Murder, She Wrote: Murder Through the Looking Glass Rewatch

June 26, 2015 6:24 PM - Season 4, Episode 16

As Murder She Blogged notes, "This wasn’t the Alice in Wonderland Murder, She Wrote episode I thought it was going to be, so adjust your expectations accordingly." Start with a final confession, passed to Jessica by a dying man who thought she was a priest, about killing a man, Carl Cosgrove of Farmington. Then mix things up with a Mrs. Cosgrove in Farmington, who says her husband is still very much alive, and a mysterious priest who shows up at the oddest of times, including in JB's own hotel suite, drinking a beer.
posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

I really liked this episode but it was a weird one even without Secret Agent Mike Brady. Like how every time they mention Jessica's "file", she freaks out like she has some secret she doesn't want to talk about. And how also the (I'm assuming) Secretary of State calling Jessica up to twist her arm. Because of all the weirdness, everything felt like it had Big Stakes in a way that works.

I liked to see Gregory Sierra who is basically a "Hey, It's That Guy" from my youth, specializing in "we need a Latino guest star" roles; apparently this is his first of six MSW appearances, and he recurs as the same police detective for the last three. Karen Valentine is the reverse: a name I know but not a face I recognize (especially with the Dixie Carter Designing Woman hair she sported in this episode).

There's a weird time when Van Buren and Mike Brady are arguing about everything and Mr Brady makes a comment about him also "lusting" over Mrs. Cosgrove, and then Van Buren says "And I suppose she never turned you on." and there's this weird pause before Mr. Brady starts talking about the whole place having the feel of a trashy novel after all, and I know this was meant to imply that everybody had a thing for Mrs. Cosgrove, but knowing about Robert Reed's life in the closet, I couldn't help but read that exchange SO DIFFERENTLY.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:42 AM on June 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I also wondered about Jessica's shock that she has a file. Maybe that kind of privacy expectation was much different in the 80s and if having a file had different implications than it does now...
posted by A hidden well at 2:00 PM on April 8, 2016

Maybe that kind of privacy expectation was much different in the 80s and if having a file had different implications than it does now...

How I read the episode. That would have been complete shock and outrage back then. It is really sad that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow these days...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 8:50 PM on March 2, 2017