The suspicious death of a land surveyor just outside Murdoch's station house sends him and Crabtree to rural Northern Ontario to investigate both the crime and his mysterious dying words.The suspicious death of a land surveyor just outside Murdoch's station house sends him and Crabtree to rural Northern Ontario to investigate both the crime and his mysterious dying words.The suspicious death of a land surveyor just outside Murdoch's station house sends him and Crabtree to rural Northern Ontario to investigate both the crime and his mysterious dying words.
- Dr. Julia Ogden
- (as Hélène Joy)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe young artist who buys Brackenreid's painting identifies himself as Tom Thomson. In reality, Thomson was an influential Canadian artist of the early 20th century who died in mysterious circumstances while on a canoeing trip on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park on July 8, 1917.
- GoofsWhen Mr. Graham is poisoned, the flask he drinks out of is shiny, smallish, and has a dividing line. In the first morgue scene, when Murdoch asks to see the flask that Mr. Graham drank out of, the flask is big, not divided, and not shiny. It is not the same.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Detective William Murdoch: Migizi Pimise turned himself in yesterday. I suppose he knew someone would come looking for him.
Dr. Julia Ogden: And the people he was with?
Detective William Murdoch: They moved further north.
Dr. Julia Ogden: It won't go well for them, will it?
Detective William Murdoch: The silver will draw prospectors like moths to a flame. Migizi Pimise started a fight he couldn't possibly hope to win.
Dr. Julia Ogden: But surely they have a treaty that will protect them.
[Murdoch nods]
Dr. Julia Ogden: Let's get you to bed.
Detective William Murdoch: Our government is made of men of good conscience. Let's hope they honour it.
[Title Card]: In 1903 silver was found near Cobalt, Ontario. The Provincial Government extinguished the Indian Land Title.
But they name the chubby, brash, butch-but-hot brunette character "M. McCarthy"? I sometimes get the feeling a writer uses placeholder names while getting episodes started, often using a famous name to create an instant vibe, and then they neglect to swap in realistic names for the final product. It is annoyingly distracting, like recently a duo of worthless ex-cops were "Applebey & Perkins", like the duo of almost-food purveyors one sees near every highway offramp in the usa. I suppose the writer was trying to express their nature as bland, low quality, spending most of their shifts on coffee breaks. But the benefit of the "ha ha, cute." you get from seeing such wacky names is outweighed by the harm the distraction factor does to suspension of disbelief.
One other thing to note- I found it fascinating when Murdoch was interacting with a rep of the local tribe. His stoic demeanour and uninflected speech can seem awkward contrasted against flamboyant European manners (like how Ogden giggles and smiles whenever she has to say something she thinks the person she's talking to will not like), but transplanted... His usual qualities seem dignified and respectful when paired with the similarly stoic Native man's style. I think the scene illuminates Murdoch's way of interacting, which is helpful perhaps to those like some recent reviewers who misinterpret his lack of facade as hickish and his stoicism as wimpiness. He's just unaffected and employs a poker face. That's quite different from being too shy or inexperienced to express oneself! Seeing him with the Native guy made me think, if Murdoch was written as Native his measured speech and placid facial expression wouldn't raise any eyebrows at all. Like our calibration of judging whether his persona is weird or admirable changes just because of race, hm.
And was this our first time learning that he was once a lumberjack, presumably for quite a long time since he traded with the local tribe enough to know their language? Cool! This guy has had diverse experiences! Apparently competent at physical jobs as well as at mental ones. Impressive.
So this episode made me "get" and like Murdoch a bit more than I already did. I think this season they have set a goal to make all the characters more multifaceted and explain them, which is a welcome evolution to me.
- katherinemch
- Aug 25, 2021
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Westfield Heritage Village, Rockton, Ontario, Canada(Haileybury, Ontario, Canada)
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime45 minutes
- Color