Something Foul in Flappieville

This episode is interesting. It shows the kind of things puppeteers go though to perform and puppets updated. The art work, the voice characters, the setting and more.

One thing that brought my attention was one of the puppets was named Lestrad. This may be the wrong spelling but Lestrad was a detective in Agatha Christie stories. Lestrad worked in harmony with Poirot.

In this movie Lestrad had a mustache, a French cap, French accent and was a detective.

This episode is based on changing and updating current puppets and getting rid of old ones. New deals were made to keep the old puppets one of which was a dog.

JB Fletcher supposedly was in this episode because she wrote a story that was being used for the puppets to play in. Jessica was taking notes regarding the story and also the appearance of the puppet Lestrad. She wanted Lestrad to look more professional as a detective. So a raincoat was made for him and a magnifying glass held in his hand. He also had a red bow tie. I am a big fan of Agatha Christie's and her Poirot series. The characters name though is in Arthor Doyles, Sherlock Holmes Inspector Lestrade.

To me this is like plagiarism. Poirot had a mustache, was a private detective, had a French accent and wore a bow-tie pictures Check out Poriot's images on Google. He has dark bowties and light one.

The story has a nice ending so in all I thought it was pretty good but I would have hoped they did not make Jessica take credit for a character written by someone else, Ms Lansbury is a great actress and is the executive producer of many of these shows, her nephew is also a producer so she had some say about the story line

This episode of Murder She Wrote has Jessica Fletcher branching out so to speak. She's gone into the business of writing a children's book with an engaging animal character who is a policeman. Now she's dealing with television who would like to give her character a show.

If Angela Lasnbury thought the publishing business could be cutthroat wait till she has to deal with the various egos involved with television. Stephen Kay who at times is almost childlike himself like Michael Jackson is the host of a current show who'd like to get Lansbury to collaborate with him. Kay is woeful as a business person.

A security guard is killed preventing someone from stealing a prototype puppet and notes on the character. Kay looks good, but we know it won't be him.

Who'd have thought kid's television could be so nasty?

Jessica is at a television studios, where her latest project sees one of her creations about to come to life, to entertain millions of children. A murder on the set throws the show into chaos.

This is a lighter episode, not necessarily amusing, but it's a jolly enough murder mystery, the puppets are cute, and it does feel quite original, but there are some flaws, how on Earth is Jessica involved in a puppet show, it makes no sense.

I'll credit them for the murder victim, that seemed to come out of nowhere, not the victim I was expecting.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but think of The Happytime Murders, a film from a few years ago, which featured the Muppets.

It's officially Murder, she wrote's easiest mystery to work out, even if you're only half listening, you'll spot the glaringly obvious clue, it needed to be a whole lot more subtle.

6/10.

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Something Foul in Flappieville" is not only to me one of the worst episodes of Season 12, it is in the bottom 10 worst 'Murder She Wrote' episodes in general. Admittedly was very sceptical as to whether it would work in the first place, with the idea seeming so beneath 'Murder She Wrote's' usual standards and it just seemed on paper so out of place conceptually within the show. My scepticism proved to be correct, the idea just didn't work for me and the execution was near-bottom of the barrel.

There are saving graces. The production values as always are slick and stylish. Some of the scoring has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

Angela Lansbury is as always terrific, Jessica Fletcher being one of her best-remembered roles for very good reason. Most of the acting is not good at all, and that's being kind, but Dey Young and Corrine Bohrer show some charm and Bryan Cranston does menacing very well.

When it comes to the rest, there is a lot of over-acting going on in "Something Foul in Flappieville" and it is very poor over-acting that wouldn't even pass for unintentional humour. Stephen Kay in particular is embarrassing with the most annoying character of an episode full of characters too over-the-top to be taken seriously. They do have a very contrived and awkward script to work with, one that doesn't have any subtlety of any kind with self-indulgent wannabe witticisms and cringe-worthy funny lines delivered with voices nearly as creepy as the puppets.

Can say nothing better about the story. It takes far too long to get going, the murder investigation is both rushed through and uninspired, with too much strangeness and nowhere near enough twists. For instance it is far too obvious too early who the prime suspect will be, and one doesn't care because not only is the outcome one that can be seen right from the start the prime suspect is also too annoying to be worth investing in. Wasn't that shocked by the reveal either and my interest honestly had wavered by then.

Oh, and the puppets are neither entertaining, cleverly used or interesting. If the writers were trying to go for creepiness they succeeded (pretty certain it was not intended), but to excessively overkill effect that was one step away to scarring the viewer for life.

In summary, pretty foul episode and a 'Murder She Wrote' low point. 3/10 Bethany Cox

JB is watching the Flappieville puppet show with a keen eye, as Inspector Lachère is her creation, something she came up with for her grand nieces and nephews, and now Flappieville Toys want to take Inspector Lachère on the road. She soon gets pulled into a murder investigation when one of the studio backers is murdered and the puppet based on her character is used as the murder weapon.

Even in the children puppet industry things can become cutthroat which leads to murder. It's an interesting setting, but a rather pedestrian episode that ambles on and lacks that urgency. However Jessica is always great to watch.