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"Murdoch Mystery Mansion" is the premiere episode of the twelfth season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the one hundred sixty-ninth of the series. It first aired on September 24, 2018.

Summary

Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden have rebuilt their life after Ogden’s recent miscarriage by building a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a Chicago architect with a burgeoning reputation. However, the house is rocked by an explosion in Murdoch’s specially designed potato-cooking room that claims a man’s life.

Murdoch and Ogden invite George and Inspector Brackenreid to a housewarming upon completion of their new avant-garde home, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. To their surprise, Mr. Wright and his assistant Miss Ryand are hosting a viewing show of their home; there is a catch to owning Wright’s first-ever house in the Toronto area – a fine print clause Dr. Ogden overlooked in the contract. In short order, their new home turns into a crime scene filled with suspects when what is left of Mr. Lionel Spoud’s body is discovered in the innovative potato-cooking invention – a closet-sized microwave prototype. Mr. Wright comes under suspicion when it is discovered that the victim was a rival architect.

While still remaining Toronto’s Chief Coroner, Dr. Ogden is attending the University of Toronto School of Medicine to study surgery; this leaves the reliable Miss Hart to run the day-to-day workings of the City Morgue – and an opportunity to bolster her own quest to becoming the next Chief Coroner.

At the Station House, the Inspector and the soon-to-be-wed Constable Higgins duel it out over who is the boss – Ruth or Brackenreid, escalating with Higgins quitting the Toronto Constabulary.

Character Revelations

Continuity

  • William and Julia's home (and property) is the scene of a crime – again (ep.918, 1013, 1018).
  • George's idea from Season 3 (ep.313) finally happens, when Murdoch invents the "potato cooking room" (closet) for their new home – a micro-wave oven precursor – that could use a turntable to solve its "cooking evenly" issue.
  • While ambitious Miss Hart has her plans to be the next coroner at the City Morgue, Inspector Brackenreid gives her a straight-talk on the realities of Toronto-the-Good.
  • Henry and Ruth plan their upcoming wedding day and Ruth insists on finding George the "woman of his dreams".

Historical References

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1906 – the Edwardian Era (1901-1910) is the time when King Edward VII rules the British Empire; 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.
  • American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator Frank Lloyd Wright is introduced.
  • William and Julia have brought back from their recent travels to South America a Peruvian statue of Naymlap. Julia calls the statue “Apu” (god); The term dates back to the Inca Empire. Apus are the spirits of the mountains (sometimes solitary rocks and caves) that protect the local highland peoples in the  religion  and  mythology  of  Peru,  Ecuador, and Bolivia.

Trivia

  • This episode marks the first time Julia Ogden ( Hélène Joy) is seen riding her bicycle ( ep.101).
  • Allusion to Tinder and the #MeToo movement.
  • Downton Abbey’s Sophie McShera (Daisy) is the fourth member of the Downton Abbey cast to guest star (ep.602, 900) and the second in a Season Premiere (ep.1001) of Murdoch Mysteries.
  • The name Ann Ryand may be an allusion (and wordplay) on Ayn Rand, whose novel The Fountainhead (1943) featured a main character modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright. 
  • Recast actor Paul Rivers (Mr. Kepner) was first seen as the Train Conductor in A Midnight Train to Kingston.

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
Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgins
Shanice Banton as Violet Hart
Bea Santos as Louise Cherry
Siobhan Murphy as Ruth Newsome
Nathan Hoppe as Constable McNabb

Guest Cast

Sophie McShera as Ann Ryand
Aaron Poole as Frank Lloyd Wright
Nicholas Carella as Mr. Towne
Shannon Curie as Mrs. Ferguson
Shane Carty as Mr. Ferguson
Jean Pearson as Mr. Dodds
Paul Rivers as Mr. Kepner
Allan Turner as Mr. Spoud

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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