think this episode aired just the week before in Canada, it must have been popular so Ovation wanted to air right away?  I found it a bit jarring to see George.  Nice to know that he is alive but he is still in Alberta or wherever he is as of Episode 8 and since this episode 22 was aired out of order, it was odd seeing him without knowing what he has been up to or how his situation resolved itself.

I saw Colin Mochrie's name in the credits and just sighed.  I wish I hadn't been spoiled but I don't need to see that character again.

I watched those "behind the scenes" snippets they showed during the commercials.  It appears they all did their own singing.  Jonny Harris knows he isn't a good singer, and he was right.  Yannick Bisson isn't very good either.  Helene Joy was by far the best singer.  Daniel Maslany commented that his singing voice is a lot higher than his normal voice and that he grew up doing musical theater.  Lachlan Murdoch was decent.  Arwen Humphries seemed to suggest that they used autotune on her voice.  Not sure if that was a joke or not, if they have autotune why didn't they make George and William sound better?

I asked on the main Murdoch thread to see if any Canadian viewers could answer, but maybe someone here knows.  My recording stopped after Murdoch responded to Fellowes' claims that he had to do this because Murdoch knew he was alive with "you overestimate our resources".  What happened after that?  I think the episode was pretty much over but would like to know what was said if anyone knows.

[wanderingstar]

17x9, The Christmas List - Good Christmas episode! Made me wish it was holiday time again. I'll definitely be adding this to my Christmas marathon this year. 

I continue to love any scene featuring Violet and Watts together. Shanice and Daniel have done a great job shaping the friendship between their characters. 

Murdoch in the role of Scrooge this year was delightful. Julia teasing him was amusing. And it's totally on brand for him to arrest Santa (always on the case!)

I liked the mystery, too. I shouldn't have been surprised that the elf was the culprit, but here we are-lol

Loved the final scene with everyone at George and Effie's.

Loving this season so far.

Edited April 14 by wanderingstar

[MerBearHou]

18 hours ago, wanderingstar said:

Loving this season so far

I am too, and I hope this show continues for many more years.  I just love it.  I am so fond of every single character whom I feel like we’ve gotten to know so well.  

[blackwing]

On 4/13/2024 at 7:17 PM, wanderingstar said:

17x9, The Christmas List - Good Christmas episode! Made me wish it was holiday time again. I'll definitely be adding this to my Christmas marathon this year. 

I continue to love any scene featuring Violet and Watts together. Shanice and Daniel have done a great job shaping the friendship between their characters. 

Murdoch in the role of Scrooge this year was delightful. Julia teasing him was amusing. And it's totally on brand for him to arrest Santa (always on the case!)

I liked the mystery, too. I shouldn't have been surprised that the elf was the culprit, but here we are-lol

Loved the final scene with everyone at George and Effie's.

Loving this season so far.

I liked this episode.  Murdoch arresting Santa was funny.  Higgins doing good deeds because he was naughty was funny.  Getting called out by Brackenreid on why he was doing the good deeds was even funnier.

I looked up a rough value of $3, and it'd be $50 today.  Seems like a big secret santa gift.  And everyone was right, there's no way the watch that Thomas got Watts was $3.  I also don't think Watts would have accepted it, he would have said it was too much and would have asked Brackenreid to return it and donate the money to the orphanage.

We had the out-of-order episode last week, but with this one, George is back.  And nobody even said anything about where he has been and what happened in Alberta.  I wonder if this episode was aired out of order because it coincided with Christmas time in Canada.  It was really odd to me that nobody asked George what happened with his father.  Maybe next week?