Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e10 – Death by Miss Adventure

It’s hard to know where this episode goes “wrong.” It’s not a bad episode, but it’s not a great one either. It’s nowhere near as good as the last, whatever, five. And it’s co-written by Liz Doran, who adapted one of those previous excellent ones. So maybe it’s the source novel not just being that good? Or co-writer Chris Corbett fizzled?

Because it kind of should be an Essie Davis and best friend Tammy Macintosh episode, but isn’t. Even though the main plot involves shitbag industrialist Andrew Blackman threatening to out Macintosh for not being nice enough to him and expecting him to take his injections for his heart problem. He’s got proof she’s been flirting with the girls who work in his factory or something. The episode needs to treat Macintosh as a reluctantly viable suspect for about eight minutes and it goes through a lot of hoops to get there, plus some logic contortions, which ring hollow when it comes to Davis and Macintosh.

The best parts of the episode involve Ashleigh Cummings working undercover in the factory trying to figure out exactly what Blackman and sister Alison Whyte are doing. There are secret ledgers, extra shifts, and fatal factory floor accidents.

In addition to blowing the chance on the Davis and Macintosh stuff, the episode also wastes Miriam Margolyes, which seems sinful.

Davis’s principal subplot is nemesis Nicholas Bell writing to her from prison and offering to tell her what happened to her sister (who Bell’s convicted of killing but without the body found) in return for his freedom.

It feels like treading water on the plot line, frenetically so, with a bunch of the supporting cast involved with it just to scale it up. Nathan Page even gets involved with it at the end, as sort of an emphasizing device.

When the whole time it should’ve been spent with Davis and Macintosh.

The Cummings stuff makes up for it, especially Davis’s concern for her as well as beau Hugo Johnstone-Burt not being able to keep his cool once he discovers what she’s up to.

Just ought to be better.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e09 – Queen of the Flowers

It’s a very intense episode. Miss Fisher (Essie Davis) is mentoring a group of underprivileged girls for a pageant and they’re the mystery, so they’re the ones in danger. It’s the first time “Miss Fisher’s” has really done the child or youth in grave danger thing and it’s a lot. Both because the story behind the threat is… not unpredictable but nonetheless upsetting and because Davis’s ward, Ruby Rees, is one of the girls but isn’t directly connected with the main plot, yet she too ends up in danger. It’s like the show saved up all this kind of tension and unleashed it here.

The episode opens with a dead girl in the water at the beach, undiscovered. Turns out it’s one of Davis’s proteges—in addition to Rees, she’s got klepto Eva Lazzaro, pyromaniac rich girl Taylor Ferguson, and then victim Zoë Amanda Wilson. And Davis gets to be intimately involved in the investigation right away—Nathan Page is quick to point out she’s going to be a lot more effective interviewing “wayward teenage girls” than he will be alone.

The investigation leads to Ferguson’s weird living situation with reclusive wealthy, drunkard grandfather Terry Norris—Davis took Ferguson on as a favor to him—where they find out Wilson was a former maid, something Ferguson forgot to mention. So she’s immediately suspicious, but then there’s also Ben Schumann. Schumann’s the nephew of mayor Andrew S. Gilbert and, despite (or because of) his flippant attitude, has got some secrets. Davis has an amazing scene where she dresses Schumann down for the subterfuge. Seeing Davis—and Phryne—around the impressionable youths is outstanding. There’s a whole role model thing going on, as Davis assumes that role, throwing aside the traditional gender role she’s supposed to be teaching the girls, who are already going through things those propriety lessons aren’t going to help.

Hence, a judo lesson at one point, which surprises constable Hugo Johnstone-Burt but not detective Page.

Rees’s story is entirely different, with her newfound celebrity—they make the society page in the newspaper—drawing mom Danielle Cormack out of the woodwork. Turns out Davis was never able to adopt Rees because they couldn’t confirm Cormack’s fate. With her back, it’s unclear what’s going to become of Rees; Davis has one idea, Cormack another, and neither are quick to consult Rees.

Really good stuff with Cormack and Rees. Really hard, really good. The episode does a phenomenal job not leading with the exposition on how things are done in 1920s Australia, instead letting the characters lead and filling in with exposition later, if needed. Like when Ashleigh Cummings getting caught up on the goings-on. It’s expository, yes, but it also is character development for Cummings, who’s unprepared for Rees’s possible departure.

Screenwriters Jo Martino and Deb Cox do a particularly excellent job with that arc for Cummings, since Rees hasn’t really been around a lot in the show. The script goes a long way in establishing Rees and Cummings’s friendship, which was offscreen.

As usual, excellent episode. And breaks all those rules I thought the show had.

Also… no Phryne Fellow. Would’ve been inappropriate. But it’s the first episode without one.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e08 – Away with the Fairies

Once again I stand corrected as to what “Miss Fisher’s” needs to do to have a successful episode. This one has a case very tied to Essie Davis’s past—victim Heather Bolton was one of Davis’s teachers, prime suspect Deborah Kennedy is a mentor—has lots of guest stars (Phryne Fellow Philippe Sung is back, bringing arraigned marriage fiancée Haiha Le with him), gives Ashleigh Cummings a big subplot, and even has time to directly follow-up on the last episode, where Nathan Page… took unexpected actions to protect Davis.

And they’re still working out the repercussions, with Davis trying to throw Page off guard and Page refusing to play with Davis’s intimations. They’re so good together this episode. So good.

Also really good is Davis’s developing “relationship” with Sung, who’s discovered his grandmother, Amanda Ma (who previously threatened Davis), doesn’t like his appropriate Chinese wife-to-be Le any better, forcing Sung to reexamine his future.

Meanwhile, Cummings and Davis discover there’s a lot more to Le than Sung or Ma realize.

The mystery is about women’s magazine editor Bolton ending up dead and everyone in the office— plus all the various men about town who hate a women’s magazine-suspects. Kennedy would’ve gotten control of the magazine, Anna McGahan would’ve gotten ahead as a reporter, Roz Hammond and soul male employee Peter Stefanou have no obvious motives, but Hammond’s keeping secrets from her husband, handyman Jim Russell, and Stefanou’s a Lothario so who knows.

Cummings isn’t just gal palling with Le, she’s also coming into her own helping the magazine get out its next issue—Davis’s investigation almost takes a back seat to her concern for her friend, Kennedy, and just keeping a women’s magazine (made by women) coming out. Thanks to that character development subplot, Cummings also gets a very cute scene with Hugo Johnstone-Burt.

While the mystery solution itself isn’t great (and is a little familiar thinking about it in hindsight), but the episode’s outstanding. And the mystery setting does allow Davis to get all the suspects together for the end reveal, which is a lot of fun. If the show’s done it before, I don’t think they made such a big deal out of it. Here, it’s the full suspects gathered trope.

It’s so much fun.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e07 – Murder in Montparnasse

So this episode takes everything I said—based on the last two—was needed to make a great “Miss Fisher’s.” Turns out I’m completely wrong, because Murder in Montparnasse doesn’t just break (most) of my rules, it breaks my bigger, obvious rules for melodramatic plotting. It ties together two seemingly disparate subplots and does it as a plot twist. The episode keeps necessary information from the viewer; it’s not so much a trick, but definitely… in the cheaper aisle as far as narrative devices go.

This episode opens with one of communist cabbie and Fisher Crew member Travis McMahon’s friend getting intentionally run over. Cop Nathan Page doesn’t take it particularly seriously, leading McMahon to “hiring” Essie Davis to look into it. The investigation involves a bookie, Hector Chambers, who welshed on a bet to McMahon and his friend; he’s got an alibi—involving his car being stolen—and Page can’t quite believe he’d set up a hit using his own car.

Once there are shootouts in the streets, however… it gets Page’s attention, leading to a sting operation where he has to make a big sacrifice to protect everyone involved. Mostly Davis. Great stuff.

But the investigation isn’t even the biggest plot of the episode; it’s more about Davis’s old friend from post-WWI Paris, Linda Cropper, coming to visit. Cropper was married to a painter, who’d used Davis as a model—and tragically died—and so there’s a lot of history between the two.

When someone breaks in and steals one of the paintings (Stately Fisher Manor needs better locks, really does), Davis has to deal with the present day intrigue as the episode throws in flashbacks revealing more of the history. And revelations about ex-lover Peter O'Brien.

There’s a lot of humor—in the first half of the episode more—like when Davis teases constable Hugo Johnstone-Burt about his die-cast toy cars. And then Davis’s sidekick, Ashleigh Cummings, and butler, Richard Bligh, have a nice subplot about Cummings dealing with her disapproving Catholic priest (beau Johnstone-Burt is a Protestant, after all).

So the episode does history, it does Davis having a major tie to the mystery, it does lots of cast and it all works out beautifully. It’s a character development episode for Davis, with some big moves for Page too.

Just great.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e06 – Ruddy Gore

It’s an excellent episode and maybe the one most interested in the murder investigation. There aren’t any substantial subplots—Ashleigh Cummings has to deal with Hugo Johnstone-Burt being a lug of a boyfriend and not a romantic daydream like stage actor Alex Rathgeber, who’s actually a right bastard but Rathgeber figures into the main plot. Cummings’s crush just gives it all some texture—actually, it also fits in later when Essie Davis wants to investigate the cold case (tied to the main one).

The pre-titles scene is a ghost in a theater, then after titles it’s Davis taking Cummings to the show itself—a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Ruddigore. Rathgeber’s in it. The show’s Davis’s birthday present to Cummings. We also meet show producer, Bille Brown, who’s an old friend of Davis’s. Brown wants to hire Davis to investigate the ghost, so it’s kind of perfect when the actor who the ghost had been haunting dies.

Davis’s investigation, often alongside copper Nathan Page’s (the show’s fecund with Davis and Page chemistry this episode and it’s all wonderful), leads her from jealous Rathgeber to disinterested fiancée Christie Whelan Browne to dresser James Pratt then to Chinese businessman Philippe Sung. Turns out Davis is fluent in Mandarin and axe-throwing, which helps since she meets Sung while he’s in a kung fu fight in the middle of the street.

Sung’s a fantastic Phryne Fellow. Charming, mysterious, unavailable, with a mean grandmother (Amanda Ma) who threatens to curse Davis for getting Sung’s attention. Great stuff with Sung.

The actual perpetrator is fairly predictable but the situation of the case, which involves illegitimate births and tragic suicides and so on, is really engaging. Brown’s got a fantastic presence and it’s fun to be around the theater during the investigation, especially once Davis sees the ghost herself.

Between Davis and Sung, Davis and Page, and even Davis and Johnstone-Burt—she’s trying to help him understand Cummings’s romantic wants—it’s also a phenomenal showcase for Davis in the lead. In addition to the mystery keeping one intrigued, you’re just waiting to see what Davis is going to say next. So good.

I mean, it’s also the least… serious episode in a lot of ways. In terms of danger to its principals… even though Davis is in danger. Script’s by Liz Doran, it’s her first episode… director’s David Caesar, who directed the previous episode, also excellent. Sadly it’s Caesar’s last time directing the show.

Anyway… excellent episode.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e05 – Raisins and Almonds

After the lackluster previous episode, the show’s back on track with this one, which almost showcases what material “Miss Fisher’s” works best with.

For instance, there’s not time for the whole supporting cast. Nathan Page doesn’t get a whole bunch to do this episode, but he gets to do all of it with Essie Davis. The Jack and Phyrne banter—which gets soulful here—is a must.

There’s also no B plot. There’s a C plot—which, yes, technically would then just be the B plot but no—involving Anthony J. Sharpe getting engaged and partner Travis McMahon basically throwing a fit and trying to push him out of the business because no girls. Ashleigh Cummings figures into it as well—Davis puts Cummings in charge of a lot of the investigation logistics this episode—and it’s got a rather nice resolve.

The main mystery needs to have some heart, something for Davis to connect with. Here, it’s the death of Jewish guy in a bookshop (private lending library type of bookshop), which leads to Davis discovering how her own gender presumptions are dangerous, how love doesn’t conquer all, and a bunch about pre-Israel Zionism could splinter families. Not to say “Miss Fisher’s” needs some engaging history to click but actively avoiding engaging with the history clearly doesn’t work (see last episode).

There’s also a great action sequence where Davis, retained to prove the bookshop owner’s innocence—after Davis was the one who basically got suspect Kat Stewart arrested in the first place—is snooping around the closed bookshop and runs into a fellow prowler, which leads to a chase scene complete with throwing knives and gunfights. Excellent stuff.

Most of Davis’s investigation involves Phyrne Fellow #2 Tim Draxl. He’s the secretly Zionist son of definitely non-Zionist Brian Lipson, who hires Davis to prove Stewart’s innocence. Lots of chemistry for Draxl and Davis, also lots of exposition as the case leads to the mystical with the Kabbalah. But also to science, which brings Dr. Mac (Tammy Macintosh) back for a welcome return.

There are a bunch of great one-liners for Davis and a couple excellent reveals in the wrap-up. The science mystery is cool (both as a surprise and in terms of historical accuracy) and the villain, while not unpredictable, is great.

And it ends with just the right moment for Davis and Page.

It’s an excellent episode.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e04 – Death at Victoria Docks

This episode lacks the spark of the previous ones; it’s still solid and well-acted—even by the less sparkly supporting characters—and has nearly all the supporting favorites back (meaning aunt Miriam Margolyes and Essie Davis’s ward, Ruby Rees), but the main plot is a bit of a shrug.

Also—the main plot and the subplot only intersect at the beginning, they’re otherwise unconnected, which might have something to do with it. Or maybe Shelley Birse’s teleplay isn’t the best or

Tony Tilse’s direction. Maybe it’s the combination.

Or maybe it’s how police detective Nathan Page is barely in the episode and most of his scenes are just giving constable Hugo Johnstone-Burt a “right on” even though everyone knows Johnstone-Burt’s success is because of Essie Davis.

The subplot also has a very dark resolve without really offering any bright spot—avoiding it, in fact. The show concentrates on the salacious instead of the human. It doesn’t fit Davis’s character, who’s all about helping the humans.

The main plot has an anarchist dying in Davis’s arms, apparently the victim of some guards at a dock riot. Only Davis knows it’s not related to the dock-workers and finds herself in a bunch of intrigue involving Latvian anarchists. One of them, Jack Finsterer, gets to be Bond Girl #2 this episode (though there isn’t a #1 and Page isn’t around enough to fit his chaste #3 slot). Also, I’m thinking they either need to be called Fisher Boys or Phryne Lads. I haven’t decided yet.

If the episode were better, Finsterer would be fine.

Also the episode opportunistically endangers Ashleigh Cummings, which isn’t cool.

There’s a lot of good stuff still. Johnstone-Burt and Cummings are adorable, Rees is a hoot, Margolyes is delightful, and Davis does get in some nice character development.

Nothing stands out about the subplot—involving missing teenage girl Isabella Clark—other than the indifferent to Clark resolution and the very amusing scenes with Davis facing off with a convent’s Reverend Mother, Penne Hackforth-Jones.

It’s like the B plot should’ve been the A plot and Page should’ve been around. The episode’s got all the right ingredients but the wrong recipe.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e03 – The Green Mill Murder

There’s a lot going on this episode for star Essie Davis even though it’s not entirely clear to the audience until much later in the episode. Just before the mystery resolve, actually. This murder case has hit close to home for Davis, who’s on the scene when it happens—she’s meeting old friend Toby Schmitz at a nightclub to discuss buying his plane—the promise of Miss Fisher with an airplane is an early delight in the episode. Davis gets distracted with the band leader, though notices Schmitz getting into an argument with Stephen Whittaker… minutes later, Whittaker drops dead in the middle of the dance floor and Schmitz hightails it.

Coppers Nathan Page and Hugo Johnstone-Burt arrive and declare Schmitz suspect number one. Lamming it being suspicious and all.

Schmitz’s mother, Wendy Hughes, hires Davis to look into matters, apparently not expecting Davis to discover Whittaker was a successful blackmailer. He wasn’t just blackmailing Schmitz and club singer Deni Hines, but also Hughes. Everyone has their secrets, everyone has a reason to kill Whittaker. Davis has to unravel them all and figure it out while contending with the various fallouts from the secrets being revealed.

Page doesn’t make it easy—going so far as to arrest Davis at one point, which leads to the most adorable finish when he’s mooning over her mugshots—and she’s also got to worry about getting she and Page’s sidekicks, Ashleigh Cummings and Johnstone-Burt, respectively, on their way to the police and fire department ball. Johnstone-Burt’s initially too shy, but then he’s worried Cummings is too Catholic. Cummings gets a great prayer at one point on that conflict. It’s very funny when Davis and Page are at odds in the case and still working together to get the young folks’ romance going.

The mystery resolve itself isn’t great… the murderer’s motive is a bit of a shrug after all the drama the episode’s been through, but Davis’s character arc through it is quite good. She’s knew the case meant something but she had no idea how much (and neither did the audience because of where that reveal’s plotted).

Hines is really likable but not particularly good. Simon Lyndon’s a step-down from the usual as Davis’s Bond Girl #2 this episode, both in terms of interest and charm.

There’s also the case of the missing new regular cast member, established last episode, who gets no mention here. Kind of strange.

But it doesn’t really matter because Davis, Page, and crew are still wonderful together, the production design’s still there, and so on. The show can survive a less than thrilling mystery solution, which is always important.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e02 – Murder on the Ballarat Train

This episode takes place soon after the first, with communist taxi drivers Travis McMahon and Anthony J. Sharpe not yet full-time in Essie Davis’s employ. Well, they don’t know they’re in her full-time employ yet. They realize it in their second scene, when she gets them a new car and they start hanging out at Stately Fisher Manor. They also break in the new butler, Richard Bligh, who’s got no idea what he’s in for with Davis.

Davis isn’t at home because she’s on a train trip with maid slash sidekick Ashleigh Cummings. They don’t get through the night before some very strange goings on, including a missing passenger—Abbe Holmes.

Thanks to Davis’s prodding—and name-dropping copper Nathan Page whether he likes it or not (spoiler: he does not like it but he quickly appears to change his mind)—they discover Holmes isn’t just a vanishing lady, she’s a murder victim.

And a rich one.

She’s been traveling with daughter Maeve Dermody, who hires Davis to officially investigate, which leads to a lot of fun scenes with Davis and Page. They’re really ratcheting up the flirtation between the pair this episode, with Page turning to Davis for the more difficult aspects of the case—like tween Ruby Rees, who’s been found with the rich lady’s jewels (but isn’t a murder suspect because she doesn’t have the strength to get the body where they find it).

Who does have the requisite strength? Dermody’s cousin, beefcake Dale March, and her fiancé, David Berry. Davis investigates them both—with some excellent chemistry opposite March, both performances and script (courtesy Elizabeth Coleman and Deb Cox).

There’s a great subplot involving mentalist turned criminal Jacek Koman, who manages to be dangerous while buffoonish; it gives sidekick McMahon a fine showcase too.

The solution’s only somewhat unexpected—thanks to another “strong enough” suspect, Mike McLeish, who lost his wife due to Holmes’s bad medical conduct years before—but it’s not the point; Davis and company doing the investigating is the point and it’s a big success in that department. Davis has got some awesome lines throughout, not just for laughs, but also for character development.

The episode ends with another cast regular cast member joining and the slightly surprising implication Page is still married. Just off his behavior, it seems like he’s maybe a widower but… we’ll see.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012) s01e01 – Cocaine Blues

Of course, “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” is based on a novel. How did I miss it was based on a novel… Not because Deb Cox’s script ever feels too much like an adaptation—quite the opposite—but because it does such a good job setting up the supporting cast. Lead Essie Davis meets her eventual team of detecting irregulars through this episode’s main plot, so it’s never quite for sure she’s putting the team together. Not until the end, which is a glorious celebratory scene, rewarding characters and viewers alike for the rather intense third act.

The third act is also where the show reveals Davis isn’t just a wealthy woman with a title, a big heart, and an analytic mind for solving crime, but she’s also basically… Catwoman. If Catwoman had more of Batman’s wealth, anyway. Davis (or, more likely, her stunt double) needs to get into a second story window so she scrambles up and then leaps through the air, catching the fire escape landing or whatnot. Even more impressive is how Davis makes it seem totally reasonable not just for the character, but also in her evening gown and heels. Because the show’s already confidently established Davis is a badass, but it wasn’t clear she was a no-power superhero levels of badass.

The mystery involves the death of Davis’s friend’s husband. Miranda Otto plays the friend, who’d invited newly arrived in Melbourne Davis over for lunch. Also at lunch is Miriam Margolyes, as Davis’s aunt. Margolyes is a delightful prude, constantly horrified at Davis’s modern ways. The show’s set in the 1920s, very Gilded Age. Gorgeous production design and costumes.

Davis starts investigating the case because she’s good at solving mysteries, which is nice. Davis is active throughout the episode, getting ahead of cops Nathan Page and Hugo Johnstone-Burt not out of their incompetence but due to her own excellence. She’s back in Australia, we soon learn, because her sister’s murderer, Nicholas Bell, is due to get out of prison soon; Davis visits him and lets him know if he gets out, he’s dead. At best.

Outstanding scene.

Lots of good supporting players in addition to Margolyes, particularly maid Ashleigh Cummings who’s afraid to use technology because the Catholic Church told her it was bad. Tammy Macintosh is great as Davis’s friend and Dr. Watson (Macintosh too is a doctor).

The show says a lot about class and gender, showing it in the context of the 1920s and how that period allowed for less patriarchal restrictions in many ways (so long as you’re rich enough and White enough). It’s not just about Davis being the hero for the women in the story—Cummings, Otto, Macintosh—but for the men as well. 1920s European dancer himbo Kristof Piechocki is most definitely a don in distress, for instance. And although communist activist taxi drivers Travis McMahon and Anthony J. Sharpe do the right thing, it’s Davis whose influence turns them into sidekick do-gooders.

With a surprise finish—though with just the right hint to the audience—great characters, casting, production, “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” is off to a fantastic start.