Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to a creepy episode of That Time on Murder,
She Wrote. The episode I am discussing today is one of the most requested I get on this channel;
it’s called Lovers and Other Killers from season 1, and it’s by far one of the most well written
episodes from the show. Creepy isn’t necessarily a word I’d use to describe a cozy murder mystery - I
think they can have creepy or thrilling moments, that was typically Agatha Christie’s style when it
came to the genre, but ultimately a cozy style mystery doesn’t cross paths with a suspenseful
thriller. However, Lovers and Other Killers definitely flirts with suspense and thrills,
and even has a more ambiguous ending, a la American Psycho. It also features an
attractive young man who becomes enamored with Jess. His name is David Toliver,
and I am going to read you a tweet that perfectly describes his role.
EXTREMELY disappointed that David Tolliver,
Jessica Fletcher’s brilliant and devious grad student assistant who
is possibly murderous but also deeply horny for her, does not recur?!? #MurderSheWrote
Trust me, Anthony. We are all baffled by why this character never came back. Let’s get into it.
The plot follows Jess as she travels to Washington to meet up with her old friend, Edmund Gerard. He
is also the dean at the University of Seattle, where she will be giving a lecture on writing
Murder Mystery. This is episode 7 from the first season, so this is very early on in Jess’s career
as an author. She had just written her first book called The Corpse Danced at Midnight, which
was a wild success, and now she is giving talks about her writing method. Jess: “Murder… Murder
darling…YES. Murder, plain and simple!” I’m sorry, what is this lecture on exactly?
Apparently Jess is so bogged down with work that she needs an assistant - she was hoping
for an older woman, someone she could relate to and feel comfortable with, but in saunters
young David Toliver, wanting the job. Toliver: “Surely you’re not going to hold my gender over
me.” There’s just no opportunities for men these days!” His charisma and dictation skills convince
her to hire him. “I can talk and script at the same time.” I can also cut glass with my chin.
What Jessica is not aware of is that he was previously associated with a wealthy,
intelligent woman named Allison Brevard - we meet her in the beginning of the episode. In her house,
on a small table, sits a portrait of Toliver and a friendly photo of the two of them. Hello, pizza?
While in a drunken haze, she is strangled by a hooded stranger, though a few things to note:
A.) this facial expression can be confused for happiness so maybe burglary is her kink, and B, I
do like how she gets up to assist in the assault. Here, let me just get up so you can murder me.
Jess seems a little charmed by this younger man and hires him,
not knowing what she’s about to get into.
Jessica teaches her lecture the next morning and there’s
a short scene where we meet another professor, who is apparently cheating
on his wife. It’s a VERY short scene but probably relevant to the story.
When Jess gets home, David is ALREADY THERE in her apartment, lounging on the sofa and
reading her book. I want to point out the creepy foreshadowing this episode is doing,
sprinkling hints of what David is really like, especially the fact that he is wearing similar
glasses to Jess. They also have the same haircut, which is more of a crime of the 80s.
He asks her out to dinner for chateaubriand, leading us to wonder how a grad student has
that much money to spend. Jess feels weird about being on a so-called date with him but
he explains he doesn’t like his female peers and enjoys the company of more mature women.
The date ends on a bad note as he is approached by a detective, wanting to question him down at
the station about the murder of Allison Brevard. After two hours of questioning,
David reassures Jess that he barely knew the woman. “Believe me, it’s nothing to be
concerned about” unlike my growing obsession with you which is incredibly alarming.
Jess decides to talk to the detective herself, and I swear this sign said Brad
Pitt. The detective tells Jess to stay away from Toliver in some not so nice words. “I’m sure that
kind of attention for a woman like you is very flattering.” Oh god stand back she’s gonna blow!
Despite Jess only knowing for two seconds, she doesn’t believe David is capable of such a
gruesome crime. Jess: “He’s not a murderer.” Detective: “Maybe he’s not.” Good talk.
He says that evidence shows Toliver and Brevard had a more intimate relationship,
where she would buy him expensive gifts. Still not a motive for murder,
but his relationship with her IS suspicious, especially when he denied it.
When Jess returns to her apartment she finds her briefcase tampered with,
and David is already there, claiming the maid let him in. Jess goes from thinking the man
is harmless and horny, which is the name of my autobiography, to being suspicious. David wants to
explain. Jess: “David, you don’t have to explain.” David: “NO! I have a right to tell you. Ahh.
He says that Brevard was a lonely woman with a drinking problem.
She hit his car while inebriated, and instead of getting the cops involved,
she wrote him a check. Jessica decides to skip the work day to think about things.
Apparently she didn’t think TOO hard because she decides there’s really no evidence to
link David to the Murder, and after seeing him at the Dean’s office the next day she
decides to give him some work for the next day. My GOD I hate that sweater.
Jessica receives a call from a younger lady claiming to have an alibi for David,
and to meet her at the warehouse by the docks; her husband accuses her of infidelity after seeing her
on the phone and honestly I can’t concentrate on this part because the music is SO distracting,
it sounds like the midi music from Leisure Suit Larry or something. (Weird music plays)
I gotta say, Jess is very
ballsy to just wander into an empty warehouse late at night to meet
some weird stranger, I would have at least brought someone with me. Soooo… this woman’s
dead! Yes,after a very tense few minutes of Jess traversing the warehouse stairs,
the woman appears from out of these boxes and collapses, a knife plunged into her back. Though
admittedly this murder wasn’t too hard hitting because I have NO idea who this person is.
David is brought in for questioning of course. The woman who was just killed is named Lila,
and he claims he was seeing her but needed to keep it hush hush because her husband is violent;
he also says he was with her the night Brevard died. If that’s true it WOULD be
strange to kill off your only alibi, but who knows, this man is a weirdo.
A new challenger has entered the ring! This is Amelia, Edmund’s secretary, who is salty about
Jess’s visit because she’s in love with him, and thinks Jess is trying to win his
heart. Because Jess is observant, she reassures Amelia that her and Edmund are just friends,
and Amelia admits her feelings. She apologizes for David Tolliver, and Jess says hold off. Jess:
“I’m not sure he’s entirely guilty.” He’s not a murderer, he's just VERY randy.
In the next scene Jess LOOMS over a swimmer at the pool. HELLOOOOOOOO. She interrogates
Lila’s husband Jack, and once again I am distracted, I cannot stop looking at this guy
on the exercise bike. He is trying SO HARD. Jack says that Lila was NEVER involved with Tolliver,
that they were just friends, and Jess asks WHO WAS she involved with? Perhaps the
professor from before? Jack: “You ask a lot of questions.” Jess: “I’m nosy.” I’m Roses.
What follows is the best, most unrealistic scene I’ve ever
witnessed. She starts spinning a yarn in the guise of lecture,
targeting the cheating professor and talking about alibis with him. He catches on and
tries to answer honestly, and I just love Jess here, it’s so scathing. Jess: (clips)
Can you imagine being any of the students while this is happening, they must be so confused.
Are they flirting, orrrr?
Jess later finds a note from David saying Professor Lowry called and wants to meet
at his office at 9. THIS time she brings mace, having learned from the warehouse incident. The
intrepid JB Fletcher climbs the stairs and… oh no! That shadow pushed that over shadow!
Jessica is struck, tumbling down the stars and wait - That’s not
Jessica Fletcher, that’s some guy. Trust me I zoomed in a lot. I guess
pushing Angela Lansbury down the stairs wasn’t exactly a wise idea.
So much for the mace. David just happens to be there,
I guess he followed her out of concern. OR IS the KILLER, who knows. Edmund rushes to the
hospital and confronts David, saying his alibi about being with Lila is garbage.
Edmund: “Because that night she was with me.” I’m sorry WHAT? What in the fuck is going on?
Edmund takes Jess out for lunch to explain what happened with Lila, primarily how and why the
affair started. Jess: “Edmund there’s really no need.” Edmund: “Yes there is a need.” I
can’t get over how many people just want to dump their shit all over Jess in this episode
even though she DOES NOT CARE and tries to get them to stop. Jess: “David there’s
no need…” David: “No, I have a right to tell you!” Jess: “Oh my god STOP.
This episode sponsored by BANKMASTER. hold on a second. What cafe serves chateaubriand?
hearts of ham salad… cherries flambe…it looks like they had burgers…wait a second,
this receipt doesn’t even add up! Come on prop master! This is actually the receipt for David and
Jessica’s dinner from earlier in the episode, the receipt was just re-used. Pfft, and you thought I
wouldn’t notice. Nice try, Murder, She Wrote, no continuity error is too inane for PushingUpRoses.
Also, before we continue any further, yes I know this is Peter Graves from
Airplane. You thought I wasn’t gonna mention it did you?
Edmund further explains that he felt they were being followed by a black car anytime
he and Lila met up, and that one time it even tried to bump them off the road. Jess
remembers being followed by a car earlier in the episode, after her date with Tolliver.
Geez she is SPRY for having just fallen down the stairs.
The detective tells her David has been released because new evidence led them
to some other guy who gave a complete confession. So that’s good I guess.
Jess: “What are you doing here?” Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?
Even though Jess is irritated at David for lying about several things,
he says something to give her classic JB Fletcher epiphany. He implies the
person who gave him the message about Jess meeting the professor could have been anyone
and that he couldn’t place their gender or cadence because they were whispering.
It’s time for a STING. Jessica tells Amelia that Edmund is now arrested for Lila’s murder,
and this prompts her to confess. She had been stalking Edmund,
wanting to scare him for having an affair with Lila. She felt jilted, so she killed Lila,
and also pushed Jess down the stairs to frighten her and make her believe it was David.
Apparently Lila mocked her for her fondness for Edmund,
which made Amelia lose it and kill her. Edmund: “I could have handled
it.” Amelia: “Are you sure.” (cut) Oh… okay, guess we’re done with that then!
It’s time for Jess to fly back to Cabot Cove. David: “Can I interest you in a
slightly overstuffed bear.” David for cripes sake stop being weird.
Jessica is polite with David, even though he desperately wants to confess his feelings. “I’m
enormously attracted to you.” Jess: “Like you were to Allison Brevard?” David: “I never lied to you.”
Um, what? (earlier of David lying.) Jessica dodges his admissions and starts to walk off.
David says he will miss her and gives her the slightly overstuffed bear. Jess says she might
put him in her new book, and David asks as what? The victim, the suspect, the killer? And as the
usually jaunty murder she wrote theme plays, she says “I haven’t made up my mind yet.” The theme
changes notes, takes on an ominous sound, and the camera zooms in on
David as he looks on intensely. It is one of the best endings in the entire series.
Okay, final thoughts!
As you can probably surmise from my commentary, I loved this episode. I think it did a lot of things
so well; it had these long, suspenseful moments, it had interesting characters and a lot of twists
and turns - it gave Jess a lot of personality, and this is all very impressive considering it was
only the 7th episode in the series. However, we must discuss the worst thing about this episode,
which is the fact that David Tolliver never comes back. It is just baffling; the last scene
is so beautifully set up, perhaps foreshadowing him as a stalker, or someone that can start an
overarching plot for the series as a whole. The ending was just wonderful - especially if
you compare it to other endings and freeze frames from the series. In case, let’s do that, shall we?
Obviously, if you’ve seen the show, you know that Murder, She Wrote never took on a larger
plot that spans the series - the mysteries are self-contained and Jessica doesn’t have
a story line of her own, but looking at David Tolliver, I think she could have. And maybe
that would have ruined the show’s structure, I don’t know, but I do think it’s a shame to
have such an intense, intriguing ending, and never revisit it. Not even in passing;
it just never comes up again. I would have loved to see him recur even just once, since Murder,
She Wrote is pretty known for having familiar characters, but nope. Nothing. Maybe that just
wasn’t the way the creators liked their mystery shows, afterall they also created Columbo,
and those were also self-contained mysteries. A show that does have both is Poker Face starring
Natasha Lyonne, which takes some pretty obvious notes from both Columbo and Murder, She Wrote - it
features individual mysteries Lyonne’s character helps to solve, but there is also a bigger story
about the character that viewers can follow. When I watched this episode about David Tolliver,
I immediately thought about Poker Face, which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it yet.
Despite the disappointing cliff hanger, I really liked this story. I especially loved Lansbury’s
nuanced acting, making us wonder how much Jessica does enjoy David’s affections, as she IS a person
and has human emotions just like everyone else. The bonkers things that happen throughout,
like the fact that everyone is sleeping with everyone, dull in comparison to the mystery
of David and if something will happen to Jess. Even though Toliver was released,
I still think he IS the murderer of his former sugar mama, Allison Brevard, cause let me tell you
I studied this chin and I think it’s a match. The episode also shows us how good David is at lying,
and getting people to set up alibis for him, so I do think he is the murderous type. There’s a
lot of missed opportunities here, but this is still a very solid episode that I recommend
you watch. And if you have any suggestions for a Murder, She Wrote episode that you’re
DYING to see me cover, please leave me a comment. Until next time, happy sleuthing.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching my video on this creepy episode of Murder, She Wrote,
I am sure you all have opinions on it as well. If you want to see more from me, I have a LOT
of videos on this channel, but first a shout out to my patrons for without them, I couldn’t afford
my therapy, and heavens knows I need that shit. If you want to contribute to me and the channel
please consider donating a few bucks, and if not, likes, shares, and comments are also appreciated.
If you want to see more from me I have a couple suggestions on the screen; on the right you will
find my last episode of That Time on Murder, She Wrote where Jess plays a very convincing bar fly,
and on the left I have a review of PIZZA MY HEART, which you just need to watch without
a description, trust me. Thanks again and as always, I will see you in the next one.