TV Review: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Episode 3.1

“Death Defying Feats”

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Episode 3.1

Available on: Netflix (DVDs will be released on October 27, 2015)

Rating: Four Stars (out of five)

I love Phryne Fisher.  She runs around 1920s Melbourne catching killers, sexing up [innocent] suspects, fighting for social justice, and generally being awesome, all while wearing fabulous clothes.  I found the TV series on Netflix in, I think, February of 2014.  By June, I’d read all twenty novels and seen every available episode of the TV show.  I even bought an Acorn TV subscription so I could watch Season Two before it came to Netflix.  So imagine my surprise and delight when I found Season Three on Netflix last week (the DVD doesn’t come out until October 27, and the show isn't on Acorn yet). 

Of course, this show is also perfect blog fodder, and the rest of this post reviews episode 3.1.  Expect reviews of the other seven episodes in Season 3 in the coming weeks.  I’ll avoid spoilers for Season 3, but I’m going to write as if readers know the show’s characters and basic premise.  To catch up, go to Netflix or Acorn TV (you won’t regret it!).  Anyway, here we go!

In the opening sequence of “Death Defying Feats,” a magic trick goes horribly wrong when a guillotine decapitates Pearl, a magician’s assistant.  Phryne, Jack, Dot, Hugh, and the rest of the gang soon arrive on the scene, and we follow them on their quest to discover who tampered with the guillotine and killed Pearl.  The magic show, Mackenzie’s Cavalcade of Mysteries, employs a bunch of sketchy characters including an ex-con handyman, a clairvoyant with an identical twin sister, the victim’s fiancé and show-owner Mr. Mackenzie (who may have murdered his first wife), and a contortionist who was also the victim’s lesbian lover.  Which of these people killed Pearl, and why?  Phryne and company find out, of course, but not without trouble and danger along the way.

For Phryne, “trouble” includes her Father, the Baron of Richland, who has arrived in Australia for a surprise visit.  The Baron, it turns out, is the new financial backer for Mackenzie’s Cavalcade, so he’s also involved in the mystery.  Phryne isn’t thrilled to see him, and frankly, neither was I.  I found him irritating, and I wasn’t sure why he was there, except to add unnecessary drama.

Some of that unnecessary drama involves Phryne and Jack.  When Jack learns that Phryne has a “gentleman visitor,” he gets upset and gives her little chance to explain who the visitor is.  She doesn’t try very hard, though, and in fact seems to be toying with him.  I’ll be honest: I don’t love the romantic element the TV show introduces into the Jack/Phryne relationship (it's not in the books), and I really hope the show never focuses too much on that.  I love that Phryne has a lot of lovers, and I love that while the TV show downplays them a little bit from the books, she still has her sexual romps.  I hope they don’t completely change that aspect of Phryne’s behavior because her sexual freedom is part of what makes her unique among female sleuths.

In other news, there’s also some tension between Dot and Hugh, because Hugh isn’t terribly comfortable with his wife-to-be’s involvement in murder cases.  Dot likes solving mysteries and she helps out a lot in this episode, and Hugh was being kind of obnoxious, so I hope this isn't an ongoing plot thread in Season 3.  Mac is back, and she’s now a medical examiner (did I miss this happening at the end of season 2?  I haven’t had time to go back and check).  Aunt Prudence was present, and she and I are on the same page with regards to Phryne’s father.  Jane, however, was MIA with nary a mention.  She’s not in all episodes of the previous seasons, so maybe she’ll be back soon, but surely Phryne would have noticed that her ward was missing and some explanation seems warranted.

Overall, this was a good episode, and not just because I was so glad to have my show back.  The solution to the murder was not obvious, but it made sense and as usual, there was a lot of witty banter between characters and Phryne's clothes were gorgeous.  Four stars.