Murder, She Wrote Season 3, Episode 2
"Death Stalks the Big Top: Part 2"
Original Airdate: October 5, 1986
Writers: Story by Peter S. Fischer, Teleplay by Paul Savage
Director: Seymour Robbie
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Martin Balsam, Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord, Courteney Cox, Ronny Cox, Joey Cramer, Laraine Day, Greg Evigan, Florence Henderson, Gregg Henry, Charles Napier, Lee Purcell, Mark Shera, Pamela Susan Shoop, Barbara Stock, Joe Dorsey, Susan Brown, Dennis Howard, Ken Sansom, Robin Bach, John Alvin
Last week on Murder, She Wrote, Jessica tracked her brother-in-law, long thought killed in a boating accident, to a traveling circus in Arkansas. It's a good thing, too, as Neil wound up at the center of a murder investigation that same week. The local mayor wants to rush a conviction in his bid to sew up reelection. We all know how the adjudication of circus crime can swing these races in the rural south.
It's clear to Jess that an old sweetheart like Neil couldn't have bludgeoned even surly Hank Sutter to death, so he must be covering for someone. Naturally, she's right. Neil reluctantly concedes that he happened upon Hank's dead body while out on his morning walk. Seeing young Charlie's bloodied baseball bat, he gets the wrong idea and decides on a two-fold cover up. The severity of Hank's injuries and his proximity to the elephants made the animals an obvious possibility. Maybe it would be dismissed as an accident, but he knew it probably wouldn't stand up to any real scrutiny. He hid the bat and, knowing he and Hank shared a blood type, cut into his leg and bloodied one of his own juggling clubs. He hid this fake murder weapon outside his trailer so he could point to it later.
It doesn't take long for Jessica to work out who Neil might go to all this trouble to protect. It was Neil who gave the baseball bat to Charlie, a boy he'd come to view as a surrogate grandson. He obviously saw the murder weapon and speculated that the boy was, himself, defending his mother from Hank's untoward advances.
Mayor Ansel Powers (Ronny Cox, no relation to Courteney) is unmoved by Jessica's deductions, and it takes a while to convince Sheriff Len Childs to stand up to him. Childs is played by seven-time Murder, She Wrote guest star Gregg Henry, who you may know as Logan's dad from Gilmore Girls or Peter's grandfather from the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
When You Come for the Kingman…
A two-part season opener means at least two murder victims, so this whole affair is further complicated by the corpse of rival circus promoter Harry Kingman (Dorsey of WarGames and four more episodes of this series). Kingman had been sniffing around last week, seeing blood in the water for Carmody and co.
Maria Morgana (Florence Henderson of Brady Bunch fame) has also descended on this small Arkansas town, impatient for daughter Danielle to come to her senses and return to the family's fashion empire, with or without her husband. You have to feel for Ray Carmody. His dad's beloved circus is floundering and his mother-in-law is hounding him to abandon the whole thing. We ultimately learn that the elder Carmody is dying, and Ray wants to promise the business will survive him. Given the string of accidents, near deaths, and actual deaths of the past few months, it's going to be hard making that kind of assurance.
Speaking of near-deaths, Charlie's mom, Katie, plummets from the high wire and into the safety net during practice. A ball bearing is discovered hidden inside her balancing pole. Had it been an actual performance without the net, this bit of sabotage could have killed her.
Unaware of Edgar's illness, Morgana tries to buy her daughter out of the circus life with a million dollar check. He initially accepts, believing Ray is only staying on out of some sense of obligation, but Ray isn't willing to be used as a bargaining chip and they rip up the check. Crazy? Almost certainly. Touching? Sure, yeah.
Entrapment…by Tiger?
It's a good thing the sheriff drops Neil off at the motel when he does, because the freshly exonerated clown notices smoke pouring out from under Jessica's door in time to cry out for help and break out the window with a fire extinguisher. The killer managed to chloroform Jess and Maylene Sutter and leave them unconscious with a quickly burning fire.
Maylene was lured to the motel by a note supposedly from Jessica. She's been talking about quitting the circus since last week, having set aside a nest egg to start a horse ranch. And who was she confiding in, besides Jessica? None other than this week's killer, the ringmaster himself, Preston Bartholomew (Cord of Airwolf). He's the saboteur and killed both Sutter and Kingman.
Bartholomew is stunned to see Jessica alive and well when he's summoned to the main tent. In one of her ballsier confrontations with a killer, she opts to make her accusation outside the tiger cage, presenting him with an opportunity to feed her to the creature to escape prosecution. Taking the bait, he indulges in some O.J.-tinged "If I Did It…" hypotheticals before attempting to use the tiger against her. Naturally, the other circus folk appear from the shadows and turn the tables on him. Jessica plays along, saying this is the only way. Hilarious. It's like the finale of Tod Browning's Freaks. Faced with a one-on-one with the tiger, Bartholomew makes a full confession. Sheriff Childs takes him into custody.
The Prodigal Clown Returns
Lest we forget, a 22-year-old Courtney Cox is waiting on that visit from her grandfather before she can walk down the aisle. Jessica delivers him just in time, though this isn't a public reveal; Neil plans on disappearing again after this brief, private reunion. We also learn that Carol's husband-to-be, Clay, refused a job at a prestigious firm Grandma Constance arranged, much to the domineering old woman's consternation. The newlyweds want to make a fresh start of it. That's sure to make Neil proud.
Meanwhile, Jessica takes Carol's father aside to deliver a note from Neil. Howard is delighted to learn his father-in-law is alive. He's only eager to provide him the capital necessary to invest in the Carmody Circus. Hell, if his wife or his mother question where the money's gone, he can spin a story about an affair and orchestrate his own escape from the family. He asks Jessica if Neil's circus might be hiring. A real "Take my wife! Please!" closer, but Jessica's always on the side of mischief. They enjoy a good laugh.
Next week, some old-fashion cold war era spy games with special agent Michael Hagarty!
