Murder, They Streamed

When the pandemic first hit back in March and we were all stuck indoors with little to no warning, Claire and I needed something we could share in the evenings that wasn’t too heavy after a long day of anxiety and worry and two very energetic kids. 

We had just gotten Amazon Prime Video so I fired it up and quickly discovered all twelve seasons of Murder, She Wrote was available. I grew up watching it on Irish TV with my mum back when it was prime time, must-see TV, and have many, many fond memories associated with this murder mystery series. 

Centered on senior widow turned mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, Murder, She Wrote felt like a very different show from its contemporaries even when I was a kid. Despite being about a new murder every week, it seemed unusually goodhearted, lead in no small part by the personality of Angela Landsbury in the lead role. 

So we started watching season one in early May, and quickly found ourselves watching several episodes a night after the kids were in bed. Because one of the core tenets of the show is that all the clues to solve the case must be presented on screen so that an obsevant viewer could fessibly solve it along with or before Jessica, it’s great fun to bounce theories off each other during the episode. I remember the joy I felt as a child the few times I solved the case, and that hasn’t diminished with age. 

What has come with age, however, is a much deeper appreciation for how progressive the show is from episode one. Not only does it break the mold with a female lead that is much older than the norm, but it is ahead of its time in social awareness too, taking time to be positively diverse and unconditionally suppportive of minorities. 

In an early Season 1 episode, Jessica follows a suspect off a bus and into an alley at night. A young Black man stealthily follows her off the bus. When Jess gets cornered by two white men in the alley, the young Black man steps in to rescue her. Turns out he was a fan of her books and recognized her on the bus. He knew it was a rough neighbourhood and wanted to make sure she was safe. Little moments like that happen all the time. 

Jessica rarely trusts the words or actions of the middle and upper class white people she crosses, while repeatedly benefiting from the knowledge, kindness and observational skills of sympathetic Black people around them. 

One of the tropes Murder, She Wrote is best known for is that of the useless law enforcers. The police and homicide detectives Jessica regularly runs across are almost always dismissive of her opinions and observations, and are often just straight up comically inept. But, the first one shown to be smart, intelligent and insightful is a Black small town sheriff in a season 2 episode. 

We’re only halfway through Season 5, but so far, the only time we see a Black murderer was in (er... Spoiler?) an episode with a predominantly Black cast. I think we can give the writers that one. Even then, the reason for the murder was sympathetic, not out of greed, lust or vengeance like most of the others. The victim was revealed to have been trying to murder another character out of greed, and their murder was to protect that innocent person! 

We’re really enjoying watching Murder, She Wrote, and it’s shocking just how progressive and clever it is for a show from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. At a time when several shows are pulling individual episodes from streaming services due to very problematic (read: blatantly racist) scenes, from the very pilot, Murder, She Wrote is refreshing. 

In closing, if you’ll indulge me, two more examples of how cool the series was: 

S02E09, Jessica Behind Bars is set in a women's prison, and there’s not a single male speaking actor in the entire episode! A few male cops show up in the final scene, but none of them have a word of dialogue! 

S03E21 used footage from a 1940's movie to set up the plot, presenting the movie clips as flashbacks, and recasting almost all of the original actors as the older versions of the same characters in the "present day"! A stunningly crafted episode.