It's hard for me to offer an objective assessment of this mystery show, as I came to it having seen 9 series of Murdoch Mysteries. This episode is twice as long as one of the others, and at times it seemed ponderous in the way the story unfolds.
It doesn't matter that different actors play the principal parts. In fact, they are all actors that I admire from other characters in other shows, but this script just doesn't allow the stars to twinkle as they do elsewhere.
The mystery does have some twists and turns, and some people who are not helpful at the start do indeed later start telling truths they are ashamed of, once they can see that Murdoch is really only interested in catching the killer, rather than shaming them for their dirty little secrets. Even so, this double length episode pales compared with most of the shorter episodes in the Murdoch Mysteries series. I can see many of the same traits in these principal characters as in the series, but these are humourless and much less endearing.
I think if I had seen this first, I would not have bothered with the series, and that would have been a pity, as I have truly enjoyed more than 95% of those
It doesn't matter that different actors play the principal parts. In fact, they are all actors that I admire from other characters in other shows, but this script just doesn't allow the stars to twinkle as they do elsewhere.
The mystery does have some twists and turns, and some people who are not helpful at the start do indeed later start telling truths they are ashamed of, once they can see that Murdoch is really only interested in catching the killer, rather than shaming them for their dirty little secrets. Even so, this double length episode pales compared with most of the shorter episodes in the Murdoch Mysteries series. I can see many of the same traits in these principal characters as in the series, but these are humourless and much less endearing.
I think if I had seen this first, I would not have bothered with the series, and that would have been a pity, as I have truly enjoyed more than 95% of those