Yes, of course the premise of "Murder, She Wrote" ("MSW") is highly implausible: a retired English teacher-turned Mystery novelist, who succeeds grandly at her every page, while happening to stumble across bodies right and left at nearly every turn.
But yet if you take it in small doses, as it were, one episode at a time as opposed to enduring Murder-thons, it becomes easier to accept the premise that a retired English teacher may have written a novel and stumbles across a body or two, while a friend or relative is framed for the murder.
Friends and relatives of Mrs. Fletcher are very often framed for murders, to say the least. In fact, nearly every suspect under arrest has been falsely accused of the crime. Law enforcement officers, prosecuting attorneys, judges and juries get it wrong at each turn, and only J.B. Fletcher is able to steer them right.
And yet, she insists that the matter of homicide investigation must be left for the police or sheriff, and the matter for prosecuting must be left to the courts. Nevermind that several a corrupt officer has done it along the way. Nevermind that prosecuting attorneys have been proved the perpetrators. Nevermind that juries are clueless without Jessica in town.
The fact of the matter is that no police department in the country nor around the world is able to arrest anyone but an innocent bystander until Jessica turns up to steer them on the right track through her logical deductions through piecing clues together. But if the authorities insist against her interference, she investigates anyway. And if they solicit her assistance and expertise, she invariably answers, "I'm sorry, but I'm just a writer." Of course, she is thereby easily coaxed into the act of investigating.
Episode writing generally follows formula yet varies according to author. Some offer dark, eerie scripts, while others add humor and lightheartedness, which makes for the more pleasant watch. "Murder, She Wrote" finds its strongest outings in stories in which Jessica rises to the occasion of "doing everything that I can to help" her friend or relative in trouble instead of those in which she sets out to nail someone.
Guest stars add a great deal to the color and richness of this 12-year series, they primarily entering from film and television, and often playing against type in the process here. Some episodes are directed to portray guest suspects as very innocent-looking, while others have them acting with very guilty demeanors.
This may result in criticisms of weak or unrealistic acting, such as when Jessica points to the murderer during a showdown scene, the other performers do not react very naturally, as if to say, "Oh, so you're the one who killed my husband? I thought it might have been she. I didn't think that I did it, but we had to wait until Jessica figured it out." Instead, the killer most often confesses then and there, to reaffirm Jessica's clever skills at reasoning.
She often spots the clues along the way, later causing her to say, "I didn't think much about it at the time, but...." This occurs after the perpetrators motive resonates in her mind. After that, nothing gets passed J.B. If her suspect denies a charge, she remembers another clue, and sometimes yet another.
Nobody is immune from murder in J.B.'s world, as she travels from her adoptive hometown of Cabot Cove, where murder is an everyday activity, to cities and communities around the world, from the halls of academia to the halls of legislators, from Wall Street to Madison Avenue, from studios to galleries, from rural roadhouses to televangelist centers, from convents to Amish fellowships, from continent to continent, and incompetent law enforcement officers get it wrong at every turn.
It somehow doesn't matter very much if a murder were planned to the last detail, whether it were impulsive, whether it were accidental or in self-defense, or whether it turns out a suicide in disguise. Suspects are treated all the same and await very similar fates.
During the midpoint of this series, throughout seasons six and seven, Jessica voluntarily takes a backseat to guest detectives in many episodes, in which she introduces a case and later summarizes, without appearing amid the other characters. These have come to be known as "Bookend episodes," and largely disappear throughout seasons eight through twelve. Some were designed to launch potential spin off series. However, the solitary spin off series from "Murder, She Wrote" came earlier on, with Jerry Orbach's "The Law and Harry McGraw."
During its remaining seasons, "MSW" seems to have attempted to streamline itself for an updated appearance, with Jessica's conditioning herself from her earlier frumpy appearance, with chic wardrobe and a less ambitious sense of curiosity than before. She is regarded by authorities for her proved expertise more frequently than in the past. Amplified background "music," especially in foreign settings, becomes harder to take than the previous segue music, foreshadowing Jessica's ambitions.
Taken all-in-all, one episode of the 264 installments of "Murder, She Wrote" may fit the bill for a diversion from routine provided that one doesn't attempt to over-analyze.
Why a retired English teacher-turned successful novelist would butcher the language as often as Mrs. Fletcher does leaves severe doubt for the authenticity of this series in itself. But yet it what it loses in plausibility, it makes up for towards authenticity in points of law, medicine, physics and technology.
And even if you become the trusted friend should Jessica arrive in your community, remember to hide away those fireplace pokers, oh those dreadful, lethal flinging fireplace pokers, which claim all too many a victim.
