Murder, She Wrote: Hit, Run and Homicide Rewatch

September 6, 2014 9:42 AM - Season 1, Episode 8

Back home in Cabot Cove, Jessica is preparing to give a speech at the Founders Day picnic, when a man runs through the park being chased by a car - that has no driver behind the wheel. There's murder, mayhem, and technology gone awry!

The man being chased, Charles Woodley, says he's in Cabot Cove at the request of a former employee Daniel O'Brien who also happens to one of Jessica's good friends. Daniel is an inventor with many patents to his name, including one for a remote controlled vehicle. He immediately becomes the prime suspect when Woodley's business partner is killed by that same driver-less station wagon. It's up to Jessica to prove her friend innocent by identifying real the killer.

posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

Running list of observations and thoughts:

1. Open on a majestic landscape, indicating that we're back to Cabot Cove
2. Ooh, a variation on the themesong! How fun.
3. We're introduced to Daniel's technology with his bike computer, and then ... A Killer Car!
4. A driverless car interrupted the Founders Day festival, where Miss Fletcher was trying to be polite about the unsavory history of the town's founding father.

   Jessica: Well, how does this sound? "Captain Joshua Wayne, a free-spirited adventurer who seized opportunities wherever he could find them." [Jessica's friend]: Jessica, he was a pirate. Jessica: Well, I'm trying to state that as delicately as I can. [Friend]: Oh, you don't have to do that. We've always been very proud of old Captain Wayne and his Yankee gumption. Jessica: And nobody cares that he fought on the side of the British in the Revolutionary War? [Friend]: He didn't. Jessica: He most certainly did. [Friend]: Jessica, you certainly can't let that get around.

5. "As long as you have pain, we'll do everything we can do to make it better." Ah, 1980's hospital care.
6. Wompco Electronics? That's a fantastic name.
7. Bahh, walking, say the visiting cityfolk.
8. "Is that for, um, me?" Jess: "I'm sorry, local custom." (Why is Jess sorry? Is she a terrible baker who continues to bake only out of social obligations?)
9. Wedding? Why Tony, we just met you and your new ... uh ... sedan.
10. Daniel's workshop is peak weird technology. Blinking lights! Weird turning satellite thing! Probably some bleeping and blooping, too!
11. So many weird references to the bride-to-be. (Katie: "Tony's been showing me off like a new sedan." Tony's uncle, Daniel: "He'd better nail her down fast.")
12. Daniel: "Nothing is going to drive me from Cabot Cove." (Such subtle foreshadowing)
13. Ethan to Cityguy #2: "People usually come into town by train." Oh, more walking, damn your quaint town, and your menacing station wagons.
14. Run faster, city man! Littering? That's a murderin' offense.
15. Amos sure is clearing his throat a lot.
16. Jessica, master of the subtle guidance.
17. Amos, ever astute: "The car's the key to this whole thing."
18. Remote control cars would be great for automotive testing, military maneuvers, motion picture stunts, and people like Jess who don't drive. Just think, no more highway accidents!
19. And now Jess is looking into telephone records. People sure do trust her a lot.
20. Wompco didn't want to deal with the future? Really? And the legal battle only lasted months?
21. Ultrasonic aphid repellent and a dog calling device, a two-in-one!
22. Ethan, about Amos: "Bless his pointy little head."
23. Jessica to Amos: "If you jogged every morning like I do, you'd learn something."
24. A mysterious mirror in a gloved hand, and the car! On a dirt road! Whoda thunk? (Jessica, that's who.) and the station wagon has backup, a menacing van!
25. Jessica calmly enters the killer car, like a lion tamer going into a lion's jaws.
26. Jessica, riding in a murderous self-driving car, waves to the local fishermen she passes.
27. Lots of narrow roads, perfect to walk on, if you want to die. Or is a statement about the inherent rights of pedestrians?
28. Jessica, after getting out of the self-driving car: "And you wonder why I don't drive a car."
29. The car's a killer, and a set-up artist!
30. Katie is in love, but a no-good-nick.
31. Katie, about uncle Daniel: "Tony, we both know him so well from the month I've spent with you."
32. Katie: "I wrote three orders and got propositioned by a gorgeous hunk who runs a zipper factory." (What weird innuendo)
33. What terrible roads! And no shoulders.
34. Daniel has a switch to turn off everything in his workshop instantly?
35. Cora is skeptical of those not born in CC.
36. Ethan to Jessica: Arcade games are a test of skill, not kids games.
37. Tony parks like an entitled jerk, behind police cars.
38. What, where did that van come from?
39. City guy Charles didn't need a cane at all! What a fraud.
40. Daniel's big invention that was ahead of its time was "security screens"?
41. One wedding canceled, a second set.
42. Arcade tournament, Ethan vs Jess, fight!

posted by filthy light thief at 10:34 AM on September 6, 2014

What a kooky episode! Poirot never had to deal with killer cars.
posted by Monochrome at 7:19 AM on September 8, 2014

And now Jess is looking into telephone records. People sure do trust her a lot.
And Letitia fails AT&T's annual security training, having given up privileged information to anyone who says "trust me".

Jessica, after getting out of the self-driving car: "And you wonder why I don't drive a car."
#NotAllCars kill
posted by Monochrome at 5:36 PM on September 8, 2014