Night of the Headless Horseman

I think I've seen virtually every episode of Murder She Wrote multiple times because it's charming, I love Angela Lansbury and it's an easy watch in the background when you're doing something else lol. But the one thing that always cracks me up about this episode is when Dorian introduces Jessica as his mother and the professor says, "Aren't you a little young to be Dorian's mother?" And I'm like, what is he talking about? She's clearly like decades older than him. So I checked Angela's birth year and the actor playing Dorian's birth year - and yep she was 30 years older than him! 🤣 Not too young to be his mother at all. Idk why they put that line in there, maybe because Angela thought she looked too young to be his mom -- which only makes me love her more. Lol.

I suppose all shows need to do a Halloween Special. Here Dorian (Thom Bray) swindles Jess Fletcher (Angela Landsbury) to come out to a private school where Dorian teaches poetry so she can pretend to be his mother. He is in love with the school's owner's daughter and has to come off as more of a polished legacy instead of his real history of being an orphan.

There is a town bully named Nate played by "Brady Bunch" famed Barry Williams. He's more corny than evil. But he also seems to be a womanizer.

He lives to torment Dorian (and the town) until one day they have a fight, and the next morning Nate ends up being beheaded.

What is genius about this particular episode is the blend between grim and humorous. While it's pretty clear a beheaded victim would come off, in this hoity toity town as a five alarm fire, some of this is played for slight chuckles. For instance a stablehand who walks with a scythe as he recollects moments of disgust for the people he works for. It's not laugh out loud funny, but some times played for a side-eyed smile.

Barry is the weakest part of this one. He seems to be phoning it in. Not committed to the bully role. Perhaps overdoing it.

The town dentist, Doc Walker (Charles Siebert) is phenomenal as is the always dependable Hope Lang as a mysterious stable mistress.

Give time, if this were to be extended as a feature, it would absolutely work.

The resolution is dark but honest. It's heartbreaking as much as it is emotionally painful. It somehow took a turn towards a lighter buoyant series into a more tragic one. Save for the tacked on epilogue which tries to make it fun again.

Excellent episode, even after a few stumbles. Look out for, what amounts to a cameo, from the lovely Judy Landers as Bobbie. Her Marilyn Monroe breathy speak is always a hoot.

Wenton, Vermont, maintains its rural Colonial charm from its railroad depot to its old-fashioned inn, from its stables to its covered bridge, from its proclivity to costuming to its conforming school for boys, Wenton Academy.

It is into this nostalgic community which poet Dorian Beecher (Thom Bray) accepts a teaching position. to succeed the late Gretchen Van Stotter, who perished from a mysterious accident one year prior to the action of this episode.

Gretchen's father, Dorn Van Stotter (Guy Stockwell), serves as Stablemaster at Wenton Academy, under the supervision of proprietor Edwin Dupont (Fritz Weaver) and Administrator Charlotte Newcastle (Hope Lange), who soon begin to encounter an investigation over swindled funds.

Gretchen's fiancé at the time of her passing, Dentist Penn 'Doc' Walker (Charles Siebert), welcomes Mrs. Beecher, Dorian's "mother" upon her arrival to Wenton. It seems that Dorian has become serious with Sarah Dupont (Karlene Crockett), daughter of the stern Edwin Dupont, and needs someone kindly to present. And so, when he invites his former teacher Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), he doesn't relate the entire story.

Waitress Bobbie (Judy Landers) tends to serving Jessica and Dorian, as they gather at the Inn with Doctor Penn Walker, but festivities are interrupted by town bully Nate Findley (Barry Williams), who picks a fight with Dorian, who grabs a sword from the wall, but is interrupted by the entrance of Sheriff Sam Rankin (Doug McClure) and his assistants Deputy (Gary Pagett) and Uniformed Policeman (Tom Ohmer) when a brawl breaks out.

Those credited as 1st Man (Sanford Clark), 2nd Man (Forry Smith), 3rd Man (John England) and 4th Man (Brad Zerbst) appear at the mêlée and afterward, as they toss the sword from their truck upon finding Dorian by the creek. However, three of the combination are seen in either scene.

Because it happens to be a three-day autumn holiday at Wenton Academy, most of its pupils have left campus, with the exception of Todd Carrier (Donald Thompson), Robert (Brandon Douglas) and Brendan (Adam Ferris), who seem to enjoy the stable to the degree of founding a clubhouse upon its loft. They also seem to enjoy sleuthing around corners, and through the window of the loft.

So, on the "Night of the Headless Horseman," when a murder thickens the plot of romance from a distance, Dorian enlists Jessica to achieve "Poetic Justice."

Dorian Beecher is a very talented poet, an amiable chap, who is haunted the headless horseman, who terrorises him late at night, a cloaked figure, who clutches a pumpkin, but appears to have no head. Dorian believes he knows the identity of the horseman, a local bully boy who. Jessica is on hand to help.

I can forgive this episode its minor faults, so Dorian isn't exactly overly appealing, not particularly a passionate individual, but this is actually a rather good episode, the story is excellent, I love the Gothic overtones, a cloaked figure terrorising our protagonist, it is really smart. The visuals are excellent, they made full use of the storyline. Nice touches of humour, Jessica's disbelief at Dorian's lie, plus a really interesting conclusion make this one of my favourite episodes in the third series. 9/10

Socially inept Thom Bray a poetry teacher at a boy's country day school invites fellow writer Jessica Fletcher to the school as a guest lecturer. What he tells when she arrives is that he has told everyone including stuffy schoolmaster Fritz Weaver that Angela Lansbury is his mother. A bit mortified Lansbury goes along with the lie.

That turns out to be a bad move when the school's womanizing riding instructor Barry Williams is killed, in fact decapitated. When Bray and Lansbury fess up to that lie, the sheriff Doug McClure isn't inclined to believe Bray is innocent of murder. In fact there was a public humiliation of Bray by Williams earlier.

But someone like Williams is going to have a host of people wanting to do him in. A little investigating and you know Jessica Fletcher will solve it.

Personally one look at Bray and you know he's not capable of murder.