Name one other TV show that can hilariously send up everything that’s a lot of gas about modern culinary culture while solving the murder of a garçon de cuisine and exploring attitudes towards women in the pre-World War I era. Plus: Brackenreid in a toque. Oh, Thomas!

Writer Nick West and director Katie Boland deliver a thoroughly enjoyable episode that works on every level (and has more than a passing resemblance to that other hit show, The Bear). It’s incredibly funny, it uses science and good old-fashioned detective work to solve the murder, both the regular and guest casts get to shine, and it has a lot to say about women’s place in society. The best thing about it is how these aspects reinforce each other and lift up the entire episode.

Nick West is still relatively new to Murdoch Mysteries, but he continues to impress me with his grasp of its nearly two decades of backstory. Need a reason for Margaret and Thomas Brackenreid (Arwen Humphreys and Thomas Craig) to be present when the murder occurs? Have them invest in yet another modern venture. The story calls for a snobbish, lecherous misogynist? Chadwick Vaughan (Mark Caven) is your man. Want to subtly acknowledge that Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) speaks French? Have everyone but him mispronounce the maître d’s name Jean-Luc Leclercq (Yanic Truesdale in what’s basically a reprise of his role as Michel Gerard in Gilmore Girls).

Blah, Blah, Blah

Whereas in last week’s review I complained about the A/B story format, this week the secondary, lighter story can easily stand on its own two feet but still enhances the humour and themes of the main story. Having the murder take place in a kitchen that aims to challenge what the restaurant experience is creates the perfect setting to make fun of modern gastronomy: local sourcing, abusive celebrity chefs who are treated like gods, the disassembling of every second dish, eating the animal and its habitat, and kitchen staff suffering for their art. The blah, blah, blah surrounding modern fine dining is matched nicely by the equally ridiculous social media culture where people stand in line to get a taste of food that’s gone viral on TikTok, or post images of their food on Instagram, letting it get cold in the process. Inspector Choi (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) saying I’ve drawn every picture of every great meal I’ve had across my travels while he and Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch) try to find the genius behind the Jamaican beef patty that’s going viral in Station House 4 is simply .

If Off-Menu Murdoch were just poking fun at gastronomy and foodies, my conclusion would probably be akin to Brackenreid’s It’s barely a mouthful. As it is, though, the episode comes served on a bed of social commentary that leaves viewers not full but fulfilled. Esther Soap (Ellen Olivia) is the real genius in Head Chef Aleister’s (Damon Runyan) kitchen but is not taken seriously by any of the men around her, not even by Cyril Finley (Mishka Thébaud), who kills for her without knowing what she would want. Her ideas for Ontario delicacies were stolen by the head chef, and Vaughan – who’s been having a great ol’ time since he lost his mayoral responsibilities and ditched his wife – is clearly less interested in her cooking than in the shape of her delicacies.

Unlike Chef Soap, the other culinary genius in this episode – Millicent Weatherburn (Leslie Adlam), she of the Jamaican beef patty – is not taking any disrespect from any man: Look here, massa. Me not change my recipe for suit nobody. How me make it is how you have to take it.

Societal Expectations

The misogyny towards Louise Cherry (Bea Santos) may be the most realistic, and certainly the most insidious, wrapped up as it is in how she does her job: Is she always that pushy? Pushy doesn’t even cover it. And that brash newspaper woman. Ironically enough, Margaret is probably the least bothered by these societal expectations, precisely because she’s the most traditional of the Murdoch ladies.

Effie Newsome (Clare McConnell), meanwhile, must contend with societal norms about who to date – apparently, not a pastry chef – as well as the Brackenreids getting actively involved in her love life, and Roy Davenport’s (Cooper Levy) marriage proposal (mutual opportunity, be still my heart). Effie may be a bit less outspoken than Millicent, but she knows her own mind equally well: I’d rather gnaw my own arm off than dangle from yours. Go, Effie!