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.

In The Death of James Pendrick—a title, incidentally, that fools no one; remember The Death of Dr. Ogden?—genius inventor James Pendrick (Peter Stebbings) appears to be responsible for the death of a woman piloting his latest invention: the ARCADIA (Autonomous Rocket-Charged Aerosolized Dispersal Aircraft), a long-range rocket-powered aeroplane that he intended to use to distribute his anti-biotic medicine over every city in the world. Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and Chief Constable Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) investigate the crash with the help of another fan favourite, government agent Terrence Meyers (Peter Keleghan), and discover that the aircraft was instead carrying a vial of Pendrick’s instant rabies, developed into a biological weapon of mass destruction.

As it turns out, Pendrick is once again being used by the Canadian government, this time because they need the technology to end the impending World War before it begins, by exterminating the enemy (the Ottomans). With the help of yet another of Pendrick’s inventions—the Pendrick Parlour, with its Face Space and Chat Space where misinformation runs rampant—the Ottomans have manipulated an ordinary Canadian into becoming an Ottoman agent. Well, not so ordinary: it was one of Pendrick’s former assistants, Ashmi Desai (Glenda Braganza), a pharmaceuticals expert who had betrayed him before and was now charged with stealing the aircraft and spraying the bioweapon all over Toronto. She would have succeeded too, if Svetlana Tsiolkovsky (Christine Horne), another of Pendrick’s assistants and love of his life, hadn’t used the secret self-destruct feature of the ARCADIA to stop the operation and save every man, woman, and child in the city.

Constant Interruptions

I’m spending so much time on this recap to impress upon you, the reader, what a fantastic storyline this is—one that is perfectly able to stand on its own two legs. Instead, the plot is constantly interrupted by flashback clips that serve to reintroduce characters and showcase Pendrick’s many inventions, making it hard to follow the thread of the plot and feel invested in the story. The only other time Murdoch Mysteries used clips from previous episodes to tell a story was in The Trial of Terrence Meyers. There, the flashbacks were an integral part of the storyline, not just exposition. What’s puzzling is that clip shows are usually made to save on production costs or because of time constraints. However, I don’t imagine this episode will lead to considerable savings, given the need to pay the creative talent for the many episodes quoted from—not to mention the big-name actors featured in the new material, along with the (wonderful) props, sets, and drawings. That leaves time constraints as a possible reason. Last year, the episodes leading up to the musical episode Why Is Everybody Singing? were written in such a way that everyone involved would have time to rehearse and record songs for the musical. One can only hope that the reason for this year’s clip show is that something similarly spectacular is in store for one of the five upcoming episodes remaining this season.

If neither budget nor time lies at the root of making The Death of James Pendrick a clip show, we must take the Marketing department at their word and believe it was a creative choice meant to celebrate the life and inventions of James Pendrick. This actually makes it worse. This episode has so much going for it that it’s a shame not to use everything that writer Simon McNabb and director Mina Shum have at their disposal: the main actors’ availability, an imaginative plot with funny lines and inventive ideas, the historic backdrop of impending World War I, great props and costumes, a wonderfully cartoonish villain, the idea of Pendrick’s assistants uniting, Meyers’s secret lair, and, of course, Pendrick’s inventions.

Revisiting Old Favourites

Much as I love rewatching old episodes, I’d much rather have a completely new one. I will say, however, that the clips were well-chosen and the transitions between old and new were well executed. We get to revisit some of the best scenes from years ago: Meyers in the rocket, Brackenreid looking at cat videos, George’s password, and Murdoch’s looks of pure joy every time he flies or talks about flying. Also, I’m sure that fans who complain about the absence of Jonny Harris and Hélène Joy will be happy to see them, even if it just in flashbacks.

As for the new storyline, McNabb is able to cram in some very funny jokes and zany scenes in the short time available. I especially liked how Margaret Brackenreid (Arwen Humphreys) is so addicted to the Parlour that she develops a repetitive strain injury and now does her own research when looking for medical advice online—even if the poultice she uses on her wrists looks positively rancid. Also, Terrence Meyers does not disappoint, alternating between looking absolutely bewildered and being extremely ruthless. I liked how he didn’t say national security, yet we all heard it in our heads: I have to attend to a matter of… well, you know. And it’s not just the funny stuff that’s good; the grief over Pendrick’s death is well acted by Yannick Bisson and Thomas Craig, as is Murdoch’s hesitation to speak about Pendrick’s former assistant (and lover?) to Svetlana. I also found it pretty cool that Murdoch hacked into Meyers’s Parlour account, using that tremendous memory of his, after a cleverly written scene that led to him seeing the password. This scene, by the way, put the flashbacks to good use in a montage of short clips that showed Meyers’s, shall we say, difficult relationship with the truth.

Some Problems

The new plot is not without its problems (which I think could have been ameliorated if the story had had the full 44 minutes to play out). Why doesn’t Murdoch look for Pendrick first instead of bringing in Svetlana? Why does Brackenreid say, James was a man of peace, while he doesn’t yet know that he is dead? Why does Pendrick comply with Meyers when he is provided with every resource, luxury? Why, when Margaret presumably stole the vial from the Station House at the same time she heard about Pendrick’s death, does she not show any concern for Brackenreid’s health? Why do James’s assistants, including Svetlana, continue to believe he is missing or dead when he has been communicating with them about his progress via the Parlour? Also, did they forget that Murdoch has a Parlour in his upstairs lab at the Station House?

Easily the best part of the episode is the last act, when they dispense with the long clips. The scene where Murdoch and Brackenreid enter Meyers’s lair is wonderfully absurd, featuring two identical twins whose presence is never addressed or explained, and who, like the other accountant in the room, don’t even look up when Murdoch and Brackenreid—slightly weirded out by the whole thing—open the hidden sliding door. Pendrick’s reunion with Svetsi (aww) is sweet, and I love how Murdoch and Pendrick are completely in sync when they think of a way to rescue Margaret and capture Ashmi without Pendrick actually meeting his maker. The rescue scene is straight out of a cartoon-like adventure movie, with Ashmi all dressed in villain-black (nice hat!), Margaret simply shedding the rope she was tied up with, and Pendrick spraying the aerosolized antidote all over the place. Finally, before Pendrick—dreams crushed once more, but with Svetlana by his side—gets to ride into the proverbial sunset, Brackenreid gets into Meyers’s face, eyes shooting daggers, saying, And the King is instructing me to knock your bloody head clean off! Sunshine.

The End. Now let’s not do that ever again.