Power

"Power"
Season	1
Episode	1
Airdate	January 20, 2008
Writer	R.B. Carney
Director	Farhad Mann
Guests	Tamara Hope as Edna Garrison Patrick Garrow as Allen Fawkes Alan C. Peterson as Edwin Dodd David Huband as Daniel Pratt
Recurring	Dmitry Chepovetsky as Nikola Tesla
Next	The Glass Ceiling

"Power" is the first episode of the first season and the first episode of the Murdoch Mysteries series. It first aired on January 20, 2008.

Summary

The city of Toronto is considering converting its electrical system from direct current to alternating current. A demonstration against the proposal is held with the intent of electrocuting a dog with high power. The newly crowned Miss Toronto Electric and Light, Alice Howard, attends the ceremony, having been invited to pull the switch on the mechanism. As she does, the crowd is horrified to see that she is electrocuted instead of the dog.

Nikola Tesla helps Detective William Murdoch with an experiment that proves that the switch used had been tampered with. Doctor Julia Ogden learns the route the electric current followed through the victim's body; she also determines that the victim was pregnant.

Allen Fawkes, Daniel Pratt, Edwin Dodd and Edna Garrison are all suspects. Eventually, Pratt admits to having been intimate with the young woman but is murdered by electrocution and Garrison is cleared. Tesla helps Murdoch construct a radio transmitter that allows Murdoch to record Dodd confessing to the murder of Pratt. The timing of the young woman's pregnancy and that of Fawkes's visits to Toronto, coupled with the fact that Fawkes expects to marry into a wealthy family, lead Murdoch to determine that Fawkes killed the woman.

Character Revelations

• Murdoch refers to Nikola Tesla as one of his heroes.
• Murdoch crosses his heart when confronted with the dead body of Alice Howard. This ritual continues in every episode forward.
• Dr. Ogden and Murdoch go to scientific exhibitions together.

Continuity

• Murdoch and Ogden arrive on bicycles together and Murdoch has brought a picnic basket as "it is a park."
• Tamara Hope as Edna Garrison will return in Season 8. This episode is the first time Edna and George meet.
• Dmitry Chepovetsky as Nikola Tesla will reappear in the Season 3 finale The Tesla Effect.

Historical References

• The War of Currents.
• The Power Station in Niagara Falls, New York.
• Murdoch and Tesla discuss the possibilities of future inventions, even the television.

Trivia

• Actor David Huband will return in Season 6 as Mayor Clarkson of Toronto.
• The reason why Dr. Ogden keeps Gold fishes in the City Morgue is given.
• "Case closed" is used for the first time by Dr. Ogden, who remarks on it as one to remember.
• "Me Ol' Mucker" Count: 1
• This episode was originally going to be episode 9 in Season 1.

Errors

• The phonograph played by Dr. Ogden was not available until around 1912, though the episode is supposed to take place in the 1890s.
• Constable George Crabtree casually enters Edna Garrison's rooms after hours, via the window, at her invitation. But in 1895, respectable people would never have done this, and done it so casually. If Crabtree had been discovered there, it would have meant the end of his police career, and Edna would certainly have been evicted.
• Also, Edna's room is not on the ground floor in an earlier scene, but it's on the ground floor later.
• Supposedly, Toronto is planning to bring electric power from Niagara Falls AC, in 1895. But it wasn't until 1906 that the Toronto Power Generating Station was opened at Niagara Falls, Ontario, to harness hydro electric power for Toronto.
• Allen Fawkes is mistakenly referred to as 'Guy Fawkes', the famous historical personage who tried to blow up Parliament.

Cast

Main Cast

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

Recurring Cast

Dmitry Chepovetsky as Nikola Tesla
Tamara Hope as Edna Garrison

Guest Cast

Patrick Garrow as Allen Fawkes
Alan C. Peterson as Edwin Dodd
David Huband as Daniel Pratt

Other Cast

Kristin Fairlie as Petunia
Tamsen McDonough as Alice Howard

References

• Toronto Humane Society
• Toronto Electric And Light
• Streetlighting Commission
• Thomas Edison
• New York City
• Niagara Falls
• Beasley's Boarding House
• Grand Hotel
• Toronto Gazette
• Violet
• Telephone

Gallery

A Demonstration

Death of Miss Howard

Nikola Tesla

Murdoch's Blackboard

Interviewing Petunia

Miss Howard was Pregnant

Brackenreid and Murdoch

Crabtree and Garrison

Interviewing Edna Garrison

Setting Up Dodd

Recording the Evidence

Case Closed?

I Need a Barrister