Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome back to the only non
true crime show on YouTube that obsessively talks about murder, That Time on Murder,
She Wrote! Today we’re zipping forward into the later seasons, season 9 to be exact, because I
find that these episodes hit all the right campy notes for me. At this point in the show, Jessica
is a very successful murder mystery author and has an apartment in New York city, and that is where
this plot takes place. Get ready for…The Dead File. AWWW LOOK IT’S JESSICA AS A COMIC BOOK FOX.
This episode is what the youngins call STACKED with well known names including but
not limited to: Harvey Fierstein, George Furth, Jon Polito, and Patrick MacNee.
We begin our episode with a spooky scene of someone slowly walking into a quirky apartment,
opening a suspicious looking box, then putting on
medical gloves for 5 minutes straight. Ah yes, the rare self proctology exam.
While it may seem like this is leading up to something nefarious,
we soon see that this is a comic book artist just doing some light night lettering on this
Jessica Fletcher inspired strip. He seems to be inking that good ol’ JB Fletcher saying, CHICKEN.
Jessica is returning from a vacation in Italy; as she enters her apartment with the bellboy,
he tells her how amusing he finds the fox character. She has no idea
what he’s talking about, so he shows her the latest newspaper. Bellboy: “You’re the fox,
ain’tcha?” Well, I have been known to be pretty foxy in my day.
We cut to an extremely artsy looking loft that looks like it came straight
from the movie Toys. It is lived in by comic strip writer Stan Hatter. A
woman’s voice sounds off from the answering machine, and he reacts with mild annoyance,
“They don’t call them ex-wives for nothin.” Because you are ex-stremely gay? Ex, ex EXTREMELY-
Stan and his assistant Teddy work on Hatterville, a comic about a town full of
animals where Jessica Fox solves crime. They are being followed by this Alan Arkin impersonator,
and in the next scene we realize he is being sent to follow him by another comic strip writer,
Dayton Whiting. Whiting sent this guy there to find potential blackmail on Hatter,
and what IS this place? WHERE is this place. This old lady character is going to show up
in my nightmares. Also, I didn’t realize comic strip writers were so competitive,
can you imagine Charles Schultz trying to blackmail Jim Davis? I hate Mondays indeed.
Mr. Bozell, the man trying to dig up dirt on Hatter, hasn’t found anything of consequence yet,
so Whiting tells him to create something. Brosell says he isn’t that kind of blackmailer,
I guess HE has scruples. Whiting: “Why else would I have hired you?” Because I am so calm? Whiting
then goes back to completing his strip called BIFF BANION, which sounds like a BttF villain.
Meanwhile, Jessica is NOT happy with her likeness showing up in the comics.
She is visited by a Luitenant DiMartini…wait your name is DeMartini? Like the drink? Who accuses her
of saying unsavory things about him in the form of a cute cartoon fox. Jess is not having it. *BONK*
In the comic, Jessica Fox accuses the Rodent Officer of evidence theft,
which happens to be based on one of DeMartini’s real drug cases; he was accused of stealing
cocaine from an evidence locker. He has been fighting the accusations for years, and tells
Jess the comic strip is incrimiating. She says she doesn’t know anything about the comic and
suggests he talk to the author, which makes the most sense and I have no idea why he went to Jess,
who has nothing to do with this, instead of the creator. Jess: “Lieutenant, tell me…” Is that
mustache real? Jess: “Did you steal those drugs?” (he walks away) well it’s not a No…
Whiting is told by his features syndicate, Paige, that three more papers have canceled his strip,
Biff Banion. Hatter bursts into the room, furious, wanting to know how a strip he
didn’t write ended up in the paper under his name. Paige, the syndicate writer, seems to be
playing a character from Steel Magnolias. Paige: “He’s crazier than a longhorn on local weed.”
Hatter threatens to quit and after he leaves, then Paige and Whiting start discussing ways
to kick Hatter to the curb and have his assistant, Teddy, take over Hatterville.
These are the most schemy people I have ever seen, they aren’t even TRYING to act normal.
It seems like DiMartini isn’t the only target in these comics;
this guy is also being accused, via Jessica Fox, of some kind of swindle. Okay,
that is not a duck. That is a curmudgeonly old man and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Jessica calls her lawyer over, Russel, to discuss the comics. Jess: “do you happen to
know a comic strip called” Family Circus? It’s my favorite. I love it when they do family things.
He informs her that she and Hatter are going to be sued for libel, and possibly extortion for several
million dollars each. Jessica is flabbergasted, as am I. Imagine having a comic strip written about
you, and then you are SUED for it. She’s done literally nothing wrong, but Russel is like,
well you’re shit out of luck. You could counter sue but the fees are gonna be insaaaaane.
Russel: “Quarter of a million” imagine paying that much in legal fees over this. (Quack)
Jess pays a visit to Stan Hatter, who assures her he didn’t create those inflammatory comic strips,
and have no idea how they got into print. She is concerned that her image
is being used to cause chaos. Stan: “Look, I’m your biggest fan” Awwwww.
He goes on to show her more story from his murder mystery inspired comic, and shows her
his cow character. “This is Lorraine, she suffers from MPS, multiple personality syndrome.” Oh no.
“But she’s not the killer.” The one with the mental illness
isn’t written as the killer? That can’t be right.
Meanwhile, DiMartini is being blackmailed for a quarter mil. He refuses to turn the blackmail
letter over to the police for a few reasons, one of which being: DiMartini: “because my alibi,
my former partner, is dead.” And I definitely did not kill him.
He shows Jess the letters on the paper are from the Cabot Cove gazette, and accuses her
of being the blackmailer. Yes, because Jessica brings local newspapers from Cabot Cove back
to her place in New York. DiMartini: “You must think I am some sort of a major idiot.” Yes.
Jessica is furious, questioning Stan and finding it difficult to believe anyone but
him is responsible. He says he can prove they are a forgery by pointing out minor artistic choices
in the comics. The lettering artist also adds that it isn’t his style either. Stan: “Why
would I jeopardize my career? In a few years, Hatterville will be as famous as Peanuts and
Calvin and Hobbes.” Sure, Jan. Bootleg Delta Burke wanders over and accuses Jessica of being
involved in her own… weird way. “Have you ever looked a man-eating shark in the eye?” Okay..
Mr. Meltan proceeds to have a meltDOWN and keeps threatening to sue Jessica, Stan,
AND the publisher, but Jess is determined to find the real suspect. She asks Stan if
he can think of anyone who may want to cause him harm. Paige: “That could be a loooong list.” This
actress was given this small role and she goes hard, nails EVERY line, no notes. Soooooooooo,
this guy is dead. Oh no… this guy we saw for two seconds, the emotional stakes were so hiiigh…
This is the letter guy, Ben Watanabe. He went to the studio to do some late night inking,
only to find himself getting bonked by a hideous trophy. (BONK)
During an interrogation with Mr. Whiting, he tells Jessica that Stan actually stole Hatterville
from him a long time ago, but his Hatterville archives were conveniently all lost in a fire.
He also pushes her to sue Stan, which she refuses outright. He tries to assure her that he is not
responsible for the forged comic strips. Whiting: “You have to understand.” I’m old as dirt.
Waiter: “Mr. Whiting, your credit card wasn’t accepted.” Whiting: “Ah,
thank you!” What the hell kind of response was that? Why did he say
THANK YOU to his credit card being declined, what a fuckin’ weirdo.
Jessica is alerted to Mr. Watanabe’s death and rushes to the scene of the crime,
because as you know there is always a famous author at the site of a murder.
After two seconds of investigation, Sargeant Redstone determines the death to be a suicide,
and I determine that she and Jessica have the same hair stylist.
Jess, of course, doesn’t buy that at all. DiMartini also shows up at the crime scene;
he and the Sergeant seem to have bad blood.
Redstone: “Lieutenant, what are you doing here?” Lookin’ for drugs!”
Jess: “Excuse me Sargeant…” Would you mind lowering your eyebrow? It’s mildly distracting.”
Jess, being the observant, lovely, intelligent lady she is, points out that the award on the
desk could be the murder weapon. She basically schools the sargeant and tries to convince her
this was a murder, not a suicide. While everyone talks, Jess takes a quick look around. IT WAS THE
PLANT. Heh, sorry, no clue where that idea STEMMED from. Because everyone is incredibly bad at their
job, Jess is the one who figures out that the murder was likely unpreditated because murderers
generally bring their own weapon, but the award in Stan’s apartment had always been there.
God why do all these characters look like members of the GOP - that IS scary.
DiMartini pays Sargeant Redstone a visit, wanting to talk. She is not too thrilled
about his presence. Redstone: “There is only one thing I hate more than a crooked
cop.” Chafing. Just awful. He insists on his innocence,
and also says that if he could find the creator of the comics, it might lead him
in the right direction for the drug case he was on. Redstone is willing to give him a chance if
he agrees to watch everything Jessica does. (weird cut) Well that was a weird cut. Was
there something else there or did they really just end the scene with an abrupt finger point.
Ooooo, nice lamp! …anyway
The award goes through forensics and it IS determined to be the murder weapon.
Suddenly, Jessica has her classic epiphany and makes some calls.
She first researches Bozell, a journalist who worked for the tabloids. DiMartini
accuses him of keeping and archiving libelous information for blackmail,
but Bozell says someone stole all of his archives and insists he did
not kill Watanabe. He gives a rather flimsy reason why, but Jess believes him. I mean,
it can’t be him, he’d never be able to see in the dark with those blueblockers on.
They then approach Whiting. He admits that he hired Bozell to spy on Hatter,
in an attempt to dig up some dirt. He says Hatter stole his idea for Hatterville and simply wanted
revenge, but he also insists he didn’t kill Watanabe. Whiting: “Are you kidding? I couldn’t
do that cornball bigfoot stuff if my life depended on it.” (record scratch) Cornball
Bigfoot stuff. Go on. Tell me more about the cornball bigfoot stuff.
Whiting: “My style is realistic.” Pfft, sure it is. (clip)
Even though we have basically nothing to go off of,
Jess claims she knows who the killer is. They return to the scene of the crime.
Jess somehow remembers that the plant in the office was facing the wrong way,
like it was rotated. They look underneath it, and find an artist’s glove soaked in blood stains.
Jess sets up a sting to lure the killer back to the plant. Yes, it’s this guy! Teddy! A
character we know absolutely jack shit about! I guess there weren’t really any suspects left so
by process of elimination, it had to be this guy. He was being paid by Whiting to sabotage Hatter,
and was told he could keep any blackmail money that came in. Somebody put that eyebrow down.
Teddy: “I never meant to kill Ben.” But god it felt good.
Teddy explains that he was working on forging the comic strips when
Watanabe came through the door. He wasn’t expecting him so early.
Teddy: “Ben had a black belt in karate and looked like he was ready to kill.”
Looked like he was ready to kill? He can’t even see, he’s in the dark.
So he bonked him on the neck and hid the glove under a plant.
Jess asks him why he would do all this,
that he could have had a great career in the comics industry.
Teddy: “8 months working as Stan’s gofer and I had it up to my skull.”
Wait. You only lasted 8 months before you decided to blackmail people
then MURDER someone? It took me 12 years to get this many subscribers on
YouTube and I still get weepy when I see a dead spider on the wall.
Jess solves the mystery yet again and Stan is happy his name is cleared.
Stan: “See you in the funny papers.” Is that a threat? *TA DAAA*
Okay, final thoughts. I had a great time riffing on this episode, but overall I thought this one
was surprisingly dull. The plot hardly makes sense, especially the details of the crime,
it’s just so bizarre. It almost feels like Death to Smoochy, a dark comedy film about the inner
workings and relationships in the kids programming industry, where people simply despise each other
and compete for profitable time slots. But that movie is intentionally bizarre and exaggerated,
this episode really tried to create some kind of hostile environment between comic strip writers
and I am not buying it. It’s weird. We never really get to know any of these characters,
either. Watanabe’s death meant absolutely nothing to me because I had only seen him twice before,
each time for approximately 3 seconds. Teddy also barely spoke until the end of the episode where
he is smugly confessing. Jess is lovely as usual but not even her charming self could really save
this bland, confusing plot. Harvey Fierstien was a joy to watch; but some of the others were just…
way too campy. And this is Murder, She Wrote: I expect camp,
but this southern woman just sent me with her melodramatic drawl and gestures.
I do understand that when you have a show with as many seasons as this one,
not every episode is going to be a winner. That would be statistically unlikely. But I do wish
more thought was given to this plot; I wish the emotional stakes were higher, I wish there were
funnier moments, and I with the crime made one lick of sense. The best thing about it is this
cute rendition of Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fox and these weird candy machines. Give it a watch if
you like these performers, or if you just want to watch the entire series to completion, otherwise,
I don’t think I recommend this one. If you have an episode of Murder, She Wrote you are DYING
to see me cover, please leave a comment in the suggestions. And until next time, happy sleuthing.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on Murder, She Wrote: The Dead File. If you want
more amazing Murder, She Wrote related content, I have many more videos to show you, but first I
want to thank my amazing patrons. I recently moved and without their support, I would not have had
enough funds to buy rugs. True story. If you want to support me and my rug addiction, consider
checking out my campaign. If not, likes and shares support me in a way that makes my soul happy.
If you want to see more from me, here’s a few suggestions: On the right I have
the last video of That time on Murder She Wrote, featuring computer hacking! And on
the left I have a lovely little retrospective on one of the many weird Hellraiser sequels,
be sure to give it a watch. And as always, I’ll see you in the next one.