This year’s holiday episode is a unique fusion of influences that have no business even being in the same episode, yet they magically blend to form a fairytale full of whimsy and melancholy, that leaves the viewer fully immersed in the Christmas spirit. Mixing Grimm with Dickens, Noël Coward, and The Pogues, writer Peter Mitchell and director Elsbeth McCall deliver a potential new favourite episode for the holidays.

Measure of My Dreams is one of those episodes that benefits from a re-watch. Even though I love episodes that are different from the typical Murdoch fare, it took me a while to ‘get’ this departure from the series’ usual murder-centric plots. With no murder—or even much of a mystery—to solve, the narrative takes its time to unfold. Much like Margaret Brackenreid’s (Arwen Humphreys) sisters, I was waiting for the party to get started. However, upon a second viewing, I was struck by the emotional depth and humour woven throughout the story.

The Pogues

Much of that emotional depth comes from an unexpected—and anachronistic—source: a tribute to Celtic punk band The Pogues and their frontman Shane MacGowan, who passed away in November of 2023. Mimicking the music video of their song Fairytale of New York, the episode opens with a scene of snow falling. We then cut to a scene that’s best described by quoting the first two lines of the song:

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank

A man and a woman are arguing in the Station House 4 cells, using some slightly cleaned-up words from the lyrics: cheap lousy faggot becomes cheap lousy maggot. The man, Shane McCowan (Daniel Beirne), is the spitting image of a young Shane MacGowan—in Violet Hart’s (Shanice Banton) description: the man with the rotten mouth and the powerful thirst. The woman (Hanneke Talbot) is named Kristy and can only be a 1912 version of Kirsty MacColl, the other vocalist on Fairytale of New York.

Toronto Tag-along

Since it’s Christmas Eve, Shane and Kristy are released from the drunk tank by Inspector Choi (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson). However, Shane immediately disappears again, and Kristy, worried that he may be in trouble, enlists Choi and Murdoch to help find him. This marks the beginning of an ever-growing procession through Toronto. Reminiscent of the Grimm fairytale The Golden Goose, more and more people tag along to find Shane. Like the Simpleton in the fairytale, Shane is a good man. He may be a drunkard, a gambler, and a thief, who owes money all over town (dixit Choi), but as Kristy says, that makes him no less a good man. Some of us are plagued by demons, sir. There’s not much to do about it. Murdoch and Choi are good men themselves and feel Shane and Kristy need their help. Of course, they might have an ulterior motive: they’re really not in the mood for going to the Brackenreids’ Christmas Eve party.

Ensemble Comedy

Then again, Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) is not feeling very festive, either. His multiple Bloody hells and Ho.Ho.Ho. make it very clear that this party was all Margaret’s idea. She wants to show off Thomas’s new position as Chief Constable to her three (horrible) sisters, and inviting movie star Ruth Higgins-Newsome (Siobhan Murphy) should certainly show my sisters the circle in which I now travel. Arwen Humphreys gets to show off her comedic chops—nobody does ‘uncomfortable’ better. And don’t get me started on seeing her lying on the floor, trying to act out God knows what in a game of Charades—but she also shines portraying a 1912 housewife who can only achieve status through her husband and her social circle. Her sadness is palpable as she says No children, no visitors. This is the worst Christmas ever.

The Brackenreids’ party has the feel of an old-fashioned ensemble play by Noël Coward or Oscar Wilde, with the entire cast playing off each other and lots of character quirks for everyone. There’s Ruth Higgings-Newsome, of course, who brings humour to every scene she’s in, and her hapless husband, Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch), who is particularly funny in his interactions with Brackenreid. Thomas Craig plays Brackenreid’s dislike of Margaret’s sisters perfectly. Of course, you can’t blame him for not getting along with the teetotaler, the police hater, and the maneater (Alison Brooks, Maria Syrgiannis, and Merle Newell). Nor can you blame Margaret for throwing everyone out—a scene worth it just for the way she bites that apple!

Happy Couples

In the last act of the episode, all the main cast, plus Shane and Kristy, inevitably end up in the Starbright Club, where Violet Hart is hosting a soirée. We’ve intermittently seen scenes from that soirée already, with Isaiah Buchanan (Mark Taylor) trying and failing to ask Violet to marry him, and Llewellyn Watts (Daniel Maslany) just drinking wine and smiling adorably until he’s reunited with Joseph Grayson (Travis Nelson). There’s real warmth emanating from this final act, driving home the point that Christmas is a time for loving each other, warts and all. Shane and Kristy sing Fairytale of New York, a duet echoed by the pairing off of Violet and Isaiah, Margaret and Thomas, Llewellyn and Joseph, and Henry and Ruth. Of course, all those happy endings make the final scene all the more poignant. Murdoch watching Susannah’s message from across the ocean and holding his ticket to go see his family soon is the perfect melancholic ending for a perfect Christmas episode.