Murdoch Mysteries: Season 2

(or not -- given all the murders!)

If you like mysteries with actual mystery, no profanity, no high speed car chases, and (almost) no shoot-outs, then you might like this series.

Yannick Bisson plays Detective William Murdoch, a man who (as you'll read in the Special Features section of one of the DVDs) has long wanted to solve mysteries in the style of his "hero" Sherlock Holmes. Murdoch is supposed to have "pounded the pavement" (okay, walked the wooden sidewalks) of circa 1900 Toronto as a policeman for several years before becoming a Detective. Always curious and science-minded, Murdoch apparently needed the time on the beat to give him some street smarts to balance out his book smarts.

Murdoch, like many great detectives, doesn't always fit in. He's better educated than his gravelly-voiced boss; can't comprehend how his subordinates can't see clues that are obvious to him; lacks finer social graces (for example, not standing when a woman he likes joins him at a restaurant table); is terribly wishy-washy in certain matters (can't for the life of him decide between two women but doesn't feel he owes either of them a decision) but unyielding in others (when it comes to justice)... he seems like a real person rather than a character in a story.

His investigations take him from academic competition involving dinosaur remains in southern Alberta to Jewish laws and society in the big city; from soggy ditches to a hot-air balloon ride, and he always (eventually) makes sense of it all, often relying on his trusted subordinate Constable George Crabtree, and on the medical knowledge of Dr Julia Ogden to help him when he's stumped.

This season features one episode in which Murdoch is severely injured and must stay in bed while a mystery unravels around him (fans of a certain Jimmy Stewart movie will see certain similarities); an episode in which Murdoch sees himself as an older man with a son... and I dare say from the look on is face when he sees his future wife, it ain't Dr Ogden (we don't get to see her face); an episode in which bodies are found at a building excavation site but the mystery gets deeper and deeper and ends with a _shocking_ twist; and an episode in which Murdoch and Ogden have such a profound yet strangely polite falling out, it has an effect on their working and personal relationships and this story arc continues until the final episode.
For these episodes alone, I think this season is worth the price.

I wish the price was lower for this season (and for season 1 as well); I wish the Special Features more than a mere taste, and I wish there were more than thirteen episodes, but as a fan of the show I'm happy with my purchase and I know I will watch these shows many times in the future.

I liked these stories so much that I decided to buy the DVD's as I couldn't stand the amount of commercials played while I watched it on TV. The plots are well put together and they all play their roles very well. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good mystery that doesn't have to add the violence to get the point of the plot across.

The "Murdoch Mysteries" were good (if a little preachy) in the series' first season. But the second season smooths out the steampunky mystery show's wrinkles -- lots of mysteries, bizarre crimes, then-cutting-edge science, and unexpected twists. And even better, the writers introduce more character development into the everyday plots, ranging from romance to "temperance."

First, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show stopping in Toronto meets with disaster when the old catching-a-bullet-with-teeth trick goes horribly awry, leaving Murdoch to figure out which of the gunslingers had a killing grudge. Then when prostitutes are found gutted around Toronto, a British detective arrives with shocking news -- he believes Jack the Ripper is alive and in their city.

And as the season goes on, Murdoch has to deal with a dead body in dinosaur jaws, a bank robbery pinned on Harry Houdini, a strangled prostitute, a girl who bled to death after a botched abortion, a professor shot through a window, a suspicious substitute landlady, lonely telegraph operators found dead after romancing "A.K.," mysterious poisonings in the Jewish community, a spree of werewolf attacks, an infuriating Mountie whose methods resemble his. Weirdest of all: a bizarre adventure involving a small boy, a robot, a dead dwarf and a Prussian.

And as they solve these various crimes, the constabulary has a series of its own problems: Inspector Brackenreid's marriage is under strain because his wife has joined the Temperance League, Colonel Crabtree searches for his mother, and the new romance between Murdoch and Dr. Ogden crumbles when he discovers a secret about her past (so he dates a beautiful young widow instead).

"Murdoch Mysteries Season Two" loosens up on the strict format that it followed in the first season, meaning we get episodes like "Convalescence" (in which Crabtree temporarily takes Murdoch's place) and lots of personal subplots that stretch over many episodes. Even better: the preachy 21st-century tone has died down, and the writers are more even-handed when dealing with touchy subjects like abortion or prejudice against American Indians.

And the writers continue to litter the show with historical personages (Houdini, Buffalo Bill) and then-new technology (X-ray machines, night-vision goggles). The mysteries are smooth, solid and usually fairly intricate, with plenty of blood, corpses and occasional psychopaths -- as well as some humorous moments (a parrot that keeps yelling, "Cochon, cochon! You are a pig! You get out of here!" at the inspector).

Yannick Bisson remains an excellent if slightly uptight detective, and we get to see Murdoch loosen up as well -- he's confronted by challenges to his feelings, his morals, and occasionally to the world as he knows it (although the lassoing scene was a bit ridiculous). Helene Joy, Thomas Craig and Jonny Harris round out a solid cast with some good chemistry, although Sarah Allen's Enid Jones (appropriately) has zero chemistry with Bisson.

"Murdoch Mysteries Season Two" sands down the rough edges of this show, and manages to introduce more character development without losing sight of all the murder and crime. Nice.