Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to a very special, spooky episode of That Time on,
Murder, She Wrote - for Halloween, I will be taking a look at “The Witches Curse”
from season 8, a tale of demonic posession, enchantment, and foot rubs. I was initially
going to be taking a look at Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble, another episode with a witch storyline,
but I decided I didn’t want to look at Bill Maher’s stupid face so I chose this one instead.
It guest stars Mary Crosby, Bing Crosby’s daughter, who plays a mysterious newcomer
to Cabot Cove. I’m always happy to watch an episode that takes place in the show’s hometown,
though I was disappointed by the lack of recurring characters. We do get to see the town’s very own
rumor mill, Eve Simpson, Dr. Seth Hazlit, and the continually flustered Sheriff Metzger.
We begin with a story, narrated over some crude illustrations. We learn about Rachel Abbott,
a woman who was falsely accused of being a witch and burned at the stake. We hear her cry out,
telling everyone she will return from the grave to seek revenge on all of those who wronged her.
I gotta say, she looks very calm for someone who is about to be incinerated. This is fine.
I did look up the name Rachel Abbott and didn’t find anything about her being a real person
involved in the Witch Trials, so I believe this is a fictionalized tale. With a bloodcurdling scream
we transition back to the actual church, where an audition is taking place. Seth:
“She has a voice that could shatter lead…” Community theater, yanno?
For whatever reason, Seth is in charge of the play, which leads me to believe it will likely
be a disaster. Everyone seems to be fighting for the main role of Rachel Abbott, even people who
were already cast. Seth: “As the mother, I felt you would lend a dignity to the proceedings.”
Penelope: “I don’t care about dignity.” That’s what it says on my tinder profile.
As everyone is rehearsing, the doors fling open dramatically. (Lightning Crashes) Me when I enter
the room, heh. The newcomer introduces herself as Mariah Osborne, and claims she is looking to
audition for the lead role of Rachel Abott. Eve says hello and tells everyone she had rented the
Old Walker Place. “ Penelope: “Good heavens, no one’s lived there in years, it’s falling apart,
why would anyone want to live there?” Wow, what a wonderful greeting of immediate judgement. Can
you imagine meeting someone like this? “The WALKER place? That place is fucking TERRIBLE, I’m Beth.”
After some character introductions, Mariah gets ready to audition. Mariah: “May I
borrow that?” Lydia: “I suppose, yes.” I’m gonna put a HEX on it.
Mariah absolutely nails the part, and as she reads her line about the bells ringing out,
the bell in the tower goes off, as does Nine Inch Nails.
Seth expresses concern about Mariah to Jess and Metzger, and Jessica tries to reassure him that
she is not a witch and that the bell often rings with some strong wind. At the library,
Jess runs into Mariah reading over the original transcripts from the trial, hoping to be inspired.
Jess.: “Hello, judging by the passage you’re reading I would say you are Mariah Osbourne.”
Mariah: “And you are?” Jess: “Jessica Fletcher.” Master witch.
Mariah visits Lydia Winthrop's home, hoping to return her shawl,
but instead finds her husband who is bound to a wheelchair for a few weeks;
he tells her he slipped on the stairs and broke his foot. He leans down to grab something,
cramps up, and Mariah offers to help him out with foot massage.
“Think of cool soothing water running over the pain,
cool soothing water…” an erupting volcano… hot, uncontrollable urges…
They are interrupted by Lydia, and on her way out Mariah spies a fully mobile Charles Winthrop
putting something in a secret safe. Ah HAH! I see his game… he just wanted FREE FOOT RUBS.
In the middle of the night, the safe is robbed, and there is a trail of rose petals left behind.
Luckily for the Winthrops, nothing was missing. Metzger: “What kind of
thief breaks into a place and then stops to sprinkle rose petals everywhere? Tuxedo mask?
Metzger and his deputy visit the old Walker Place to question Mariah and they find… a BUBBLING DUTCH
OVEN? Are you tired of those old, bulky cauldrons? Eye of Newt over cooking? Try one of our latest
Cast Iron Dutch Ovens, for the Modern Witch! Free cat dish with a purchase of two or more!
I am not sure if this is intentional or not,
but Mariah resembles a character named Valeria Watt from a movie called Carry On Screaming,
and I can’t help but wonder if that was a source of inspiration for her look.
The deputy is shook and asks Jessica what she makes of the dutch ovens and
black cat he saw at the house. Jess: “Well I happen to think eccentricity
is a virtue.” That’s what my therapist told me last week.
Mariah makes a stop to the insurance agent, Nate something or other, and asks for a fire insurance
policy. SEDUCTIVELY. Mariah: “It would be very comforting to me if you could come by sometime
and check the premises, the wiring, the plumbing. You seem like a man who would be very thorough.”
There’s a lot of spicy flirtation in this episode and I am bewitched by it.
Lydia stops by as well, wanting to discuss increasing her insurance.
Jess runs into Seth, who is helping a concerned Mariah load some highly
flammable paint cans into her car. She laments that no one will talk to
her. Jess tells her that new englanders can be notoriously cold to newcomers.
Jess: “I’ve lived here for ten years and some people still refer to me as the new
woman in town.” (Seth laughs.) Seth. That wasn’t a joke. It’s kind of sad, really.
Oh god, it’s Satan. During the middle of the night, Nate’s shed,
conveniently the place that held a bunch of important insurance documents, is defaced and
set ablaze. Let’s see here, ah yes just a liiiiiil bit of water… teeeeeny tiny bit… Unfortunately,
the pentagram was burned away in the fire and no one could prove it was there. Mmm, my
favorite cereal. Pente-GRAHAMS.” Penelope says this all makes sense, as Rachel Abbott
has returned like she said she would, in storm wind and in fire. Lydia: “She is truly possessed!”
That night, at dress rehearsal, Mariah improvises some of her lines. Mariah:
“A small minded, butter woman whose soul is as barren…” Lydia: “That’s
not in the script!” Oooo, the shade…Mariah: “I am possessed!”
The town’s judge, Judge Clinton, praises Mariah for her performance. He quips a
little about how Rachel was given the opportunity to repent to a magistrate,
but she declined. Mariah: “I must confess, if you were the magistrate, and I were Rachel, I
might find the decision a little more difficult.” You cheap, tawdry slut.
You’re giving Blanche Deveraoux a run for her money! Blanche: “I’m the biggest slut.”
Judge Clinton later finds a note, seemingly from Mariah, asking him to meet her back at
the church. This guy actually thinks he’s gonna get some. Sooooooo… this guy is
dead. (Wah wah sound effect.) In a scene that looks like it came from Vertigo, Judge Clinton
goes up the bell tower where he is promptly pushed out a window by a long figure with black hair.
After a quick investigation, Metzger finds the note from Mariah in Clinton’s coat pocket.
Jess doesn’t believe the murderer is Mariah, saying that people are getting Rachel Abbott
and her mixed up. When they go to question her, Jess notices that the handwriting on the note
really doesn’t match Mariah’s. So on top of being a brilliant detective,
she is also a handwriting expert. Jess really can do it all.
At Mariah’s home, Jess finds an article from 1967 about
a woman named Monica Walker, who was indicted for grand theft. She
also finds a black and white photo who happens to bear resemblance to Mariah.
Jess decides to do some research and goes to the library and Cabot Cove’s gazette to
see if she can find the article about Monica, but suspiciously, the 1967 archives have been removed.
Seth: “What is it you wanted to ask me?”
Jess: “Who says I wanted to ask you anything?” Haha, yeah fuck you Seth!
Jess asks Seth if he knew Monica Walker, and he tells her she was a beautiful woman
with long black hair who used to work for Charles and Lydia Winthrop. She was accused
of stealing one of Lydia’s diamond necklaces, charged, and sent to prison for five years.
Seth: “Now what do I have to do to get any dessert?” Down tiger.
At the Winthrops, Charles explains how he broke his foot on some
unfinished stairs. Charles: “Now I can’t go sailing until my foot is up to snuff.”
Awww, rich man can’t do his rich lil hobbies, how terrible for him.
They rag on Mariah a little bit, then Lydia mentions raising their insurance and getting
a new safe put in for her jewelry. Lydia: “You know, this ring has been in my family
for 2 generations.” Two generations…is that something people brag about? Two generations?
She also confirms that Monica Walker stole a diamond necklace, which was never recovered.
In the most badass move ever, Jessica puts a glue stick on the mantle after
Charles asks her to help him with his mini boat thingie. She excuses herself,
then comes back when Charles gets up to retrieve the glue stick. She just continues to talk to him
normally and calmly but with an air of “I got you, douchebag. I know fraud when I see it.”
She finds out the prosecutor on Monica Walker’s trial was Judge Clinton.
Now it’s time for some classic JB snooping!!
She runs into Nate, who says he is there to investigate the property for insurance purposes.
Jess: “You’re about the same height as the judge, aren’t you?.” lemme push you out the window
for comparison! They talk briefly, then Jessica grabs something that was stuck to the back wall.
She hightails it to the sheriff’s office and presents them with several strands of long
black hair. The deputy comes back and says they found a print on the safe, and it belongs to
Mary Lynn Walker, Monica Walker’s daughter. She has come back to Cabot Cove incognito as Mariah
Osbourne. Jess: “After 25 years she has come back to the town where her mother was disgraced, and
I think I know why.” She was bored.
Jess and Metzger confront Mariah, and she confesses she came back to Cabot Cove to
prove her late mother’s innocence. She did break into their safe, wanting to find the
diamond necklace and failing to do so, but she insists she did not murder Judge Clinton.
Metzger believes she pushed Clinton out of the bell tower to get revenge
for her mother’s injustice, and arrests her.
Jessica is like oooooooo I dunno I think you might have made a mistake.
Jess pays a visit to Joe, local fireman and Dalmatian enthusiast, and he confirms
Nate’s insurance shed was torched purposefully using vinyl curing urethane. She also stops
by Nate’s NEW insurance shed to ask for the insurance claims for Lydia’s diamond necklace.
We also find out that the hairs found at the scene of the crime came from a cheap Party City wig,
and…really? You needed to do forensics on a cheap wig? I’m not a forensics specialist but
I can tell the difference between human hair and a busted-ass wig. Metzger is still confident he
arrested the correct person. Metzger: “Okay, so the hair came from a wig. So?” You’re dumb as
hell and you got the wrong person. Like What? What do you mean so, did you think Mariah put
on a black wig over her already black hair? The hell is wrong with Cabot Cove’s law enforcement?
Jessica has her epiphany moment and pays one last visit to the Winthrop’s,
where she accuses Lydia of falsifying the charges of her previous secretary, Monica Walker,
AND accusing her of murdering Judge Clinton. She is LITERALLY clutching her pearls. Jess goes on to
say that the cut of her diamond ring matches the cut of her diamond necklace - she had transferred
the main stone into an antique setting, which has been in her family for TWO WHOLE GENERATIONS.
Lydia also torched Nate’s shed and all of the insurance claims within it,
so nobody would find out about the false charge.
And now you’re wondering, why? Why did she commit all of these atrocious acts of violence?
Well it’s because her husband here is a man slut. “I didn’t mean for it to happen,
it just did.” Those Walker Women give foot rubs that drive a man wild!”
Lydia was afraid Mariah would tell Judge Clinton the truth,
as he was the prosecutor on the Monica Walker case, so she put on a black wig and shoved
him out of the bell tower. Not a flattering look if I may add. Lydia: “I am possessed!”
She admits to the whole thing, and the weird witch burning play goes on as
planned. The show must go on, Mariah in the lead. Seth is all flustered,
worried about the performance, and Jess reassures him. “And the good news is, you don’t have to do
it next year.” Seth: “What? And give up show business? Oh Seth, you dingbat. (Ta Da sound)
Okay, final thoughts! This was a fantastic episode; Mary Crosby was perfect as this
flirtatious, seductive, witchy woman who wants to clear her mother’s name. One thing I really liked
about this episode is the extremely long build up - the murder occurs about halfway through the
story, meaning there’s a lot of time for character introductions and exposition. It’s extremely
cheesy but I love the way the episode ties a story about a falsely persecuted witch to a modern day
story of injustice. The only thing I was really longing for were more strange incidents involving
Mariah, just to make things a little more eerie. This had a very good story with clues that made
sense and characters that were fun to follow, but they really didn’t push the witch thing very far.
The only thing that happened was the bell in the tower started chiming when Mariah mentioned it;
other than that nothing particularly exciting happens. Oh, well… the pentagram and fire I guess,
but that isn’t particularly spooky to me, you know that any human can cause a fire, especially
when flammable fluids were found on the scene. Us witches do not require vinyl curing urethane
to cause a fire, you know. So I was expecting a little more. Compared to Fire Burn, Cauldron
Bubble, this episode was relatively tame and grounded in reality. The townspeople are supposed
to really believe Mariah is a scorned witch, back from the fires of hell to seek revenge, but they
are mostly like “eh, new people suck, let’s just stay away from her. Still, fantastic episode,
great story, and fun to play armchair detective with. Let me know what you think about this
episode if you decide to give it a watch, and until next time… happy SPOOKY sleuthing.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on this very witchy episode of Murder,
She Wrote. If you want to see more murder mystery content from me I have PLENTY to offer,
but first I want to thank my hearty patrons who support my debilitating obsession with
Jessica Fletcher. If you want to enable me, consider donating to my campaign.
If not, likes, shares, and especially comments do a body good.
If you wanna see more of my videos, here are a couple recommendations - on the right I have
my very first episode of That Time on Murder, She Wrote - it recently hit 1 million views,
and I could not be more thrilled. On the left I have a video about the evil dummies
from Goosebumps and The Twilight Zone. Thanks again as always, I’ll see you in the next one!