Murdoch Mysteries: Difference between revisions

* [[Daydream Surprise]]: Used frequently from Murdoch's perspective, mostly involving Doctor Ogden and kissing.

** In one daydream Murdoch saw his older self camping with his wife and son. While Murdoch sees and seems to know the identity of the wife (he smiles when he sees her), [[The Faceless|the audience doesn't]].

** {{spoiler|It's more [[Narm]] than anything else, since the train is still moving so slowly that he could have easily ran and climbed aboard, and even if it wasn't he could have just taken the next train.}}

** Also applies to Series 4's conclusion, where it looks like {{spoiler|William's future in the Toronto constabulary is under threat and Julia appears to go through with her wedding to [[Romantic False Lead|Darcy]] despite still being in love with William.}}

* [[The Exile]]: Series 5 begins with {{spoiler|Murdoch prospecting for gold in the Yukon}}, having left Toronto and the police force after his actions in the season 4 finale.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: Canadian Dr. Ogden is played by Australian actress Helene Joy.

** [[The Hero]] /TheSmartGuy: Murdoch

** [[The Lancer]]: George

** [[The Big Guy]]: Inspector Brackenreid

** [[The Chick]]: Julia

** Sanguine: George

** Choleric: Brackenreid

* [[Good Girls Avoid Abortion]]: (averted)

* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: Lots of this, particularly in any scene where the characters dress up formally. The basic style of dress and hair seems to be early 1890's, with excursions into the 1900's (see the [[Anachronism Stew]] entry above).

** [[Supernatural|Death]] believes adamantly in a Mummy's curse.

* [[Historical Domain Character]] / [[In the Past Everyone Will Be Famous]]: Several well-known figures make appearances, including Jack London, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley, Harry Houdini, [[Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator)|Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[HG Wells|H. G. Wells]], [[Nikola Tesla]] and Prince Albert Victor.

* [[Hot Scoop]]: Ruby Ogden. Her first appearance on the show involves her playing magician's assistant to Harry Houdini.

* [[Hospital Hottie]]: Subverted with Doctor Ogden, who works in a morgue. Also played straight in the sense that the show is set well before doctors were wearing scrubs; she performs her duties in [[Gorgeous Period Dress]].

* [[In Vino Veritas]] / [[Kissing Under the Influence]]: {{spoiler|After an evening of consuming absinthe, Murdoch and Julia end up making out on a blanket. Subverted in the case of the latter trope; neither regret their actions on the morning after and consequently pursue a relationship}}

* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Paddy Glynn frequently pops up at the Toronto Constabulary during the fourth season looking for a [[Going for The Big Scoop|Big Scoop]] and usually irritating Inspector Brackenreid in the process. {{spoiler|In the penultimate episode of the season, he's unmasked as the Kissing Bandit, a thief who has been [[Just Like Robin Hood|robbing banks and giving the money to an orphanage]] and [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|kissing women during the robberies]]. He tells Murdoch and Brackenreid that he did it to ''make'' the news instead of just reporting on it.}}

* [[It Will Never Catch On]]: Frequently, including several occasions where Murdoch or Crabtree invent entirely new policing methods or technologies (like the concept of pixels and digital transmission of images--with a telegraph), only for Inspector Brackenried to dismiss them.

** In one episode Crabtree explains how he used tracing paper to follow a telephone line, and find out where the call came from. Nobody's interested.

* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: {{spoiler|Julia's reason for breaking off her relationship with William. Because she cannot have children, she leaves him in the hope that he'll find a woman who can give him a family.}}

* [[Jack the Ripper]]: Believed to be murdering young women in Toronto in one episode. Murdoch is joined by a Scotland Yard detective who has been chasing the Ripper through Europe. {{spoiler|He is later revealed to be the Ripper himself, and is killed by Doctor Ogden in self-defense.}}

* [[Lost Love Montage]]: Used very briefly in series one when Murdoch is thinking of Liza, his dead fiancee.

* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: The season two finale has a contract killer that specializes on this.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: Murdoch was originally played by [[Regenesis|Peter Outerbridge]] and Odgen by [[Keeley Hawes]] in the TV movie adaptation, Yannick Bisson and Helene Joy took over the roles for the series.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Murdoch believed that his drunk father beat his mother, which would indirectly lead to her death. {{spoiler|It wasn't true.}} He spent most of his childhood in an orphanage.

* [[Playing Against The Type]]: Mary Walsh and Gavin Crawford, playing a grieving mother of a murdered daughter and a possibly insane puppeteer, respectively. Both are best known as anchors on the comedy news show ''[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes]]''.

* [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]]: "We don't call people "retarded" anymore, it's insensitive. [[Subverted Trope|The polite term is "moronic".]]

* [[Promotion to Parent]]: Only hinted at in one episode, but a conversation between Murdoch and Brackenreid suggests that the latter lost his parents at a young age, and had to take care of his four younger siblings.

* [[Quest for Identity]]: {{spoiler|The series three opener finds Murdoch in England with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He spends the episode recovering his memory while on the run from criminals out to kill him.}}

* [[Recurring Character]]: Canadian government spymaster Terrance Meyers seems to show up at least once per season.

* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: Not to the extent of superheroic achievements but Murdoch is actually an author of several extremely useful inventions (e.g. sonar) he could have patented or manufactured.

* [[Romancing the Widow]]: In series two Murdoch pursues a relationship with Enid Jones, a widowed single mother he meets while investigating a case.

* [[Science Marches On]]: Intentionally invoked in the episode set at University of Toronto, where currently outdated scientific concepts (luminiferous aether) and laughably basic ideas (single/double molecular bonds) are presented as revolutionary and cutting-edge...because they were at the time.

* [[Shipper On Deck]]: Ruby Ogden, for William and Julia. {{spoiler|When she returns in series four, she is clearly disappointed that Julia has chosen to marry Darcy over William.}}

* [[Ship Tease]]: Ruby Ogden frequently flirts with George Crabtree and some scenes have alluded to their chemistry.

* [[Short Run in Peru]]: Despite being a Canadian-produced series, new episodes air much earlier in the UK.

* [[Steampunk]]: A couple of episodes toy with this, before the Season 3 finale goes full-tilt into it with {{spoiler|Tesla's microwave death ray}}.

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: A woman basketball team's worth. And back then, cross dressing was considered quite scandalous.