Tour de Murdoch

"Tour de Murdoch"
Season	7
Episode	2
Airdate	October 7, 2013
Writer	Jordan Christianson
Director	Laurie Lynd
Guests	David Christo as Warren Padgett Seán Cullen as Chippy Blackburn
Recurring	Jayden Greig as Bobby Brackenreid Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Previous	Murdoch Ahoy
Next	The Filmed Adventures of Detective William Murdoch

"Tour de Murdoch" is the second episode of the seventh season of Murdoch Mysteries and the eightieth episode of the series. It first aired on October 7, 2013.

Summary

Detective Murdoch tests out the gear shift augmentations to his bicycle by entering a local race at the Toronto Athletic Club, that features professional cyclists including Major Taylor. Barely has the race gotten underway, when the favorite-to-win Jumpin’ Joe Fenton tumbles from his bike and is pronounced dead.

Thus begins an investigation that delves into the underbelly of Edwardian cycling competition and hematology. Murdoch suspects Fenton was killed by large doses of a mysterious stimulant. His manager, Chippy Blackburn, was seen giving him a potion and he may be fixing races. This was not the first time one of Blackburn's wheelmen has died on the course this makes three.  However, Dr. Grace is having considerable difficulty finding the exact cause of death.

Meanwhile, Julia prepares to sell Darcy’s house but to her surprise finds that his younger brother Leslie Garland is living there. It also raises a little jealousy in Murdoch, which turns highly amusing in the end.

A puncture mark, initially masked by the bruising from the fall is found. Dr. Grace retested and finds evidence of methyl morphine, an opiate, commonly known as codeine. Perhaps Mr. Blackburn builds his athletes up to appear unbeatable and then gives them codeine to prevent them from winning. George sets out to find out what he can from the bookmakers while Murdoch questions suspects, again.

With Dr. Ogden's guidance, Dr. Grace performs her first brain sectioning with enthusiasm and discovers a miliary aneurysm. Fenton suffered a cerebral aneurysm resulting in a brain hemorrhage, but it still doesn’t explain the injection mark in his right arm. Eventually, she discovers thrombosis in both of his legs, the result of blood agglutination, an injection of blood killed Mr. Fenton.

Julia reminds William that they do know someone who's very knowledgeable in hematology: Lucas Harwick who is in prison for performing illegal/experimental blood transfusions to treat hemophilia.

Using Harwick’s advance research, Dr.Grace explains the complicated blood types with a chart to the Detective and the Inspector.  Brackenreid orders the Constabulary to “round up the lot of 'em, find out who's got the bad kind of blood.” Emily does further testing and comes upon a fourth, yet undiscovered blood type that not even Dr. Harwick or Dr. Landsteiner are aware of: it contains properties of both A and B blood.

With this ‘missing element’ discovered providing the proof needed, Murdoch gets to test his bicycle sprockets in the climax with a cycling chase to apprehend the culprit.

Character Revelations

• When Crabtree discovers that Murdoch is not really competing rather he is "challenging" himself, George tells him, "Well, I wish you'd told me that before I wagered 50 cents on you, sir."
• Dr. Grace names the new blood phenotype AB (its name today), only to begrudgingly change it to "type D" at Murdoch's suggestion.

Continuity

• On Murdoch's bicycle improvement, he has created an advantage – Sprockets; They allow him to change gears, offsetting pedaling resistance against any gradient on the race course.
• When George is the bearer of bad news as he had read about the very oinvention in Cyclers News to which Murdoch explains, "The difference however is I've created this system of rods allowing me to change gears without dismounting."
• William and Juli begin openly courting - still a slow-burn though.
• The return of Dr. Lucas Harwick who was trying to perfect blood transfusions to treat hemophilia, last see in Bloodlust.
• Leslie Garland, younger brother of Darcy Garland, is introduced in this episode and will remain a recurring character throughout Season 7 into Season 8.

Historical References

• This episode takes place in Toronto 1901 – the Edwardian Era (1901-1910) is the time when King Edward VII rules the British Empire; Queen Victoria died January 22, 1901. It is also known as the Belle Époque era, conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
• Pathologist and immunologist Karl Landsteiner studied under Emil Fischer, discovered the different human blood types in 1901, and introduced a system for typing the first three blood groups.
• Blood transfusions used to increase an individual's oxygen-carrying red blood cells, and in turn, improve athletic performance is called Blood Doping today, and is prohibited.
• Marshall Taylor was the first African-American cyclist to achieve the level of world champion. He won the world 1 mile (1.6 km) track cycling championship in 1899 after setting numerous world records and overcoming racial discrimination.

Trivia

• The Toronto Athletic Club is first introduced.
• Chippy Blackburn, who has a habit of giving people nicknames, calls Murdoch "Detective Gadget", before noting that it doesn't sound quite right. This is a reference to Inspector Gadget.
• Filmed at the Woodlands Estate, Barrie, Ontario.
• David Christo who plays Warren Padgett first appeared in Body Double as David Martin.
• As of 2017, actress Rebecca Liddiard portrays Mary Shaw in the Frankie Drake Mysteries (2017-2021) who appears in the series' premiere online web series with Brackenreid and Watts which takes place in the future – Toronto 1921.

Errors

• At the beginning of the episode, Joe Fenton's bruise masking the injection is on the right arm. But at the end of the episode, it changes to the left arm.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as George Crabtree
Georgina Reilly as Emily Grace

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Jayden Greig as Bobby Brackenreid
Scott Wentworth as Dr. Lucas Harwick

Guest Cast

Seán Cullen as Chippy Blackburn
Giacomo Gianniotti as Leslie Garland
Dewshane Williams as Marshall Taylor
Julian Robino as Able Archie Milner
David Christo as Warren Padgett
Rebecca Liddiard as Lisette Barnes
Mike Bradley as Real Estate Agent
Joe Kippax as Jumpin' Joe Fenton

Gallery

Making a bet

The Bicycle Challenge

Crime Scene

No cause of death and no suggestion of wrong doing.

But isn't it always the last thing you find that offers the answer?

Joe was winning every race, and success breeds jealousy.

The puncture mark, initially masked by the bruising from the fall.

Not the first time one of Chippy's wheelmen have died on the course

Major Taylor recites his 'dozen don'ts'

A most satisfying dissection

I will book us a window table at one of Toronto's finest restaurants.

Chippy Blackburn and his top two wheelmen

An injection of blood killed Mr. Fenton.

Lucas Harwick helps only if the findings are shared

An improvement on Landsteiner's method

Identifying the blood type of each suspect

Dr. Grace explains her discoveries on the morgue Blackboard

"Fine answer, William."

Toronto Athletic Club