In Why is Everybody Singing, Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) sang, I rarely shout out body parts or what goes down the drain. Fast forward one year, and we get an episode dense with doggy-doo drollery, thankfully offset by loving jabs at the main characters, a solid—if somewhat quotidian—murder mystery, thought-provoking discussions about morality and justice, and a couple of cute dogs to boot.

Bugalugs is back! Constable George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) returns to Murdoch Mysteries in a deliciously quirky story that blurs the line between fiction and reality, explores what we love about the show’s main characters, and comments on the nature of storytelling. Like Crabtree’s book, this episode is brisk, compelling, and expertly written (I feel like writer Simon McNabb is now writing my reviews for me).

Well, that was a waste of a perfectly good story idea. What was billed as a look back at the story of fan-favourite James Pendrick turned out to be a clip show, consisting primarily of scenes from previous seasons and framed with just enough new content to justify calling it a new episode. The sad thing is, this could have been a great Pendrick adventure had the storyline been fleshed out into a complete episode. If you squint, you can see the outlines of a potential classic that we’ll now never get to watch.