Our favorite soft-spoken Toronto detective / inventor returns for another season of mysteries. Here’s what we thought of season 8.
- “On the Waterfront, Part 1” – 4.5
- “On the Waterfront, Part 2” – 6
- “Glory Days” – 2.5
- “Holy Matrimony, Murdoch!” – 8
- “Murdoch Takes Manhattan” – 7
- “The Murdoch Appreciation Society” – 9
- “What Lies Buried” – 8
- “High Voltage” – 4
- “The Keystone Constables” – 4
- “Murdoch and the Temple of Death” – 7
- “All that Glitters” – 6
- “The Devil Wears Whalebone” – 8
- “The Incurables” – 5.5
- “Toronto’s Girl Problem” – 4
- “Shipwreck” – 2
- “Crabtreemania” – 6
- “Election Day” – 7
- “Artful Detective” – 5.5
This season’s average rating is a 5.8, which is not the best Murdoch Mysteries has done, but is a very strong showing for a series in its eighth year and with no signs of faltering.
This season has the distinction of seeing Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden finally tie the knot. Of course, neither their wedding nor their honeymoon can go off without a murder to brilliantly solve together, giving us a delightful pair of episodes in “Holy Matrimony, Murdoch!” and “Murdoch Takes Manhattan.” The latter episode also features a spirited B-story back in Toronto which allows Dr. Grace to take the wheel for a high(-ish)-speed car chase.
The lowest episode of this season is “Shipwreck,” at 2, in which Murdoch finds his beloved childhood priest fallen from his pedestal. There are good parts to the episode, but it is dragged down by slow pacing and uninspired acting. “Glory Days,” a 2.5 in which a legendary lawman of the US old west thinks he’s hunting Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Toronto is not much better, as it wallows in the unappealing tropes of male resentment.
But these low points are more than outweighed by a number of fine episodes. The best of the season is “The Murdoch Appreciation Society,” at 9, in which Murdoch’s in-universe fans stage a fake mystery for the chance to watch him work, which becomes tangled up with a real murder plot. Also notable are “The Devil Wears Whalebone,” an 8, which features one of the series’ more inventive murder weapons, and “What Lies Buried,” also an 8, a tense and claustrophobic drama in which Murdoch seeks a killer within the police force itself. Along the way, we get the usual Murdoch hijinks with vaudeville theatre, staged wrestling matches, the early days of the women’s suffrage movement, and an Indiana Jones pastiche.
All told, it’s another fun go around with Detective Murdoch and company.
Image: Dr. Grace at the wheel, from Murdoch Mysteries via IMDb
Post edited to correct grammatical errors
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