7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Murdoch and Julia encounter unforeseen obstacles in building their dream home, while Crabtree's burlesque dancer sweetheart becomes a person of interest. The team looks into the death of a champion show dog as well as a roller derby-related murder, and The Great Fire of Toronto serves as a backdrop for the investigation of the murder of two debutantes.
Starring: Yannick Bisson, Hélène Joy, Thomas Craig, Jonny Harris, Mouna TraoréMystery | 100% |
Period | 54% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2015
2016
2017-2018
2017
2018-2019
2019-2020
2021
The Artful Detective
2021-2022
2022-2023
The Artful Detective
2023-2024
2024-2025
(Still not reliable for this title)
2010
2012
Sherlock Holmes
1944
1943
2004
20th Anniversary Uncut Director's Edition
2003
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1967
2018
Prelude to Murder / Sherlock Holmes
1946
Sherlock Holmes
1946
Sherlock Holmes
1945
1943
1939
50th Anniversary Edition
1974
1943
2011
Faceless Killers / The Man Who Smiled / The Fifth Woman
2010
2012
2020
1980