“Murder and the
Maiden”
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Episode 3.2
Available on: Netflix
(DVDs will be released on October 27, 2015)
Rating: Three
Stars (out of five)
This episode could have been really fun. It involves airplanes, crossdressing, White
Russians, and a substantial helping of the witty banter this show is known
for. However, it fell a bit flat for
me. For one thing, the plot is very convoluted. For another thing, the Phryne/Jack will
they/won’t they plot has been dialed up even from episode 3.1, and as I said in
my review of that episode, I’m not a fan.
Some romantic comedy fuels the banter that makes this show great, but
too much takes away from the mystery plots, and that’s what happened in this
case.
The setting: an Air Force base. Before the episode’s opening credits, we see
a young woman die in the arms of a man.
Who is he? Did he kill her? That’s what Jack, Hugh, and the rest of the
police force are trying to figure out.
Phryne, Dot, and company come on the scene because Phryne’s old friend
Group Captain Compton has asked her to investigate both the disappearance of
Flight Lieutenant James Manning and the attempted sabotage of his plane. Of course, we soon learn that the two cases
are linked, so Phryne collaborates with the police force to solve both of them.
Phryne’s relationship with Compton, who once saved her life,
fuels the tension between her and Jack in this episode. He’s jealous, and she has to convince him he
has no reason to be. If this continues,
it’s going to get very annoying (more
annoying than it already is). Phryne and
Jack are not in a relationship.
Occasionally they’ll have dinner together, but it’s certainly not
official, and I’m not sure why Jack would expect her to be “faithful.” Also, the jealousy is irrational; Phryne hasn’t had one of her trademark casual
liaisons since sometime in Season Two.
If we have to put up with his jealousy, I’d rather Phryne have some
fun. And I’ll go further: Show writers,
either get your leads together for real or get rid of the romance. Will they or won’t they? Make a decision.
Also standing between this episode and higher
rating for me is the resolution of the mystery itself. There are a lot of moving parts, including a
romance between Bert and a woman who works for the Communist Party and some
random homophobia. At several points, I
was confused, and instead of being surprised and delighted by the resolution, I
had to work backwards to figure out how it made sense. In other words, watching this episode took work, which watching this show didn’t
use to (and shouldn’t) do.
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