Episode 193 - Father Brown - "The Mayor and the Magician" - Jerk Mayor & Dangerous Darts

You should dress like a princess.

You should dance.

Drop dead, Daddy.

I hope you trip over your robe
and get choked on your necklace.

Hey, maniac.

Hey, maniac.

It's a mystery, man.

Mystery Maniac is a comedy recap podcast
dedicated to mystery TV.

Each week, we dig into an episode
of the show, including the murders,

the mayhem and loonies
and everything else we love.

Except for the mayor.
We don't love the mayor.

This week
we're talking about Father Brown.

Season one Episode nine
The Mayor and the Magician.

I'm Mark. I'm Sarah.

We've got some other stuff
to talk about before we dive in.

Boy, do we ever.

We just hit 400,000 downloads.

That's.

That's actual downloads from our provider.

This is not anything from YouTube.

This is just podcast listeners.

That's so off.

Now, granted,
we've made 1.5 million episodes, but.

We made 221 episodes, released two hour,

21 episodes, which means roughly 1800
listens per episode on average.

That's pretty good.

I cannot believe
how fantastically successful we've become,

and I don't really care if anybody else
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You don't have a big plaque from YouTube.

I don't care about any of.

That how they talk.

We have.

Five people would listen to this

and the fact like this week alone

will get to how crazy this week is that

we have touched so many people's.

Lives and they've touched stars.

Absolutely fantastic.

And none of them inappropriately
or anything like that.

And made.

It. Great, made our lives so much better.

Thanks for listening,
everybody. Absolutely.

We appreciate you. Yep.

We started watching Father Brown season
11 this week.

Yes, it's pretty good. And it.

It is Father Brown.

It's father like Father Brown.
You'll like it.

It's late, Father Brown.

Yeah.

Like there's a period of late
Father Brown and late Murdoch,

which also starts season
17 this month on ACORN,

that there's definitely
a turn to a bit more kind of goofiness.

Yeah, Which is.

Nothing to lose. Now.

Nothin or lose. It's absolutely fine.

Hey, Sister Boniface shows up in a recent
and one of the season 11 episodes.

There's so many horrific things on TV.

Why don't you watch something that's nice?

Yeah, it is nice. It's not. Hilarious.

It's nice.

We're still watching True Detective
and love everything about it,

but wow, it's a bit soul sucking.

After we watch it,
we were like, okay, 5 minutes of YouTube.

Yeah. Something funny.

Let's look BS And now. Okay, now let's.

Look at hippos yawning.

and the

February newsletter
is about to come out on the seventh.

Yes, that's the only.

Well, it's the first place

where you're going to see
what our schedule is going forward,

what we're going to cover.

Yes, well,
mention it on the show for sure.

But if you want to know before
everybody else, you need to subscribe.

Now, almost currently
through my first quarter of being restful.

I can tell
you've been really taking it easy.

Second quarter, I got lots to do.

And we forgot.

Murdoch Season 17 is coming out on ACORN
in a couple of weeks. Yep.

And we talked about
what's all that good stuff?

Boy, did we get an interesting message
this week from an individual

named Bunny Galore.

Okay.

Just to be fair, this is a maniac podcast.

We should not be surprised
that maniacs reach out to us.

Yes, And Bunny goes.

The best kind of maniac.

Is a fantastic.

Maniac.

Bunny
Galore is in Dress to Kill Season 23,

Episode four of Midsummer,
which is the The Drag Show episode.

If you remember the scene
where they're outside

and a drag queen walks
by looking fabulous.

And behind her, a woman sitting down
gets slapped in the face by a flier

going at Mach ten in the wind.

That drag queen who walked by looking
fabulous is Bunny Galore.

Who now says she can't not see that
now they get.

Slapped by the flier.

She's also in the opening credits, right?

Yeah, They filmed a bunch of B-roll
with her and she didn't know why.

And then she's like in the title credits
and she was completely overwhelmed.

But she left us a comment
and said how much fun it was

and that she had a great time
and everybody was wonderful.

And so on top of being in midsummer,
she also has a podcast

with another drag queen named
Alison called Hotel Horror Motel Story.

And then she also has done
nine seasons of a show

on basically like pay
per view called movie Nightmares.

which and and Britain's Got Talent.

This lady is spectacular.

So shout out to Bunny Galore.
You're awesome.

So I think we're going to probably do
a short little interview with her,

hopefully with some experiences.

She said that that looked pretty probable.

And then we got a text from her
from last night.

So this would have
been Friday night in the UK

and she was

out doing a benefit and ran into Felix

Chi who was in that episode
and they discuss the podcast.

that's awesome.

And I feel awesome.

Go, Bonnie, it's your birthday. Yes.

And so Bunny may be making a short
appearance.

We'll have to do a video for that.

Yes. We'll have to do a video for that.

And one last thing about things to come.

We have a plan for episode 200

because this is episode 193,

and we'll let you know

more about that as we get closer to us.

Should be fun.

I can't believe 200 episodes.

That I can say I can't find. Yes.

So but now we have to get serious.

Speaking of maniacs and our community
of maniacs who are all awesome.

Tori Beta posted on the Miz.

This is this is the username. Yes.

Foreign beta.

Posted on Reddit
that we had almost killed him.

In a hot tub listening to mystery maniacs.

Fellas leap.

And almost drowned.

And almost drowned

because the bell system
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I guess his wife rang a bell and he was.

They were supposed to ring the bell back
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I think
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I can fall asleep listening.

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We'd never had somebody almost die
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Maniac and Maniac.

Yeah, LLC. Yep.

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Whether or not to

put any
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They I'm glad that the lawyers
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Me Yes, that was that was great of them.

I'm sure we paid them a lot of money.

It was neat
how it speeded up there at the end.

Well, those lists get so long,
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Like, side effects.

Yeah.

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So, Father Brown, Episode

nine, Season
one The Mayor and the Magician.

Only because they couldn't
call it the Apple and the magician.

Which is what they should have called.

Epic Asshole
and the magician deserve to die.

And the magician season one.

Original Air Date 24th January 2013.

That seems like so long ago.

Ten years 11.

11 years ago.

Dominic directed this and written
by Nicola Wilson.

Said Asshole may or may look familiar to
you because he's played by Sam Crane,

who is in season five Episode
four of Midsummer Murder on St Mary's Day.

He plays a somewhat big role in that.

Scene killed by the giant spoon.

That come with a spoon.

Spoon. Spoon.

And so the mayor is an idiot.

He's more than in anything. Like at first.

They just think he's dumb
and his wife writes his speeches.

And at first she's there in her underwear.

So I think you're supposed to think that
she is kind of like, I'm the mayor's wife.

But then you quickly realize that
she's like, no, I run this game.

The brains behind the jerk.

No, it's more than brains.

She's the whole impetus behind.

She should be the mayor. Yeah.

And let me clarify something,
since you're a dude,

the reason why she's sitting around in her
slip is not because she's Latina,

but because women often do that
when they're about to put on something

that semi-formal.

Because you put your dress on
at the last minute.

Yeah. Because they're uncomfortable.

Or you'll mess them up
or you'll wrinkle them.

And so you have it ready

like anybody who's ever gone to prom
or any kind of formal, that's what you do.

You put it on at the last minute
and then walk out the door.

Well.

Then the they find the piece

of jewelry under the bed
and she knows it's up.

She tries to cover for him.

Yeah. I've been looking for that. Yes.

So their daughter Kathleen. Yes.

He says have you finished your chores?

And she says, Yes. And I found this.

So is one of her chores
to clean under their bed?

I did not want to go into my parent's bed.

No. Well,
I don't want to go under anybody's bed

because there's just dust bunny,
though, under there at the best.

Yeah, but that's one of her jobs.

I don't think so.

Clean your own room.

It seems weird.
They're an unpleasant family.

Mostly due to him.

Yeah, it's so.

He's got his regalia on.

Mayors in the UK get to wear such awesome.

Does they do he He's.

Shrikhande and he has a tribe.

Or does he does have the dry part.

He takes it off to give the speech
which doesn't make any sense.

But he's got it on
in the living. Room in Canada.

The mayor wears the necklace,
but that's it.

That's a bloody necklace.
It's super bling.

But he's got the red robes
with the fur edging.

And he's the mayor of Kimball
furred. Like.

I'm supposed.

He should probably just be wearing, like,
a burlap sack or something.

Yeah, it's weird.

It's weird.

It's like he's the mayor of Midsomer,
but that's a county.

But Kimball, for it's a village.

And it's weird.

Yeah, I don't.

I don't understand how he was elected
mayor and doesn't know anybody

and nobody knows him.

Yeah, it seems.

He was an MP. I would understand.

Yes, because MPs are often
not much more from where they run.

Yeah,
but like their family has a seat there.

So. The MP? Yeah.

Even if he's the mayor
of the equivalent of the county

that Camelford is in, he would
still have gone there to campaign you.

Would think.

And Father Brown would be somebody

you definitely want to make touch with
because he knows everybody.

And like he is, he's so

completely unaware how much he needs her
because.

No, he doesn't care.

Well, she's utterly taken for granted.

She's a piece of furniture who does things
for him that he expects her to do.

And she got him elected
and he doesn't even understand that.

No, they're having effect.

Yeah, to raise money, the.

Goldfish can be so facing.

Why. They're in a round pergola.

All your fish face that way

to raise money to build a school
in the Polish refugee camp.

Which makes sense. It makes sense.

Except that's not at all what the mayor
is trying to do with that money.

Yes. And knows really nothing about that.
Yeah.

I always feel so bad for Susie.

Well, did you look up for Turkey? Yes.

There are deep

fried pastries with powdered sugar
and they look totally tasty.

Yes, please.

Yes. It's like I would eat all of them.

They almost look like elephant ear.

Nose. Strips. Tentacles with exotic.

Tentacles. Hi. It's all on.

I tried to find a recipe for something
called Tentacles of Leviathan,

and there isn't anything out there,

so I think I might have
to come up with a new recipe.

But this is m tentacles of Leviathan.

Maybe that's the recipe.

We should put it in the newsletter.

He's cheating on his wife.

He has tantrums and throws glasses.

He's rude to his child.

He's too stupid to write his own speeches.

He's having an affair with his assistant.

He gets her.

He gets pregnant and demands
that she gets an abortion.

In some back alley.

Clearly doesn't pay for it.

Gives her the necklace and fires her.

Criticizes his daughter for dressing
like a pirate, tells her she's ugly.

I mean, there is nothing
redeeming about him at all.

There are several points in my notes
where I go, Can I kill the mayor?

Can everybody kill the mayor? Yes.

When he opens his speech
and sees it's not his speech,

but it's a note from his wife
that says goodbye? Yes.

I'm like, yes,
you go, girl. That's the best.

And then he has no idea what to say.

He's a bumbling.

It is for worst political speech. Ever.

How does he have conversations
with people I.

Don't know. Without notes? No.

So where Father Brown,
though, is getting the humbugs right?

So they must be having a competition
where you guess

how many humbugs are in the jar?

Is it the same jars? The goldfish? Yeah.

But he's putting half of them
in his mouth.

He's going to look like a chipmunk.

And he keeps touch and he's touching all.

why don't you buy a bag that says
500 humbug?

They never say that.

They just have. Wait.

Yeah, that's how it works.

But when you've done that in advance,
that's like something you could do

the day before and have ready.

I just was like,
Your hands will be so sticky.

You should dress like a princess.

You should dance.

Drop dead, Daddy.

I hope you trip over your robe
and get choked on your necklace.

So when they meet Edwin,
who is the man in the village

who had also run for mayor
and not one He's wearing a poppy.

Yes, a white poppy.

A white poppy.

I had never seen a white poppy before,
so I looked it up and it's it

it basically means the same thing
as a red poppy, except it's a commitment

to peace.

And it commemorates both civilian
and military who died in the war.

Yeah.

And it's interesting
that there is a tiny thread underneath

everything that he didn't go to war
because he didn't want to.

He was a conscientious objector.

And that's why he has a white poppy.

Which I absolutely respect and understand.

But then it's also implied that the mayor
got out of going to the war.

Of course he did, because he's a jerk.

Yeah, everything about him is bad.

So you have both of those
kind of situations

that must have lingered into the fifties
and in the UK.

yeah.

yeah, for sure. I think there are.

People and half like my dad.

Show me how to kill.

And that's the mayor of the title.

Yes. Then
there is the magician of the title,

which I think is the more interesting plot
of this episode.

the murder really isn't.

Mostly because I don't care if he's dead.

I wish his head it exploded
as he got electrocuted, but he didn't.

That's a little much,
but he's just that bad.

But the magician is the Mrs. Imply.

But he is as bad He is.

It is more toxic masculinity.

yeah. On display.

Because as soon as she refuses him,
he calls her a nag.

Yeah, like the episode is.

Here's some toxic masculinity from the 50.

Yeah. Basically.

But you know, leading up to this point
and we've talked about this a lot, Mrs.

M's character evolves, but prior to this,

she has basically
just been a big pain in the butt.

She is a nag.

She's she assumes the worst of everybody.

She's a little racist.

She's she's not always as benevolent
as she could be to people.

And to see her vulnerable like this
because Frank is her husband.

Yes. Right.

He she thought he was dead in the war.

He never came home.

And he had run off with the younger woman
anyway.

Yeah, he didn't die.

He shacked up with somebody else.

And now he's sick
and dying of cirrhosis of the liver.

So he's going to show up for Mrs.

M to take care of him
in the last six months of his life.

Yeah, she says no, thank you.

No, no.

And the relationship between her and lady
becomes what it's meant to be here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But we really.

This is the first time we see Mrs.

M remotely vulnerable.

Yeah, She's sad. She.

She tears up. Yeah.

And we see that he's charming

and that she understands
and relates to that charm.

But as soon as he crosses a line, she's.

Well, he's not charming enough.

Yeah, he's not trying. To overcome
what he's done.

You're right.

That, to me, is much more interesting
than the murder, though.

Valentine.

And in classic Valentine
fashion, just arrests

the first person that he could suspect
and drags him away.

He just drags Eleanor away in handcuffs,
basically just leaves

her daughter to fend for herself,
you know, somebody to look after her.

Because there's a pickpocket around.

Which is Kathleen, the little girl.

When the magician leans against the truck,
did you see that

there was an address on the truck?
Did you go to see what?

No, because I knew you would.

It's the Melbourne Social Club.

so I don't know why
they had a truck there.

I guess
probably for like they do these for fats.

And that's why the address was there.

But 80 Meldon Terrace
Heaton, Newcastle on time.

Well if they're a social club
maybe they have like an old time

fire truck or something
that they take to fairs and show off.

Why does Frank hide for Mrs.

M at first if he's trying to get her back?

Because he's smart enough to know

that he needs to reconnect with her
in the right circumstances.

Yeah, I could see that.

Why does Kathleen say to him when he's

crouched down, suffering, man,
it'll cost you.

He says, Get help.
And she says, it'll cost you.

Because she.

She's so desperate for money to run away
that she's even willing

to let somebody suffer. I think that's it.

That's pretty bad.

I want to feel sympathy
for that little girl.

And when she does that, I'm like,
Wait a minute, you're as bad as your dad.

What have you learned? That's
what she's been taught.

Yeah. I also think
she's a really good child actor.

She has.

She's very good here. Yeah,
she does a great job.

But then Eleanor sort of snaps.

Yeah.

When she's throwing those balls
at those plates.

Number one, she's a really good arm.

Yeah, she hits every one of them.

But I don't know if

she's just in shock or shock.

Slash free and giddy about it.

Well, I think I think that she.

I didn't get a chance to kill him. Yeah.

She has spent her whole life
propping this person up

and has been sort of well,

she's been made aware of his infidelities
in the same afternoon.

Yeah, she's having a very bad day. Yeah.

And now he's dead.

And I have to think
that she also feels a weird kind of guilt

because she may have wanted him dead

and then he's dead,
and she knows that she didn't do it.

Yeah, but she's worried.

Not that I don't think
she mentally is aware that.

I think she's mentally aware
that she didn't cause his death.

But you know how
when you have bad feelings about.

Kind of like Kathleen, she confesses
that she wanted her dad dead.

So she thinks he died
because she wanted him dead. Yes.

But she might also be angry
because she had

orchestrated his embarrassing downfall.

Yes. Right.

She swapped the speeches

and she knows Edwin is going to stand up
and confront him. And.

Shame him.

And she's ready to go
the press like she is playing.

And leave him.

That are. Screwed.

But now he's dead,
so she can't do any of that.

So there's no revenge.

Yeah, she can't get the revenge.

It's almost like by dying,
he gets away with it all. Yeah.

So I think she might be a little bit angry
about that.

Father
Brown goes to the pub to talk to Edwin

because we find out the reason he withdrew
from the mayoral race is because

he has a criminal record for GBH,
which grievous bodily harm.

There needs to be a thing
and, well, really, anywhere

that says it's like a parentheses
after your crime that says.

But it was a Nazi. Yeah,

Grand Theft Auto.

But it was a Nazi.

You know, if you commit a crime
and some element was also racist,

it's like a
a variable that they add to it.

Right.

They should have the opposite of that
where it's like you did that,

but they were Nazis.

It's extenuating circumstances, you know.

But he was an asshole mayor.

So was it really manslaughter?

I don't know.

It's actual slaughter.

I don't think that. Yeah, like it.

But they make him so horrible

that I'm surprised
they don't make him non.

Yeah, I'm really.

He's so bad
that wouldn't even make him worse.

Like you would just go.
Of course he is. Yes.

You would expect it when he says that
line, when they meet Father Brown and Mrs.

M for the first time.

And Father Brown says that Kathleen
is spirited and has an inquisitive mind.

He says those may be good traits in a man,
but in a woman

they're tiresome or something like that.

I just want to I just want Mrs.

M to just shoot her hand out.

Just start. Again.

She'd be h But it was the mayor. Yeah.

So it's okay.

So he goes to the pub? Yes.

And please start with Edwin.

So this is like Father Brown
is almost comic relief in this episode.

Yeah, I agree. And.

And that's okay, because we've we've known
that this show is created

by a strong group of women creators.

Right.
Jud Tindle being part of this group.

But but there are a number of women
associated with this show.

And it really, I would say, becomes that

sort of birth of women
in the fifties in Europe.

Right.

So I don't mind and I don't think Mark
Williams would get upset

that he's kind of comic relief
for this episode.

No, not at all.

Like he's investigating.

They're like.

We're doing stuff over here.

Well, I'm investigating a murder.

And really,
do you need to investigate this murder?

I mean, come on.

You know,
I mean, you don't want her to go to prison

or be hanged,
but yeah, I mean, was the mayor.

So they go the pub.

You want to play darts and. All the.

Village green get up and run away.

Away, right away.

And you know something's up.

Father Brown's going to play darts.

Run for your. Life.

Mark Williams does such a good job
of physical comedy. Yes.

He actually looks like he's trying.

He looks like he's drunk,

but he does not hit the dartboard one.

No, it's a table at least once.

And Edwin doesn't say like, wow,
you're really bad at this.

He just keeps on playing
like it's happening.

I think they've all played darts.

You sort of want a scene where you see
Father Brown throw the dart,

but you don't see where it lands
and you just hear like a little yell off

sea, off screen. Yeah.

I bet they did ten or 12 of those.

And they picked the best ones.

The worst ones? Yeah. Yeah.

The ones that worked the best.

What else would he be bad at? Cricket.

Why is he so bad at darts?

Well, he's so bad darts
because he's thinking about other things.

You think? Yeah, he just doesn't lack
hand-eye coordination.

I worry about him. Lawn bowling.

Yeah. This is am good out of the way.

He's playing some bocce ball
and knocking people out.

I would not trust
him with a cricket bat. No.

Certainly not launder.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Maybe it's his eyesight.

It could be. He.

He reads this sticky hands.

Yeah. From open bugs.

You can't get them to try to throw
the dart in.

Stays in his hand. Yes. I love.

I don't think they mean it as a joke,
but Father Brown's asking Edwin questions

while they play darts, and Edwin says,
I don't appreciate playing games.

Well, he's playing darts.

While he's playing darts, though,
with Father Brown, it's not really a game.

It's kind of survival.

Of course, the writer of this episode
is screaming at their podcast player,

going, fighting Lee.

Somebody's got a joke.

Kathleen has run away to talk to a friend.

Her mother says
she doesn't have any friends.

Thanks, Mom.

I know you're getting arrested
and everything, but,

you know, scream that in the street.
She's had them.

Imagine if you were Kathleen's friend.

Come over to my house and play.

Is your dad going to be there
then? I'm not. Coming.

You didn't have friends.

You didn't go over
when their dads were there? No.

We did. I definitely did.

Because their dads were so awful.

Yeah, I didn't know it was such a thing.

Yeah, it was for me.

And then my two best friends only had
it was really a girlfriend thing for me.

My girlfriend in high school, his father
was just a horrible human being.

So do you eat him?

Go hang out at her house anyway?

No. Plus, he was a cop and had done so.

boyfriends
usually stay away from dads with guns.

But my two best friends were from
single moms, so I preferred it that way.

Which is weird because my dad
this is one of those examples

where my dad fantasy stick,
he was a great guy.

He was great to other people
in the community.

You know, he was I never heard him
raise his voice to my mother.

I like I was.

So you had an example
of a good dad in the day.

You knew what a bad.

Dad in a world of toxic masculinity.

My father just kind of shook his head
and said, I'm not doing any of that.

I just can't imagine

being Kathleen's friend and going over
and meeting him for the first time.

You probably walk in the door
and go, hello, you know Mr.

Night?
And he'd go, Well, you're ugly. Yeah.

thanks.

play. Now.

My husband's favorite
joke is just horrific.

Like, just in case you were going to have
it hit over your head a little bit more.

That's it?

Yeah.

In case there was any doubt
how bad he was, here's your example.

Yeah. And Valentine doesn't even get it.

Yeah. Valentine.

Valentine is a pretty open minded dude,
but I think they use him here as a I.

You know, he's so involved in the case
that he can't see how horrible the Bears

I would have liked to see in a scene
where Father Brown and him

kind of say
it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I agree.

We cannot underestimate
the importance of Mrs.

M giving her ring back to Frank.

that's who she is, so devoutly Catholic,
and she's been wearing it all this time.

He's got one on to he he probably put his
on before coming to see her.

He she basically says to me in the eyes
of God, our marriage is annulled.

Yeah.

And that's huge. Yeah.

For somebody as devout as she is.

Absolutely. Good riddance.

There's a I don't care if he's dying.

There's a reference to Winston
Churchill here.

Did you get that?

So when Susie's writing a letter to her

MP, she's writing it to Winston Churchill.

He wouldn't have been an MP.

Knowing it was weird.

Well, maybe he got.

He got called up for. For you. Be Jimmy.

Maybe Winston Churchill is the most
prominent politician she knows.

Yeah, I think that. And she would think

that he would be on her side
because you know, he won the war.

when Matilda tells Father Brown
about the baby and.

I just feel so bad for her.

Yeah, Just
why did you fall for this horrible man?

I mean, really,
her and Eleanor ought to be friends.

Like we're both. Broken in the same way.

We should stick together.

He's.

Except
that she's going to go to prison, and.

He's missing
a charming bit. Yeah, there's.

There's nothing about him that I think
she would have seen him went well.

I know he's got all those bad sides, but,
you know, he flatters me or.

Right.

So these relationships
are of blinders, right?

So if you saw Frank doing the magic show

with the little girl with blinders
on, you'd think, he saw. Me.

Old grandpa guy, right?

So there has to be blind points
in these relationships.

But we don't see that with the mayor.

No, he's. Horrible
from the very beginning.

From every view.

Now. There's no the blinders would
have to be a helmet. Now,

you could say

he's having a bad day because he knows
he's been found out and he's mad.

He doesn't know that from the beginning.

No, he doesn't know
that from the beginning.

It would have been nice to have some scene
where he tried

to be charming to one of these women
and it failed.

It still failed.

But like Frank fails with Mrs. M. Yeah.

One thing I really like about the Mrs.

M thing is that Lady
Felicia comes back and says, I was wrong.

Yeah, sorry.

I was being nosy.
It wasn't any of my business.

She means it.

Yeah, but Lady Felicia,
it would be anachronistic.

But when she comes into that kitchen
to talk about the land that the government

needs to be able to build that power plant
and how they're not going to get it,

she should snap her fingers. Yes,

they need this area.

They're not going to get it.

My husband is too influential
to make us sell it.

No, no, no.

And of course,
there's all sorts of double standards.

You know, like Lady Felicia is
she sleeps around with men a lot

and is implied that everybody knows this.

And her husband has affairs, too.

Yeah,
they don't have that kind of relationship.

But but they're
but they're not the mayor. No.

I would like Monty.

Maybe she doesn't.

She doesn't pretend to be anything
other than who she is.

Yeah, and I don't think he does either.

I think Monty would still be good
in a fight.

Like good to help you.

I think he would stand up for her.

Yeah, absolutely. He provides for her.

Yeah. Yeah.

They're not dishonest
with each other, but, man,

when she wants to pull some strings,
she gets her gloves on, grabs the ropes.

I got to take care of, like, an hour
has gone by and that problem is gone.

Yeah, don't worry about it. Susie is.

It's fine.

Yeah.

Go make some more angel hair things
so we can eat them all.

So we find out the Catholic

used her hair color
because she was an electrician in the war.

Wait, but wait a minute.

I don't think that's a hair curler.

I just think Kathleen doesn't
know what a soldering iron looks like.

Yes, I think you're right.

It's a soldering iron
because it ends in a tip.

Yeah, in a point.

Not in the handle.

So I think it's a soldering iron
all along.

I think so, yeah.

So I looked into the history of
curling irons because I hadn't done that.

Because he wanted to know
where they come from.

So they're actually far older
than I realized.

they used to just be iron and you'd
put them in the fire and heat them.

Yeah.

Put them on your hair
and they would burn your hair off.

Would they became mechanized
in the Victorian age in terms of

they were allowed to, they,
they had handles

instead of just raw metal
that you put in the fire.

They used to be tongs.

And they used to be tongs.

And there are still some out there
that are like. That.

And they used to come and set.
Yeah, right.

Because you would warm one up
while the other one was cooling.

Yeah.

The one interesting thing
I thought I did read about

was a really good blog post
about how it was a thing about class

and race during the Victorian period
to the notion of straight hair.

Especially for African-American women
was somewhat of a difficult thing to do.

So that because they didn't
have chemical relaxers,

then you had to do it with heat
and you had to do it every day.

Yeah. And, and it damaged your hair.

Damaged you and. Took a lot of time.

You were putting something hot
from the fire on your head. Yep.

Like it was dangerous.

And absolutely dangerous.

And then I made the mistake
of looking about

people who got killed by hair
curlers and never looked at up.

Did they get electrocuted or burned or.

No, it's.

It's bad, Okay.

I'm glad you have that Google history.

Not me, then.

Yeah, well, it's not good.

As somebody who uses a curling iron

every day, I can tell you
they're dangerous.

Yeah.

If you my straightener,
if you put somebody's fingers between

them, it'd be like a panini sandwich
fingers real fast.

But yeah.

So I, the logistics of this
are really impossible.

So metal that goes into the tent where
the speaker system is hooked up right.

Unscrews the back
so she carries a screwdriver to unscrew.

She's ready to go.

She's like MacGyver, Secretary unscrews
the back of the.

The system.

Yeah knows where to disconnect things
and solder them back.

Yeah.

To make the mic live. Yep.

Without electrocuting anything in between.

Keep working up to it.

I got it. Ready or sorting anything out.

Yeah.
It doesn't kill him right away. Yeah.

So I don't know how that works.

That's not how.

But any of this or a.

Soldering iron is real.

It's really hot and it stays hot

for a long time like the one I have.

I would let it cool for half an hour
before I would touch it

because they get hot enough to melt metal.

Yes, that's
much hotter than a curling iron.

Also, where did she store her solder?

Solder comes in a little spool.

It's easy, I guess, but I don't know why
she would have had any with her

or her soldering iron like,
how big is her purse?

So she came to the house to drive them
and she gets fired.

And so that's the inciting incident
for her too.

But she has no time to go.

Wait a minute.

I got to go grab some stuff.

Yeah, it's it's where.

She gets her tool bag.

She needed it needed to be like.
I know he.

Need to be making that horrible speech,
but almost it should have been.

And he stomps off
and then ends up dead, like stabbed or.

Something.

Or at least
the event is the next day or so.

He fires her the night before. Yeah.

And then the next day
she shows up to drive them.

And so she's thought about it all night
and come prepared to take him out,

I guess.

But this is not how any of this works.

Like electricity or microphones
or loud speakers.

No, no,
none of that. Or heart. Conditions.

It's also not the first time we've seen
somebody electrocuted with a microphone.

No. The Iceman Cometh in midsummer.

In midsummer. I'm really.

Well, the X-Men come off.

At least he had a big cord
that was plugged into the mains.

And there were some sparks.

There was some sparks and stuff like that.

This is not how any of this works.

Is he should have been smoking.

Really glad that he didn't touch
the microphone and it went,

It does a little bit.

And a little bit.

Wow. If he didn't put his tongue on it,
he probably would have lived.

So if you hate him
now, wait until you find out

that she not only had an abortion for him,
but also is now unable

to have children,
her entire life is ruined. Yep.

And I think she's a good secretary.

I think so.

And I think she would know
that she was being propped up.

He was being propped up by his wife.

But she's deluded.

She'd think he would leave her for now.

Come on. He didn't hurt. Wow.

This episode jerks and darts

the name.

That's it. Jerk. Married, dark.

Jerks and darts.

But Mr.

Them gets a fish.

Yes, she does.

And I'm like.

Like that's going to solve everything.

I think it's.

Well,
he goes in. He's going to talk to her.

Yeah.

They're going to spend some.

Time because they got to set up the fish.

Yeah, they really are best friends.

Father Brown and Mrs.

M, they are.

And like, we don't need to see that Father
Brown does the same thing that Mrs.

that Lady Felicia says does.

We need to see Lady Felicia do it.

Well she brings the flowers, she tries.

Yeah. And Mrs.

M and she have a lot more history,
so it's not going to be a one move.

Forgiveness. Everything's okay.

It's going to take.

No, but I. Exactly. I like that.

She uses Lady
Phylicia's words against Frank.

She's like, This person believes in me,
so I'm going to believe in me.

Yeah.

So you need to get out of here, friend.

And I love that he's.

He does that horrible van thing of.

Well I'm going to die,
so I have to fix everything now.

No, that's not even it. I'm going to die.

So I've come here
so you can take care of me.

Yeah, that's
what he's doing. Yeah, that's true.

You're my old fallback.

Reliable you? No pushover.

I knew I could rely on you
to take care of me.

Well, no, you can't.

What's Mrs. M going to name her fish.

I feel.

Yeah.
I think it's going to be a biblical name.

That's true.

Like Saint Thomas,
the goldfish or something.

Whoever.

The patron saint of fish. It's.

That's so she's.

Going to name it,

and then it's going to be back
to that conversation about bad dog names.

You can't some names
you just can't call a fish.

And I like I like how they deal with toxic

masculinity here
and in many forms, like Frank

puts up resistance,
But when she says go, he goes, Yeah, like

he could still be toxic
but still agree that maybe he should go.

Take your hat and go. Frank Yeah.

Don't care if you dance.

We can't even talk about best
carpet is the only one.

Yes, and he's the best because he's dead.

He's not the best
cause he's the worst corpse.

That makes him the best. Yeah,

he's the one corpse we're glad to have.

Yay! Yay! I like it.

It's a trope in all these shows
about the horrible person getting killed.

Like this show.

Start like episode one.

The hammer of God has one of the worst
human beings.

Yes, he did.

Right.

It's absolutely. Horrible.

The mayor challenges. That.

Yeah, in an asshole competition.

I'm not sure which of them would win.

I'm like, Why are there some of you. So

in this little village.

What happens after this?

Because she even though she's the mayor's

widow, it's sad, but she doesn't have
any credibility or anything.

I hope she raises Kathleen to be it.

Now, Kathleen raises her daughter, too.

Yeah. And it's Kathleen.

Kathleen, to be an astronaut or.

I don't know.

I think Eleanor and Edwin

are actually friends
because they teamed up, too.

That's true.

Put together this plan
and they seem to have similar values and.

Maybe they'll end up together.

Our friends. At least she's not alone.

What happens to the young lady
who killed him?

She goes to prison. Or hangs.

And probably hangs
because he was important.

And the man. Yeah.

And she was a jilted other woman.

It's unfortunate.

The trial is going to be nasty.

I feel bad for Eleanor
for the trial on Kathleen for the trial,

because there is scant

I mean, I guess if she confesses,
there won't be a trial again.

I know it's only an hour but I.

Valentine forgetting to take off
or something wouldn't be.

I don't think she'd run away, though.

No, because.

I think she did it
because she felt like her life was over

and she had nothing to lose.

She basically says as much, you know.

Wow, what a fun note to end this episode.

Well,
in such an episode of Toxic Masculinity,

next week, we have Flambeau. So

he's.

Not toxic,
he's sexy. So sexy and charming.

And then later him and Lady Felicia,
they do the kissy kiss stuff,

and you don't even care that she's married
because it's Flambeau and it's.

It's Flambeau.

See, he's perfect in that
he is charming to everybody.

Yeah. yeah, he's. He's dastardly.

He runs on.

I'm a thief,
but I've got a. Heart of gold.

Yeah. I'll tell you all about it.

Yeah.

I'm charming while I pick your pocket.

But I only steal really good stuff,
so don't worry about it.

Yeah.

I steal from.

From people who deserve it or.

You know, artifacts
to have a lot of important.

Just, you know, he likes bright and shiny.

And I got to make a living.

he's a great character. Yes.

To see him for the first time.
So that'll be fun.

The Blue Cross episode ten Season one.

Episode where we get to see
how the rest of the church

sees Father Brown For the first.

Time, we get to.

See his superiors
and what they think of him.

Yeah,
which makes you dislike him even more.

Well, it always reminds me like I came

from a very small parish in Canada
with very small churches,

and I wonder what the people
who got us to our church.

great. I'm going to that place.

What hap. Why they were so.

It'll be fine.

It'll be fine.

It'll be the last Father
Brown of season one.

And next week we'll tell you where
we're going next, too.

Or you can subscribe to the newsletter
to see where we're.

Going
and you can subscribe to the newsletter

from all the social media
or going to our website.

It's all on there. So.

All right, until then, bye, Maniac.

Bye, maniacs.

Thanks for joining us on Mystery
Maniacs Podcast.

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I just want Father Brown to look up
and his face

to be like, vote out like a chipmunk
because it's got so many and there's.

So many bugs.

Because every other one
he's putting in his. Mouth. What?

I got some time in my mouth.