Now that’s how you stick the landing! After last week’s cliffhanger, in the Season 18 finale the plane touched down and immediately pulled back up into the air. Constable Tucker is dead, gangster Tony Petrucci has escaped, and we’re off on another nail-biting adventure—one that offers a fast-paced story, lots of twists and turns, a great cast of old and new characters, and a thought-provoking theme. And it ends with another bloody cliffhanger!

Writer Keri Ferencz is one of Murdoch Mysteries’ best dialogue writers, and her talents come to the forefront here as she and director Peter Mitchell compare and contrast the stories of individual characters to tell a larger story of power, loyalty, and making choices.

As Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and his colleagues at Station House 4 investigate an attack on the Starbright Club that escalates to a beating, a shooting, and a murder, we eventually learn that these incidents are all connected to an Irish gang out of Montreal that has been attempting to gain a foothold in Toronto. Petrucci’s (Luis Fernandes) escape is merely a red herring in this investigation—though it is very much tied to the overarching power struggle between the Toronto Constabulary and Mayor Vaughan (Mark Caven).

Tight storytelling

The script may seem busy, perhaps even chaotic at times, but this is actually very tight storytelling. In addition to two interconnecting storylines, the episode features a large cast of characters—including the Constabulary and its affiliates, the Black community, the Irish community, and the Italian gangsters—but manages to give all of them an opportunity to shine.

And none shines brighter than Violet Hart (Shanice Banton). Looking back on the season, we were drip-fed hints that her heart was less and less in the coroner’s office and more and more with the Starbright Club and, by extension, her community. No wonder, then, that she is investing heavily in her neighbourhood safety program, and when Murdoch asks her to choose between her program and her job as a coroner, it’s not a hard choice to make at all. Murdoch, despite having had a bee in his bonnet about her at one time, now tells her, Miss Hart, Violet, I have no horse in this race. Truly. He lets her know how much he values having her in the coroner’s office but makes it clear that her neighbourhood safety program and her public profile as city coroner cannot coexist. So: I’m saying that if I have to choose, then I choose this place and these people. My people.

Compare and contrast

While we’re on the subject of choices, this episode is full of them. They revolve around the questions of loyalty (or lack thereof) and morality, and how far one would go to pursue them. Some choices are black and white, while others are on a sliding scale. Mitchell and Ferencz cleverly form pairs to highlight the differences between the characters and how their choices shape their identities.

Take, for instance Violet Hart and Kiera Ryan (Katherine Ryan). Both are (female) members of a minority community, both run entertainment establishments, both juggle multiple professions, and both do what they must to protect their community. Yet, while Kiera is willing to kill for her people, Violet claims she is not in the habit of killing those who I argue with. She does, however, believe in vigilante justice and is more than happy to have her community pay for protection. If Murdoch were to draw a Venn diagram on his blackboard, it would not only show significant overlap between Violet and Kiera, but also between Violet and gangsters like Petrucci and Ardal O’Donnell (John Cleland). The only difference between her and those gangsters is that she doesn’t bust up any establishments—although her manager, Ephraim Currant (Emmanuel Kabongo) is not above using his fists on their enemies.

Life choices

Another memorable pair is formed by Petrucci and Chief Inspector Choi (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). After heroically rescuing Petrucci from rival gangster Mark Colangelo (Mal Dassin)—who sprung Petrucci from jail to kill him in revenge for his brother’s death—Choi takes him to his apartment. As Choi tries to get Petrucci to confess to the murders of hydro engineer Kerr and Tucker, a compelling dialogue unfolds between these two men, who both come from marginalized communities yet made very different life choices to compensate. They are two sides of the same coin: one became a gangster, the other a cop. Although I must confess that, for a moment, I thought Choi had turned to the dark side (yes, I went there—may the Force be with me!).

In addition to Hart/Ryan and Petrucci/Choi, a couple of other duos deserve mention. Over time, a friendship has developed between Violet Hart and Llewellyn Watts (Daniel Maslany). Even so, Watts only briefly hesitates before he tells Murdoch about Violet’s community organization. However, he still helps her trap Kiera Ryan by employing a bit of Murdoch’s methodical thinking and technology. There is no greater contrast than that between Murdoch’s and Watts’s methods; yet, they both arrive at the same conclusion—twice. Despite, or more likely because of, their differences, they make a great investigative duo, as well as comic relief.

A very strong ending to a very strong season

The gang turf wars, the infighting and betrayals, the character insights, and the murder investigation in this episode create a thrilling ride. Sure, there are a couple of details that wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny—why not simply kill Petrucci in jail? How did Murdoch know to show Colangelo’s mug shot to Roberts? And how did Kiera know to use curare to frame Violet?— but it’s easy to overlook these questions because the episode is such a rollercoaster.

And that’s not even counting the ending. I had a knot in my stomach throughout the entire episode; it was so obvious this season’s battle with Mayor Vaughan would not end well. And sure enough, there he was at the end, with that smug smirk, making good on his threat to clean up the corrupt constabulary and partisan Crown Attorney’s office. In the end, all it took was one padlock on the door of Station House 4 to declare the station house and its staff redundant, and to relieve Brackenreid and Crown Attorney Crabtree (Clare McConnell) of their duties. Way to raise the stakes for Season 19 and to leave Detective Murdoch standing alone in the street in a beautiful shot, and us dangling from a cliff until the Fall. Then again: Brackenreid’s not worried—So we’ve got a day off. Right, lads. We’re all off to The Tipsy Ferret. The first drink is on me—so neither am I. Much.

PS: RIP Constable Tucker (?)

After last week’s episode, I did not believe that Constable Tucker had indeed been killed. After all, why would the writers carefully build up his story over the course of two seasons, getting him in deeper and deeper with the mob, only to have him killed off unceremoniously? And of course, we never actually saw him get shot. But that newspaper headline seemed definitive. And we now know that his killer, Bobby Marano (Gianpaolo Venuta) is still alive, so Tucker didn’t turn the tables on him. Unless of course, Marano was paid off, which would explain him saying, I’m loyal to whoever holds the purse, as well as Brackenreid’s sanguine reaction. In that scenario, Tucker is alive and well and waiting in the wings to testify against Vaughan. But that would imply a massive conspiracy. Still, why would Petrucci confess to the murder of Kerr, but not the murder of Tucker? In short, I go back and forth on Tucker’s fate and will likely continue to do so until the next episode airs (confound you, Peter Mitchell!).