Bloody Hell, Murdoch! Your Opener was Marvelous!

The tenth season of most scripted television shows is usually a tired affair, with the cast and crew simply going through the motions.

One thought looped through my loopy brain while watching the tenth season opener of Murdoch Mysteries:

“Wow, it looks like they’re just getting started.”

Yes, it is safe to assume I’m a Murdoch mega-fan, thank you so much for noticing.

I realize we all have important lives to get back to (I myself have several household repairs to get to before the wife redoes them properly) so I’ll be brief. Here are ten reasons, in my not-so-humble opinion, why the MM Season Ten opener, Great Balls of Fire: Part One, rocked harder than Justin Trudeau on a selfie spree. 

ONE)  The cast has gelled together like superglue in the middle of the Arctic. Yannick Bisson’s opening banter with Jonny Harris was a master’s class in thespian execution. They killed it in the best possible way.

And Inspector Brackenreid’s intervention, failed as it was, on Julia’s behalf was both heartwarming and breaking simultaneously.

TWO)  Constable George Crabtree’s utterly pathetic love life.

His “true love” became a lesbian after leaving him for a cad.

His next sweetheart ran away with her murdering offspring.

Then he met a stripper with a heart of gold whose brother is a maybe-not-so-reformed criminal.

His story is a joy to watch, but Crabtree’s pretty much screwed when it comes to matters of the heart.

Of course, in the interim he banged the creator of Ann of Green Gables – but the writers still hate his guts apparently.

THREE)  Mouna Traoré as Rebecca James. She’s the coroner with the acid tongue, the lose-yourself-in-them eyes and more talent than a single episode can contain. Mouna had big shoes to fill on MM but she did it with gusto. Love this chick.

FOUR)  Awesome subplots. From Julia’s “haunting” by Eva Pearce to William’s search for the perfect land to construct the house that Murdoch built, there were several storylines that began amidst the main plot. I love that. Continuity is king, babies.

FIVE)  The nods to other worlds. From the bloody climax (ironically, it was used here as an opening) of Carrie to Mean Girls to The Selection book series – and even Firestarter – MMX looks like it’s being crafted by the same brilliant wordsmiths that gave us seasons one to nine.

SIX)  Bone-chilling mystery. You knew this was coming, right? After all, the show isn’t called, “Murdoch’s Turn-of-the-Century Gardening Tips”…

The MM season opener was filled with red herrings and murder most foul – and bloody good. Literally.

SEVEN)  Daiva Johnston as the evil dead hostess-with-the-mostess Eva Pearce. Okay, so technically she was never a hostess, but Johnston’s Eva Pearce is one cool villainous gold digger. Not only did she get to straddle Det. Murdoch after shooting his wife three times in last season’s finale, she gets to torment Dr. Ogden from beyond the grave in a stunning PTSD subplot.

Eva is truly the villain we love to hate. And when “Ghostly Eva” took a sip of booze last night, only to have it slowly drip out of her slashed neck? Well, I swear I had a religious moment. And it’s all thanks to…

“I can assure you Detective Murdoch, being kidnapped and straddled ‘against your will’ is most certainly not cheating. I’m sure your wife will understand..”

 

EIGHT)  Prop Monkey, MM’s in-house mad prop genius. Check out this guy’s Twitter feed and you’ll be hooked. (Yeah, I went there.) PM is underpaid, I’m sure – but he knocks it out of the CBC park every single weeks without fail. With a little help, I’m sure.

NINE)  Constable Henry Higgins. The writers were very heavy-handed in intimating that he’s going to be responsible for the Great Fire of 1904, but Higgins is a lovable goofball whose continued presence on the Toronto Constabulary is a mystery. Of course, as with all things Murdoch, it is a wonderful mystery to behold.

TEN)  It was a cliffhanger! When executed properly, these things are the best!

In closing, my love for Murdoch Mysteries is well-documented on this blog and so I hope you’ll forgive me for indulging yet again. If not, it’s my blog, my rules.

See you in the lobby – and on the CBC at eight on Monday nights – kids…