User Reviews

I was disappointed by the review from the Christian person who found this episode offensive because of the way they felt Christians were portrayed, and because of the way they felt that attitudes to homosexuality were presented.

Let me offer a few insights from my own experience as a Christian minister (now retired).

First, I don't believe that this episode, or any other that I have seen in this endearing series, sets out to belittle Christians. To respond to one criticism, the couple who behave meanly to the vagrant before they enter the church are an exact match for one of those who passed by on the other side of the road in the parable that Jesus told which we know as the Good Samaritan, if one wishes to dissect their actions, but of course, the fact that they are about to go in to a wedding service does not require that they be Christian at all - in my experience, most wedding guests are not these days, and I don't believe that they necessarily would have been in 1890s Toronto.

Second, there are a wide range of attitudes presented to the issue of homosexuality in this episode. Some struggle to deal with their inner feelings, others have come to accept that some people are that way, and yet others decline to accept that others may be different in that way. This is just like real life.

It is not anti-Christian to present several sides of the argument. Quite the opposite. Paul tells us that we must test everything and hold on to what is good. And the truth is that each of us is an individual and we have our own way of discovering the truth we need to live by. If others find a different truth more comfortable than the truth we choose to live by, then we need to remember that Jesus told another parable about finding fault in others while we excuse ourselves...

In the end, I feel that Detective Murdoch's personal conflict between the certainty of his understanding of a few verses of Biblical teaching, and the uncertainty of his encounter with people who seem to be of otherwise good character, though they are at odds with that Biblical teaching, is handled well in the episode, even if it is left as a work in progress. Perhaps I say that because I too have been on a journey like that in my life of faith, from clear certainty that homosexuality was wrong, through discovering that close friends were gays, to the enlightenment that God sees each one of us not as a set of labels, but as a real person,cherished in his sight.

But when all is said and done, this show is work of entertainment, not a religious lecture, and is best enjoyed as such.

A man that is about to get married is murdered in church. Murdoch finds out the man was gay and only getting married because of an inheritance. The man may have been having an affair with his best friend and/or a priest who is also gay. The very priest that was to preside over the wedding. Needless to say, the investigation goes in the direction of the gay community.

When Murdoch tried to infiltrate the gay community, I had to laugh at how he was dressed. He certainly made an impression. Brackenreid's idea. It figures. Lol. I also laughed when he used the name, George Crabtree.

Murdoch thinks the murderer is one of the gay boyfriends. But it turns out there is something else going on and another motive. He also doesn't know what to do when he finds out the priest is gay. Murdoch is conflicted and compassionate as he realizes Wendell and his friend couldn't be true to themselves and that they were both basically good men:

"Father, I find myself questioning the basic tenets of my faith. Two men are dead. By all standards, good men. Yet they're condemned to eternal damnation. How can this be God's will?"

That is one of the reasons why I love Murdoch. He's a devout Roman Catholic, but he is also compassionate and empathetic. He doesn't sit there in condemnation and judgment.

I have to counter another reviewer that complained that this episode made fun of Christians. Murdoch, a devout Christian, literally solved the case. The priest was not guilty of the murder. Murdoch received counsel from his priest. This gave him comfort and a lot to contemplate. To me, Christians were portrayed very well in this episode.

This episode also touches on how gay communities were persecuted and deliberately targeted in the past by the police. In this case around the turn of the 20th century. It was a very scary time for them, and a shameful part of Canada's history.

Anyway, a very well-written episode that shows how Murdoch comes into conflict with his religion and remains a compassionate, empathetic, and fair person. 10/10.