“Crime Solving is Something I’m More Than Happy to Leave to the Professionals.”
Murder, She Wrote is a classic example of TV the way things used to be. Back in the days before streaming or DVRs, it used to be that very little if anything changed for characters on shows from week to week. However, season eight sees a big change for Jessica Fletcher. Really, about the only change for the character or the show over its twelve season run.
You see, this is the season that mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (played wonderfully by Angela Lansbury) moves part time to New York City. She moves there in order to teach a criminology class at Manhattan University. She’s only supposed to be in the big city three or four days a week. The rest of the time? She’s still in Cabot Cove when she’s not out traveling visiting friends and family.
The season starts out with several of the New York City episodes. When Jessica goes to move into her new apartment, she discovers that the previous tenant was just killed in the building’s garage. A mugger on the university campus escalates to murder. Jessica gets a computer (another change), but, naturally, that also leads to murder. There are a couple that just take place in the city without the university connect as well. A gossip writer is killed, and the finger points to a good friend. Then there’s the club that Jessica does a reading for just before a member is killed. And in the season finale, Jessica is working on creating a mystery game for a company when an executive is murdered. These episodes also give us a chance to meet a new recurring character in Ahmed, the doorman in Jessica’s New York building. He’s played delightfully by Andrew Johnson. I’m just sorry his only appearances are in four episodes this season.
But don’t worry, Jessica does plenty of traveling in this season. She solves a twenty-year-old case in New Orleans. She saves a friend from being accused of murdering her husband in Santa Barbara. She has back-to-back cases in Europe, one in Monte Carlo and one in London. And, of course, she gets caught up in international intrigue when she bumps into Michael Haggerty (Len Cariou) at an embassy party.
This is also the season where Jessica solves a murder on the Universal lot. Since that is where the show filmed, it’s a fun nod, although I will admit that the actual mystery, involving the set for the movie Psycho, isn’t one of my favorites.
There are only four episodes in Cabot Cove this season. (I’m not counting the brief introduction in Cabot Cove at the beginning of the season premier since the case takes place in New York City.) Up first, Sherif Mort Metzger thinks his brother, an ex-con, has committed a murder in town. When a mysterious woman arrives in town and gets the part of a witch in the community theater, the towns people think she might be a real witch. Seth Hazlitt is facing malpractice claims, unless it was really murder. Finally, Seth’s army buddy comes to town and is accused of murder.
And can I just say how nice it is to have William Windom back as Seth this season? I really missed him since he was only in one episode last season. Ron Masak is fantastic as always as Sheriff Metzger. This season also marks the debut of Louis Herthum as Deputy Andy Bloom, a character who would stick around for the rest of the series.
With four new murders in Cabot Cove this year, it’s time to update my stats and percentages on how deadly the town really is. There have been 34.5 murders in the town (yes, that makes sense if you watch season one), 24 involving residents of the town in some way and 11 involving no residents whatsoever. By the end of season eight, Jessica has solved 160 murders. We’ve dropped down to 21.6% of Jessica’s cases take place in town. That’s less than a quarter. See, Cabot Cove is a perfectly safe place to live.
While Jessica is the sleuth in every episode here, they are continuing with the slightly lighter schedule for Angela Lansbury. The murder often takes place later in the episode, and we get scenes that don’t feature her character that highlight the conflict for us. I understand where she is coming from, being in every scene of every episode was very draining for her, as it would be for any actor. But the show does lose a little of its spark without her in every scene. However, I do prefer this format to the episodes without her in them at all (not that I thought those episodes were horrid).
I remember more of these episodes than normal. I’m not completely sure why, but as I’m watching I’ll be several plot points ahead of the characters because something will trigger my memory. Having said that, a couple of the episodes are overly complicated, and a few have some rather clumsy clues in them. This is also the second season where we don’t meet any of Jessica’s family. Maybe they’ve all learned to stay away from her because if her status as a murder magnet. Her friends are still happy to see her visit, however.
There’s a behind the scenes change this season I have to highlight. I’m a huge fan of the TV show Babylon 5. Before he created the show, J. Michael Straczynski was a co-producer and writer for this season of the show. I always smile when I see his name pop up on the credits. It’s also fun to see Babylon 5 actors pop up this season. While there are been some in the last couple of seasons, there are more here. We get to see Tim Choate, Andrea Thompson, Marjorie Monaghan, and Andreas Katsulas.
The guest cast is also great, and I seem to recognize more people each time I watch these episodes. Among those I recognized this season are Alan Oppenheimer, Mary Pat Gleason, Barbara Bain, Jessica Walter, Douglas Barr, Amy O'Neill, Theodore Bikel, Mitchell Ryan, Ron Glass, Marcia Cross, and Kate Mulgrew. Finally, Angela Lansbury’s real life nephew David Lansbury appears in the season finale.
The DVD set has been out for a while now. It features all 22 episodes of the season in its native full screen (as opposed to wide screen) and stereo. There aren’t any extras on the set.
While my favorite seasons of the show are behind us, I still enjoy season eight of Murder, She Wrote. If you are looking for a light mystery TV show, you’ll find yourself enjoying the episodes no matter how many times you’ve watched them. It’s always fun to see Jessica in action.
I was in college when this premiered, and was then... living life, I guess, and never saw this on broadcast t.v. I've watched a few episodes, mainly because I love seeing the clothing, and also because Lansbury was about the age I am now when it aired. Wait... she was a RETIRED English teacher. Sigh. Thanks for the recap!
ReplyDelete