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) 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) 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.