Summer of '75

"Summer of '75"
Season	9
Episode	7
Airdate	November 23, 2015
Writer	Michelle Ricci and Carol Hay
Director	Don McBrearty
Previous	The Local Option
Next	Pipe Dreamzzz

"Summer of '75" is the seventh episode of the ninth season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the one-hundred twenty-first episode of the series. It first aired on November 23, 2015.

Summary

A childhood friend from wilderness camp, Winnifred “Freddie” Pink, a private investigator from Montreal - alerts Murdoch to imminent danger after a man is gunned down at close range, leading the two of them to revisit their past, Algonquin Park, and to investigate a 30-year-old murder.

The present-day murder case is linked to seven campmates seemingly targeted by the perpetrator of a murder at the camp in 1875.

Character Revelations

• Young William Murdoch was a Governor General Young Scholar.
• The second flashback starts with Young William Murdoch saying, "I prefer not to be called Billy." to which young Winnifred Pink replies, "All right, Billy."
• Rebecca is resuming her medical studies at the Ontario Medical College for Women while working at the City Morgue.

Continuity

• Young Murdoch uses two lessons learned from Father Keegan in Shipwreck : "...nothing to fear from the dead " and "What do you observe?"
• This is the first time anyone has called Murdoch "Billy". When young Murdoch is asked "Don't your friends call you Billy?" He replies, "Not really."
• Rebecca loses her position at the morgue again and regains it again, with Dr. Ogden as her champion.
• Murdoch builds and presents Julia with a scaled-model of "...our home, that I'm going to build for you."

Historical References

• Algonquin Provincial Park, established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canada. Over 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of streams and rivers are located within the park. These were formed by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age. The park is considered part of the "border" between Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The park is in an area of transition between northern coniferous forest and southern deciduous forest. This unique mixture of forest types, and the wide variety of environments in the park, allows the park to support an uncommon diversity of plant and animal species. It is also an important site for wildlife research.
• Murdoch's "lapboard" is an allusion to the modern laptop computer, and shares a similar layout. Upon seeing it (and in this context), Freddie says she will stick with her "pad" which may be meant as an allusion to the iPad. Also, see L.A.P.T.O.P.
• Murdoch uses the phrase "Toronto the Good", with its history as a bastion of 19th century Victorian morality and coined by Mayor William Holmes Howland.

Trivia

• This is the third episode the Pinkerton's Detective Agency is mentioned.
• Murdoch also had a "laptop" in Nightmare on Queen Street.
• This is actress Alex Paxton-Beesley‘s second appearance on Murdoch Mysteries; the first time was in Shades of Grey as Lillie Dunn.
• MM Make-up Artists Deb Drennan, Shirley Bond are nominated for the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards' for Summer of ‘75.
• Young Winnifred Pink ofPrince Edward Island has similarities to the look epitomized by Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Although accurate to the look of the period, this could be a nod to the Canadian TV Series as the week Summer of 75 aired was the 30-year-anniversary of its original Anne of Green Gables CBC airdate.
• Freddie being the only (and presumably first) girl to win the Governor General’s Young Scholar Award in 1875 may be a possible nod to Grace Annie Lockhart, the first woman in Canada to graduate from university, also in 1875.

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

Mouna Traoré as Rebecca James
John Paul Ruttan as Young Murdoch

Guest Cast

Alex Paxton-Beesley as Winnifred “Freddie” Pink
Ella Querin as Young Winnifred "Freddie" Pink
Jason Jazrawy as Mr. Collins
Darryl Hopkins as Constable Dale Dobson
Pierre Simpson as Jacques Devereaux
Geoffrey Pounsett as Edwin Clarke
Lawrence Bayne as Joe Huggins
Trek Buccino as Young Jacques Devereaux
Tristan Culbert as Young Edwin Clarke
Sam Herrington as Young Hamish McTavish
Leo Vernik as Hamish McTavish
M.E. Lewis as Mr. Richmond

Non-Credited Cast

Horace Wilcot aka Glenn Singer