Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home

Sorry I wasn't crazy about this, and I don't know if I will continue to watch the series.

The story concerns an ex- Army surgeon who returns to her hometown, where she and joins an already-edtablished group of family practice physicians. When a patient dies mysteriously, she becomes embroiled in solving the murder.

Part of my problem is the lead, Amanda Schull. She's completely one note, plus she comes off as cold and uptight.

The film moved slowly. I did like that there were animals, and the subplot with the man down on his luck.

This suffers in contrast to the Hannah Swenson mysteries which has more lively characters and humor. I found Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home dull.

I enjoy most of the Hallmark Mysteries. Some are better than others, and all follow a bit of a formula, but the twisted and turns in each is different. The actors, almost without exception, are strong personalities that fit the roles well. Both the female and male leads and supporting actors bring excitement to their characters.

It's great to see new mysteries and this one seems real with its depiction of a military vet returning to civilian life. This will be a great addition, though we still miss some of our favorites like Gourmet Detective and Mystery 101. I look forward to seeing this and more of the coming mysteries on Hallmark.

The script on this episode needed drastic fixes to get it up to speed as a well-written mystery, but it's too late now. The usual Hallmark cringey scenes were also dialed up to extra-cringey in this one.

On to the issues. Our hero, the doctor, was wildly incompetent. Her kids and live-in Dad provided the needed investigation expertise when she hit a wall over basic investigation and logic concepts. Dad functioned like an all-seeing oracle for some reason. The cops also inexplicably inserted her into the department to monitor witness statements and suspect interviews. They cops also didn't seem to care that the doctor went around blabbing about every major case detail to anybody and everybody, even possible suspects.

Other logic problems were sprinkled throughout. The state of the crime scene was a major red flag that nobody bothered to mention, not the cops or the coroner. The coroner was so incompetent that her behavior stood out as author intrusion in our story; she would never have been allowed on the job being that dumb.

The show had the cozy mystery setting, but beyond that, it needed serious work in every other department. We barely made it through to the end.

I've been watching these Hallmark Murder Mysteries series for many years and try to go into each and every one of them with an open mind. Sure, they're low budget, shot in BC, with a mid-level stable of competent Canadian and American actors, and written by screenwriters with a background of churning out simple, paint by numbers scripts that are never profoundly clever (I know who the killer is and why they did it 20 minutes into each movie)...

But what really irritates me, as of late, is how Upper Middle Class, White and privileged the characters all are. Leads & supporting all have fabulous jobs and live in 3 million dollar homes, with granite kitchen islands, glorious bay windows, 4 bedrooms/5 baths and a back yard you can play football in. Their cars all cost $60k+ and their clothes are effortlessly classy. Frankly, I just want to bash their faces in!

Look, it's fine to watch aspirational characters onscreen, getting into trouble and solving crimes. But I've been a TV writer & producer for many years and very much want my characters -- all still clever, talented and determined -- to live in 2 bedroom rental apartments, work as a waitress, janitor or retail clerk, and get their clothes & home decor at Walmart! Audiences can RELATE to those people and not hate/resent them for living a lifestyle they will never, ever have.

When a doctor's healthy patient is found dead, she becomes suspicious. Former Army surgeon, Rachel, moves back to the states with her teenage twins after loosing her husband. Frustrated that the coroner isn't planning to do an autopsy on her former patient, Rachel pursues other avenues in order to get it to happen. Her father introduces her to detective Jack Quinn who gives her some ideas on how to put her forensic military team experience to use on this case. Slowly an interesting familial case unfolds.

I really like the actor Brendan Penny, who plays detective Jack, and I thought Amanda Schull did an excellent job as Rachel. It was interesting how involved her teenage twins got in the investigation. I appreciated that the victim was well liked and spoken highly of at his place of work.

This was a little more serious as far as Hallmark mysteries go and I enjoyed it. I would definitely watch more and can recommend it to hallmark mystery fans.