Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and welcome to another exhilarating episode of That Time
on Murder, She Wrote. Today’s episode comes from another Twitter suggestion. It reads:
Watching the craziest episode of Murder She Wrote where Jessica battles Fur Coat Captain
Janeway on an airplane and all I can think of is how @PushinUpRoses will do mad crazy
good things with this much material. Well thank you for the faith in me, I really appreciate
that.
Interestingly, I have been casually watching Voyager over the last few months so I was
curious about Kate Mulgrew’s performance. She has a voice I could listen to all day
and she really knows how to wear this weird ass hair style, so I was keen to watch this
episode. I also like the closed circle trope, especially when the plot takes place on a
boat, train, or plane. It gives that sense of truly being trapped, even if you have modern
communication devices with you. No matter what, you’re stuck in the air, though I
have to say that my favorite place for a whodunnit or cozy murder mystery is a museum. There’s
just so much you can do - you can stuff the corpses in coats of armor, you can hang decapitated
heads in the life mask room, and you can also admire some fantastic art while you’re being
chased by a homicidal maniac with a medieval torture device. It’s fun for the whole family!
As the title of the episode suggests, someone is going to die on this plane. Literally in
first class. Even when you’re a corpse, you’re still gonna wanna head into the afterlife
in comfort. It’s like Snakes on a Plane except there’s no snakes. As we begin the
episode we see Kate Mulgew’s character, a famous actress named Sonny Greer, admiring
some expensive looking jewels and wearing this lavish white outfit. Ooo, girl. She plans
to wear this fancy pants necklace to a London Gala and gives it to her body guard slash
lover to hold onto. ooo GIRL! Mulgew is already getting more action than she ever did on Voyager.
Although that kiss leaves something to be desired - I know this is for television but
that is quite the lip smash.
Everyone flying into London meets up in the fancy people lounge beforehand and we get
to meet some of the main characters - one is a friend of Sonny’s who is flying over
to perform some plastic surgery. He tells her that if she ever needs a quick nip and
tuck to contact him. Clint: “I’m in the yellow pages…” under “Criminals…””
A photographer barrels in to snap some pics of Sonny, only to ram right into the lovely
and particularly fashionable Jessica Fletcher, knocking her food onto the floor. Jess: “I
lost a couple of shrimp puffs along the way…” Shrimp puffs? That might be for the better,
I don’t even want to think about what a shrimp puff is.
She meets Errol Pogson, a member of Scotland Yard who was on holiday in the states. She
tells him she’s visiting London to do some research on a grizzly murder - that’s my
girl. Errol: “It sounds macabre. You must be a writer.” I feel very attacked right
now. Errol seems quite smitten with Jessica and goes to buy her a drink, my my. She takes
this time to observe everyone going to London. Honestly, she already seems over it judging
by this expression, and I would be too if my flight consisted of Leisure Suit Larry
and the stereotypical odd couple. The lounge lizard, Gunnar Globle, is trying to recruit
people for his new film by showing them the script. He of course tries to appeal to Sonny
first, saying that they had met at Robert Redord’s resort. Heh, as if. Sonny: “Yes,
the man in the green plaid parka with the white sunscreen all over your nose.” (Gunnar
laughs) It was coke!
They board the plane and poor Jessica is seated right next to Gunnar, who is going over his
script. Gunnar: “Level with me. Are you anybody.” ….Sir. Sir. …..SIR.
After Jess establishes that she is in fact, somebody, he asks her to read his script,
and Jessica goes for it because she’d rather read his damned script than listen to him
bitch all night. Jess: “Off-Road Aliens: The Second Coming...” Oh god.
This woman seems to be hiding something in her knitting bag and I don’t think it’s
a scarf, and Sonny’s bodyguard, Leon, appears to be having a hard time with flight anxiety.
This is looking like the flight from hell and they are still taxiing.
Sonny: “Leon, it is safer than being in a car.” Leon: “Then let’s drive to london.”
...Uh, no Leon. The safer thing is to be in the plane because it’s safer than driving…
so why would you… oh forget it. He’s stressed. He quickly adjourns to the bathroom. Leon:
“Excuse me.” my ass is sweating as much as my face right now…
Not only are the travelers nervous, the stewardess also seems to be out of sorts. Errol: “I’ll
have a medium dry sherry if I may.” Stewardess: “There you go…” This is a V8…
Finally, the in flight movie! Huh, Gunnar seems to be enjoying it. Armi & Danny, singing:
“You love me, you wanna love me tender, how can I be sure you’re not pretender?”
So this guy is dead!
Leon, no! We hardly knew ye cause you had no lines... Maybe he was just so stressed
out about his walkman not working earlier that his heart just gave up. Sound effect:
*JAB, JAB* The doctor seems to think it was a heart attack, but all that goes out the
window when Sonny realizes the necklace he was carrying is gone. Sonny: “Someone is
a murdering thief!” Errol expresses that since he is part of Scotland Yard, he’s
willing to search the plane and question potential suspects. Jessica, of course, offers to help.
“The fact is, I’m a bit up in the air at the moment.” Did he just pun? DID HE?
And Jess GIGGLED at it; see, I knew she was awesome. Awesome people chortle at puns.
He tells her that he’s been with the Yard for 25 years, but he never promoted because
he played it too safe. If he finds the necklace and the killer, it could mean a promotion
to chief inspector; Jess sympathizes with this and helps him with the search, even volunteering
to go first. I think she has a bit of a crush, but British accents tend to do that to a person.
Errol: “Miss Greer, just one question for you.” Isn’t your name also a type of cheese…?
Who the fuck is Leisure Suit Larry on the phone with? He’s just happily rambling away!
Sir there’s been a murder, what are you doing?
While Errol is searching the other suspects, Jess goes to inspect the body. Jess: “Well,
there doesn’t appear to be any sign of a wound.” Steward: “Well this isn’t skin
Miss Fletcher, this is a COAT.” She finds a blue coloring under his nails, which indicates
poisoning. She also goes over the ticketing information, checking to see when people purchased
their tickets to see if it lined up with knowing about the expensive jewels being on board.
She also mentions that the stewardess was preoccupied, and perhaps there was a reason
for that. Errol: “She stuck me with a tomato juice.” Oh it really was V8. Eugh.
It’s revealed that the stewardess changed her shift last minute so she could specifically
be on the flight, but why? Is she a jewel thief? “Well the man I’m going with is
a pilot for another airline, he’s flying into London this weekend.” Stewardess 2:
“BERNIE? Bernie’s been seeing me in Paris!” Stewardess 1: “What?!?” Oh my. Feel the
Bern INDEED.
They do find a necklace in the stewardess’s bag, but it’s a fake. Clearly, someone planted
a decoy. Janeway is like TAKE IT AWAY.
Meanwhile, this woman is gripping her knitting bag. Ooo, I wonder what kind of incriminating
evidence she is hiding. Money? Jewels? A weapon? Maybe a dagger?? Heh, it’d be funny if there
was just like… a puppy in there. Oh my god, it IS a puppy!!! Keanu Reeves: “Puppies!”
They were just trying to smuggle an adorable puppy out of the country, awww what a good
boy, who’s a good boy-
Anyway back to the search. But not before Errol asks Jessica on a date. Errol: “How
about dinner tomorrow night at the Savoy grill?” Jess: “You’re on!” You know, I really
enjoy seeing Jessica get asked out on dates - it doesn’t happen often on this series
because that’s really not the point, Jess is always portrayed as very independent, but
it gives me hope that I will also land some dates when I am in my 60s. I’ll also probably
still be on YouTube covering this series, which I am sure is a major turn on for people.
Errol looks through some previous ticketing records and notices a passenger named Otto
Hardwick had booked every possible flight that Sonny could have taken to London, and
he had an opportunity to steal the necklace as he had bumped into Leon earlier in the
evening.
As they search Hardwick, Jess recalls hearing an electric razor in the bathroom, then seeing
him exit. Seems harmless enough, but if he was using an electric razor, then why the
shaving cream? Ahhh yeah, the can has a fake bottom! Go Jessica, she shaved the day! Hahahaha.
Errol asks Agnes for some spare wool, which he uses… as handcuffs? Really? Handcuffs.
Turn around, you’re under kindergarten arrest! Hardwick admits to stealing the necklace,
AND to killing Leon, which Jessica is rather surprised by.
Sensing something is off, she hops over to the phone to make a call to Scotland Yard
just as the plane is landing. Fred: “Mrs. Fletcher the landing gear is down you MUST
return to your seat.” SHUT THE FUCK UP. Just… shut the fuck up.
Turns out that Errol was a former detective at Scotland Yard - he had never gotten promoted,
so he decided to leave and join the other side. I’m surprised Jessica caught this
at all because the plan was so airtight; Hardwick would swap the necklace unnoticed. And if
something were to go wrong, or if Sonny had noticed, Errol would just pretend to solve
the case, arrest him, and make off with the jewels. Unfortunately, Leon had the audacity
to get murdered and screw up a perfectly good heist. Jess knew that a skilled thief would
never admit to a murder and didn’t believe he’d resort to violence, especially since
he had no motive. He had the necklace, so why confess? What a mistake. You really screwed
this one up for Errol, Hardwick. He coulda had the necklace and a date with JB Fletcher.
It’s too bad because even after Jess solves the theft, I can tell he’s still into her.
Dammit he has such a smooth, English accent - go after him Jess! Lead a life of crime,
his chocolately voice is worth it! Jess: “I am sorry we find ourselves on different sides.”
Why DO all these criminals fall for Jess, anyway? It seems like she can’t have a normal
person express interest with her, they are either thiefs, creepos, or murderers. I guess
when you are as intelligent and classy as Jess you attract people of all sorts.
So who killed Leon then? Well, this is where it gets weird. Jess confronts Sonny and accuses
her of murder. She’s right of course, and because Sonny murdered him, it made finding
the thieves easier. She actually took the necklace to plant it elsewhere, to make it
seem like someone murdered Leon to steal the necklace, but Hardwick had already taken it,
so she’s the one who planted the decoy. She slipped some poison into Leon’s drink
when he was sleeping, but why? It’s slightly unbelievable to me that Jess could figure
out the method without knowing the motive beforehand; it turns out that Leon was cheating
on her and Sonny just wanted to kill him before he could publicly humiliate her. This actually
wraps up SO quickly that I had to relisten to what Jess was saying. Sonny: “You’re
right Mrs. Fletcher. So very right.” You are now sentenced to 75 years aboard a starship
in the delta quadrant. Well that’s wrapped up - but whatever happened to Gunnar Globle,
the sleezy guy trying to get everyone to read his script? Well, Jessica tells him that she
read it, and that it was poetic and artsy, and that it would do very well in art theaters.
Customas attendant: “Anything to declare sir?” Gunnar: “Yes. This is a dud.”
(laughs) Okay, that legit made me laugh.
Right, final thoughts. This was a pretty good episode, but once again, on the serious side.
It made for a really interesting whodunnit case, with limited characters and settings,
and the fact that two crimes happened and also gave each other away was really fun,
and it was told in an accessible way. I still don’t REALLY know how Jess concluded that
Sonny was the murderer; it really couldn’t have been the other suspects, and Bert is
OBVIOUSLY innocent, so perhaps she figured it out with process of elimination. It wasn’t
as absurd as I expected it to be, in fact it was very straight forward. I thought perhaps
Kate Mulgrew would chew the scenary a little more, or Gunnar would have more of a comedic
presence, but everything is kind of spread out. The best part about this episode is the
heist plot; I liked that Jess not only figured out the real heist, she figured out the FAKE
heist. NOBODY pulls a fast one on Jessica Fletcher. Overall I did enjoy this one, though
I do think it lacked some excitement. It is restricted to being on a plane so there’s
only so much you can introduce to a story like this, but I think I was desiring just
a little bit more action. And there wasn’t enough Kate Mulgrew. Hands down. More Kate
Mulgrew. ….Remember Mrs. Columbo? What the heck was that all about?
If there’s an episode of Murder, She Wrote you are dying to see me cover, please leave
me a suggestion! I clearly take them seriously. Until then, happy sleuthing.
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