Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Murdoch Mysteries: Season 10 Blu-ray Movie Review

Murdoch Abides

Spoiler alert: This review assumes that the reader is familiar with all previous seasons of Murdoch Mysteries. Readers new to the series should consult the Season One review for a spoiler-free introduction.

Like its resourceful protagonist, Murdoch Mysteries has persevered. Initially canceled after five seasons, the historical police procedural relocated to Canada's public television station, where it has racked up another five seasons and is about to begin broadcasting its eleventh. In the extras to Acorn Media's Blu-ray set of Season Ten, several cast members seem genuinely surprised (not to mention pleased and proud) by the series' longevity.

Season Ten recovers handily from the character issues with which Season Nine struggled. After making a false confession and going to prison to protect the woman he loved, only to have her leave him when both of them were finally exonerated (Season Nine, Episode 1, "Nolo Contendere"), Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) has been promoted from his role as comic foil. That function has been transferred to fellow Constable Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch), who graduates from occasional supporting player to Station House 4's resident buffoon. Crabtree still provides his share of the show's comedy, but his arc in Season Ten is a serious one, as he finds himself caught up in not one, but two romantic relationships that present him with major decisions. Naturally, since this is Murdoch, love and criminal investigations overlap.

Season Ten sees the expanded participation of several supporting players, including the stalwart Constable Jackson (Kristian Bruun) and Rebecca James (Mouna Traoré), the quietly resourceful medical student who has become an indispensable aide to medical examiner Dr. Julia Ogden (Hélène Joy), a/k/a Mrs. Murdoch. The season also greets a new recurring character in the person of Detective Llewellyn Watts (Daniel Maslany), an officer from Station House 1 whose eccentric manner has made him something of an outcast. Initially introduced as the independent auditor assigned to review one of Murdoch's old cases (Episode 4, "Concocting a Killer"), Det. Watts proves to be an annoying but effective investigator. After spending much of the season pursuing missing persons cases that no one else takes seriously, Det. Watts assumes a critical role by the end, and he is slated to return in Season Eleven.

Several recurring characters enliven the season, including Murdoch's childhood friend, and now private investigator, Freddie Pink (Alex Paxton-Beesley), genius inventor James Pendrick (Peter Stebbings) and others who cannot be identified without spoilers. The season provides Murdoch's mandatory historical character in the person of author H.P. Lovecraft (Tyler East), whose macabre preoccupations make him a suspect in several murders (Episode 16, "Master Lovecraft").

To make room for this array of supporting players, the series' leads must occasionally retreat to the background, with Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and Dr. Ogden sometimes looking on with amused bewilderment at the antics of their colleagues. The station house's chief, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig), moves even further away, disappearing for multiple episodes to pursue various personal passions.

The cliffhanger that concludes the season (Episode 18, "Hell to Pay") is one of the most inventive that Murdoch's creators have engineered to date. It bodes well for an eventful Season Eleven, because its resolution threatens to rock the Toronto Constabulary to its very foundation.

1. Great Balls of Fire (Pt. 1): Murdoch suspects that rivals for a wealthy bachelor's affections may be responsible for a debutante's murder.


2. Great Balls of Fire (Pt. 2): A massive fire consumes Toronto, complicating Murdoch's investigation into the murders of two young women.


3. A Study in Pink: After Murdoch discovers his childhood friend turned private investigator Freddie Pink might be implicated in a murder, he enlists his latest invention to find the truth.


4. Concocting a Killer: When a murder case is reopened, Murdoch and Ogden must confront the possibility that they sent the wrong man to prison.


5. Jagged Little Pill: Murdoch and Ogden investigate the poisoning of a philandering businessman; Rebecca James has suspicions about a fellow medical student's suicide.


6. Bend It Like Brackenreid: As Murdoch investigates the strange death of a footballer, Brackenreid gets caught up in the team's run for the Olympics.


7. Painted Ladies: Murdoch suspects a connection between dead men found with lipstick smudges on their faces and Crabtree's burlesque dancer sweetheart.


8. Weekend at Murdoch's: To catch a killer, Murdoch and Crabtree pretend a murdered witness is still alive.


9. Excitable Chap: Murdoch strives to apprehend a lecherous costumed criminal known as The Lurker, whose amorous encounters have escalated to murder.


10. The Devil Inside: Murdoch and Ogden contend with a killer who claims he's possessed by the devil.


11. A Murdog Mystery: While investigating the death of a championship show dog, Murdoch discovers a hidden affection for canine companions.


12. The Missing: Twenty years after a child was kidnapped, Murdoch investigates the identity of a man now claiming to be the wealthy heir.


13. Mr. Murdoch's Neighborhood: When Murdoch and Ogden use their riverside property as a burial ground to study human decomposition, they dig up more than they imagined.


14. From Murdoch to Eternity: Murdoch devises a mysterious tonic that restores youthful vitality, but his pursuit of a partnership alarms Crabtree.


15. Hades Hath No Fury: An explosion involving the mysterious woman Watts has been investigating leads Murdoch to a surreptitious community.


16. Master Lovecraft: The discovery of a young girl's body and some grotesque sketches leads Murdoch to suspect a gang of death-obsessed teenagers—which includes a young H.P. Lovecraft.


17. Hot Wheels of Thunder: Murdoch's investigation into the death of a roller-skating champion takes him into a world of aggressive and ruthlessly competitive young women.


18. Hell to Pay: When a burlesque dancer asks Murdoch for help, the Station House No. 4 team find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy and unforeseen danger.

Murdoch Mysteries: Season 10 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Alexa-captured images of Murdoch Mysteries's Season Ten continues the well-established style of previous seasons, with clean, sharply detailed photography and well-saturated but naturalistic colors that capably reproduce the period costumes and production design. Series regulars Jim Jeffrey and Yuri Yakubiw are the credited cinematographers. Acorn Media has retained the practice first adopted with Season Eight of allocating the season's eighteen episodes to four BD-50s instead of the five used for Season Seven, when the series first expanded to eighteen episodes a year. However, Season Ten is even less aggressively compressed than the previous season, with average bitrates ranging from just under 20 Mbps to nearly 28 Mbps, depending on the contents of each disc. The Season Nine Blu-rays deliver the superior video quality that Acorn's customers have come to expect for Murdoch Mysteries, after the unfortunate dip in Season Eight.

Murdoch Mysteries: Season 10 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For the third season in a row, Murdoch arrives with a 5.1 soundtrack encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. The tighter definition and improved clarity over earlier 2.0 tracks remain a constant, but the mix continues to be oriented toward the front soundstage, with the surrounds used primarily for environmental ambiance and an expanded presence for Robert Carli's familiar score. An occasional sequence like the citywide blaze in episode 2 ("Great Balls of Fire, Pt. 2") makes use of the full speaker array for an immersive effect, but on the whole, Murdoch's sound design is still bound by its TV origins.

Murdoch Mysteries: Season 10 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Season Ten of Murdoch Mysteries continues with the brief featurettes entitled "Making Murdoch", but their format has changed. While some remain geared to a specific episode, others focus on a particular character, actor or subject:

• Making Murdoch (1080p; 1.78:1)
• Disc 1
• "The Bachelor" . . . Murdoch Style (2:02)
• Samantha Bond—Lady Suzanne Atherly (1:13)
• The Great Fire of 1904 (1:39)
• Freddie Pink (1:41)
• Introducing Detective Watts (1:44)
• Introducing Louise Cherry (1:46)
• The Evolution of Rebecca James (1:30)
• Disc 2
• Bend It Like Brackenreid (1:56)
• Weekend at Murdoch's (1:09)
• Pendrick's Return (2:14)
• The Devil Inside (1:51)
• Disc 3
• From Murdoch to Eternity (1:54)
• Disc 4
• Hot Wheels of Thunder (1:52)
• Hell to Pay (1:44)
• What's New in Season Ten (1:41)
• Fan Events (1:39)
• Favorite Historical Character (0:23)
• Favorite Guest Star (0:46)
• Funniest Cast Member (0:41)
• The Constables of Station House No. 4 (2:33)
• The Spectacular Stunts of Murdoch Mysteries (1:42)



• Introductory Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn TV, Suspects and The Secret Agent. Discs 2-4 have no additional trailers.

Murdoch Mysteries: Season 10 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The concerns about "creative exhaustion" raised in my review of Murdoch's Season Nine have turned out to be premature. The show's writers and producers remain as inventive as ever, expanding the show's narrative palette with new characters while continuing to mine Canadian history and culture for intriguing story ideas. Highly recommended.