MURDOCH MYSTERIES SEASON 6

Season six is as good as ever! I'm looking forward to the next season. I love this series. It's hard, if not impossible, to find a series of excellent mysteries that involve the unsavory aspect of murder that doesn't degenerate into something rather sordid and even salacious or revel in that theme. Murdock Mysteries, by today's standards is refreshingly devoid of sex scenes and foul language. I think in this respect, it reminds me very much of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. There certainly is no lack of adult situations but they aren't prurient in nature. It's very Victorian...as it should be considering it is set in the late 1800's.If you are new to the series, lucky you! You have all six seasons to occupy yourself with while waiting for season seven! I will be anxiously awaiting next season without that benefit...although I like to re-watch episodes from previous seasons. There are only a handful of series that I enjoy enough to re-watch but this is definitely one of them. (Seasons are available individually or in collection such as  Murdoch Mysteries, Season One , Murdoch Mysteries Collection: Seasons 1-4 ; Blu-ray is also available.)In addition to the old-fashioned and polite etiquette, what makes this series special to me is the tongue-in-cheek references to inventors and their inventions, the famous, and even the notorious of the 20th century. The genius Detective Murdock also invents and discovers many of the forensic tools available today to enable him to solve mysteries of great magnitude plaguing Toronto, Canada. He's a man ahead of his time (or maybe he has a time machine.) Of the gizmos created by Murdock and others, we see the invention of a flying machine, (nope, Wilbur and Orville Wright do not make an appearance), the use of radium dust and its properties are explored and a hint of its destructive powers are given, a metal detector, and others. In a nod to the famous, we meet Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (before his knighthood) returns to be introduced to the fictional character he created. Winston Churchill makes an appearance in which, Inspector Brackenreid speculates he could be "Prime Minister" one day. My favorite invention of this season is "silly rubber." I will date myself and say that as a kid I played with the 20th century version of this. Do they still make it?Thank goodness, all the great supporting characters return. Inspector Brackenreid, Constable George Crabtree, Constable Henry Higgins, Dr. Emily Grace, Dr. Julia Ogden, Dr. Darcy Garland, and Chief Constable Giles. Inspector Brackenreid continues to "occasionally" knock back a few glasses of his favorite beverage and his wife continues to frown upon it. We meet his growing sons who are polite and respectful. A concept totally foreign in today's portrayal of children/parent relationships. Constable Crabtree and Dr. Grace step tentatively toward a budding romance and together they make some scientific discoveries of their own. Constable Higgins is still efficient as the identifiable colleague in the collection of busy constables. Dr. Julia Ogden is well, Julia. She remains a lone crusader for equality for women in all issues with an emphasis on birth control and now divorce. She and Murdock remain in love and wish to marry. Julia's husband Darcy throws up some roadblocks there causing the two star-crossed lovers to consider their options. (I confess to tiring of this thread in the series.) And what would a season be without Mr. James Pendrick?All episodes are fun, fanciful, intriguing, and an all-around pleasure to watch. I don't want to give anything away but I will say that I enjoyed episode five, Murdoch Au Naturel, wherein someone (or two?) goes undercover, or rather, uncovered to infiltrate a nudist colony.Enjoy!

I cannot say anything more about Murdoch Mysteries than all the others who have rated this with 5 stars. I have purchased every series plus the mini series that came before the TV series. I liked it from the beginning because Murdoch was an intelligent, scientifically inclined, morally upright Catholic, who had left the Seminary to become a policeman. He used far sighted and modern (in the late 19 century) techniques ideas to solve crimes. I thought it was beautiful when he started falling in love with the female forensic doctor. They became close (kissing and hugging), and he dreams of having children with her. When he finds out much later that she had committed fornication and had an abortion (she didn't want a child to interfere with her career), he was at first surprised and cool towards her but eventually he forgave her because he loved her. Later she decided to leave Toronto for America without even telling him about it. When he found out he was saddened and hurt because she had not told him of her plans. After she had been gone for about 6 months he had an occasion to see her again. He had hoped to rekindle their relationship but she informed him that she was now engaged (in just 6 months!!). He congratulates her and wish her the best. Later she comes back to Toronto to visit her family. After helping him on a few cases she decides to stay. She is now married but you can see that she still has feeling for Murdoch (incidentally she never told her fiancé of her previous love relationship with Murdoch). In this last season she has now decided to divorce her husband, but in order to get a divorce she must say that she had been in an adulterous relationship. She ask Murdoch to sign a document saying he is the man who is involved in the adulterous relationship with her. At first he hesitates because of the religious implications (remember this is supposed to be the early 20th century). She then curses G-D and berates him for his moral thinking. Eventually he agrees. In one of the shows she is found at a nudist colony (this is the early 20th century). Who is writing the script for this show? What will be next? A lesbian scene with the atheist doctor Look at how this morally upright Catholic has been beaten down into this type of servile behavior by a woman who doesn't deserve such a man. The crimes and their solutions are still very good, but every time the atheist shows up on the screen it's like a bad penny that you can't get rid of.

Just to say I felt let down by this release. I had lent the first five seasons to a friend who needs subtitles because of hearing problems, but then discovered this season had no subtitles. Considering the price, I thought this pathetic. Why no subtitles? I remember that the first two seasons of 'Monk' on DVD had subtitles, but the rest none. Whatever the reason, it does not help those who want to watch a very enjoyable series but have difficulty hearing the soundtrack.

My wife is a big Murdoch fan, seen initially on the cable channel, Alibi. These box set are great. The colour vibrance is so much better and the clarity of image is wonderful. She enjoys seeing all the ones she knows so well, again, for the sheer viewing experience pleasure. Good value for money in most cases but some series are really expensive and have to wait a month or so to be able justify the outlay. Either way, the programmes are excellent. Very happy.

The quality of the programmes has not declined: indeed, the production values in Season 6 are higher than in the previous five seasons. But the DVDs are not produced to as high a standard: there is no subtitle option! Useless for the hard of hearing. Beware!

Just finished this series in two days. Absolutely brilliant have already ordered series seven. These series just get better with each one

A little-known series that just keeps delivering. Season 6 is the equal of it's predecessors and is highly entertaining. If you liked the previous 5, you will love series 6.