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"​The Glass Ceiling​" is the second episode of the first season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the second episode of the series. It first aired on January 27, 2008.

Summary[]

A lawyer named Percy Pollack is killed. Then a judge is killed.

William Murdoch learns from Thomas Brackenreid that Brackenreid, the lawyer, and the judge were all involved in the conviction of a killer. The killer supposedly later died in a fire, but Julia Ogden determines that the body autopsied could not have been that of the murderer.

Murdoch learns from the lawyer's widow that her late husband was investing in a project being developed by Gilbert Birkins, a doctor who once shared his practice with the doctor who conducted the suspicious autopsy.

Through it all, Murdoch is offered a chance to interview for a position as the inspector of Station House No. 3. He loses the position when Chief Constable Stockton learns that Murdoch is Roman Catholic and reminds Brackenreid that "Toronto is a Protestant city."

Character Revelations[]

  • Murdoch grew up in Nova Scotia.
  • Murdoch once worked in the logging industry and lived in Montreal for two years.
  • Murdoch has been with the police force for 10 years; 5 as a constable before serving as acting detective for 2 years. He became full detective 3 years before this episode.
  • Murdoch is Roman Catholic.
  • Murdoch's father had been a fisherman in Nova Scotia and his mother died when he was "only a lad."
  • The name of Murdoch's deceased fiancée is revealed to have been Liza Milner.

Continuity[]

Historical References[]

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1895 – Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 1819 - 1901) is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and Empress of India.
  • William Murdoch explains the difference between a battery and a capacitor, referencing Dutch scientist van Musschenbroek (1692 – 1761) and von Kleist.
  • Invention of the mechanized-bicycle, the future motorcycle.
  • Allusion to the development of Corn Flakes and Kellogg is mentioned.

Trivia[]

  • George comes up with the term "tracing".
  • George shares with Murdoch that he once had an idea for meat in a can.
  • "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan is playing on Dr. Julia Ogden's Edison phonograph in the City Morgue.
  • Director of Photography David Perrault, CSC, uses a 360 degree continuous shot in the Station House when Brackenreid and Murdoch discuss the case.
  • This episode was originally intended to be the pilot episode. 
  • An uncredited professional contortionist was hired to be the naked body, Percival Pollack, stuffed inside the trunk.
  • While the man photographed as Walter Ayott is uncredited, he is prop master, Craig Grant, who has appeared in the background of a few episodes, including Invention Convention and Hell to Pay.
  • The breakfast food is included in the list of related Murdoch Mysteries' Inventions with real world parallels.
  • "Me Ol' Mucker" Count: 2

Notable Quotes[]

George to Murdoch: "You know, I had an idea once to put meat in a can. Think about it. You could send it halfway across the world if you wanted to."

Errors[]

  • At the beginning of the episode, a Leyden Jar is referred to as a "capacitor". That term did not come into general use until the latter part of the 20th century. In the late 19th century. the device would have been referred to as a "condenser".
  • One of the Medal Ribbons worn by Chief Stockton is the General Service Medal issued from 1964 to 2000. This was a UK Medal that was also issued to Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand armed forces.
  • Detective Murdoch walks into Dr. Ogden's office as she is listening to a Gilbert & Sullivan melody on her Edison Diamond Disc phonograph. The show at this time is set in 1894 or 1895; Edison did not create his flat-disc phonograph until 1914. Prior to that, Edison's musical output came from cylinders.
  • When Inspector Thomas Brackenreid is cut by a scalpel at the end, he is sliced in the gut and clearly shown holding his hand to his vest (below his pocket watch chain) where a bloody incision opens from his abdomen and through the vest. When Brackenreid returns to the station from the hospital he is inexplicably wearing a sling on his arm, and there is no evidence that the wound was to his abdomen - but rather it's implying that his arm was injured. Especially since he tells Murdoch he's in need of "a good right hand... or left-hand man to keep me out of trouble."
  • Inspector Brackenreid uses the term "brown-nose", which didn't originate until the 1930s.

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[]

Arwen Humphreys as Margaret Brackenreid
Daniel Fleming as Bobby Brackenreid
John Fleming as John Brackenreid
Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgins
Allan Royal as Chief Constable Stockton

Guest Cast[]

Rick Roberts as Dr. Gilbert Birkins
Sarah Orenstein as Clara Pollack
James Kirchner as Cabbie
Diane Latchford as Mrs. Gibson
Patrick Stevenson as Delmer Ward

Non-Credited Cast[]

Craig Grant as Walter Ayott

References[]

Gallery[]


Murdoch Mysteries Season 1
"Power" • "The Glass Ceiling" • "The Knockdown" • "Elementary, My Dear Murdoch" • "'Til Death Do Us Part" • "Let Loose the Dogs" • "Body Double" • "Still Waters" • "Belly Speaker" • "Child's Play" • "Bad Medicine" • "The Prince and the Rebel" • "The Annoying Red Planet"
Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 14Season 15
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