Masterpiece Theater

[Drunk Monk]

Magpie Murders e2: This show is getting fun with its wry parody of the murder mystery genre whilst being yet another murder mystery. 

The two storylines - that of the final mystery novel with the missing chapter and that of the dead writer of said novel - bleed into each other with quick dynamic changes as all the actors take on dual roles. It’s quite amusing, almost meta.

And this ep opens with a sword decapitation. Yay swords! That leads to a funny cadaver outline where the head was its own separate oval. 

There’s also good parody in the flashbacks of the writer writing - most of which is cliched murder mystery drivel that he tosses away with a wince - not sure why that amuses me so. Maybe it just strikes me as an amusing, yet hackneyed, depiction of the writing process. It’s also kinda meta because the dual mysteries are riddled with hackneyed cliches, and that makes it work.

One of the dual roles had me completely duped. I was like ‘where’s the editor in the novel mystery?’ to which Stacy pointed out the obvious (it’s the wife) duh

Still enjoying this.