The Doctor Blake Mysteries - General Discussion

[officetemp]

Enjoy this show and am glad that Blake was able to get it back together after his earlier drunken episode at wherever that meeting was in an earlier season (sorry--can't remember; he just seemed as if he was on the verge of a breakdown then).

I like his female partner in the morgue and I like that Charlie seems to have gotten out of the "spying on the locals and reporting back to Melbourne" mode and instead has gained respect for his colleagues in Ballarat and is working hard to just be a good cop.

Hope that Blake will be able to reconcile with his half-Chinese daughter and that she eventually makes an appearance in a future episode or multiple episodes.  I think watching him trying to re-establish a relationship with his daughter would be really interesting.

[Ceindreadh]

A second soundtrack album is being released next week - currently available to preorder on I-tunes. 

Covers seasons 2 to 4. 

[officetemp]

Can't quite figure out the interaction between Jean and Charlie.  Sometimes, she's quite friendly and cordial with him; other times, it's almost as if she can't stand him and only tolerates him because Blake invited the guy to live in the house.  What's the deal?

Not sure who's seen what, so decided to take some precautions for my next comments:

Spoiler

 

Our local PBS station showed "This Time and This Place" [Series 3 Episode 3] last night.  As usual, found things kind of confusing, especially how so many different people seemed to be perfect suspects and then not.  Some questions:

• Why did Munro treat Charlie to a steak dinner just to talk to Charlie about Charlie's dad?
• If the Aboriginals are so despised, why did that white boy develop a crush on Mary?
• Was the baby (that was going to be adopted) Aboriginal also but just lighter-skinned?
• When Blake was writing the letter to his daughter, he wrote it horizontally.  Was it already convention by that time for Chinese characters to be written horizontally?  I was under the impression that they are/were written in columns. (Yes, I'm ignorant.)

Some of the background details to the story really highlighted how much things have changed since the 1950s.  It's awful to realize that the "orphans" weren't really orphans at all but had just been taken away from their families because "the authorities" deemed their parents to be "unfit."

I'm glad that the situation with the orphans finally made Blake realize how his daughter must have felt when she was living in the orphanage after Blake's wife died and also that he decided that he did want her in his life.  It would have been sad if he had just continued to detach himself from her, even though she was the one who told him she didn't want to see him any more (as he said when he returned from his trip to Singapore[?]). 

 

[whatsatool]

Watching PBS from two states so two seasons at once.

[fauntleroy]

That reminds me, it's pretty absurd that Lucien can read and write Chinese so fluently. Artistic license or whatever, but a pet peeve that language facility is treated as a given. See also Phryne Fisher knowing Polish, Russian etc.

[officetemp]

Local PBS station showed Series 3, Episode 4 this past Saturday night.  Kind of disappointed with some of the developments in the show.
 

Spoiler

 

Seems as if Charlie has reverted back to reporting on Blake to his superiors, though I think he's reporting back to Munro now.  Wondering if Munro is holding something over Charlie's head to force him into behaving that way?

So, Mattie's father holds an important office in the government.  And she hangs out with communists.  ???

 

As usual, I had a hard time keeping all the characters straight.  Guess I'll have to get the DVDs eventually.

Our local station has started showing previews of this show in the week before the broadcast.  Surprise. . .

[fauntleroy]

Just saw Season 3 Ep 8 which is guess was the season finale.

Did young Tyneman have some undiagnosed ailment? Did the young wife of Llewelyn?

I still don't understand the point of eeevil Munro. They even played eeevil music whenever he appeared, a discordant guitar twang right out of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Why was he put in charge in the first place, presumably by the random-acting Melbourne office, who just as quickly abandoned him. Similarly they investigated Chief Lawson and came up with nothing, and let Doug Ashby go for no apparent reason. Munro's entire arc amounted to nothing.

Also the whole Lucien-Jean thing, carried beyond maudlin to the ridiculous. Just get on with it for God's sakes!

[Ceindreadh]

On 21/7/2016 at 10:34 PM, fauntleroy said:

Just saw Season 3 Ep 8 which is guess was the season finale.

Did young Tyneman have some undiagnosed ailment? Did the young wife of Llewelyn?

I still don't understand the point of eeevil Munro. They even played eeevil music whenever he appeared, a discordant guitar twang right out of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Why was he put in charge in the first place, presumably by the random-acting Melbourne office, who just as quickly abandoned him. Similarly they investigated Chief Lawson and came up with nothing, and let Doug Ashby go for no apparent reason. Munro's entire arc amounted to nothing.

Also the whole Lucien-Jean thing, carried beyond maudlin to the ridiculous. Just get on with it for God's sakes!

I think that Tyneman junior was supposed to be suffering the after effects of his stay in prison - given what he put his victims through, I wasn't exactly feeling much sympathy for him.

 

I didn't really get the point of Munro either and was just relieved that he'd turned out to be a bad guy so as to pave the way for bringing back Lawson.  Still don't know why Joel Tobeck wasn't available for S3, TPTB were very coy throughout the filming/airing of this season and kept saying "wait and see" whenever anybody asked them on Facebook if he'd be back. 

All in all I thought S3 was just a bit disappointing and the final ep was a bit of a mess with them trying to cram all the storylines into it - IMO they'd have done better with a two part finale or extended episode. 

[officetemp]

Saw Season 3, Episode 5, "A Night to Remember" last night.  (I guess the US PBS stations are allowed to schedule each season of this series as each affiliate sees fit?  I'm hoping our local station will rerun all the episodes from Seasons 1 through 3 before it starts on with Season 4.)  The story seemed to be a bit thin for an hour-long episode.  Or maybe it was just because the action--except for a couple of scenes in the morgue and the police station--was confined to the club/theatre and all we could see was the board room, billiards room, bar, dining room and (again and again) Dr. Blake going back to the dressing room.   However,

On 7/11/2016 at 2:28 PM, fauntleroy said:

That reminds me, it's pretty absurd that Lucien can read and write Chinese so fluently. Artistic license or whatever, but a pet peeve that language facility is treated as a given. See also Phryne Fisher knowing Polish, Russian etc.

we discover that Jean's other son can actually read Korean!!  Because he's in the Army!  And he's been stationed in Korea!  Not only that, Christopher (Jean's son) and his wife have a difficult relationship with Jean, too!  No such thing as "normal" and "no drama" in this show?

Also, Charlie rummaging through Munro's desk and doing questionable things, again!  (Liked that Charlie tried to warn Jean about saying anything provocative about Blake to Munro; naturally, she ignored that speaking glance that he gave her and got slapped down--figuratively speaking--by Munro for daring to say anything about the chief's dealings with the medical officer.)

Why would any sane woman have an affair with Tyneman?

On 7/21/2016 at 5:34 PM, fauntleroy said:

Just saw Season 3 Ep 8 which is guess was the season finale. . . .

 

On 7/23/2016 at 4:36 PM, Ceindreadh said:

. . .  All in all I thought S3 was just a bit disappointing and the final ep was a bit of a mess with them trying to cram all the storylines into it - IMO they'd have done better with a two part finale or extended episode. 

You all don't give me much hope for the remaining Season 3 episodes I've yet to see.  Hoping that Season 4 turns out better.

[Ceindreadh]

On 24/7/2016 at 11:28 PM, officetemp said:

 

You all don't give me much hope for the remaining Season 3 episodes I've yet to see.  Hoping that Season 4 turns out better.

S3 did improve the last few eps

mainly because of Lawson's return

S4 was a vast improvement, IMO

Mainly because Munro was gone.  But also because, even though Lawson was written out again (a) his replacement was a decent guy and (b) we were at least given a reason for his absence i.e. Joel's lack of availability.  Plus there's hope that he'll be back for season 5

[Pickles]

Love this show! I was so happy to see Lawson at the front door. Thank goodness.

[officetemp]

On 7/31/2016 at 3:29 PM, Ceindreadh said:

S3 did improve the last few eps

  Reveal hidden contents

mainly because of Lawson's return

 

Thanks, Ceindreadh.  Watched Season 3, Episode 6, "Women and Children" last Saturday night and

Spoiler

saw where he showed up in the last 20 seconds or so of the episode.  Was glad to see him back.

 

Re:  "Women and Children"--Since she's one of my favorite characters, I was glad that Alice Harvey had a lot of on-camera time; however, I found some of the writing/direction decisions kind of puzzling. 

Spoiler

The whole episode was about sexual harassment and some of the things the characters did were strange--not just in the sexual harassment context, but also just in general.  Harvey and Blake are just sitting there on a bench in front of the Police Station(?) and they're both taking swigs from a flask right out in public?  Then, after Alice finishes describing all the indignities she's been subjected to over the years simply due to her gender, Blake first puts his arm around her and then proceeds to rub her back?  Right AFTER she's just described the inappropriate behavior of her male colleagues toward her.  ??

I also found it irritating that the male persons in positions of authority kept referring to Alice as "Miss Harvey" instead of "Dr. Harvey," especially that wuss of an administrator who couldn't cut it in the operating theatre and wasn't even worthy of polishing her shoes.

It was awful how all the men, no matter their job descriptions and status in the hospital, regarded the nurses and other female members of the hospital staff as commodities to be exploited.  Even Mattie in the limited time she spent looking around was accosted by one of the ambulance techs.    "Sweetie Box," indeed!  The other ambulance tech had noble intentions, I guess, but murdering offenders was a bit too drastic, I think, when he could have championed the women on the staff in other ways.

On 7/31/2016 at 3:29 PM, Ceindreadh said:

S4 was a vast improvement, IMO

  Reveal hidden contents

Mainly because Munro was gone.  But also because, even though Lawson was written out again (a) his replacement was a decent guy and (b) we were at least given a reason for his absence i.e. Joel's lack of availability.  Plus there's hope that he'll be back for season 5

Good to know.

Also, just a general question not really connected to the episode, but just curious:  should I continue putting spoiler tags on stuff?  This series is pretty much all over the place, as far as which season is being shown, depending on which country is broadcasting the episodes.  It doesn't bother me to read spoilers because I intend to watch every season eventually anyway, but some viewers would rather not know what's going to happen in future episodes/seasons.  Any opinions, anyone?

Edited August 6, 2016 by officetemp

[Pickles]

It doesn't bother me to read spoilers. I enjoy the show so much. I will be watching every episode regardless.

[officetemp]

Thanks, Pickles.

So, it's been about a month since the local PBS station showed the final episode of Season 3 here, and, so far, no word on when/if they plan to show Season 4.  In the meantime, they've been filling the timeslot with Rosemary & Thyme and, in the last two weeks, Shetland (which I like, by the way).

I agree that the the Season 3 finale was jam-packed with the show trying to tie up the loose plot lines.  As with everyone else, I was glad that Munro was exposed as a bad guy (associating with people known for their questionable activities, right?).  As usual, though, there were a couple of things that were a little confusing to me.  Was Hobart just pretending to be Munro's ally the whole time?  I saw the look on his face after the Munro/Lawson confrontation and it seemed as if Hobart was glad that Munro had been toppled.  Also, I'm assuming that the phone call (a few episodes back) when Mattie overheard Charlie saying, "Yes, I think he trusts me," wasn't from Munro in regards to Blake (as it seemed at the time) but actually from Lawson with regards to Munro.

The whole thing with Blake's mother was strange, I thought.  The way everyone kept talking about her, it seemed as if all the men in Ballarat were in love with her or had been at one time or another.  And, I was so disappointed when Ashby was killed because I liked the character and wouldn't have minded seeing him in future episodes.

I thought the depiction of the Masons with their secretive practices was a little bit on the stereotypical side--Masons being routinely portrayed as this diabolical organization with ambitions of world domination, their presence at the highest levels of government, etc.

Blake getting on the bus with Jean headed to Adelaide seemed a little bit soap-opera-ish.  Hope they settle that plot line soon!

Really looking forward to Season 4.  Hope we don't have to wait too long before it's broadcast here.

[Ceindreadh]

On 11/9/2016 at 10:19 PM, officetemp said:

Thanks, Pickles.

So, it's been about a month since the local PBS station showed the final episode of Season 3 here, and, so far, no word on when/if they plan to show Season 4.  In the meantime, they've been filling the timeslot with Rosemary & Thyme and, in the last two weeks, Shetland (which I like, by the way).

I agree that the the Season 3 finale was jam-packed with the show trying to tie up the loose plot lines.  As with everyone else, I was glad that Munro was exposed as a bad guy (associating with people known for their questionable activities, right?).  As usual, though, there were a couple of things that were a little confusing to me.  Was Hobart just pretending to be Munro's ally the whole time?  I saw the look on his face after the Munro/Lawson confrontation and it seemed as if Hobart was glad that Munro had been toppled.  Also, I'm assuming that the phone call (a few episodes back) when Mattie overheard Charlie saying, "Yes, I think he trusts me," wasn't from Munro in regards to Blake (as it seemed at the time) but actually from Lawson with regards to Munro.

The whole thing with Blake's mother was strange, I thought.  The way everyone kept talking about her, it seemed as if all the men in Ballarat were in love with her or had been at one time or another.  And, I was so disappointed when Ashby was killed because I liked the character and wouldn't have minded seeing him in future episodes.

I thought the depiction of the Masons with their secretive practices was a little bit on the stereotypical side--Masons being routinely portrayed as this diabolical organization with ambitions of world domination, their presence at the highest levels of government, etc.

Blake getting on the bus with Jean headed to Adelaide seemed a little bit soap-opera-ish.  Hope they settle that plot line soon!

Really looking forward to Season 4.  Hope we don't have to wait too long before it's broadcast here.

I don't know what the story was with Hobart & Munro.  Hobart definitely seemed to be completely on Munro's side throughout.  I remember a few instances in S1 where Hobart seemed a bit at odds with Lawson, so it would make sense that he aligned himself with the new boss.  IIRC, it seemed to me at the time that Lawson was set to give Hobart a second chance to redeem himself for trusting Munro.

And while they never came out and said it, I think it's clear that it was Lawson that Charlie was on the phone to and not Munro (as had been implied).  Would have been unlikely for Munro to be phoning Charlie covertly when he could have easily spoken to him in person.  I did find it interesting the Mattie overhears Charlie talking suspiciously, and the very next episode we get Blake asking Charlie his opinion on Munro - presumably Mattie had alerted Blake about what she'd overheard. 

 

The whole thing with Blake's mother and indeed her relationship to Ashby just seemed to come out of nowhere.  I know that Lucien was shipped off to school at age 9, but surely if Ashby had been that close friends with the Blakes then surely Lucien would have known who he was when they crossed paths in S1. 

I'm afraid I wasn't too sorry to see Ashby go.  I took agin him in S1 when he appeared first - I know he was grieving for his daughter, but it seemed like he wasn't a nice person, or at least not a nice boss to Lawson (and I dislike anybody who treats my Lawson badly  ;-)

[mjc570]

If anyone is interested, my local PBS (Phila/NJ) station is rerunning Season 1.  Wednesday nights, 8:o0 eastern time

[officetemp]

Still no word from my local PBS station on when or if they intend to start showing Season 4.

In the meantime, I happened upon A Place to Call Home and the actor who plays Munro plays a good-guy doctor in that series.  I have to say that I prefer him playing a good guy--the character is much less cartoonish than Munro turned out to be.  Maybe that's why they eliminated the character in the first place.  Doesn't it seem as if quite a few of the actors on Dr. Blake are moving on to other series?  I'd love it if Lawson came back.

[DHDancer]

Yeah, I like Craig Hall as a nice guy too, although he was pretty effective as the bad cop.  

[Lewispolk]

Does he find his daughter in Singapore and does she appear on screen?

[Ceindreadh]

Yes he does and no she doesn't. 

[mjc570]

I just finished season 3, and thought it was a bit disappointing.  I totally love the series (enough to actually buy the streaming video of seasons 2 and 3 from Amazon), but thought that Lucien joining Jean on the bus was hokey.  Maybe it's me, but until these few final episodes where Lucien and Jean obviously could not communicate their true feelings ("You'll always have a job here"), I never thought of them as a romantic couple. I also thought the whole Genevieve poisoning was a bit over the top, although I guess it was a good way to tie up some loose ends.  I really was hoping that her death was simply unfortunate, that the cover up was simply to suppress distressing details to the survivors and that  that Lucien was wrong.  I realize when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail (simplified law of the instrument), but when you're a police surgeon not every death is murder. 

I love Lucien's backstory, and can't wait to see how it develops with his daughter.  I'm glad Munro is gone (although I really liked both the actor and the character), curious to see the station dynamics going forward. 

Can't wait to see Season 4. 

[zannej]

To clarify, he finds her in China. She's married and has children of her own but she thinks he just abandoned her so she doesn't want anything to do with him.

[Ceindreadh]

6 hours ago, zannej said:

To clarify, he finds her in China. She's married and has children of her own but she thinks he just abandoned her so she doesn't want anything to do with him.

They do however keep in touch and exchange letters on several occasions.

[mjc570]

But weren't his letters to her intercepted?  Apologies if I'm remembering this wrong.

[Ceindreadh]

4 hours ago, mjc570 said:

But weren't his letters to her intercepted?  Apologies if I'm remembering this wrong.

No, you're not wrong. 

In ep 6 of S3, Blake finds out that letters from his daughter have been intercepted and vice versa Charlie I think manages to get one to him where she's upset that he hasn't been writing. 

Given that Munro was responsible for this, then some letters must have got through before he showed up. 

Also, in S4, Blake does mention his daughter again so I presume they were able to restore communications. 

[mjc570]

Thanks!  

[ShelleySue]

I saw Season 1 on PBS (Boston).  Then there was a break and they now they're airing Season 3.  Ugh!  What happened when Lucien went to find his daughter?  I know that he found her because I just saw an episode in which he wrote to her and told Jean how difficult it must have been for his daughter.  Were there episodes that showed him meeting his daughter?  Any information would be appreciated because I feel like I must have missed a lot.

[Ceindreadh]

46 minutes ago, ShelleySue said:

I saw Season 1 on PBS (Boston).  Then there was a break and they now they're airing Season 3.  Ugh!  What happened when Lucien went to find his daughter?  I know that he found her because I just saw an episode in which he wrote to her and told Jean how difficult it must have been for his daughter.  Were there episodes that showed him meeting his daughter?  Any information would be appreciated because I feel like I must have missed a lot.

Lucien came back at the beginning of S2 having met up with his daughter.  It didn't go all that well, IIRC, he told Jean that his daughter was angry at having been abandoned.  However, they must have agreed to keep up a correspondence.  We haven't seen her on screen so far. 

[officetemp]

Discovered a couple of months back that our local PBS station has been showing seasons 1-3 on Friday nights at 11:00 pm(??!!!)  What the heck?!  I can't stay up that late.  I'm hoping that they decide to rebroadcast everything and then show Season 4 on Saturday nights at 9:00/10:00 as they were doing before.  I like this series a lot.  Just hope it doesn't go all stupid.  Have to admit I've read some spoilers and it just seems as if things will be getting more complicated and in kind of a frustrating way.  We'll see, I guess.

On 2/17/2017 at 4:01 PM, Ceindreadh said:

Lucien came back at the beginning of S2 having met up with his daughter.  It didn't go all that well, IIRC, he told Jean that his daughter was angry at having been abandoned.  However, they must have agreed to keep up a correspondence.  We haven't seen her on screen so far. 

I'm still hoping that his daughter shows up eventually and that they at least have a cordial relationship, even if they can't quite re-establish family ties. 

[fauntleroy]

Season 4 has begun on PBS at least in the Boston area. Episode 2 was on Wednesday night.

Seems like they have a bit more budget - more fabulous period cars ...

Spoiler

including a new one for our hero

...and more ambitious exterior shots. Even that gloomy windowless house is brightened up by having some scenes in the covered patio/plant area. Too early yet for the skylight trend, but that house could really use one.

Tip of the hat to set design and wardrobe.

[mjoyce1111]

Why have they had a turnover in superintendents? 

[CoderLady]

Each one has been a pretty significant contributor to the story, I think.

Lawson started out antagonistic and skeptical of Blake's methods but got won over and became an ally and friend in the end.

The second one -- can't remember his name -- was there to lead an investigation into Blake that started getting put into place while Lawson was superintendent, then they shoved Lawson out and put him in when they were ready to crank up the heat but if I recall correctly his main minion changed sides and became instrumental in bringing him down instead.

This last one seems to be a genuinely nice guy and has been willing to work with Blake from day one which is a nice change, but who knows? One way or another, the superintendents have been interesting.

[Ceindreadh]

5 hours ago, CoderLady said:

Each one has been a pretty significant contributor to the story, I think.

Lawson started out antagonistic and skeptical of Blake's methods but got won over and became an ally and friend in the end.

The second one -- can't remember his name -- was there to lead an investigation into Blake that started getting put into place while Lawson was superintendent, then they shoved Lawson out and put him in when they were ready to crank up the heat but if I recall correctly his main minion changed sides and became instrumental in bringing him down instead.

This last one seems to be a genuinely nice guy and has been willing to work with Blake from day one which is a nice change, but who knows? One way or another, the superintendents have been interesting.

I wouldn't say Lawson was antagonistic as such. Skeptical of his methods, yes, but I never felt it was personal (not like with Munro in S3). And we do find out that Lawson and Blake were at school together in their youth, so there was an existing friendship. 

A lot of Lawson's absence can be explained by Joel Tobeck's lack of availability - he's New Zealand based and had a few other projects on during some of the filming. I wish they could have worked around it a bit better though. I hated that in S3

Lawson didn't even get mentioned until halfway through the season

. 

[Pickles]

Does anyone know when the new season will be airing in the US?

[officetemp]

On 5/8/2017 at 4:56 PM, Pickles said:

Does anyone know when the new season will be airing in the US?

 

On 4/13/2017 at 1:59 PM, fauntleroy said:

Season 4 has begun on PBS at least in the Boston area. Episode 2 was on Wednesday night.

Our local PBS station still hasn't broadcast any of Season 4.  I'm wondering if this series is one which PBS doesn't purchase for national broadcast but rather a series that the local affiliates have to purchase on their own?  If so, and if our local station opts not purchase Season 4, I'll be quite disappointed.  Guess I'll have to buy the series on DVD.

[Pickles]

I just emailed our PBS station and series 4 will begin on July 1st for us. I look forward to watching it!

[Fireball]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 1:21 PM, Ceindreadh said:

I think part of the lack of comments may be that people are watching at different paces. You're still in S2, S3 has aired in the UK and S4 in Australia. So people may be wary of joining a thread and seeing spoilers. 

 

I wonder would it be it be worthwhile setting up different season threads. 

I just found this show on Netflix! I've been binge watching it.  I'd love to have separate topics for each season, so I could avoid spoilers. I thought about starting some, but I doubt there is enough interest.

[mjc570]

I agree, it would be great to have season threads.  I've watched through S3 (waiting for S4 to be available for streaming, I don't evenb mind paying since I really like the show) and I'm also watching the weekly episodes on my PBS station (I think there up to S3E7, the man in the hotel, Jean announces her decision).

[Fireball]

3 hours ago, mjc570 said:

I agree, it would be great to have season threads.  I've watched through S3 (waiting for S4 to be available for streaming, I don't evenb mind paying since I really like the show) and I'm also watching the weekly episodes on my PBS station (I think there up to S3E7, the man in the hotel, Jean announces her decision).

I'm up to S3 E2. My PBS station isn't showing Doctor Blake Mysteries. :( But Netflix has all of season 3. :) 

[Pickles]

Season 4, episode 1 was shown here tonight. I read there is a season 5 and then the series has been cancelled! 

[mjc570]

I'm not surprised to hear of the cancellation.  There just weren't enough characters to keep it going too long.   Plus, the Lucien/Jean thing was kind of jump-sharkish to me.  I'm sorry, though, because I like the show very much, the characters and the setting (both geographically and time-wise).  

[Ceindreadh]

6 hours ago, Pickles said:

Season 4, episode 1 was shown here tonight. I read there is a season 5 and then the series has been cancelled! 

They've filmed season 5, but haven't broadcast it yet.  They're supposed to be filming a 2 hour special to finish it off but that hasn't started filming yet, and S5 won't be broadcast until the finale is ready - fingers crossed it'll be picked up by another network first  

 

 

35 minutes ago, mjc570 said:

I'm not surprised to hear of the cancellation.  There just weren't enough characters to keep it going too long.   Plus, the Lucien/Jean thing was kind of jump-sharkish to me.  I'm sorry, though, because I like the show very much, the characters and the setting (both geographically and time-wise).  

I disagree. With only 8 or 10 episodes a season, by the end of S5, they'll still only have the equivalent of 2 x American length seasons.  Too many shows have too many characters to deal with. I'd be more concerned at the rising body count in such a small town. They must be twinned with Cabot Cove and/or Midsomer!

[ForReal]

I really like the show, and I've watched the first three seasons on Netflix. I'm waiting for Season 4 to air, but I read one spoiler elsewhere that has almost spoiled the whole show for me. I keep telling myself that it was just a troll trying to ruin the show. I'm scrupulously not looking at spoilers here because I don't want confirmation. I've enjoyed this show too much to not see it through.

[mjc570]

I've started watching season 4 on PBS (somehow, I muss have missed S4E1), and like the new superintendent.  I think my favorite character is Dr. Harvey, and I hope she sticks with the show.  I thought she would have been a much better love interest for Lucien than Jean, because (to me) that just completely came out of nowhere.  I'm glad they dropped that SL of Jean moving, which was clearly just plot-induced drama (yes, I know, that's what a plot is, but still . . . )

[WatchrTina]

On April 27, 2017 at 8:33 PM, CoderLady said:

This last one seems to be a genuinely nice guy and has been willing to work with Blake from day one which is a nice change, but who knows?

I must be a suspicious person because I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since he turned up.  In the episode I just watched he seemed to be leaning on Blake's deductive reasoning (and not just his medical knowledge) to a degree that seemed quite implausible to me.  But I could hand-wave past all that because let's face it -- at this point I'm barely paying attention to the mystery-of-the-week because I'm more fascinated the Blake's relationships with his housekeeper and his boarders.   And now I'm going behind the spoiler bars for those who haven't seen all of season 4.

Spoiler

 

 I spent tonight's entire episode (the one about the kidnapped lottery winner) on pins and needles in anticipation of Blake FINALLY popping the question to Jean.

And then the doorbell rang.

Damn.

I do enjoy this show but, damn.  They have really dragged me through the mill with the twists and turns in the Julian/Jean relationship.

 

Looking forward to Season 5!

Edited August 6, 2017 by WatchrTina

[CoderLady]

52 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

I must be a suspicious person because I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since he turned up.  In the episode I just watched he seemed to be leaning on Blake's deductive reasoning (and not just his medical knowledge) to a degree that seemed quite implausible to me.

I've started wondering if the rank and skill set of Detective existed in the police force at the time or if only big city police forces got detectives, because with all the crime in Ballarat they needed one badly on just about every case. Instead, the two sharper superintendents Lawson and Carlyle just let Blake do the sherlocking and only stepped in when he'd go too far or pissed off someone important. Interesting dynamic.

[mjc570]

My PBS station (Phila, PA) has  been running Series 4, which I appreciate because it is not available for streaming.  If it were available, I would even pay, which for me is quite unusual.  Unfortunately, this week, instead of showing the 4? episode about the jockey (per the episode guide), it showed a rerun. This was also the case for the other showings.  Does anyone know what happened?  I am dying of suspense, because the end of the last episode I saw was QUITE A CLIFFHANGER, in terms of Dr. Blake's personal life.  I am trying to stay unspoiled, but. . . . .

[WatchrTina]

I assumed that cliffhanger marked the end of the season (though I'd be happy to be proven wrong.). And I don't recall an episode about a jockey. I wonder if that was a misprint in your guide. If not, I need to hunt that episode down too. 

[mjc570]

The episode I was referring to was S4E4:  Against the Odds.  It was at the end of S4E3 that what I referred to as the cliffhanger -

Spoiler

his wife returns literally just as he is about to propose to Jean. 

p.s I hope that spoiler thing worked!

[DHDancer]

not all PBS stations are airing S4 yet.  OPB has just repeatinh Se3