Murdoch Mysteries (TV Series) Hangman (2010) User Reviews

Hanging Offences

[wjspears · 9/10 · 28 September 2020]

Murdoch Mysteries uses humor effectively in many of their episodes. In this episode however, it seemed to switch regularly from mysterious, to humorous, to disturbing.

The mysterious for instance is: Why/how did the convicted man sentenced to die by hanging not actually die? And, if the escaped condemned man was actually innocent who was guilty.

The humorous are the usually enjoyable Constable Crabtree, but also almost all of the secondary characters in this episode.

Myrtle Smith, the condemned man's failed prostitute alibi, who is presented as a brassy tart that has Inspector Murdoch blinking, speechless, by the time his interview is over.

Theodore Pleasant, the titular hangman, is, early on especially, presented as a sotted, harmless oaf who can't imagine why the condemned man didn't die!

The prosecutor and the original detective on the condemned man's case are presented as mostly pompous buffoons, that we smile at more than detest.

But humor leads to some genuinely disturbing moments. Particularly when the details of hanging are investigated by Detective Murdoch.. How it must be methodically done to avoid unnecessary pain, and gruesome effects--such as a head snapping off after the body drops!

This fairly lengthy description and demonstration of hanging were more effective than the ethical discussion of the morality of the practice, or of capital punishment in general.

But the effect of these various moods was to create a whipsaw effect on the viewer,, it seems to me.

I assume the screenwriters felt that the aspects of hanging were too "heavy" to present on their own, and had to leaven it somewhat amusing secondary characters.

I enjoyed this episode a lot, even if it did leave me with a feeling of whiplash!

Who will guard the guardians?

[miles-33108 · 7/10 · 5 November 2016]

A man hanged for murder comes back to life on Dr Ogden's slab in the morgue and runs off. The first mystery to be solved is how he cheated the rope.

Quickly, the hangman comes under suspicion, and his heavy drinking doesn't help his case, but under pressure, he admits to rigging the execution so that the criminal would survive, explaining that he believed that the condemned man was innocent.

This leads to Murdoch reinvestigating the crime for which the man had been sentenced.

As the story unfolds, Murdoch becomes troubled by another case, some weeks earlier.

Following the trail of evidence leads unerringly to the true culprit, leaving the viewer to reflect on those who abuse the trust placed in them, and instead follow their own agendas.

Really stupid episode

[interestingstuff · 11 September 2022]

This episode is so stupid and over the top that it should have been filmed as a cartoon. Nothing in this episode made any sense any everything felt extremely forced and extremely over the top. Writers painted themselves into a corner which they couldn't get out of so they dig themselves deeper and deeper. At the end the solve remained unsolved but the show still pretends that it got solved because we are at the 45th minute mark and if the case isn't solved at 45 minutes, the show is ruined so they forced a rushed ending and we are all expected to pretend all is well.

I will be generous and give this episode 3/10 but the true score is more like 0/10. When writers force too many "plot twists" in their story to a point where it stops making any sense at all, they pretty much ruin the show as you can see in this extremely stupid episode which was most likely written by a 9 year old kid.

Dancing along the edge of the possible

[aramis-112-804880 · 9 March 2023]

How does a man survive a legal execution by hanging? Well, if you know anything about hanging it's pretty obvious. But I won't spoil it. Naturally, that's not all there is to it.

I don't like capital punishment but not for the usual reasons. I've known too many cases of terrible criminals who have repented (I know one personally) and I don't want to remove from anyone the hope of salvation.

That said, I don't like political discussions in art. As a writer I prefer the purity of art. Artistic works that take political stands are polemics. Characters can have a diversity of opinions but writers usually don't and they like to weigh stories in their favor. I think that's dirty. Writers have a right to express themselves and have a duty to present fair and equal points of view but they usually don't since writers (and I know the temptation) think they're superior to others read Dostoevsky's "The Crocodile."

Anyway, an interesting story, but typically vague, a failure of "Murdoch Mysteries." It's almost like writers of some episodes of this show don't like coming to conclusions of guilt.