Murdoch Mysteries (TV Series) Winston's Lost Night (2013) User Reviews

Winston Churchill's drunken odyssey through Toronto ends in tragedy

[miles-33108 · 8/10 · 19 December 2016]

Murdoch is demonstrating his new Induction Balance Machine to Constable Higgins, who seems frightened by the way it lights up electric lamps,, as does Constable Crabtree, who finds his Police whistle attracted by it when he comes to tell Murdoch there has been a murder at the Palace Hotel. When Murdoch arrives at the scene, there are two men in the hotel room. One is the dead man, Reginald Mayfair, who has a stab wound in the chest and a big cut on his arm, the other is his friend, Winston Churchill, whose hands have blood on them. There is also a bloodstained sword in the room. Churchill has no memory of the previous night, due to the amount he drank.

Churchill has known Mayfair since the two of them were soldiers together in the Sudan. After leaving the army, Mayfair had emigrated to Canada. Churchill can only recall drinking in the hotel with Mayfair, and then going on to Mayfair's club, the Albany. He says he has never seen the sword before. Crabtree interrupts the interview to inform Murdoch that Churchill's finger marks have been found on the sword. Dr Grace tells Murdoch that a sword killed Mayfair between 1:30 and 2:00 last night, while a facial bruise suggests he was in a fist fight an hour earlier.

Back at Police Station 4, Churchill's Egyptian valet, Mr Ahmadi, has arrived with a change of clothes. Ahmadi tells Murdoch he can trust Churchill's every word, and he was with Churchill until the Albany, where Churchill dismissed him for the night at 9:00pm. Crabtree reports that people in rooms neighbouring Churchill's heard a commotion in his room around 1:45am, and a witness saw a negro man leaving Churchill's room around 2:00am. Ahmadi tells Murdoch that Churchill's boot-boy, Jim Carver, is a negro. Carver admits to being there around 2:30am to polish Churchill's boots, but didn't see or hear anything amiss.

Churchill himself joins the investigation, endeavouring to retrace his steps. At the Albany Club, Churchill made a great impression, especially when the old soldiers there were reminiscing about their time in Sudan, and were celebrating the desecration of the Mahdi's body as retaliation for what the Dervishes had done to the British. Churchill thundered against the action, saying it not only degraded Reginald, who had beheaded the Mahdi's corpse, but behaviour like that degraded the whole of the British Empire. Club members admit that it was a shaming they deserved, even Reginald was moved by it. A newspaper story leads to Churchill's next stop on his Toronto odyssey: Mrs Gertrude Miller's Temperance party, where he behaved very rudely.

Dr Ogden arrives at Police Station 4 with news that she and Darcy have an appointment with a judge the following day, regarding the annulment of their marriage. She then recognises Mr Churchill from the previous evening; they were both in the same club, having an enjoyable time, but when they left, Gertrude Miller's husband punched Reginald Mayfair, believing him to be Churchill, in response to his insulting behaviour earlier.

A trip to Murphy's Tavern reveals another stop in the odyssey. After a drink, Churchill and Mayfair were chased out of the pub, and then taken into protective custody at 12:45am by Constable Jackson, who kept them in the cells until the bars closed.

After this, they found a speakeasy to carry on drinking, and indeed arguing over what happened in Sudan, according to the bartender, who demands the return of the swords Churchill took. He tells Murdoch that Churchill ended up challenging Mayfair to a duel, and stole two swords displayed in the speakeasy which had belonged to the bartender's grandfather. The bartender's assistant, Al, confirms all of this.

Dr Ogden arrives at Police Station 4, bringing the bad news that the judge would not grant her the annulment, because she could not lie about the marriage not having been consummated. Even so, Darcy would agree to a divorce. Of course, that puts Murdoch in a difficult position, as the Catholic Church would not sanction him marrying a divorcée. She leaves Murdoch to sort things out with God, while she takes care of legal matters.

So, can Detective Murdoch discover what happened in the time between leaving the speakeasy and the alarm being raised about the killing? Did Churchill and Mayfair really fight a duel to the death with swords? Will Winston Churchill face the noose? (Look away from your history books now, if you don't want to know the result!) Can Murdoch reconcile his beliefs with his desires?

This is a fascinating episode, based on real historical events in Africa, and also on Winston's well-known love for the bottle, and his habit, when drunk, of being very rude to anyone who criticised him. Once again, the mystery is not solved until the very end, but every scrap of information relevant to the killing is used to build up the picture. It's good fun to watch, and as for the relationship between Murdoch and Dr Ogden, whichever way it goes, it will bring pain.

Liked Churchill, tired of Julia.

[tert72 · 7/10 · 7 December 2020]

It always seems it has to be Julia's way or the highway..... Murdoch can do sooooo much better. Now you have to think back to the time, not through today's glasses. But even by today's standards she's a self centered selfish brat. And by the way when I was dating a woman around the year 2000, she wanted me to get an annulment, because she wanted a catholic wedding, and she wasn't even a strict catholic by any means. Murdoch seems to casually throw his faith out on other matters so why not on this? Unfortunately it seems the rest of the series is stuck with Julia.... But hopefully not large parts.

Vivid rendering of Churchill

[lindaqpublic · 9/10 · 23 April 2018]

Thomas Howes as Winston Churchill does a wonderfully fun study of the great man in his youth. The scriptwriter pulls no punches, presenting Churchill in all his sharp-tongued glory.

While it is true, as other reviewers have noted, that Churchill's attitude toward Muslims, and Murdoch's attitude toward love are quite anachronistic, that seems to be part of the spirit as well as the humor of the entire series. It's not only the inventions that are far ahead of their time. It seems quite in character for Murdoch to accept Julia's inability to lie, resulting in the less-than-ideal requirements that he be a less-than-perfect Catholic in order for them to be together. He has already done as much in accepting the abortion she had in her youth.

Not the best but not nearly as bad as the comments are making it out to be

[petabytesandpilcrows · 6/10 · 17 October 2018]

I will say that this wasn't exactly my favorite episode of the season, i don't know if it was as bad as some of these comments have made it out to be. I obviously had some issues with it as I usually reserve ferreting out the IMDB comments section for truly memorable episodes, either good or bad. But upon reading some of the reviews, I realize I went to a whole other place with my analysis.

A lot of comments say Murdoch gives up on his faith and I disagree with that. He's always made amends between his faith and reasoning; it's what allows him to be both devout and a scientist of sorts. It's part of the reason I think the character works so well, honestly. But, a lot of people misinterpreted his words (including the one person who said something to the effect of him condoning bestiality and I don't even know what show they're watching) and took as him casting aside religion altogether and NOWHERE in his speech does he say that.

I will agree that this episode seems oddly written and the character motivations feel out of whack. I wasn't really crazy about the "Hangover" plotline but enjoyed bits and pieces, enough so that the overall episode came across as merely mediocre.

But poor Julia. It's becoming clearer that the writers don't know what to do with her. She was so well-written the first 3 seasons that I forget (this is my 4th time through) just how badly she's bungled. She went from being smart, independent and goal-oriented to yet another woman-in-love-who-makes-questionable-decisions character. All of her spunk and character development seems to have been shifted over to Dr. Grace, which is good for Emily but shouldn't have come at the expense of Julia.

Like a Bad Penny, She Keeps Turning Up

[championbc-99-5005 · 15 July 2016]

This episode, like most episodes of "Murdoch," is delightfully well-written, interesting, and enjoyable to watch. My wife and I are watching them in order on streaming TV, and look forward to each one.

There is only one thing that I don't like about this show, and that is the anachronistic, constantly-self-centered, always condescending Dr. Julia Ogden. Her very presence poisons the show.

She tarnishes the character of William Murdoch, causing him to do things we know he wouldn't do. It must be her way or the highway. Season 5 was my favorite of all the seasons so far, because, for the most part, she was kept comfortably in the background, out of the way. It gave us an opportunity to see greater character development in George Crabtree, as well as the refreshing return of the genuine Detective Murdoch.

The show would be so much better if she could simply be written out, but I have "looked ahead" at IMDb episodes and realize that we are stuck with her during each season. She adds nothing to the show, and twists and warps both the time period and the show itself.

In this episode, she has the audacity to "damn" God Himself, in front of William Murdoch, a man of deep faith and devotion, and somehow, his response seems to be, "If I have to choose between God and you, I guess I will choose you." This is not the Murdoch we know and love.

I will continue to enjoy this otherwise excellent series, and I will just hold my nose every time she has to be inserted into the show, and wait until her "exit stage right" so we can get on with the entertainment.

Political Correctness in force in a series that otherwise has avoided it

[Defender_of_the-Faith · 6/10 · 1 May 2020]

What I love about the Murdoch series is how it artfully handles moral and ethical questions from the past, some which have been resolved, such as access to contraceptives, and others that remain controversial, like abortion. The stories are great for middle school children who otherwise are receiving no training in ethics or any explanation for why we do what we do in the West. In this episode, for example, we see Murdoch struggling with the Catholic doctrine against divorce. Brilliant.

The episode correctly depicted the shame felt by the British people for the massacre they perpetrated at Omdurman. What it failed to say is that the Mahdi's army had, in the name of his religion, previously sieged Khartoum, killed its British defender Gen. Gordon, murdered every male, and put all the women and children into slavery. Note the population Gordon tried to defend were African Muslims, not British people. Gordon came there is try to save them.

The episode correctly depicts the British shame that they had stooped to the same level of barbarity in their act of revenge--it was unchristian. Given the depiction of the Mahdi's followers in the episode, this fact loses power. A person unfamiliar with the events would believe that a member of a peaceful sect engaged in revenge against the criminal British. The beliefs and ambitions of the Mahdi are well documented in his own words. There is no need to whitewash history.

The similarity to our time is striking. Nothing has fundamentally changed in the stand-off of values between the West and Radical Islam. The Mahdi spoke the same ideology of conquest that we hear from terrorists today. An opportunity was lost to make that point. I recommend that viewers check out Khartoum with Lawrence Olivier and Charlton Heston--a film that makes the moral struggle very clear even for a 21st century audience.

Tired

[jerseygirl49-674-599559 · 6/10 · 3 June 2021]

Tired of Julia and Murdoch with their over the top Victorian BS other than that it's all good.

Unequally Yoked

[uber_geek · 4/10 · 3 July 2017]

This episode missed on several points. You have a young Winston Churchill at approx age of 26, who finds himself in his room allegedly passed out from a drinking binge. His friend is found dead in the same room with Churchill having no memory of what happened.

While most of Murdoch episodes do stick to historical truths, this episode swerves off into political correctness, having Churchill praising the equivalent of modern-day Islamic extremists. While on their bar hopping, he discovers that he made a speech, shaming the treatment of Muslims regarding their religion. This was not the case factually as Churchill was not an admirer of Islam.

But it ends up being an episode where Churchill and Murdoch go from place to place finding out what trouble the former got himself into. Churchill is portrayed as a pompous bore and a drunk.

Dr. Ogden (who can't seem to decide what she wants to do these days) pops in to try out her new found psychology to save the day. Murdoch is elated when she tells him that Darcy wants to get the annulment over and they are going to court today. All they have to do is lie to the judge and tell him the marriage was never consummated.

Later Murdoch finds that she can't bring herself to lie to the judge. But when he brings up the issue of divorce conflicting with his beliefs, she curses God and basically expects Murdoch to give up his Catholic beliefs for her. They are obviously unequally yoked as he is profoundly religious and she's, at best, agnostic. But, like Adam, he gives in to his Eve and decides in matters of love, any love has to be right. I liked their budding romance up until then.

a loud sour note

[meyer-wil · 10 November 2015]

Through five years of episodes, we have seen frequent reminders of Murdoch's faith. With the possible exception of a case involving the Masons, he has been quite believable in that faith.

Now, after a single session of prayer, he all but renounces that faith, in his declaration of disagreement with Church teaching. This is not a plausible attitude for that time and place, rather, it is clearly a 21st century influence on the script. Totally out of place.

This program has been notable for being quite acceptable in a family environment, and plausible in its historic references. There have been some idiosyncrasies and some anachronisms, as must be expected in a work of fiction. They have generally been minor, and did not detract from an otherwise program. In this case, however, as the error -- and it is surely that -- impacts a major and continuing element of the story, it is very disappointing.

Out of Character

[mommiracles · 2/10 · 9 May 2024]

I have been rooting for the love story between Murdoch and Julia, but find her petulant insistence that he get over his silly faith and do things her way, and his ever so faint struggle before he says, "Oh, ok" to be totally story-crippling. He has been staunchly principled to this point, so this is either a modern reading-in or a total misunderstanding of the Catholic understanding of marriage as no big deal of the script writers (which I could believe, given how the episode with Murdoch's sister the Sister was portrayed). This was lame and it basically shot a hole through the premise of who these characters have developed into over five years.