Post by Boink on May 21, 2018 13:17:06 GMT -5
In my humble opinion, "Next Stop Murder" suffers as the immediate follow-up to the exceptionally emotional "Next Murder You Hear", but excels as an example of where the Moonlighting train is heading.
Maddie suddenly buries the moments of warmth and vulnerability that she demonstrated throughout the rest of season 1, putting a heightened coldness up against David's increasingly amped up advances. Is this (perhaps justifiably) because he steered things in a very unwise direction in the previous episode by questioning her social life and (falsely) saying in so many words that she should consider his interest in her as a purely physical favor to her? Was she simply (or additionally) expressing her annoyance at his having ruined her plans for the weekend, even though she must have known what he was up to? Were her statements about, and getting so dressed up for, said plans merely for David's benefit as payback? Were these plans actual, or merely a bluff?
With all of the above in mind, it is evident that the characters as we would know them going forward are now firing on all cylinders in this episode, with David's lines and comebacks 100% on point and the cat-and-mouse games between Maddie and him clicking fully into place.
It would feel like a perfect segue into season 2 if its follow-up, "The Murder's in the Mail", didn't feel like more like season 1. I love seasons 2-3, but this episode bums me out just a bit by offering the sense that the detours along the road of self-discovery offered by the all-too-short season 1 are just about over.
Maddie suddenly buries the moments of warmth and vulnerability that she demonstrated throughout the rest of season 1, putting a heightened coldness up against David's increasingly amped up advances. Is this (perhaps justifiably) because he steered things in a very unwise direction in the previous episode by questioning her social life and (falsely) saying in so many words that she should consider his interest in her as a purely physical favor to her? Was she simply (or additionally) expressing her annoyance at his having ruined her plans for the weekend, even though she must have known what he was up to? Were her statements about, and getting so dressed up for, said plans merely for David's benefit as payback? Were these plans actual, or merely a bluff?
With all of the above in mind, it is evident that the characters as we would know them going forward are now firing on all cylinders in this episode, with David's lines and comebacks 100% on point and the cat-and-mouse games between Maddie and him clicking fully into place.
It would feel like a perfect segue into season 2 if its follow-up, "The Murder's in the Mail", didn't feel like more like season 1. I love seasons 2-3, but this episode bums me out just a bit by offering the sense that the detours along the road of self-discovery offered by the all-too-short season 1 are just about over.
