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"Annabella Cinderella" is the eleventh episode of the twelfth season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the one hundred seventy-ninth of the series. It first aired on January 14, 2019.

Summary

Crabtree and John are transporting a convicted axe murderer to prison when she escapes to exact revenge on those who testified against her.

Annabella Maloney who killed her mother Harriet Rawlins with an axe is sentenced to life in prison; At the courthouse, Annabella grabbed a fire axe to smash a window and escaped.

At the Station House, Crabtree answers a phone call informing him that Annabella has been spotted on Bismarck St., all the way up by Yonge and Bloor. She may have been going to North Toronto Station to get to Claremont, her hometown. But wait, her lawyer Nesbit Daniels' office is at Yonge and Bloor. Wanting no stone unturned, Murdoch sends George and John to find out if her lawyer is involved.

The constables discover Nesbit Daniels' office lock broken, clearly she was trying to find something, and the back door left open; They spot her and give chase only to lose her in an alleyway, where she must have climbed over the fence using a nearby crate upon which John rests his truncheon during the search. When the truncheon falls to the ground – John is ready and captures Annabella emerging out of the crate. Unfortunately, while escorting the prisoner to Kingston with an over-night stop at Dunbarton, sympathetic John is tricked and Annabella escapes again. Constables Crabtree and Brackenreid must find the dangerous woman on the loose, once again.

Character Revelations

  • John mentions when last he heard from his father, "he was headed to New York".
  • Over lunch, William and Julia share their disappointment in The Police Investigative Handbook sent to every Station House: "It's positively antediluvian." (adjective: ridiculously old fashioned)
  • When Julia points out that the Gazette regularly mentions techniques that William has developed, she discovers that he reads her citations in medical journals – "Of course, I do. I'm proud of you."
  • Constable Brackenreid has been attending the trial of Annabella Maloney.

Continuity

Historical References

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1906 – Edward VII (Albert Edward;1841-1910) is King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas.
  • Before Canadian Confederation, the Province of Canada, (established in 1841) was the most prolific issuer of paper money; notes were produced for the government by the Bank of Montreal (1842 and 1862), in denominations of $4, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. In 1866, the Province of Canada began issuing its own paper money, in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $500. 
  • The British Home Children migration movement sent over 100,000 children to Canada between 1869 and 1930s. Motivated by social and economic forces, churches and philanthropic organizations sent orphaned, abandoned and pauper children to Canada and other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
  • The phrase "T'was ever thus" (It is ever thus) is found in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night , Act 4, Scene 1: Olivia uses the expression with a future tense (Will it be ever thus?). Murdoch uses the phrase "All's well that ends well," from the title of a William Shakespeare play as well.
  • Annabella mentions going to Berlin; Kitchener, Ontario was called Berlin before being renamed after the British field marshal Lord Kitchener by referendum in 1916, when the name Berlin became distasteful for residents after Great Britain and Canada's entry into the First World War.

Trivia

  • Thomas Brackenreid does not appear in this episode.
  • This episode was filmed, in part, at Westfield Heritage Village in Hamilton, a favorite MM location site since Season 1.
  • Home children, first mentioned in the Murdoch Mysteries novel Except the Dying, was central to the storyline in Child's Play in Season 1.
  • Bill Brioux, veteran television critic, who first appeared in Murdoch of the Klondike (a non-speaking role), makes a cameo appearance as the Pickering train's Ticketman.
  • Re-cast actor Derek Moran first appeared in Let Us Ask the Maiden as murder victim Nathan Siebold.
  • When asked if the case of Lizzie Borden was an inspiration, the episode’s writer and Co-Executive producer, Paul Aitken responded, "No, actually, it wasn’t, not at all. We came to the idea of the axe because we wanted her to be dangerous."
  • Daniel Maslany and actress Laelen Ohm star in Charles Wahl's short film The Mohel (2021), virtually debuted at SXSW Film Festival.

Errors

  • “The Police Investigative Handbook” pages are blanks.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as Detective William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree

Recurring Cast

Daniel Maslany as Detective Llewellyn Watts
Charles Vandervaart as John Brackenreid

Guest Cast

Rachel Van Duzer as Annabella
Derek Moran as Nesbit Daniels
Laelen Ohm as Rosemary Rawlins
Michael Lipka as Robert Duncan
Andrew Moodie as Edmund Mathers
David Reale as Mr. Clements
Bill Brioux as Ticketman

Non-Credited Cast

Nathan Hoppe as Constable McNabb

Gallery


Murdoch Mysteries Season 12
Murdoch Mystery MansionOperation: MurderMy Big Fat Mimico WeddingMurdoch Without Borders
The Spy Who Loved MurdochSir. Sir? Sir!!!Brother's KeeperDrowning in MoneySecrets and Lies
Pirates of the Great LakesAnnabella CinderellaSix of the BestMurdoch and the Undetectable Man
Sins of the FatherOne Minute to MurderManual for MurderDarkness Before the Dawn Part 1
Darkness Before the Dawn Part 2
Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 15
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