Review: Murdoch Mysteries “Brother’s Keeper”

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Warning: Post contains major spoilers

“Murdoch Mysteries” season 12 episode 7 “Brother’s Keeper” opens with Det. Murdoch and Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) probing reports of gunshots after an anonymous tip from a police call box. As it turns out, Det. Llewelyn Watts (Daniel Maslany) confesses to killing. Watts claims the shooting was in self-defense, but his narrative leaves fellow detective, William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), with doubts.
According to Watts’ account of the evening, he happened upon a drunk belligerent man. When the inebriated pulled a pistol on Watts, an ensuing struggled caused the gun to fire, injuring Watts and killing his assailant. Because the man drew a pistol on Watts, Murdoch insists upon an investigation. It’s not typical behavior, and as Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) agrees, “not your average Saturday night donnybrook.”

Though Watts plays the event off as a mere back alley scuffle, Det. Murdoch isn’t convinced. Instead, he launches an investigation. During the case, Murdoch discovers that the victim is Nigel Baker. Nigel had recently been acquitted of murdering Daniel Marks. Years prior, Marks reported Baker for robbery, a charge on which he was convicted. Oddly, Marks and Baker hailed from the West End, Watts’ old stomping ground. Inconsistencies such as this and contradictory bullet trajectories cast doubt on the self-defense story.

After their marriage in “My Big Fat Mimico Wedding,” Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch) and Miss Ruth Newsome (Siobhan Murphy) find themselves happily married, but effectively penniless. Ruth Higgins-Newsome’s basic needs such as her hairdressing cost Higgins nearly half of his salary. In an attempt to keep her satisfied, Higgins assumes a second job as a night watchman. Unfortunately, this means he’s falling asleep on the job.

Obvservations: 

“Murdoch Mysteries” S12E07 “Brother’s Keeper” arrives as a dark, somber episode. Any killing, even and especially, at the hand of a copper, is taken seriously. Murdoch requests that Dr. Julia Ogden (Helene Joy) oversee the coroner’s investigation much to the chagrin of Miss Violet Hart (Shanice Banton).

As it turns out, Watts was good friends on the Marks twins, a pair of brothers with Down Syndrome who were friends with Watts. Nigel Baker tortured the Marks twins, when they were younger and killed Daniel Marks. Unfortunately, evidence was shoddy, and Watts admits to tampering evidence to put Nigel behind bars. There’s a haunting twist that Baker’s own father actually shot his own son since he learned Nigel was guilty of murder. In a poignant final scene, Watts goes to turn in his badge, but Murdoch and Brackenreid refuse to accept. “I too once faced a choice between duty conscience. I also chose the latter,” Det. Murdoch admits. “We’re only bloody human Watts,” Inspector Brackenreid adds. “When we’re wronged, we seek justice.”

After discovering that Higgins is a competent mechanic, George recruits him to join Bloom and Crabtree Autoshop. As the scene ends, with George exasperatedly explaining “that thing-a-ma-bob is the flywheel,” it’s clear this partnership is poised to deliver much hilarity.