Category: Directed by Caroline Bell Booth

My Life Is Murder (2019) s03e03 – Bloodlines

Since “My Life is Murder” started as a relatively straight Melbourne-based mystery procedural, I don’t know if they would’ve done a horseback riding episode first season. I don’t think they did one last season. But they have so much fun with it this time; I imagine it has to be because star and executive producer Lucy Lawless wanted to ride horses against a beautiful New Zealand backdrop. This episode’s mystery involves a stud farm—of the equestrian variety—which provides lots of opportunities for breathtaking scenery and beautiful horses.

The show’s either an advertisement for New Zealand to the point they ought to suggest B&Bs, or it’s all a humble brag about how much better things are there than everywhere else. Except for the murdering, of course. There’s lots of murdering about.

Lawless’s regular sidekick, Ebony Vagulans, is still pretending to be in Paris this episode, so Lawless again has new sidekick Tatum Warren-Ngata. Not sure how they’re going to handle having both of them around (the teaser spoils Vagulans’s return). Lawless and Warren-Ngata continue to make a good team. Lawless has a fine foil in most of the episode with old curmudgeon Roy Billing, leading to Warren-Ngata getting into trouble. Warren-Ngata’s on leave from the Navy; I guess she can come in and out as needed.

Anyway.

Billing sort of runs the stud farm because new owner Te Kobe Tuhaka is a sharp dresser but not a horse studder. Tuhaka’s dad started the business, and Billing worked for him. The dad also semi-adopted Steel Strang, whose murder kicks off the episode. It looks like a horse done it, but Ramiri Jobe found some contradictory evidence. It’s contradictory enough that it’s unclear why he’s having Lawless do the case off the books since it’s like, you know, evidence.

There are several suspects—the horse, obviously, Billing, Tuhaka, Tuhaka’s estranged sister, Miriam McDowell, stud farm human stud Jono Kenyon (who immediately cozies up to Lawless), and studding scientist Jessica Grace Smith. The solution will involve almost all of them; very intricate plotting; Stacy Gregg gets the writer credit.

Overall, it’s another solid episode. Lawless and Billing have a great time together (so do Lawless and Kenyon). There are a couple character reveals for Lawless; one secret she’s keeping from Warren-Ngata (and the audience), then another secret she’s keeping from everyone (but the audience).

My Life Is Murder (2019) s03e02 – Nothing Concrete

This episode’s a mad-libs of murder mysteries; the victim’s found in a statue, one of the suspects is a billionaire tech jackass, and there’s an environmental angle in addition to a jealousy one. None of those items listed actually have anything to do with the actual motive. I forgot why the killer did the deed. I had to go back and look it up. And even then, I had to go over it another time because the motive’s slimmer than any of the red herrings.

And even though there’s a lot of guest star Craig Hall—as the dipshit billionaire—who thinks Lucy Lawless finds him irresistible, which gives Lawless plenty of opportunities to talk smack to her pals about him, the real story is Tatum Warren-Ngata. She’s a gamer and hacker friend of Ebony Vagulans, who went to Paris on mysterious business between last episode and this one. Vagulans has a couple of scenes, FaceTiming with Lawless from her very much not in Paris, France flat, albeit with an Eiffel Tower establishing shot. Warren-Ngata’s good and annoying in the right way to be a techy sidekick to Lawless, but….

I really hope Vagulans isn’t leaving the show.

“Murder”’s got another seven episodes, plenty of time to do a subplot for Vagulans, but also plenty of time to exit Vagulans. Maybe have her back for the finish. The show changed some regular cast between seasons one and two when the action moved from Australia to New Zealand, but it wasn’t like the first cop was anything too special. He’s no Rawiri Jobe, but Vagulans has been with the show since the start, and she and Lawless’s chemistry is a significant portion of the film’s charm. Like twenty-five to thirty-five percent. A lot.

So, concerning.

That worrying aside, like I said, Warren-Ngata’s good. It’s too soon to tell how she and Lawless will vibe, though.

The other suspects include Nisha Madhan as a sculptor who disagreed with the victim about environmental stuff, then Anna Jullienne as the victim’s assistant. They’re both solid, selling a lot in their exposition this episode. There’s not a lot of action, just a lot of Lawless going to different places and talking to the suspects.

The ending’s a mess, and Vagulans’s “vacation” is concerning, but it’s a solid episode otherwise. Lawless makes it enough fun.