Preview: Murdoch Mysteries, “Murdoch and the Cursed Caves”

Last year’s Halloween episode, “Sir. Sir? Sir!!!” was the most galvanizing Murdoch Mysteries ever. People either loved it or absolutely hated it. Me? I appreciated showrunner Peter Mitchell’s moxie for changing things up and going in a different direction.

So, will Halloween 2019 mark the return of an off-the-wall, outrageous storyline that will attract the ire of some viewers? Here’s what the CBC says about “Murdoch and the Cursed Caves,” written by Noelle Girard and directed by Mars Horodyski:

While camping Murdoch and Ogden discover two men killed by a fabled feathered beast.

And, as always, a few tidbits from me after watching a screener.

A new theme for a themed episode
Oh man, do I love it when a show changes things up for a special occasion. All I’ll say is I want to use Robert Carli’s theme for my ringtone even more now. I can tell he had fun recording it; I smiled the entire time I listened to it.

Julia is back
Fans have been wondering where she’s been; some have speculated Hélène Joy’s absence because of her film projects. Beats me why, but she’s back next to Murdoch on Monday and has a special trip planned for she and William. Yes, the aforementioned camping.

Ruth and Higgins, side by side
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Ruth; thankfully that is remedied on Monday too.

Margaret returns too
The episode is jam-packed with familiar faces, as well as new ones in Barbara Gordon, and Matt Cooke who actually played Superintendent Sam Steele in “Murdoch of the Klondike.” Back in the city, the Brackenreids are celebrating a special occasion, but the neighbourhood kids are putting a damper on their evening.

Frightfully fun
I haven’t spoken to the episode’s writer, Noelle Girard, but I get the feeling she and the rest of the writing room called upon several spooky projects for inspiration. A certain animated Great Dane, a shaggy young fellow and a Mystery Machine immediately leapt to mind as I watched.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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8 thoughts on “Preview: Murdoch Mysteries, “Murdoch and the Cursed Caves””

    1. I agree that last year’s Halloween episode was better overall. This year I enjoyed the Brackenreids’ battle with the evil kids more than the cursed caves storyline.

  1. Great episode! I consider him the best of season 13. Themed episode Sir. Sir? Sir !!! “Was also good, but this one is more interesting to me. An exciting plot, a lot of humor and piquant scenes. In this episode, each couple has interesting and funny adventures and it turned out very harmoniously. I really liked the unexpected appearance of a fabulous creature in the finale! After the absence of joint investigations by William and Julia in the previous plots, their disclosure of the secrets of the damned caves again brings us back to Murdoch’s classic scripts. This is very pleasing! Yannick Bisson and Helen Joy have great talent, natural charm and strong chemistry in a relationship, which makes each episode together amazing!

  2. Agreed!
    How refreshing to see the return of the investigative tandem of Julia and William. This is what the series is all about, to me anyway. We need more of those. She needs to go back to the morgue. Work more closely with William. Violet Hart served a purpose for a while but she has become bland. There is however an unresolved matter with her. Rebecca was more interesting in her own way. I Liked both Halloween episodes except that this one was more serious, more dark and Sir, Sir, Sir was funnier, more over the top. Odd foursome with Higgins and Ruth but it worked, he is a clumsy character, she is funny. I did not find the Brackenreids story in this episode as interesting or funny, but it is Halloween after all. No trick of treat, but, perhaps it was like that when the tradition started.

  3. Enough with the Halloween episodes!! I’ve never seen them work no matter what the series. They invariably veer wildly from the formula that makes the show work Murdoch mysteries included. It was slightly better than Sir sir sir but came off as disjointed incoherent and loopy. Please please please stick to engaging murder mysteries I’ve come to love and expect from this stellar series!

  4. Absolutely awful. Hated it. It took a while to figure out it was another bad Halloween special, as it is being shown in late January. Let’s just have Murdoch Mysteries, as we have enjoyed all these years, with the occasional Christmas special. This was shown out of sequence on Amazon Prime in the States, so we enjoyed having Julia back last week in the Philately Fatality. Agree with others to get rid of the current ME – boring!

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