Rating summary
Movie | | 4.5 |
Video | | 4.5 |
Audio | | 3.5 |
Extras | | 2.0 |
Overall | | 4.0 |
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 Blu-ray Movie Review
The Murdoch Conclusion (To Be Continued)
Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 5, 2013
The fifth season of Murdoch Mysteries was supposed to be the last. When Season 5 of the 19th
Century police procedural was being written and filmed in 2011, everyone thought they were
winding up a five-year adventure. Rogers Media, which owns and operates the commercial
network, Citytv, that had been Murdoch's primary home, decided that the show no longer "fit"
with its current line-up. Christina Jennings, head of Murdoch's production company, Shaftesbury
Films, assured fans that the creative team would bring its continuing storylines to a "fulfilling
conclusion . . . during our final season".
But Shaftesbury wasn't ready to give up on Murdoch just yet. Even while Season 5 was airing in
Canada from June 6 through August 28, 2012, Shaftesbury made a deal with its British partners
and CBC, the Canadian public television station, to continue the adventures of Det. William
Murdoch into the brave new world of the early 20th Century. Work began on a sixth season,
which is currently airing on CBC.
Here in the U.S., Acorn Media is releasing both the (semi-)climactic Season 5 and the missing Season 2 on Blu-ray, thus completing Murdoch's original Citytv era for hi-def fans. A box
set of
Seasons 1-4 is also being released. The discussion of Season 5 below assumes that the reader has
seen the previous seasons and contains spoilers for those who haven't. Proceed past the first
screenshot at your own risk. For a spoiler-free introduction to the intriguing world of Murdoch
Mysteries, see the Season 1
review.
The conclusion of
Season 4 saw a
heartbroken Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) turn in his badge and
leave the Toronto Constabulary after failing to speak up in time to prevent his beloved Dr. Julia
Ogden (Hélène Joy) from marrying another man. Making matters worse, he'd also released a murderer
from his station's cells based on a personal decision of what justice required. The Season 5
opener, entitled "Murdoch of the Klondike", finds Murdoch trying to start a new life as a
prospector in a distant region east of Alaska where the gold rush has already come and gone.
Filmed on location in the Yukon's Dawson City, the episode boasts authentic settings and
breathtaking scenery.
Try as he might, Murdoch cannot escape his natural calling. When his former landlady, Elizabeth
Bryant (Jill Halfpenny), is accused of murder, she begs Murdoch for help. Soon enough,
Murdoch has traded miner's overalls for his signature suit and hat, as he commences re-interviewing witnesses and analyzing evidence. A curious
young reporter (Aaron Ashmore)
attaches himself to the methodical detective, looking for a good story. Only at the end does he
reveal his full name. By that point, Murdoch has realized that he must return home and "set
things right".
Back in Toronto, Murdoch's chief, Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig), is covering for him
with a story about a "leave of absence", while his loyal assistant, Constable George Crabtree
(Jonny Harris), has been promoted to "Acting Detective". Change has come to the medical examiner 's
office as well. Dr. Ogden, who has retained her maiden name professionally, is training her
replacement in preparation for a move to private practice. No doubt her decision to leave her
current position is partly motivated by a desire to avoid daily contact with Murdoch, the man she
really loves, once he returns to his duties with the Toronto Constabulary.
Dr. Ogden's replacement is Emily Grace (Georgina Reilly), a new generation of female doctor
who considers Ogden a role model. Brash, direct and the product of an ordinary middle class
background, Dr. Grace brings a fresh burst of energy to both the forensic lab and the TV series.
She and Murdoch are temperamental opposites, and it takes time for them to learn how to work
together. The new doctor and George Crabtree, however, connect almost immediately. Of even
greater interest are events in Dr. Grace's past that emerge during the course of the season and
provide intriguing material for several episodes.
Once Dr. Ogden leaves her position as medical examiner, she becomes a rarefied presence in Season 5.
Still, though she appears in only six of the thirteen episodes, they are memorable appearances. In
the two-part adventure entitled "Stroll on the Wild Side" (episodes 7-8), the doctor herself is
arrested for advising female patients about contraception, in violation of the era's civil law.
Confronted by Dr. Ogden's act of conscience, Murdoch is reminded of his own before he left for
the Klondike and can't help but be reminded of how much he and the now-married Julia have in
common. At the moment, though, Murdoch is preoccupied by an investigation of the mystifying
deaths of seemingly ordinary librarians leading secret lives inspired by a 19th Century version of
Fifty Shades of Grey. The case is complicated by the presence of a woman from Murdoch's past
with whom viewers will be familiar.
Helping to compensate for Dr. Ogden's extended absences is the presence of another strong-willed female character, Inspector Brackenreid's wife,
Margaret (Arwen Humphreys), who was
seen only briefly in earlier seasons. In Season 5, she appears in four episodes. Her role is crucial
in episode 5, "Murdoch at the Opera", where a great diva, Madame Rosa Hamilton (played by a
famous real-life soprano, Measha Brueggergosman), is threatened by an unknown assailant, who
poisons the diva's understudy by mistake. Inspector Brackenreid, a worshipful fan, undertakes to
be Madame Rosa's bodyguard. Mrs. Brackenreid, who prefers the music hall to Puccini, grows
jealous, while Madame Rosa basks in the attention. Meanwhile, Murdoch and Dr. Grace identify
the killer.
The series' creators have lost none of their ingenuity in seeding their stories with real historical
figures and events. In episode 6, "Who Killed the Electric Carriage?", Henry Ford (Todd Hofley)
brings a prototype of the gasoline automobile to Toronto in response to a challenge from James
Pendrick (Peter Stebbings), a returning character from Season 3, who has sunk his entire fortune
into developing a battery-driven vehicle, which he calls "the Pendrick Bullet". Shortly before the
competitive exhibition, the genius inventor of the crucial battery technology is murdered. Was
the perpetrator Ford, oil speculators or Pendrick himself, unwilling to share the potentially
enormous profits if the Pendrick Bullet becomes the basis of future automotive technology?
In episode 9, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell (John Tench) attends an inventor's
convention and helps Murdoch solve the murder of one of the participants, who was widely
disliked for stealing other inventors' work. Not surprisingly for a murder committed among
inventors, the murder weapon is a device of unique construction.
Episode 4, "War on Terror", begins with a bomb blast that destroys a dry goods store and badly
injures two members of the Constabulary. Murdoch initially suspects a personal motive, but
government agent Terrence Meyers (Peter Keleghan, in a recurring role) suddenly appears to
inform everyone that the famed American anarchist, Emma Goldman (Lisa Norton), has arrived
in Toronto to stir up unrest. Undercover infiltration of Goldman's followers reveals an American
agent already implanted in the group, and the various competing agendas foreshadow the
intelligence turf wars of a future era. While Murdoch wraps up the Toronto bombing, a text
overlay at the episode's conclusion reminds the viewer that U.S. President William McKinley
was assassinated two years later by a professed anarchist.
The season's final episode, "Twentieth Century Murdoch", takes place during the week after
Christmas 1899 and concludes on New Year's Eve. Nominally the story is about a scientist,
Professor Harms (Colin Buchanan), who claims to have invented a time machine. In reality,
though, the episode is about looking forward to the future. As the attendees at the annual Toronto
Constabulary New Year's Eve ball toast the new year and century, many of the season's (indeed,
the series') lingering questions must at last be addressed.
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The video quality on Acorn Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-rays for Season 5 is consistent
with that of Season 4, which is to say that
it's excellent. The HD-originated picture has translated
to Blu with superior detail, deep blacks, nicely saturated colors and an absence of video noise.
Compression-related issues, filtering and other artifacts were not in evidence. The only downside
of the hi-def image on Murdoch Mysteries is the fact that the rough quality of the CG work
(relative to feature films) used to create long shots of 19th Century Toronto is sometimes distractingly
evident.
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
With accurate labeling this time around, Murdoch Mysteries continues to be released by Acorn
with Dolby Digital 2.0 at 256 kbps. Only the first-issued set of Murdoch Blu-rays, Season 3, used
PCM. As I said in reviewing Season 4, having
watched all of the seasons issued on Blu-ray to
date, I don't think viewers will notice the difference unless they convince themselves beforehand.
Murdoch's stereo soundtrack is a serviceable one, with clearly rendered dialogue, effective
underscoring by Robert Carli, essential sound effects for storytelling, and a few signature sounds
to indicate scene transitions (notably a light bulb illuminating). Lossless encoding would be
preferable, but I'm not sure how much the experience would change.
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Season Five Overview (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 5:09): Featuring excerpts from both
Seasons 4 and 5, and interviews with Bisson, Joy and Reilly, among others. Spoilers are
minimal.
- Murdoch Travels to the Yukon (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 3:13): The making of episode
1, including location footage from Dawson City.
- Murdoch at the Opera (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 4:25): An interview with Measha
Brueggergosman on her appearance as diva Rosa Hamilton in episode 5.
- Who Killed the Electric Carriage? (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 4:06): Prop master Craig
Grant discusses the creation of the imaginary electric conveyance ("the Pendrick Bullet")
that competes against Henry Ford's gasoline engine in episode 6.
- The Costumes (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:17): Costume designer Alex Reda discusses
the challenges of the series' period costumes.
- Unedited Sound Bites (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 5:39): A series of short answers to
questions by Bisson, Craig, Harris, Joy and Reilly.
- Photo Gallery (1080p): Nineteen behind-the-scenes photos.
- Additional Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn Media, Case Histories
and Garrow's Law. These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not
otherwise available once the disc loads.
Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
One of the defining qualities of Murdoch Mysteries is its Canadian heritage, which is why the
series remains a favorite of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who provided the idea for Season 5's
penultimate episode, "Murdoch Night in Canada", about the murder of a member of the Toronto
Wellingtons hockey team (Harper being a famous hockey fanatic). Its Canadian character,
however one may choose to describe it, makes Murdoch unique and instantly distinguishable
from any police procedural created in America or the U.K. Crime and its motivations may be
universal, but the wit and characters of Murdoch are Canada's own. Seasons 1 and 4 made my
top ten list of 2012, and Season 5 already has its place reserved on 2013's. Highly recommended.