On the Waterfront Part 1

"On the Waterfront Part 1"
Season	8
Episode	1
Airdate	October 6, 2014
Writer	Peter Mitchell
Director	Laurie Lynd
Recurring	Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins Kristian Bruun as Slugger Jackson Arwen Humphreys as Margaret Brackenreid Patrick McKenna as Hamish Slorach
Previous	"The Death of Dr. Ogden"
Next	"On the Waterfront Part 2"

"On the Waterfront Part 1" is the first episode of the eighth season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the ninety-seventh episode of the series.

Summary

Several months has passed since the Season 7 finale, Detective Murdoch investigates the murder of Richard Dawkins who was beaten to death at the dinner table by two masked men just as he was about to make an important announcement to his business associates. Since nothing was stolen Murdoch's new boss, Inspector Hamish Slorach, calls the killing an assassination.

Dawkins was rumored to be selling his chandlery business. The harbor master says Dawkins was anything but a saint and the police should look to the seedier side for a solution to his death. On dock patrol, Const. Jackson is badly beaten by two thugs which seems to confirm Murdoch's suspicion that the men who beat Inspector Brackenreid are the same ones who killed Dawkins. When they find a dead woman on the shore, Dr. Grace determines she was clubbed to death the night before the attack on Dawkins and was manacled before she died.

After his own brutal attack and three months in the hospital, Thomas Brackenreid takes up painting while recuperating at home; his behavior and lack of spunk has Margaret worried. After both Murdoch and Dr. Ogden fail to persuade Thomas to return work, it is Margaret who finally convinces Thomas that enforcing the law is his life. 

Meanwhile, Margaret Haile recruits Julia to the Suffragette Movement and they are soon joined by Emily Grace. Receiving little support politically from their petition, they agree to a protest march in front of Provincial Legislature.

A showdown at Toronto’s waterfront erupts when dock workers–led by the dastardly O’Shea brothers– faces off against Detective William Murdoch and the Constabulary seeking justice for the vicious attack on Inspector Thomas Brackenreid and Constable Jackson. Meanwhile in front of the Provincial Legislature, Dr. Julia Ogden and Dr. Julia Grace are caught up in their own protest between members of the Suffragette Movement and with those in political power, men who don’t take kindly to women wanting to vote– calling in the police to arrest the protestors. From city hall to the wharf, the ramp up in tension reaches a boiling point. In a nick of time, Brackenreid saves Murdoch from a brutal gang beating then disappears into the pandemonium seeking out the O'Sheas on his own.

Character Revelations

• Dr. Grace and Dr. Ogden join the suffragette movement.
• Inspector Brackenreid takes up gardening and painting in his self-imposed "retirement".

Continuity

• Detective Hamish Slorach, who took over for Detective Murdoch in The Murdoch Identity, now returns as Inspector at the Station House No. 4.

Historical References

• Margaret Haile became the first woman to run for legislative office in Canada when she was nominated on the platform of the Canadian Socialist League as a candidate for Toronto North in the 1902 Ontario provincial election.

Trivia

• The second official pairing of episodes with Part 1 and 2 in their titles.
• This episode has a violence warning at the beginning of the episode.
• Shares its title with a 1954 American film with Marlon Brando.

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
Kristian Bruun as Constable Slugger Jackson
Arwen Humphreys as Margaret Brackenreid
Patrick McKenna as Hamish Slorach
Jonathan Llyr as Mick O'Shea
Nick Nolan as Tim O'Shea

Guest Cast

Nicole Underhay as Margaret Haile
Trenna Keating as Kathleen King
Jo Joyner as Cecily McKinnon
Percy Hynes-White as Simon Brooks
Chadwick Allen as Lead Dock Worker
Jarrod MacLean as Richard Dawkins
Tracey Ferencz Mrs Dawkins
Murray Furrow as Lionel Jeffries
Caleb Cosman as Arthur Blake
Danielle Benton as Brenda Blake
Annie Briggs as Eileen
Peter Deiwick as Eileen's husband
Paul Miller as MPP Eldon Joseph Foster
Patrick Creery as Crown Prosecutor
Glen MacDonald as Defense Attorney

Gallery