Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here, and today I am starting this video with a bit of sad news,
which I am sure many of you have already heard but in case you didn’t; Angela Lansbury,
the wonderful JB Fletcher herself, passed away on October 11th. This came as devastating news
for me as I started my show, That Time on Murder, She Wrote, due to my love of her and her versatile
acting career. These videos have helped me through some pretty turbulent times and I love
that so many watch and enjoy them; perhaps in the future I will write a tribute to Lansbury’s long,
varied career, but today we are carrying on with another episode called Fire Burn,
Cauldron Bubble. This was going to be my Halloween video, but as you can see I missed that deadline
completely, instead releasing a video on Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers. No regrets.
This is a very fun, spooky episode, but I’ve mostly avoided covering it because to be frank,
I didn’t want to look at Bill Maher’s face for 48 minutes. (clip) But I bit the bullet because
this episode is filled with witchy things. Eglentine: “Oh?” You know, like candles,
plants, and questionable haircuts. Also, SATAN. Roddy: “The most evil of the demon spirits.”
As we begin our episode, we see a young pilgrim beginning some kind
of ritual. You’d think she’d be in the woods or something for some privacy,
but nah; she’s in front of some woman’s house. Seth drives up on a house call
for a woman named Agnes, and I bet he’s complaining about something right now.
The woman starts having her own personal poetry jam. Seth goes to
investigate. (Stick crunching) That was the LOUDEST stick I have ever
heard. It’s so loud it alerts our witchy friend. Seth: “Stop!” in the name of love.
Seth bursts through Jessica Fletcher’s door, telling her he saw someone chanting and talking
about her murder, and the woman visiting Jess suddenly exclaims “Oh my god, Patience
Terhune. Patience was believed to be a witch and was burned at the stake 300 years ago.
Jess is incredulous. Seth: “I saw what I saw.” You sure? Cause you aren’t wearing your glasses.
The next day, Sheriff Metzger gets word that newspapers and reporters
are asking about Patience Terhune; turns out this woman is a gossip.
He then shows her what his team picked up at what is affectionately
called The Witches Stump. Jess: “This candle appears to be crudely made;
so do these pieces of pottery.” Jess is a tough art critic.
Meet Mildred and her fiance Adam; Mildred is one of Jess’s bazillion friends and a relative of
Patience Terhune’s. Never cut your own bangs, folks. Is that a deconstructed pocket square?
Since the siting at the witches stump, people have been calling and bothering
her. Jess: “Tell me about these calls, are they nasty?” Yeah, how nasty were they?
Mildred tells Jess her husband is furious at all the calls and
wants to move out of Cabot Cove after their wedding. She also says her uncle
is leaving her a little apple farm so they won’t need financial help.
Bill Maher alert.
Mildred’s author friend Gordon, played by Roddy McDowall, pops in with his media manager,
Rick Rivers. Mildred helped him with research for his previous book. He says he is there
to cover the reappearance of Patience. Mildred: “I wish you would have called me,
I would have saved you a trip.” Gordon: “hahahahaha!” …Why is that funny?
Gordon proceeds to be an absolute dickwaffle to Jessica before heading to their hotel. Good god,
this room is hideous. Much like Bill Maher’s acting.
Gordon is upset that there isn’t any press and Rick yells at him for
botching his introduction with the famous Jessica Fletcher. Rick: “Maybe you should
start boogying to something more than your own voice for a change?” The irony of that
sentence coming from Bill Maher is not lost on me. Also, I haven’t seen such a Roddy MacDowell
performance since Laserblast! Roddy: “Frankly, I’ Also, in case you didn’t know, Ron Masak,
Sheriff Metzger, is ALSO in laserblast, as a sheriff even! What a beautiful reunion.
Meanwhile, a new suspicious character is introduced. “Well,
I hope you’ll be staying for a while.” I assume you’re beautiful under there.
Jess asks if the Terhune women were actually involved in witchcraft, implying that Gordon
may have made it up for his book. Mildred shows her the book he had for reference. “The book
of secrets by Albertus Magnus.” Now I know this sounds like some weird Discworld character, but
Albertus Magnus was a real person, and he did have a book called the Secrets of Chemistry and was
considered an alchemist, though I don’t believe this book is authentic
even in the episode. You’re telling me this damage free looking book is 400 years old?
As Jess, Seth, Mildred and Adam are getting ready for a charity dinner,
someone shows up at the door claiming to be Mildred’s sister.
Come on Irene. Seth looks at her in disbelief and says “It’s patience.”
Through some very obvious exposition, we are told that Irene has been estranged from the
family. Now she is back, wearing a fabulous fisherman’s sweater and inquiring about “a
witch in the family.” How coincidental that she should show up now. Time for the charity dinner:
Stephen King?? The priest questions Seth about seeing Patience, to which he says he doesn’t
believe it’s her, but someone who is a “100% Dead Ringer for her.” DEAD RINGER. GET IT?
Look at that pig in a blanket, it’s a GIANT HOT DOG in the tiniest crescent roll.
Later that night, Mildred witnesses Irene sleepwalking into her room,
carrying a candle and some flowers. She takes them and researches them; one of which
is bloodroot. “It’s used for evil spells.” Wow, that sounds serious. So serious that I
wanted to look it up. Turns out, for those who believe in modern magic, bloodroot is actually
considered a hex breaker and something that protects, so… couldn’t be more wrong,
Mildred. It was also used as a red dye, so you know.. the evil spell of dying yarn…
Gordon wants to see the evidence from the witches stump for his so-called research,
and attempts to apologize to Jess for treating her like garbage the day before. Gordon: “I simply had
no idea that you were somebody.” Jess: “Here in Cabot Cove it is quite permissible to be polite to
nobodies.” I’d like to report a murder. Jess asks Metzger to check on Irene’s flight to Cabot Cove,
and it all checks out, though she is suspicious about her identity. Gordon finds an interesting
etching on a broken clay pot that was found at the witches stump. Gordon: “Naberius…”
Naberius: Naberius is a marquise who commands 19 Legions of Demons. He’s like a manager
with a lot of employees under him; good for him, I bet his mother’s very proud.
The priest of the town hires a TV exorcist to be all dramatic. I don’t know what he’s doing,
there’s nothing to excize here, nothing bad has even happened to the town. Someone takes a picture
and he, Dr. Overman, is furious that someone has interrupted him. “The Mood is broken.”
Oh I didn’t know exorcisms worked on mood, would playing some Barry White help?
Jess stands by Irene and escorts her away from the crowd, who begins to blame her for
bringing evil spirits to the town. Jonas, the person who met her at the bus stop,
has been cozying up to her. He says Cabot Cove reminds her of the town she’s been dreaming
about. “Irene: “Buildings, sometimes a whole street-“ Yep, sounds like a town, amazing.
Gordon is furious that the town hasn’t gotten any press,
meaning his book isn’t selling. I like how he can act with his eyes only.
Rick gets what sounds to be very disappointing news. “She chickened out on us.”
Back at the Fletcher place, Jess confirms an important detail.
“That Phyllis Grant from the travel agency?” No, it's Phyllis Diller.
Jess tells Seth that Agnes Finney, the woman Seth thought he was making
a house call for in the beginning of the episode, has been on vacation,
and it was not her who asked for Seth. Meaning that this was a set up.
Seth: “If the ghost wanted to be seen,
why did she grant the privilege exclusively to me.” Seth. Seth, seth. (sigh) Jess:
“It’s possible that it’s someone else…” What?? It’s possible it’s NOT a ghost??
Speaking of ghosts, people are saying they saw Patience Terhune at an old barn. As
Sheriff Metzger gets to the scene, we see someone dressed as her go into the barn.
It is revealed that the ghost is just Rick dressed in the pilgrim clothes.
He sets the barn on fire, which causes the townspeople to go into hysterics.
Rick brings a reporter to the crime scene so he can also write a book, but he’s upset
because there’s no corpse. Rick: “There’s no corpse because she was a ghost.” DUH.
Gasoline is found at the crime scene, but no bodies. Jess suggests they look
in the root cellar. Soooooooo this woman is dead. (wah wah sound effect) Poor Irene.
The coroner’s report shows she was dead hours before the fire, and Jess is now certain that
Irene and the woman Seth saw were the same person. Her body had small traces of blue paint on it.
The town has taken on a mob mentality now, completely beguiled by this idea that the
ghost of witch Patience Terhune has come back to seek revenge in the form of black magic,
further enabled by the scamartist minister.
Poor Jonas is heartbroken, even though he’s only known her for 24 hours. Though he’s barely
keeping it together, he gives Jess a great hint; he says they were supposed to spend
more time together but felt tired from Jet lag, so he ended up bringing her back to Mildred’s.
A smug Metzger and Seth decide Dr. Overman is the killer because he has been running an
exorcism scam, even though they have literally no evidence that he is a murderer. Seth:
“What’s the matter with your neck?” It’s aching from listening to all these men.
Jess: “It couldn’t have possibly been Dr. Overman.” Oh okay.
Jess explains that Dr Overman has a solid alibi,
something you’d think Metzger would have figured out if he had done any investigating
at all. Jess says Irene lied about having Jet lag because she traveled from west to east.
She believes she was hired to work with Rick and Gordon, to spark controversy so
Gordon could sell more books. And if it became a mega hit, everyone would be paid handsomely.
While they are talking, Mildred’s lawyer pays a visit. It turns out that little
apple farm she referenced earlier, the one she inherited from her late uncle,
was turned into a huge shopping complex, now worth 5 million dollars.
Mildred is also told that her sister and her aunt actually perished when
Irene was just 9 years old, solidifying the fact that this woman was an actress.
And now I would like to take a moment to shine a spotlight on Floyd,
Metgzer’s gold hearted but somewhat dim witted deputy,
who can put on a northeastern accent like no one else. Shariff! (clips)
Jess figures out that the barn was sold to Rick, and she knows he’s the one who set
it on fire. Rick admits that Irene was Annie Gorman, an actress he’d do favors
for. She was supposed to set the barn on fire, but felt guilty tricking Mildred,
so she pulled out at the last minute. He insists that he did not kill her.
Metzger brightens up with another smug grin. “You hear that Mrs. F.” Jess: “Oh, I was just
thinking” about how many innocent people you try to arrest.
It’s time for some good old fashioned Jessica style snooping! She returns to the crime
scene and finds new paint. Jess: “So that’s what happened.” Oh yeah, totally clears everything up.
On top of the murder, we also have this blatant fashion crime. Leather on tweed?
Time to set up a sting! (Sting!)
Jess invites Mildred and her fiance Adam over,
and during conversation she tells him that Sheriff Metzger is going to go back to the
barn because he may have overlooked evidence that would link back to Gordon Fairchild.
It works. Thinking that he left something behind, the killer returns to the scene of the crime.
Metzger: “Forget something Adam.” Yes, it’s Adam! The guy who was in the episode for like 2 seconds!
It turns out that Adam ran into Milldred’s lawyer while doing repairs at her place,
and he told him the apple orchard estate was worth far more now that it was turned into a
business. He proposed to Mildred, hoping to make the big bucks. What a fucking dickneck.
He assumed that Annie really was Irene, and came back to claim her part of the insurance money, and
killed her. What a fucking psychopath, or was 2.5 million dollars not enough for you, sir? Boo hoo.
After he murdered Irene, someone started knocking on the door so he temporarily hide her body under
some paint splattered tarp. Rick bursts in looking For Annie. Adam then overhears him
call Gordon and talk about their little publicity stunt. He decided to put her in the barn because
he knew Rick would torch it. It was a pretty smart plan, but luckily Jess knows what Jet
lag is and that solves the whooole thing. I mean, it was obvious, you guys figured it out, right?
Jess’s neck is still hurting, but Seth tells her not to bother coming in because she’s related
to an old generation of people with similar neck problems. “Pain in the neck” HAZLITT OUT.
(the end)
Okay, final thoughts!
This has always been one of my favorite episodes and I've rewatched it more than
many others from the show, despite the extremely vague solution to the
mystery. That’s just something I’ve come to expect from Murder, She Wrote;
sometimes the conclusion is easy to get to, and sometimes Jess finds a paper clip on the
ground is like “Aha! It was Mr. Smith all along” and we’re all like “what the fuck…
And that is honestly the fun of cozy style murder mysteries. I don’t want to sit here and say that
the design of the murder and it’s solution isn’t important, I do think it should at least make
sense, even on a rudimentary level. But in cozies, the real emphasis is on the characters, making
this episode pretty successful. We definitely get a real sense of who these characters are,
their scummy nature, and how they fit in the little town of Cabot Cove. I also like that
this episode ALMOST has a moral. Almost. Sort of. I think it makes a small attempt at portraying mob
mentality, as it is trying to retell the story of witch burning and how it can cause mass hysteria,
and perhaps we shouldn’t crucify people simply for living a different life style than us. But
of course, any moral gets overridden by the show's campy nature and silly tone. Floyd: “ohhhh.” And
that’s okay, this is quintessial Murder, She Wrote viewing. Especially enjoyable
are Angela Lansbury’s facial expressions - I just love it when she’s clearly had enough of
these herbs. Metzger is also especially fun in this episode, as he is his usual, cranky,
and often incompetent self. I still stand by the fact that he is way better at his job
than Sheriff Tupper, whose main goal in life was to eat pie. Not necessarily a bad goal,
but not helpful for catching murderers. Roddy MacDowell was also a delight to watch, even
though he mainly just mugged for the camera the entire time. Perfect eyebrow formation, no notes.
So that was Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble. Give it a watch if this video intrigued you,
and if you have a suggestion you’d like to see me cover,
please leave me a comment. Until next time, happy sleuthing.
Hey everyone, thanks again for watching this witchy episode of That Time on Murder, She Wrote,
I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to see more from me I have a bajillion things to show you,
but first I want to give a quick shout out to my patrons, for if not for them,
I wouldn’t have been able to treat my cat to some salmon for Thanksgiving. If you want to support us
and the show, please consider a small donation, and if not, likes and shares certain help out.
If you want to see more from me I have a few recommendations on the screen;
on the right I have a snarky breakdown on Sleepwalkers, a bonkers movie written by
Stephen King, and on the left I have have very last episode of that time on murder,
she wrote. Thanks again and I will see you in the next one.