The Halloween offering of season 12 of Murdoch is a lot of things: It is Halloween-themed (right down to the opening music); it is funny; it is an homage to a number of predecessors including 1950's sci fi movies and the X Files; and it is a departure from every other Murdoch Mysteries episode...ever. It is also NOT a number of things: not a period-piece mystery; not to be taken too seriously; and most of all, not given a proper ending.
If Sir. Sir? Sir!!! is watched on a streaming service after its original air date, odds are that the viewer would have to pay attention to the release date details to even notice that the episode was a special All Hallows' Eve offering. It is more in line with the Christmas episodes of Murdoch which take place largely outside of story arcs and serve primarily in an attempt to entertain the viewer in the spirit of the season instead of advancing character story arcs in any meaningful way or allowing viewer interaction in any real mystery solving puzzle.
Perhaps the strongest motivation to watch is that the actors seems to be having a ridiculous amount of fun on screen. That said, the episode simply ends "wrong." While any number of epilogue moments would have bolstered this well-trodden-tale, a 10 second clip of Crabtree simply talking about how we just enjoyed a reading of his latest manuscript would have made the whole viewer experience feel at least relevant and as time well spent. Bottom line: fun idea with colorful execution, but it only works if you know at the onset what is coming.
If Sir. Sir? Sir!!! is watched on a streaming service after its original air date, odds are that the viewer would have to pay attention to the release date details to even notice that the episode was a special All Hallows' Eve offering. It is more in line with the Christmas episodes of Murdoch which take place largely outside of story arcs and serve primarily in an attempt to entertain the viewer in the spirit of the season instead of advancing character story arcs in any meaningful way or allowing viewer interaction in any real mystery solving puzzle.
Perhaps the strongest motivation to watch is that the actors seems to be having a ridiculous amount of fun on screen. That said, the episode simply ends "wrong." While any number of epilogue moments would have bolstered this well-trodden-tale, a 10 second clip of Crabtree simply talking about how we just enjoyed a reading of his latest manuscript would have made the whole viewer experience feel at least relevant and as time well spent. Bottom line: fun idea with colorful execution, but it only works if you know at the onset what is coming.