Murder, She Wrote Season 3, Episode 1
"Death Stalks the Big Top: Part 1"
Original Airdate: September 28, 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
Tonight on Murder, She Wrote, Season 3 kicks off with a two-part whopper, rich with Frank Fletcher lore. We learn it's been about five years since Jessica's husband died, her impetus to take up writing. Five years prior to that, Frank's brother Neil was killed in a car accident.
While the subject of Jessica's hapless nephew Grady never comes up in these episodes, it's worth noting that she and Frank took him in as a child after both of his parents died in a car accident. That means Frank died believing two of his brothers suffered a similar fate. Keep that in mind as we learn more about Neil Fletcher.
On the Trail of the Leprechaun
Jessica travels to the lavish Bannister estate in Washington D.C. for her grandniece's wedding. Carol Bannister is Neil's granddaughter, played by Courtney Cox some ten years before Scream and eight years before Friends, a sitcom that will play a massive role in the final season of this show. Hopefully we'll cover that someday. While Carol's wearing the gown, it's clear that her grandmother Constance Fletcher (Laraine Day of Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent and the Dr. Kildare film series) is the star of the show. She's the kind of overbearing matriarch you might fake your death in a horrific car accident to get away from.
Naturally, Carol has long sought guidance and support from Jessica, patron saint of wayward nieces and nephews. The bride-to-be has summoned J.B. to see her through these last few days before the wedding. Right on schedule, a footman delivers a parcel for Carol. She unwraps it to find a small leprechaun figurine, which she takes as incontrovertible evidence that Neil is alive. Her beloved grandfather promised just such a leprechaun would greet her on her wedding day. Jessica is initially skeptical, but Carol insists this was something she'd never shared with anyone.
Whether it's Carol's conviction, the dubious prospect of spending the next few days under Constance's thumb, or her own long-held suspicions about Neil's death, Jessica decides to investigate. The parcel didn't include a note or return address, but it was posted in Catlinburg, Arkansas.
Jessica arrives by bus in Catlinburg. It takes a few inquiries in different shops, but she ultimately tracks the antique dealer who sold the Leprechaun in a single afternoon. She shows the seller a publicity still of former child star and eventual Daily Planet chief Jackie Cooper, for it's he who plays Neil Fletcher. The man is not willing to swear it was him, though he agrees it wasn't a local; this man must've been passing through town. Outside, Jessica notices a poster for the Carmody Family Circus, which itself had just passed through town. She asks someone if they know where it might've gone next.
That's where we're headed. It's time to meet the lovelorn cast and crew behind a traveling family-owned circus. Personally, I find the human element of a circus deeply compelling as a narrative setting. HBO's woefully short-lived Carnivàle remains one of my favorite TV series. It's also tinged with sadness. We see a number of animals — elephants, tigers, chimpanzees — paraded in front of the camera, sometimes in leg shackles or confined in small pens. I'm glad such practices have diminished in larger shows, but abuses obviously persist anywhere people and animals interact.
The Tomcat
And the troubled Carmody Circus is no exception. This is Peyton Place with a bicycle horn. The central tension is immediately apparent as bedazzled Katie McCallum (Shoop of Halloween II and, hey, Return to Peyton Place) takes to the high wire. Down below, a wicked carny named Hank Sutter watches with a lascivious gleam in his eye. Character actor Charles Napier (the Austin Powers series, Silence of the Lambs) has the perfect jawline and drawl to convey instant villainy, well before Hank's wife, an equestrian performer named Maylene (Purcell of Valley Girl), calls him on his ogling.
Love trapezoid time. Hank has been making unwanted advances on Katie for a while now. Not that she'd be interested anyway, but her focus is squarely on raising her son, Charlie (Joey Cramer of Flight of the Navigator). For his part, Charlie's eager for his mom to give roustabout Brad (Evigan of B.J. and the Bear and My Two Dads) a shot in the new dad department. Brad seems like a good dude, but then literally anyone from Jabba's palace would, stood up next to Hank. Things get so tense one night, Charlie tries fending off the creep with a baseball bat.
Hank's also hot and bothered over Danielle (Stock of Spenser: For Hire, Dallas), with whom he had a brief fling. Danielle, heir to a fashion empire, is married to Raymond Carmody (Shera), who's too troubled by the circus's fading prospects to notice his wife's infidelity. She threatens to tell her husband about the whole sordid thing if Hank doesn't leave her alone.
In essence, everybody hates Hank and would be much happier if he were dead.
Tears of a Clown
Typically, Jessica is welcome everywhere she goes. Infiltrating the circus proves a little trickier. She tries asking the ticket lady about Neil, and though she clearly recognizes the man in the photograph, she clams up pretty quick. There's a real honor among thieves motif at play here. The big man himself, Edgar Carmody (Martin Balsam of 12 Angry Men), is just as tight-lipped when confronted and has Brad escort her out. Jessica knows she's onto something.
And she's right, of course. Neil Fletcher is now "Carl Schumann" a.k.a. Blinky the Clown. I've heard of people running away to join the circus, but faking your death, too? That Constance must've been a real battleaxe for Neil to put the rest of his family through such trauma. Again, Frank already lost a brother and sister-in-law to a car accident when Neil orchestrated this. But Neil isn't all bad, I guess. He's very protective of young Charlie.
Thwarted by the carnies on night one, Jessica decides to infiltrate the circus grounds by day in a disguise. She's employed this tactic before, but it's unfortunately a rarity. Donning a straw hat with a watermelon design, heart-shaped plastic sunglasses, an oversized plaid shirt, and a southern drawl, "Emmaline Polsby of Polsby's General Store and Dry Goods in Pullman City" descends on the camp. She sheds this costume almost immediately after getting intel from Maylene. When Neil spots her, he takes Edgar aside and they agree to gently and politely give her the brush off.
Before that can happen, Hank's brutally beaten body is discovered near the elephants. But it's not long before the authorities realize the scene has been staged. Hank wasn't trampled by the elephants. He was bludgeoned with some kind of cudgel. Or bat.
They find Neil at the bus depot. Between the missing juggling bat from the rack in his trailer and his swift disappearance from the crime scene, the sheriff decides to arrest him. Jessica once again manages to talk her way into the jail cell of a suspected murderer, where Neil confesses to faking his death. Surely a foregone conclusion at this point, pal. He confides that he went to Frank's grave after his burial. Jessica recalls finding the mysterious yellow roses there, tears in her eyes. He begs Jessica not to let Constance know, but she reminds him he's got far bigger fish to fry. Neil says to let it go, resigned to taking the fall for Hank's murder.
We'll go further into Jessica's investigation next week. For now, Danielle's wealthy mother and a rival circus owner have arrived in town, eager to seize on the tragedy at Carmody's Circus. Neil is behind bars, having signed a confession and pointing the authorities to a bloodied juggler's bat buried in a flower box. Will Carol see her beloved grandfather again?
Next week, the stunning conclusion!
Next: "Death Stalks the Big Top, Part 2"
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