Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not)

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of the 2023 miniseries A Murder at the End of the World . We discuss the main character Darby, a “Gen Z Sherlock”, and get into her strengths and weaknesses as an investigator. We believe she is entirely too trusting of billionaires and their agendas, wonder if she is naive or just careless with her life, and appreciate the other realistic characte...

New episode out now! We watched an episode from the second season of Psych , titled “Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion”. We love how fun and quippy the show is, utilizing the familiar hyper-observant-detective trope in a new-ish way. We dig into the character relationships, discussing the balance and strength of Shawn and Gus’ friendship as well as the father-son relationship of Shawn and Henry an...

Bonjour! New episode out now! We watched the first episode of the French crime show Candice Renoir . We discuss our enjoyment of Candice and her approach to policing, drawing on her intuition and skills as both a professional and a mother, and how that causes strife within the team she is placed in charge of. We talk about the challenges in understanding some of the nuances in a different language...

Extra special episode out now! For this year’s holiday treat, Quizmaster Mack designed a whole game show for us to play! We play four different games, each one tied to our podcast in some way. We confront how often we veer off topic, test our knowledge of Florida Man, see if we can tell what's been subtly changed in a plot synopsis, and guess weird facts about properties we will probably never cov...

New episode out NOW! We’re shaking things up for the month of December. It’s the third of four brand new episodes along the same theme: the game Crack the Case. It’s Crack The Casemas! Crack the Case is a Milton Bradley party game that came out in 1993 where players ask yes or no questions in order to solve a mystery. We’re finally putting our detective skills to the test! Maddy hosts week three,...

New episode out now! We spent some time with the Belcher family and watched 2022’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie . We cover the dynamics of the Belchers and how Bob and Linda’s relationship with each other and their children is so great, love the town they live in and how it is full of a community of weirdos who support each other, think that the children feel like real kids and they also make great det...

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of the ‘90s British mystery series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates , titled “The Bearded Lady”. We discuss the character of Hetty and how she feels a little bit different than other characters who fit the “older lady who solves mysteries” description, and have differing opinions on whether or not we even like her. We try to figure out what actually h...

New episode out now! We have a slightly different encounter with the figure of Agatha Christie in the Doctor Who episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. We talk about the Doctor and his relationship with Donna, truly enjoy the actor’s chemistry throughout the show, and uncover how much this episode utilized tropes that came directly from both Christie’s books and the adaptations of her stories. We dis...

New episode out now! We revisit the world of Alfred Hitchcock with 1954’s Dial M For Murder . We talk about the visual style of the film and how it was influenced by the decision to shoot with a new 3-D camera rig, are impressed by the use of shadows and score to increase the suspense, enjoyed watching Tony evolve his plan when things went wrong, and discuss the first appearance of both the stereo...

Extra special episode out now! For this year’s holiday treat, Quizmaster Mack designed a whole game show for us to play - again! We play four different games, each one tied to our podcast in some way. We play Aside From That again to confront how often we veer off topic, make guesses about sequels to things we covered, see if we can tell what show a piece of generic background music came from, and...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot episode of the British mystery show The Last Detective , starring Peter Davison as DC “Dangerous” Davies. We talk about the main character and how his whole vibe seemed to be just “normal” and “nice”, and how he utilizes that vibe to get people to really talk to him. We have a discussion about the evolution of British vs American humor and debate whether t...

New episode out now! We revisit the world of Thomas Harris with the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs . We get into the dynamics of Clarice and Hannibal and how their relationship is portrayed, commending both actors for their work, but wish we saw more of Clarice’s internal journey. We admire the cinematography and sets, with the camera’s POV of Clarice being both compelling and unnerving, and t...

New episode out now! We watched the mystery-adjacent coming-of-age film Now and Then (1995). We discuss the more nuanced depiction of girlhood and the evolution of female friendships, talk about growing up in the 1970s and how the world has changed, lament how the film was not as popular with critics like similar films with boys, and discuss how it touches on the difficulties of confronting your y...

New episode out now, and it’s our 100th episode! We celebrate by finally playing a board game together, the 1975 game 221B Baker Street: The Master Detective Game. With a board similar to Clue, we read a mystery card at the start (in this instance, “The Adventure of the Unholy Man”) and then roll the die to travel throughout London’s different locations and pick up clues. We did encounter some exp...

New episode out now! We delve into the strange dreamscape of David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet . We discuss how the movie was conceived mostly through thoughts and feelings, and while it feels like a somewhat creepy nostalgia-tinted stream of consciousness, it has a fairly straightforward mystery plot after it all plays out. We reaffirm that Lynch is “still weird” and has his subversive way of e...

New episode out now! We cover the season two episode of Elementary “Dead Clade Walking”, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as a modern-day Holmes and Watson living in New York City. We talk about this version of the duo compared to the books, and how the characters and their dynamic were adapted to become a CBS procedural. We appreciate the show’s treatment of addiction and how it affects the...

New episode out now! It’s an epic one - we all played the entirety of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut , a 2021 update of the popular 2019 game where you play an amnesiac detective coming off a three-day bender trying to solve a murder in war-ravaged Revachol. We cover the gameplay and how you essentially had to embrace failure, and how the choices you make in the dialogue weave a tapestry of interact...

Zoinks! There's a new episode out now! We revisit Mystery Inc. with the 2002 live-action film, Scooby-Doo . We learn about the original script and story and how much it differed from the final product, wonder if Scooby wasn't depicted well or just had bad CGI, love the real sets and production design, and again discuss the queer subtext of the gang. We get into the extreme 2000s of it all,...

New episode out now! We delve into the world of Monk with the season 4 episode “Mr. Monk and the Astronaut”. We discuss the character of Adrian Monk, propose the idea that the show exists in a slightly different reality, debate how it balances representation vs accuracy vs commercialism, and believe the long-term success hinged on the incredible talents of Tony Shalhoub (and an excellent theme son...

New episode out now! We cover the first episode of Prime Suspect 1973 (or Prime Suspect: Tennison if you’re American), a 2017 prequel series about the early days of Jane Tennison’s law enforcement career. We enjoyed the more nuanced take it had regarding many things, including how the detectives treated drug users, how they presented the autopsy scene, and the time the show spent on the grief of t...

New episode out now! We watched the pilot episode of the 1980’s dramedy Moonlighting , starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis. We enjoy the chemistry and visual comedy work of the two leads and think they were both excellent, discuss the prevalence of the banter and how it dominates the dialogue of the show, learn a little bit about the production struggles, and call out the many recognizable g...

New episode out now! We discuss the first episode of the Australian show Mystery Road , titled “Gone”. We talk about the familiar concept of “big city detective in small town” and how this show handled it, compare the town vibes and the inhabitants to others we are familiar with, and really enjoy how the cinematography highlights the vast otherness of the landscape. We admire the detective skills...

New episode out now! We are finally covering the original literary Sherlock Holmes, after reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book "The Valley of Fear". We discuss the textual characters of Holmes and Watson, and realize they are both very dramatic characters in their own ways. We analyze the way Sherlock investigates and how he shows his work, debate his ethical judgment and how his need t...

New episode out now! We watched the first episode of Inspector Morse , a staple of British detective television and inspiration for two further series. We dig into the character of Morse and how he is presented in the show, discussing how his interests and flaws are weaved into the narrative and also how he goes about solving cases with “unorthodox” methods. We like Lewis and appreciate his agency...

New episode out now! We watched the 1980 mystery comedy The Private Eyes , starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts. We debate what the movie was aiming for between mystery and satire, wonder who the audience was intended to be, have issues figuring out if things were jokes or clues, and perhaps read too much into the actual plot. We learn the script was written in two days, and then subsequently wonder...