Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here; today I will be lamenting over not getting into Miss
Fisher’s Murder Mysteries sooner than I did. As you can imagine, everyone was on my
case about this show, and for good reason. It’s PERFECT for me, I don’t know why
I was so against watching it for so long. Probably because despite being in my mid 30s
and a strong, mature woman who occasionally cracks a raunchy joke or two, I have the defiance
of my hard-headed Grandma. She’s dead, but I carry the torch for all the stubborn ladies
who don’t like to cook and prefer gambling and profanity.
The more people who suggested the series to me, the more my salty brain responded with
“They don’t know ME! I’ll watch what I want, when I want! Hmph!” then promptly
drowned myself in episodes of Unsolved Mysteries that I have seen twice over, that’s just
how I do. But finally, after a third attempt, one of my friends got me to watch the series
because it was being taken down on Netflix. This was his third attempt and there were
MANY exclamation points in the message, so I decided to finally watch it. I managed to
get through the first season before it was removed, then bought the rest of them on DVD
since I felt immediately smitten with the series. So smitten in fact that I am writing
a video about it. I’m going to go over the basic premise of the show, why it fits perfectly
in the genre of murder mystery, and the sexual prowess of its dynamic lead character, Phryne
Fisher.
Since I am only through the first season of this show, my review will be focusing on that,
and there will be minor spoilers, so please keep that in mind.
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is an Australian show starring Essie David and based on the
Phryne Fisher detective books by Kerry Greenwood. I haven’t read the books yet but the series
has definitely intrigued me, and I have a feeling that it actually did the character
of Phryne justice. Terribly fashionable, Unmistakably glamourous, handy with a pistol; have you
met Phryne Fisher? Aunt Prudence: “Why do you think you can just run off on your own?”
Phryne: “Because I’m carrying a gun!” Yep. Checks out.
Initially I thought people were calling her FRANNY instead of Phryne, since I didn’t
think Phryne was a common name in 1920s Melbourne - according to the books, she was meant to
be named Psyche from the story of Cupid and Psyche, it was chosen for her before her christening,
but was accidentally named after the greek courtesan Phryne because her Dad forgot. Phryne
is Greek for toad. Why do Dads always mix this stuff up? I swear, my Dad nearly got
my name mixed up when I was born. Had my mom not noticed, I would have been named Kristy.
Just like the books, the show takes place during the late 20s and boasts a very decadent
aesthetic; it’s shot dramatically and the costuming is beautiful; terribly glamourous
indeed. After living abroad for several years, Phryne Fisher moves back to Australia and
works as a detective, willing to solve ANY case that comes her way, and willing to charm
and seduce men as she sees fit. There are several main characters in the series, including
Phryne’s house workers, Mr. Butler, the butler, Dorothy, the maid, and Inspector Jack
Robinson, who is reluctant to work with Phryne at first but gradually warms up to her. There
is also Hugh, a clever constable, Jane, a wayward girl who shares the name of Phryne’s
deceased sister, a couple dock workers, and several of Phryne’s personal friends that
recur. The show is set up like many crime and/or detective shows; a murder happens,
it needs to be solved, there’s some red herrings and twists along the way and then
BAM. You have an episode. There is an overarching story that involves Phyne and her sister,
but the majority of the series is made up of individual mysteries that are not related.
This is a very common set up; you see it all the time in crime shows; Murder, She Wrote,
Columbo, Sherlock, they all follow this format; the unique aspects of a murder mystery or
crime show have become it’s characters and the murders, because as far as structure,
I don’t see it deviating.
Setting a mystery in the 20s is fairly common in literature and visual media; it’s a perfect
era to write crime about because we see it so nostalgically and everything related feels
so lavish and scandalous. I surmise it was not as whimsical as current pop culture media
makes it out to be, but there’s definitely a lot to take inspiration from. It’s also
the decade that contributed some of the most important works of mystery; there were a lot
of prime writers adding to the expanding genre, most notably Edward Stratenmeyer, creator
of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, and Agatha Christie, the best selling novelist of all
time. Not only is the decade heavily romanticised, but it’s also easier to write crime during
a time when technology would be so limited. No one is digging through texts or Facebook
messages here, so one can take their time fleshing out the mystery part of it, giving
the detectives greater challenges and plot twists. Miss Fisher reminded me of The Dagger
of Amon Ra, a game which is also set in the 1920s with a great art deco style and dramatic
characters. Just the font gets me excited, THE FONT.
If I may be candid, I view murder mystery as a dying genre. (zip) Did I really just
say that? Hahaha, murder mystery, dying, clever.
It’s not that it’s fully dead. It’s a little undead; every now and then it’ll
pop back up and we’ll see something really good, then quietly go back into hibernation.
I think I just described a bear zombie.
It’s not the popular form of entertainment it used to be, and it makes sense. Times change,
we evolve, our interests stray, so when I see a really promising murder mystery pop
up, I cling to it like wet clothes, and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries was my next warm
body.
Aside from setting, costumes, and cozy nature of these episodes, one of the biggest reasons
I enjoyed Miss Fisher’s is because the lead character is a BOSS. Phryne: “The owner
was very eager to get us out of there.” Jack: “That wouldn’t have anything to
do with you barging in there like a freight train, would it?” Phryne: “I was a charming
freight train.” She lives in a glamorous house with red iron filigree gates and dresses
to impress on the daily. She has the perception of Jessica Fletcher and the sexual appeal
of James Bond, except she’s more confident than the former and a lot less creepy than
the latter. It was honestly very refreshing seeing such a strong, mature woman in this
role, because traditionally, mystery has been a white man’s world and while there’s
been an effort to add more diversity over time, you can still blatantly see its shortcomings.
Mortician: “I’m-I’m afraid this won’t do, I-I have never seen a woman set foot inside
this building in my time.” Primarily in the quirky male trope; you know the one. The
lead has many quirks, easy to mimic behaviors and body language, maybe they have a drug
or alcohol problem or obsessive compulsive tendencies. One of
my personal favorite quirky detectives is Columbo; I like his mannerisms and his ability
to get answers with basic conjectures versus forensics. He’s quite the social engineer,
that Columbo. But as much as I love some of these quirky male detectives, they saturate
the market. Jessica Fletcher has always been a great character to me, though she was never
officially a detective, unlike Phryne whose business IS being a lady detective, as she
describes. Dr. Macmillan: “To my oldest friend’s newest enterprise, the honourable
Miss Fisher, lady detective.” Jack: (chokes on his drink.) I also like my fair share of
Miss Marple, but there’s something different about Phryne; she’s not young, she’s had
a lot of interesting experiences in her life that make her strong, not bitter, and she’s
very sexually charged. I haven’t seen such sexual energy from an older female character
since Blanche from The Golden Girls. Usually, when I see very confident women in a murder
mystery series, they are a femme fatale type. Beautiful, sexually charged women were often
the untrustworthy characters, the ones that seduce and seek revenge, but Phryne just enjoys
the company of young men and it’s never used against her or looked at as a bad thing,
a flaw, or otherwise. In fact, the character doesn’t have many blatant flaws that I could
really dig into. Surely a character this in tune with who they are and this intelligent
MUST have a terrible, dark secret or personality flaw, or they are too cocky for their own
good and could use some practice in humility. Her confidence and intelligence is looked
at as a good thing, part of her character. Why do all these detective types need to be
flawed to be relatable? I’m not against flawed characters in general; giving a character
problems and goals to work on often creates a more fleshed out character, I just think
in recent years we’ve gone a bit crazy with the anti-hero trope. And that also isn’t
to say that Phryne doesn’t have quirks or darkness in her past, because she’s absolutely
gone through some heartbreaking things; however, I got the impression early on that she handles
her emotions more responsibly than most; she is dedicated and genuinely giving and helpful
to anyone who comes into her life. And fashion. She’s very dedicated to personal style.
Especially hats. Phryne: “It was poison. I’ll bet my hat on it.” The thing closest
to a flaw would be her grief over the kidnapping of her little sister Janey, which happened
when they were children. She does place a little blame on herself, but I don’t consider
that a personality flaw as much she simply went through something traumatic that bolstered
her desire to solve crime. Instead of it resulting in something cliche like alcoholism or drug
use, she instead puts her energy into helping people with their problems, and she is VERY
good at it. The season one finale definitely dives into her more vulnerable side, but I
was impressed at how quickly the character bounces back in Season Two.
I think there’s a lot of parallels between Phryne and Jessica Fletcher; in Murder, She
Wrote there wasn’t a big emphasis on sexual empowerment and Fletcher was not as flamoyant
or packing heat, but she was extremely clever, perceptive, and had a firm attitude. She was
also not particularly flawed, a good person who happened to be good at solving crime,
and they both love to snoop in places they shouldn’t be. But even with those comparisons,
I still found Phryne to be unique in the Murder Mystery category. I love her ren de vous with
men, I love her intelligence, and I love that sick as hell black bob.
On top of having a stellar protagonist, I also really love the other main characters
and Phryne’s interactions with them. She’s great at passive aggressively trying to help
people out, including the very pure in heart constable, Hugh Collins. A notable moment
for me is during the first part of season one, where Hugh develops a crush on Dorothy,
Phyne’s maid. For the most part it’s very syrupy - Hugh Collins, more like HUGH Grant
with the way his flusters about. Hugh: “I...I was wondering...if...would you…? Heh.”
I mean Phryne observes that he wants to romance Dorothy in some way, but he’s young and
inexperienced, so she gives him a book that resembles the Kama Sutra, and blatantly tells
him there’s an entire section dedicated to kissing. And he is like OH MY GOD. ...but
he takes it with him, heh heh.
The women in the series are also extremely badass; I love Dr. Macmillion, who makes an
appearance in several cases, and I like how courageous and determined Dorothy, affectionately
nicknamed Dot, becomes over the span of season one. I found her somewhat annoying in the
early episodes, but being in Phryne’s presence on the daily impacts her positively, and in
several episodes she becomes involved in the cases. I do enjoy the dynamic between the
serious inspector Jack Robinson and Phryne, but his character doesn’t get fleshed out
very well. I think he will be as I get through the seasons, but so far I know very little
about him. I am intrigued by the continual sexual tension between him and Phryne, but
mostly enjoying the more friendship style banter they often have when they’re working
together. Jack: “You really can’t go around removing evidence from a corpse.” Phryne:
“I’ll try and remember that next time. Am I forgiven?” Jack: “Provisionally.”
Like most shows in this style, Jack is initially irked with her personal investigations and
reluctant to accept her help, but by the end she has his respect and what seems to be his
affections. I’m actually kind of tired of this trope, especially since it’s so common
in cozy or soft boiled murder mysteries - it’s always a meddling woman and a stubborn male
detective, and he’s always irritated at first but she proves herself and then they
fall in love - happens all the time. But I think it’s executed well in Miss Fisher’s,
and it has just the right pacing and a good amount of serious writing that keeps the romantic
interactions in check. It’s a good balance. I will say this though: Season one’s finale
certainly goes PLACES. It was a little jarring; we get bits and pieces of some of Phryne’s
backstory with the disappearance of her sister, and it all gets smashed into the finale. It
takes a wild turn I never saw coming that entails Egyptology; mystery writers sure do
love that, don’t they? I could write another whole video on how writers use ancient Egypt
in their plots.
As for the murders themselves - they’re pretty well done, I thought a couple were
more intense than others, but for the most part they’re consistently written. Another
trope that often gets overused is when the main character is chased by a serial killer
that they have a personal issue with. In this case, it’s the man who kidnapped Phryne’s
sister Janey; he breaks out of prison and stalks her with intent to kill anyone who
was responsible for his sentence. It’s a classic plot in the thriller and noir genres
and I’m pretty tired of seeing the same elements creep back into mystery again and
again, especially when the stalkers also turn out to be expert surgeons or doctors; good
lord. That shit is everywhere. For whatever reason I didn’t mind it as much in Miss
Fisher, and that might be because it’s a modern take on a classic format, so even though
it does recycle ideas, they do seem fresh and compelling to watch.
Despite a few cliches here and there, I do think this is a great murder mystery series
with a confident protagonist, and classic feel. As I mentioned previously, it was recently
taken off netflix, but you can still find it on YouTube, Amazon, or you can just purchase
the DVDs. Let me know what you think about this series in the comments, and until next
time, happy sleuthing. Hey everyone, thank you so much for watching
my video on Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries - I hope it inspires many nights of watching
it while cuddled up on a comfy couch with a hot chocolate. If you want more mystery
related content, I have it in spades, but FIRST:
Why not share some of that hot chocolate fund with me, via Patreon! Yes, Patreon, where
you can give me, the creator, small amounts of financial support so I can keep solving
mysteries and keep the channel going strong. If you don’t have the means to support me
in a monetary sense, no worries; liking this video, commenting, and sharing also means
so much to me.
Right, mystery videos! On the left we have a spicy episode of Murder, She Wrote, and
on the right we have an episode of the Golden Girls, both heavy on the cheese and on the
crime, and I always recommend subscribing and hitting the bell thingie so you know when
I release a new video. Thank you again, and as always, I’ll see you in the next one.