Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Cocaine Blues
December 8, 2014 6:23 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

We meet our heroine, the clever and stylish Hon. Miss Phyrne Fisher, as she returns to Australia for dark and personal reasons. She catches up with old friends, meets a handsome ballet dancer, enjoys a little coke and a lot of bubbly, and cheerfully inserts herself into the first many police investigations into mysterious deaths.

Miss Fisher's friends and family, including the surgeon Dr. Mac, her prim aunt Prudence, and guest star Miranda Otto are also introduced. Phryne quickly establishes herself as a sexy, sexy nuisance to the local detective inspector, Jack Robinson, as she follows up with several crimes, including her friend's husband's murder and the activities of a back-alley abortionist. The Socialist sidekicks, Bert and Cecil, make their first appearance, and Miss Fisher gains herself a loyal new companion in the form of a very Catholic made, Dot Williams. After solving the murder but nearly being steamed to death in the nude with her new dancer friend, Miss Fisher decides to stay on in Melbourne as the city's resident lady detective.
posted by WidgetAlley (20 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sigh, that should be "Phryne", not "Phyrne". I may have had a little bubbly myself (no coke though.)
posted by WidgetAlley at 6:26 PM on December 8, 2014 [1 favorite]


(And I think you mean "Catholic maid," not "made".)

My wife and I were trying to figure out what Phryne was short for, but apparently she was a famous hetaira (courtesan) of Ancient Greece (4th century BC). Phryne's real name was Mnēsarétē (Μνησαρέτη, "commemorating virtue"), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phrýnē ("toad").

So, there's that.

I really love the whole cast - the Socialist taxi driving duo of Cec and Bert, the prim (but quickly turned to mischief, for a greater good, of course) Dot, the sassy Doc. Mac, and the later additions. Prudence is fun in her own way. I was sold on the show in this episode, but I can't recall much to comment upon at the moment.

Australian broadcast audiences aren't bothered by Phryne's sexuality, but some conservative American Netflix viewers are. Shocking, I say. Shocking.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:24 AM on December 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


This was a great hook into the series. I've read the first book, and thought it was ok, but not good enough to keep reading, but the setting had such promise and the show gets to really embrace the visuals.
posted by PussKillian at 8:34 AM on December 9, 2014


The first time I watched, I was expecting to like it well enough because I love cozy period mysteries, but I didn't expect to fall quite as in love with the series as I did.

I was definitely sold on the show starting with this episode, and I remember exactly what sold me: when Phryne was checking out the hot dancer, I thought, "you should hit that, Miss Fisher," not expecting anything to come of her flirting, but then they had sex! Wildly athletic sex, judging by the state of her hotel room afterwards! And it was just a fun fling, of the sort that male characters get to have all the time but female characters are usually denied.

It's such a welcome change to watch a show where an older woman is considered sexy and desirable, and to have her be the subject of desire rather than the object. Phryne is almost always the one doing the seducing, and no one slut shames her for it. It's so great.
posted by yasaman at 9:30 AM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]


It's such a welcome change to watch a show where an older woman is considered sexy and desirable, and to have her be the subject of desire rather than the object.

Oddly enough, in the source material, Phryne is 28. I think aging the character up for the TV series works better, given how savvy and worldly she is, and how much varied experience she seems to have accrued.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:11 PM on December 9, 2014 [6 favorites]


My wife and I were trying to figure out what Phryne was short for, but apparently she was a famous hetaira (courtesan) of Ancient Greece (4th century BC). Phryne's real name was Mnēsarétē (Μνησαρέτη, "commemorating virtue"), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phrýnē ("toad").

So, there's that.


Yep; here's the author on the subject:
“I had been looking at 1900 birth noties for some reason and a lot of them were Ancient Greek names-Psyche, Irene, Iris. These ladies (the naive Psyche, Irene the Goddess of Peace and Iris the nymph of the rainbow) were far too respectable to be the sort of person I wanted my heroine to be, but then I remembered Phryne, a courtesan in Ancient greece, so beautiful that apelles used her for his Aphrodite, and so rich and notorious that she offered to rebuild the walls of thebes as long as she could put a sign on them, ‘The Walls of Thebes; Ruined by time, Rebuilt by Phryne the Courtesan’. My kind of woman. Her last name is derived elaborately as a scholastic joke. She is a Fisher of Men, as all detectives are. Her name also reflects the Grail Cycle Le Roi Pecheur, the Sinner or Fisher King. I have always liked that absurd pun on Sin and Fish. And there was a street in Paris called rue du Chat qui Peche which was a good place to find a gigolo…”


Kerry Greenwood on naming Phryne Fisher in the short essay “On Phryne Fisher” in A Question of Death
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:14 PM on December 9, 2014 [7 favorites]


Are we allowed to discuss the books here? I read part of the first one and was amazed how different it was, particularly Dot's character.
posted by chaiminda at 11:12 AM on December 10, 2014


I'd be happy to hear about differences from the books. I'm never likely to read them.

I also appreciate having a main character who's an older woman who seduces whoever she feels like.

Did you catch the business about her sister? Try to remember it well. Because, yeah, that's dropped entirely for the majority of the season.
posted by rikschell at 7:21 PM on December 10, 2014


Having seen Miriam Margolyes's multiple appearances on the Graham Norton Show telling some wonderfully filthy stories, seeing her as Aunt Prudence cracks me up to no end.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:17 PM on December 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


rikschell: Did you catch the business about her sister? Try to remember it well. Because, yeah, that's dropped entirely for the majority of the season.

Well, not exactly dropped. There are a number of flash-backs in at least 6 of the 13 episodes, though some are short flashes and hints at the past (I'm going off of Jane's IMDb credits).

Speaking of IMDb, the main image for this show is currently a slightly blurry screencap of Detective Jack; Phryne's first photo is currently the 4th image in the IMDb gallery, though her photos are 3 of the 4 thumbnails on the main page for the image gallery.


His thoughts were red thoughts, quoting Kerry Greenwood: so rich and notorious that she offered to rebuild the walls of thebes as long as she could put a sign on them, ‘The Walls of Thebes; Ruined by time, Rebuilt by Phryne the Courtesan’. My kind of woman.

My kind of woman, too! That's fantastic.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:25 AM on December 11, 2014


What a fun show.
posted by drezdn at 8:34 AM on December 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Phryne's wardrobe makes me green with envy. And in the first season, her hair is an amazing shade of almost-black auburn! Sigh. I want to swan around in feather-lined silk and a perfect bob haircut.
posted by Squeak Attack at 3:17 PM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]


I'm also totally okay with talking about book differences as long as we don't include any huge spoilers for the overall season or future episodes in the thread, since I think there are a few folks who are watching for the first time.

I really liked this episode, but I feel like both Miss Fisher and the cheese were turned up to 11 (intentionally.) Phryne is even more aggressive, quick, and one-step-ahead in this episode than usual, which I think might have been the writers trying to signal new viewers that this show is not, in fact, about a Complex and Vulnerable Woman in the way that we usually see them on television, and that you have to be cool with that to keep watching. In fact, Phryne's one of the only women on TV who I feel like gets the privileges afforded to a lot of male characters (like Sherlock), where they're freakishly good at everything they touch for the first three episodes and only start developing real emotional depth after that. The difference is that Phryne is better balanced right from the start-- she's incredibly clever and good at everything, but she also comes in with a cadre of friends and family, instead of completely isolated like Holmes. A nice change.

Also, this show as a budget of $1 mil per episode, apparently? Which must all go to things like fabric and wallpaper (no complaints here), because their fight choreographer is clearly mostly used to working for the stage, and possibly the stage circa 1970 at that. As with everything else on this show, sometimes I can't tell when the show is calling back to the goofy TV mysteries of a bygone era on purpose, and when they just don't care to put in the effort or don't have the money to do so. This usually turns up in the form of charmingly bad acting on the part of minor characters, and hilariously terrible fight scenes.

Speaking of clothes, I have a sneaking suspicion that they hadn't quite fully set the time period yet. Phryne's clothes in this ep look the most classically flapper-ish (mid '20s) out of the whole season, especially the dress she gets off the ship in and the frock she wears to visit Aunt Prudence. In later episodes, they push the Eastern and Art Deco influence on clothing in the late 1920s and some of the cuts are different-- fewer Robes de style. This also would have been around the time women started wearing high heels, I think (?) Two thumbs up for Dr. Mac dressing like Indiana Jones all the time, too.

Lastly, let me just say, as an American, how completely weird it is to see Flapper-era anything with alcohol involved.
posted by WidgetAlley at 3:26 PM on December 11, 2014 [3 favorites]




Indeed, and this is by design.

It's great that the Greenwood did this on purpose! I like to see the playing field equaled in terms of types of characters. At the same time, I think it was bold of the TV writers not to try to soften her down too much-- I can imagine (at least in America) that there'd be a strong concern that this type of character as a woman wouldn't be someone that the audience could 'identify with' as a main character (or some other equally BS concern.)

I've often lamented that women don't seem to get pure wish-fulfillment characters in the same way that men do. Strong female characters always seem to be designed either explicitly to appeal to the male gaze, be completely removed from 'womanly' influences, or have to be "broken" in some horrible way, either throughout the course of the story or in their background (usually through sexual trauma.) Phryne gets to have it all in both traditionally male and female spheres: she's glamorous, highly desirable, well-liked, with tons of friends, and runs a household filled with wonderful people and things, but she also owns a gun and a fast car, is usually the seductress rather than the seducee, and knows how to fly airplanes and punches people on occasion. She isn't excluded from anything and it is so satisfying.
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:32 PM on December 11, 2014 [4 favorites]


I've just binged through the first season, and one of the things I love (which is on display in this episode) is how overwhelmingly the series passes the Bechdel test, over and over again. Women are taking to each other all the time in this show. And not just to Phryne, either.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:29 PM on December 13, 2014 [6 favorites]


I was pretty sure that I would take to this show pretty quickly given the description of it in the talk thread a while back and having finally gotten around to watching the first episode just now... Yep! Sold. Thoroughly charming.
posted by sparkletone at 7:41 PM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


I happened to watch this episode last night and coincidentally came across this thread today.

I was very much enjoying the characters, story, and setting, but when Phryne climbed up a wall and made her leap to grab onto a nearby railing, then paused as she hung in mid-air to re-adjust her hat just so, I actually exclaimed aloud, "Yes! Perfect!" Just wonderful.
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:07 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Started watching this show recently and am presently halfway through season 2. I'm enjoying it on the whole, though I do have my criticisms. I wish the show had more depth, that the plotting was less silly, and that everyone's mindsets were much less eyerollingly anachronistic. However, the show does have a lot going for it. It's lots of fun, the sets and costumes and especially Phryne's costumes are divine, Essie Davis is a treasure, and the repartee between Jack Robinson and Phryne Fisher is perfection.

I'm also getting a kick out of Phryne's fantastic living room. I too have a turquoise-painted living room with cream-painted mantelpiece and baseboards, a peacock-style folding brass fireplace screen, several packed bookcases, and a piano. Now I just need the roadster, the adopted daughter, the butler, the maid, the two henchman, the fabulous wardrobe, the wealth, the series of handsome lovers, the exciting adventures, and the slow burning flirtation with a handsome police inspector to go with it.
posted by orange swan at 12:36 PM on June 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


I never finished my Miss Fisher re-watch once the new posts stopped going up. Should we start them up again? I expect S3 will go up on Netflix sometime in Fall/Winter 2015, it would be nice to have all of S1 & S2 up before then.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:57 PM on June 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


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