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Warning: Post contains spoilers
“Murdoch Mysteries” season 14 episode 10 “Everything is Broken Part One” indeed finds many relationships fractured. A knock on the door one evening finds Ruth Higgins-Newsome (Siobhan Murphy) disturbing the previously quiet evening that Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and his wife Dr. Julia Ogden (Helene Joy) were enjoying. Ruthie refuses to acknowledge her husband Constable Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch). The overly-concerned Henry precludes his pregnant wife from looking at the moon, moving too quickly, and a slew of other activities for worries about their baby. Considering their marital spat, Ruth decides to move in with the Murdochs. Conveniently, the phone rings and Det. Murdoch is called away when a dead body is discovered. Though Julia protests, William insists, “Duty calls.”
Higgins and Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) inspect a barrel of lye in which the victim was found, while Toronto City coroner Miss Violet Hart (Shanice Banton) performs an autopsy. Metal filings in the victim’s gunshot wound leads Murdoch to suspect that the killing is the work of the Black Hand criminal organization. Discovering earrings and a clock belonging to a past lover of his, Anna Fulford, who was a Black Hand target, causes William to speculate that the deceased is Fulford.
While drinking at a restaurant, Det. Llewelyn Watts (Daniel Maslany) thwarts an attempted murder by a young boy who opens fire on a man in the eating establishment. Coincidentally, the restaurant belongs to Miss Hart’s husband, Arthur Carmichael. The young boy is eventually apprehended by Watts and turns out to be Anna’s son, possibly Murdoch’s child as well.
George plans to propose to his romantic partner, Effie Newsome (Clare McConnell). Unfortunately, Effie’s secretary Dorothy who actually may be Amelia, a rabid fan that kidnapped Cratree Kathy Bates in “Misery” style, overhears George chatting about the proposal to his friends. Dorothy reveals that one of Crabtree’s friends, Henry, commented that he always thought George would marry Dr. Emily Grace. To that, Crabtree responded it wasn’t an option. Taken out of context intentionally by Dorothy, Effie is not amused.
Inspector Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) experiences trouble at work. After confronting corrupt Station House No. 1 constables, the Inspector is threatened that he must step down and keep his pension or be forced out. With one of his sons in jail, and a daughter born out of wedlock to a Black mother, both violating societal norms held at the time, Thomas considers stepping down. However, a touching scene finds the Inspector’s wife Margaret Brackenreid (Arwen Humpherys), offering words of support. “I’m not ashamed of my family,” Margaret states. “We fight.”
Watts meets up with his former lover, Jack Walker. With the unfortunate stigma against homosexuality at the time, Walker broke off his secret relationship with Watts. To cover for his sexual orientation, Jack became engaged to a woman pregnant by another man, offering to be the father. But Walker has a change of heart and instead wishes to wriggle out of his engagement. However, Watts counters that Jack didn’t do right by him, so he must do right by the woman he’s set to marry.
While Violet Hart’s marriage to Arthur Carmichael began swimmingly with Miss Hart enjoying newfound power and influence, the honeymoon phase begins to wear off. Namely, Arthur’s lavish lifestyle of carousing with burlesque dancers and smoking mounds of opium, as well as his hold over Hart, aren’t quite what Violet had in mind when she married Carmichael.
At the finale of “Murdoch Mysteries” season 14 episode 10, as the title says, everything is broken. Murdoch’s former lover Anna Fulford winds up murdered presumably by the Black Hand leaving behind a son who may be William’s. Marital problems plague the Higgins-Newsome relationship as well as Arthur Carmichael and his wife Violet Hart. Inspector Brackenreid is pressured into retiring, while Crabtree’s proposal to Effie might not happen. There’s a lot to resolve after “Everything is Broken Part One.” And chances are, it won’t be a fairy tale for everyone.
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