Over the break, my mom told me about a show called Murdoch Mysteries.
She told me it was about a detective that solved murders in 1890’s Toronto.
Great, I thought to myself. It’s another one of her boring shows about history (in case you don’t know me, it’s hard for me to get into history unless it’s about dinosaurs).
Since this show was obviously not about dinosaurs, I didn’t really want anything to do with it.
After some persistence from my mother, I finally agreed to watch an episode.
This was one of the best decisions of my life.
After just watching one episode, I was hooked on Murdoch Mysteries.
In the first episode, “Power,” Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) has to investigate the murder of a young lady who was electrocuted during a demonstration.
Murdoch is aided by Constable George Crabtree (Johnny Harris) and none other than Nikola Tesla (Dmitry Chepovetsky).
Tesla isn’t the only historical figure in the show.
Murdoch and his friends also get to meet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Buffalo Bill Cody, Harry Houdini, and Henry Ford (just to name a few).
Every episode is filled with drama and excitement.
Each plot has many twists, turns and surprises.
Each season finale has a cliffhanger bigger than the last, and each first episode of the season is even more action-packed.
While each episode of Murdoch could stand alone, at least in my opinion, you would lose something if you don’t start at the beginning and go in order.
There are several running storylines, including the on-again, off-again romance between the Detective and the coroner, Dr. Julia Ogden (Hélène Joy).
Also, almost every season has some sort of thread that ties it together.
The series covers a range of controversial topics, such as abortion, racism, sexism, religious intolerance, corruption, and, of course, murder.
They also have episodes based around the battle between direct current and alternating current Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, the Klondike Gold Rush, and even Jack the Ripper.
There are constant allusions to future inventions, which, of course, we know about but the characters don’t.
One time, Constable Crabtree tells Murdoch about “micro” waves and how they can be used to cook food.
He says that they could be used to cook a potato in mere minutes.
He goes on to say that in the future, he could see every house having one of the “micro” wave cooking rooms (at the time, it took a whole room to do what a tiny Kenmore could do).
Right now, there are six complete seasons on DVD, and the seventh season is currently airing in Canada.
You can watch episodes from the first six seasons on Ovation, or you can watch the DVDs either by buying them or renting them from the public library.
Becki Brown
Editor in Chief
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