Murder, She Wrote: The Murder of Sherlock Holmes
August 13, 2014 12:27 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Jessica Fletcher is a retired schoolteacher from Cabot Cove, Maine, is a retired English teacher who wrote a detective novel on a lark. Her nephew sent the manuscript to a publisher, who liked it enough to publish it, and now J.B. Fletcher is a notable author, with a publicity tour and the lot! But when someone dressed as Sherlock Holmes is murdered at a costume party, things get really complicated.
Jessica initially tries to stay out of things until her nephew Grady becomes the prime suspect, and Jessica decides to take matters into her own hands while fighting her attraction to Preston Giles, the first man to interest her since the death of her husband Frank.
Jessica initially tries to stay out of things until her nephew Grady becomes the prime suspect, and Jessica decides to take matters into her own hands while fighting her attraction to Preston Giles, the first man to interest her since the death of her husband Frank.
I loved that final scene where she's beside the pool and he steps towards her, and for a moment, you imagine it will be attempted murder but instead he asks her to help him turn himself in. It's got a lovely tenseness to it, and it's a surprisingly quiet scene, shot at almost waist height without music for most it, so it's intimate with the dark around them framing two figures.
Murder She Blogged recap for part 1 and part 2.
posted by viggorlijah at 10:24 PM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Murder She Blogged recap for part 1 and part 2.
posted by viggorlijah at 10:24 PM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Correction on my earlier comment: Netflix lists both the complete pilot (an unavailable Episode 1), and then the pilot split into two episodes (Episodes 2 and 3).
I really like how the introduction doesn't show Jess as anything but a North-eastern lady who enjoys her life in Cabbot Cove, and the opening scene at the rehearsal for the play casts her as a modest woman with an exceptional attention for details.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:31 AM on August 14, 2014
I really like how the introduction doesn't show Jess as anything but a North-eastern lady who enjoys her life in Cabbot Cove, and the opening scene at the rehearsal for the play casts her as a modest woman with an exceptional attention for details.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:31 AM on August 14, 2014
So many thoughts from when I re-watched this last weekend but I haven't been able to put them in a coherent comment.
If you told me "Jessica Fletcher makeover montage" was a thing I actually wouldn't like, I would always call you a liar until you reminded me of her friends trying to help out pre-New York appearances.
That look on Jessica's face/booty shake when she jokes about coming in to the costume as Lady Godiva - perfect.
$30 thought of as "too pricey" for a theater ticket from a name producer, even off Broadway? It's 1984 all right.
One of my favorite things about Murder She Wrote, and it's right here from the start is how so much of the action ends up being related to the fact that Jessica doesn't ever drive.
And oh the ending at the pool. Going for the heartstrings so quickly, with a character the audience just met, seems so risky in some ways, but it works really well. I'm glad it's not the type of the thing the show did often, but it really worked here.
I think it also shows how much of this show works because we the audience immediately care about what Jessica Fletcher as played by Angela Lansbury cares about, no matter how the other folks on screen act or evil or annoying the characters might be.
Speaking of, is it possible that this is Grady at his least annoying in this episode? Memory serves that he only gets worse from here, but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe I'm just too tainted by my ongoing antipathy.
And how tempted am I to write fan fic of the story hinted at with the two wrestlers at the very end of the episode? Very, very tempted.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:51 AM on August 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
If you told me "Jessica Fletcher makeover montage" was a thing I actually wouldn't like, I would always call you a liar until you reminded me of her friends trying to help out pre-New York appearances.
That look on Jessica's face/booty shake when she jokes about coming in to the costume as Lady Godiva - perfect.
$30 thought of as "too pricey" for a theater ticket from a name producer, even off Broadway? It's 1984 all right.
One of my favorite things about Murder She Wrote, and it's right here from the start is how so much of the action ends up being related to the fact that Jessica doesn't ever drive.
And oh the ending at the pool. Going for the heartstrings so quickly, with a character the audience just met, seems so risky in some ways, but it works really well. I'm glad it's not the type of the thing the show did often, but it really worked here.
I think it also shows how much of this show works because we the audience immediately care about what Jessica Fletcher as played by Angela Lansbury cares about, no matter how the other folks on screen act or evil or annoying the characters might be.
Speaking of, is it possible that this is Grady at his least annoying in this episode? Memory serves that he only gets worse from here, but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe I'm just too tainted by my ongoing antipathy.
And how tempted am I to write fan fic of the story hinted at with the two wrestlers at the very end of the episode? Very, very tempted.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:51 AM on August 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
That look on Jessica's face/booty shake when she jokes about coming in to the costume as Lady Godiva - perfect.
I know, the scamp!
One of my favorite things about Murder She Wrote, and it's right here from the start is how so much of the action ends up being related to the fact that Jessica doesn't ever drive.
I completely forgot that, until seeing the second episode. So much bicycling!
And how tempted am I to write fan fic of the story hinted at with the two wrestlers at the very end of the episode? Very, very tempted.
That was such the perfect cliff-hanger for another adventure in The Big City, but no, Jessica is back in cozy Cabot Cove, with no mention of wrestlers. And I like how much she perked up at the fact that one of the wrestlers drowned.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on August 19, 2014
I know, the scamp!
One of my favorite things about Murder She Wrote, and it's right here from the start is how so much of the action ends up being related to the fact that Jessica doesn't ever drive.
I completely forgot that, until seeing the second episode. So much bicycling!
And how tempted am I to write fan fic of the story hinted at with the two wrestlers at the very end of the episode? Very, very tempted.
That was such the perfect cliff-hanger for another adventure in The Big City, but no, Jessica is back in cozy Cabot Cove, with no mention of wrestlers. And I like how much she perked up at the fact that one of the wrestlers drowned.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on August 19, 2014
Jessica initially tries to stay out of things until her nephew Grady becomes the prime suspect
The first of many...
This one I liked a lot, but it didn't have the same feel -- Jessica does not come off as flawless as she does in later episodes, I think this one is still my favorite of them all...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 1:34 PM on September 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
The first of many...
This one I liked a lot, but it didn't have the same feel -- Jessica does not come off as flawless as she does in later episodes, I think this one is still my favorite of them all...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 1:34 PM on September 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
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I think I'll post a few episodes a week. Any have any votes/feelings on particular dates? I was going to post a FanFare Talk post to ask about the schedules for the many shows now being discussed on FF, but FF and FF Talk are linked, so you can't post on either one until 24 hours has passed since your last post on either.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:05 PM on August 13, 2014