Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Death Do Us Part

October 18, 2015 2:47 PM - Season 3, Episode 8

Phryne must take decisive action when the assassin targeting her father escapes from custody on the same night that a renowned scientist is murdered. (Season Finale)

*The mystery assassin is revealed to be William Eugene Fisher, cousin of Henry Fisher and the previous Baron of Richmond upon Thames, who was presumed dead after his ship was sunk in the war.
*Hugh and Dot get married.
*Jack finally kisses Phryne, before she flies away to take her father back to England, in the world's tiniest plane.
*For more about the horrors of polonium paint, see Radium Girls

posted by oh yeah! (16 comments total)

I wish I could find a good recap of this episode, I found it difficult to make any sense of the Baron Fisher storyline. After so many episodes painting him as a cheat, liar, and all around bad father, the twist they were trying to pull off was pretty whip-lash-inducing.

Very happy that we at least got real progress on Hugh+Dottie, I was a little worried after they gave so much time to substitute-constable in the last episode that Hugh was gone away for the rest of the season due to some actor schedule conflict, but was afraid to google in case of spoilers.

I'm not getting any hits searching for news on there being a 4th season, which is worrisome - Series 2 was greenlit in August 2012 for a September 2013 premiere, Series 3 was greenlit in June 2014 for a May 2015 premiere. So, ideally, they would have made a decision sometime this summer if Australia is going to get S4 in 2016.
posted by oh yeah! at 3:17 PM on October 18, 2015

I was unclear on why the rightful Fisher heir didn't just say, "hey, I'm still alive," and publicly claim his title. Is that not a thing that's possible? I guess maybe he was just a crazy person but I don't know, it felt weird to me.

The ending was great and, while I would love a fourth season, too, I'm a bit wary of them managing to pull off Jack/Phryne's relationship going forward. It's rarely done well, when the will-they/won't-they television couples finally hook up. If the show ends on that kiss and leaves the rest to our imaginations, I can live with that.
posted by something something at 4:02 PM on October 18, 2015

I was unclear on why the rightful Fisher heir didn't just say, "hey, I'm still alive," and publicly claim his title. Is that not a thing that's possible? I guess maybe he was just a crazy person but I don't know, it felt weird to me.

The best I could figure was that if he was revealed as a living deserter and court-martialed, that his title of Baron of Richmond could be stripped from him and by extension from Henry. Though why that should be such a crushing blow to Mrs. Fisher that it would be worth lying and losing fortunes over, is a mystery. And I thought maybe there was going to be some tie-in to the polonium explaining why Eugene was so murderous and unhinged, but, no, he was just crazy? Oh, well.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:56 PM on October 18, 2015

Oh, right, the deserter thing. I guess that's an excuse.
posted by something something at 7:12 AM on October 19, 2015

I, too, am worried about the will-they-won't-they converting to more, but they've strung Jack and Phryne out for so long that it was getting ridiculous to not get some sort of payoff. According to my Aussie contact, there are serious talks about both a movie and S4 but nothing immediate. The show is very expensive because of the period costumes and detail, so getting a third season was questionable. I'm rooting for another short S4 myself.

While I was glad to see Phryne's dad this season in terms of developing her character, I felt it wasn't explained or linked into the mysteries as well as it might have been, particularly this last bit. I was also glad to see more of the supporting cast in general (her aunt and Mac specifically) but was sorry they dropped Jane, presumably for financial reasons or because the actress had grown too much.
posted by immlass at 9:48 AM on October 19, 2015

I know it will probably be a let-down if they try to make Jack & Phryne an actual couple -- it would be character assassination to make Phryne turn monogamous or for Jack to turn into Mr. 'Totally Cool with Polyamory', but I still hope we get at least one more shot at letting them have a go at it.

At least now I can search for vids & fanfic without fear of spoilers. This one's fun - Shut Up and Dance.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:46 PM on October 19, 2015

Looks like a movie next instead of S4: Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries to be a movie filmed in the UK.
posted by fings at 10:13 PM on October 19, 2015

Why was Hugh gone so much this season? Was there a scheduling conflict, or was it just a device to help show how Dot had potentially several options and picked Hugh?

I thought the wedding was truly lovely. I love all things Dot and Hugh.
posted by mochapickle at 10:24 PM on October 19, 2015

I'd worry with a Miss Fisher movie that it could suffer from the 'too many cooks in the kitchen' syndrome -- where the movie financing money comes with strings attached and pressure to show off the money in stupid ways (thinking of the Farscape Peacekeeper Wars mini-series). And if they set it in England I wonder if they'd have trouble fitting Jack, Hugh, & Dot into the storyline. But that article is from May 2015, so, maybe t's still in development hell limbo.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:28 PM on October 22, 2015

Polonium is so rare as to be virtually unobtainable — why couldn't they just have made it radium?
posted by ubiquity at 11:51 AM on November 18, 2015

Was I the only one who was disappointed in that kiss? After all that lead-up, that was such a wooden and uninspiring kiss between Phryne and Jack. His character was always wooden, but I was hoping to see some passion break through the façade... Happy to see Dot and Hugh tie the knot, though.
posted by widdershins at 6:13 PM on January 5, 2016

Hey, so, there's a script written for the first Miss Fisher movie "Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears", and the producers are working on getting financing: Den of Geek - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Movie, Prequel TV Show Details.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:17 PM on April 25, 2017

I just binged the entire series (and then read all the fanfic -- that scene just begged fanfic authors to continue on, and otherwise I don't even read fanfic), and I see that they successfully kickstarted a movie, which they are filming some time next year, because Essie Davis lives in London now and doesn't want a whole Australian tv series.

The season did feel surprisingly curtailed -- it was planned out longer, but had to be cut?
posted by jeather at 1:44 PM on November 10, 2017

The season did feel surprisingly curtailed -- it was planned out longer, but had to be cut?

I'm pretty sure the show was made using the BBC model of commissioning/writing the season first, then starting production, so they would have known they only had 8 episodes from the start, rather than thinking they had 13 and getting axed halfway through. It's just that it was a pretty expensive show to produce for Australian tv.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:54 PM on November 10, 2017

It just felt unfinished -- not the finale, but the Hugh plot, particularly. He's gone, then he's back, everything is the same again?

I'm sort of sad I only caught this show post the rewatches.
posted by jeather at 7:42 AM on November 11, 2017

Having just finished the series, this season really struggled and I'm sorry the show didn't go out on a higher note. The aesthetics and acting were still great, but the material just wasn't great. Hoping they can fix that in the movie, if it does get produced. (Shooting starts soon, in theory, according to this article about a planned spin-off series with Miss Fisher's niece.)
posted by EvaDestruction at 8:44 AM on September 21, 2018