Episode 227 | Mystery Maniacs | The Brokenwood Mysteries | "The Scarecrow" | Honey For Nothing & Your Bees For Free
Toot and Trudy. Toot and Trudy. Get your honey out because you're really gonna poison tonight.
Mark:Hey, Maniacs.
Sarah:Hey, Maniacs.
Mark:Mystery Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to mystery TV. Each week, we dig into an episode of a show including the merge, the mayhem, the loonies, and everything else we love this week, Broken Wood Mysteries season 4 episode 3. The scarecrow. I'm scaredy, Mark.
Sarah:I'm not scaredy Sarah.
Mark:Yeah. I'm not really scared either. I thought this was a lot more scary, but there's a, endeavor in which there's a scarecrow. I think that's the scarecrow.
Sarah:It's been done more than just once.
Mark:Yeah. I
Sarah:think You're not afraid of he who walks behind the road.
Mark:Oh, I'm terrified of him because I read Stephen King's book when I was a kid.
Sarah:There's also a really terrifying doc, David Tennant doctor who with scarecrows. Yes. The family of blood. Yep. That's that's a scary scarecrow episode.
Mark:And that that's one of the best new doctor who episodes.
Sarah:Yeah. So before we dive in, couple of corrections.
Mark:Well, first of all, we're a spoiler podcast.
Sarah:We're gonna ruin it. We're gonna tell you who did it. If you haven't watched scarecrow, go watch and come back.
Mark:Let your kids run around fields with pellet guns.
Sarah:Shooting in AM and objects, they can handle this the podcast. Maybe personal experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah:So last week, we were talking about historical recreations that we wish that we could attend. Yes. And I mentioned the epic 1919 maple syrup flood in Boston. It was molasses.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Mark made me sit through, like, a 14 minute chemistry professor's explanation of how it happened.
Mark:I thought it was interesting.
Sarah:I think it was a punishment for getting it wrong. Because you even said while we were recording, wasn't that molasses? And I was like, nope. Maple syrup. I was wrong.
Mark:At least one of our listeners said, I didn't know there was a difference. Yeah. So I think you should get off scot free.
Sarah:Sorry. I got that wrong.
Mark:But a number of people did mention it.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:Nobody mentioned the mistake that I made, which I found
Sarah:Which was a 2000 year mistake.
Mark:I I made a 2000 year mistake. The Cahawica Mounds state historical site is on the east side of St. Louis. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it was bigger than London in 1,000 CE.
Sarah:Yeah. Not BCE.
Mark:Not BCE. There was no London.
Sarah:To be fair, it's one letter off. Yeah. You know? Is there
Mark:a b It's 2 1000. It's 2000 years, but one letter.
Sarah:Yeah. It's fine. Yeah. Couple of things that we've been watching this week before we dive in. We started the new season of Vienna Blood that's on PBS here in the States.
Sarah:It's season 3.
Mark:Yep. 4. It's 4. 3 or 4?
Sarah:It's really good.
Mark:And they've they've advanced both the characters in interesting ways
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:Which I think miss Scarlet and, a couple of other shows had trouble with.
Sarah:Yeah. Now I can't go on too much longer because World War one's gonna happen. Yeah. It's imminent. Yeah.
Sarah:And they're in Vienna and Jewish, and it's gonna be bad. Yeah. But in the meantime, it's a really good show. I'm not gonna say that it's a light cozy mystery. No.
Sarah:But wow. Is it beautiful? It's really beautiful.
Mark:That being said about miss Scarlet, they did do something new in the newest season, and we watched that.
Sarah:And I thought like it more than I expected I would.
Mark:I I thought it was better than
Sarah:I thought with the duke leaving, I wouldn't like it anymore, but I do. Yep. It's okay. We also watched missing you, which is the Harlan Coben miniseries on Netflix. In gross point
Mark:blank, the main character plays a assassin, and it's played by John Cusack. And he tells everyone the truth in that movie, and no one believes him.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Okay? It's once you realize that about that movie, it becomes more comical. Yeah. This television show, everyone lies to the main character. That's kinda She looks completely shocked every time, like, right to the very last moment there are revelations.
Mark:You're like, oh. And it's
Sarah:and it's not just, like, suspects who lied to her. You know? We won't give any more than that away.
Mark:Everyone is lying.
Sarah:On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest score, how do you give the way it ended? Without saying how it ended, what would you give it?
Mark:They wrap it up, but I was I was unsatisfied with the ending.
Sarah:So what score would
Mark:you like to 7a half. I'd watch it again, but I wish it had a different ending.
Sarah:I would I would give the episode the season the series as a whole about an 8, and the way that it ended about a 6. Yeah. So they do wrap it up. So it's it's a satisfying, like, you find the answers to everything. It's not like that.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:But just prepare if you watch it. It's called missing you. Prepare to be kind of like, what? That's it? Really?
Sarah:That's how they're gonna end it? Okay.
Mark:Honestly, I'm almost drop another half point for them adding the missing you song on the very last part.
Sarah:Only because it got stuck in your head.
Mark:It's just the wrong song for the show.
Sarah:On a better note, we've started watching the new season the new season of the US version of traitors with Alan Cumming as the host. Again, I the first episode, I'm like, oh, they're all reality show celebrities. I'm not really crazy about that. They're always over the top dramatic, but it's grown on me. Yes.
Sarah:Because it's a good show.
Mark:I wish we could feel sympathy for the wives of blank.
Sarah:The wives of Atlanta or the housewives of Atlanta or whatever. I wish we could watch the the UK version.
Mark:We like the UK version again. And, again, we cannot stress enough. The second season of the Australian trader is the single best season of a reality show of all time to the very last second.
Sarah:It is. It really, really is. But and I know that it's not a cozy mystery. It's not the kind of thing that we normally cover, but it is an intrigue show, and you just can't beat Alan Cumming. He's just so epic.
Mark:Yes. Alan Cumming is fantastic. The the castle is fantastic.
Sarah:They're in Scotland.
Mark:Yep. And yeah. And and there are some regulars of serve of,
Sarah:Survivor, big brother.
Mark:Big brother that that we've seen before who I like.
Sarah:Yeah. So it's really fun. So if you need some brain candy Yep. You know, little gossip mongering, backstabbing reality show, it's really fun.
Mark:If you're watching it in the US or in the UK, let us know.
Sarah:Yeah. Definitely. We'd be curious to know what you all think. Yes. And whether there should be more murders in that show because there are murders in that show.
Mark:Yeah. But then they they're like, oh, you have to go away
Sarah:You've been murdered.
Mark:To another hotel.
Sarah:I don't know. In the last episode, they nailed somebody into a coffin. It was pretty fun. It's fun. So we've been watching stuff, but you you got a new book this week.
Sarah:Right?
Mark:I did get a new book because there's this weird thing about me. I've seen every version of the Hound of Baskervilles. Mhmm. I've watched every film. I've seen every television show of it.
Mark:Mhmm. I get obsessed with a story, and I watch it in all its different forms.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:I have a new one, which is murder on the orient express.
Sarah:Oh, okay.
Mark:I believe now I've seen every murder on the orient express movie and television show. Now there are some bad ones. Remember, Elliot Gould. Yeah. 19 eighties.
Sarah:But now you've got a book that's not just the Agatha Christie, the original.
Mark:Yes. So I I got a graphic novel this week called Murder on the Orient Express. A graphic novel by Bob Algreen. It's beautiful. The the text is from Agatha Christie,
Sarah:of course.
Mark:And where I found out about this, it's a couple of years old, is the Agatha Christie blog, the official one, did a thing on Poirot packing. Mhmm. And the illustrations were so beautiful.
Sarah:About how he packed a suitcase when he went on
Mark:a shopping trip. At the bottom, it was like, you can read more, if you like, Bob L. Green's artwork, you can see more of it in murder on the orange express, the graphic novel. I was like
Sarah:What?
Mark:So I bought that right away. It is so it is in what comic parlance is Belgian fine line style. The most famous version of this is Tintin. Yeah. Right?
Mark:Done by Herje who was Belgian Yeah. And did a fine line style. So if you know what Tintin looks like, this is done in that style, and it is beautiful.
Sarah:Yep. And it's the original story. Yeah. Because it's got Agatha Christie's text in it.
Mark:It has. And it has beautiful illustrations and beautiful diagrams of the train cars, and the train looks so good. And
Sarah:I haven't read the whole thing, but I have to say it is extremely true to the original.
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:It's like what you see in your head while you're reading it. Yeah. It's it's it's really good.
Mark:And the Poirot is definite like, there are some panels I'm like, oh, that's David Suchet. Yeah. Like, it's a very Suchet Poirot, but the mustache is a very
Sarah:Kenneth Branagh. Kenneth Branagh.
Mark:Yeah. So he's small and round.
Sarah:But his mustache goes all the way to his ears.
Mark:His mustache goes all the way to his ears. I think it's it's very good.
Sarah:Highly recommend.
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:Alright. You ready to talk about scarecrow?
Mark:Let's talk about Scarecrow. It was originally aired 12th November 2017. Josh Frizzle directed this and written by Greg McGee.
Sarah:I'm just gonna say right off the top. Mike Edward, who plays both Philip and Thomas Henderson, has a creative agent. Because they must have approached him and said, you're gonna be the victim, and we're gonna put fishing line across your face so tight. It's gonna make a divot in your face. But in exchange, you get to play that character's twin brother and show off your hot bod.
Sarah:Deal? Yep. Deal. And promote
Mark:your new yoga business. Yeah.
Sarah:Take off your shirt without any prompting whatsoever. Wow.
Mark:That was a lot of shirts.
Sarah:Elvis at Sims. Okay. I'll play that part. That's fine.
Mark:I hope he got paid double. He works extra hard in this episode. And his death scene, he face plans.
Sarah:Oh, man.
Mark:Yeah. On the floor, and it is clearly him.
Sarah:Yeah. And it's, like, concrete breezeway.
Mark:I wanted him well, we'll get there.
Sarah:We give away who did it. Yes. Okay? Yep. Trudy did it.
Mark:But that's the interesting part of this to me because Trudy is a reoccurring
Sarah:Regular character.
Mark:Character who now has had like okay. So we love cozy mysteries because other than the people who guest star in the show, everybody returns to normal at the end of the show. Right? It's a mixture of drama, of tragedy, and comedy. And
Sarah:The big reassurance that everything's gonna be okay.
Mark:The people who show up, the guest stars are in a tragedy. The people who do the detecting and the people around them are in a comedy. Yes. This is traditional comedy. Yeah.
Mark:Meaning, everything returns back to normal at the end. Right. Unless it's the end of the season. And then we're like, Breen, we don't like you much anymore.
Sarah:But when you take a regular character
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Who's supposed to be part of that, everything returns back to normal, and you send them to prison.
Mark:They change
Sarah:That's a twist.
Mark:There there's a change. They're experimenting. Yes.
Sarah:So we've got 3 farms. Right? We've got Dougie and Trudy. We've got the Henderson farm.
Mark:Yep. Which is in the middle.
Sarah:And then we have the Taylor farm.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:They're pie shaped farms. And where the wedges meet, there's manuka trees and bushes.
Mark:Because all Mowry's last name is Taylor. This is why I've learned.
Sarah:Because they're all related in this show.
Mark:They're all related. I'm not
Sarah:grumble about that. Anyway and they've all got hives. Yes. Right? Because manuka honey is so rare and expensive.
Sarah:And if you believe the ads on the podcast I listen to, it's like it'll cure brain diseases and arthritis and whatever. I don't
Mark:I learned everything I needed to know knowing the fact that there is a page for Manuka Honey on WebMD. Yeah. I didn't go to said page.
Sarah:But you saw it in the search results?
Mark:It was the number one search result.
Sarah:So there's this the argument about this. Right? And we see Philip have a confrontation with Dougie. I'm gonna call him Dougie because I like it.
Mark:It's always Doug.
Sarah:And then Philip's dead.
Mark:Yep. So did you notice first, the scarecrow is made of an incredibly expensive mannequin?
Sarah:Just a mannequin head. It's an ugly mannequin head. Why do you say it's extremely expensive? It's hideous.
Mark:But we priced out mannequins.
Sarah:Yeah. If you don't need to know why. Buy it new, they're really expensive.
Mark:So then he doesn't have it for his bees. He has that for his garden.
Sarah:What? Yeah. Why would he need a scarecrow for his bees? Yeah. He has it for his vines.
Sarah:He has a vineyard and an orchard. He's a busy dude. He has a nice farm. His little orchard is cute. The little apple trees are covered in apples, and they're so cute.
Sarah:They're so they're, like, short. Yep. They're a little compact. And one fancy scarecrow stand. I've never seen one with a hinge.
Sarah:No. But it makes sense.
Mark:It does make sense.
Sarah:They should all do hinges. Yeah. The one we had when I was a kid didn't have a hinge.
Mark:You had a scarecrow as a kid? Yeah. I grew up on a farm and had no scarecrow.
Sarah:Well, we there was an empty lot next to our house that my parents bought with our house.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:So we had a big garden. My dad planted a garden every year. So we had corn, tomatoes, green beans, peas. I mean, radishes, carrots, you name it.
Mark:Yeah. They're normally for gardens, not big crops.
Sarah:And he had a he always had a scarecrow out there, and it was usually made out of the clothes that we outgrew, which was really creepy. That's weird. To see the scarecrow wearing your clothes.
Mark:Could you look out the window and see it?
Sarah:Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. And then he'd put, like, a pumpkin on his head or, like, a a dried out gourd or, like, a bucket with a face on it. I don't think they work.
Sarah:No. I mean, unless they move a little bit with the wind, they don't they don't I don't think they scare anything off.
Mark:Well, the the closest thing I remember is near one of the places where my brother lived. There was enormous amount of orchards.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:And they had what was equivalent of a shotgun blast go off at irregular intervals during the day. During the night, the birds are asleep.
Sarah:Right. And I can see why that would scare them off, a big noise like that.
Mark:But, you know, you're hanging
Sarah:out terrify anybody.
Mark:Hanging out of my brother's house on the deck and all of a sudden,
Sarah:bang. Everybody's on the ground flat. So can I tell you a couple things about scarecrows that I found?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And I'm getting deja vu about this. I think we've talked about them before. Maybe when we did a Midsummer or something? Sarah Midsummer is a joke. I slept since then.
Sarah:So
Mark:many we're at 227 episodes. Who is to remember everything?
Sarah:I'll just give you a couple of fun facts that I learned. I hate that phrase fun facts.
Mark:Oh, hey. Can I tell you a fun fact?
Sarah:No. I learned some interesting facts about scarecrows Yes. Including the fact that in Germany, they are called Bootsman. Bootsman? Bootsman.
Sarah:Bootsman. Unless, they're female and which they're Bootsefrau. Bootsefrau. Or bogeyman. Bogeyman.
Sarah:Yeah. The bogeyman is a scarecrow. Yep. This is the one that gave me deja vu. In ancient Greece, scarecrows were made to look like a god called Priapus.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Does that name ring any bells to you?
Mark:Sounds familiar.
Sarah:Like a condition Yeah. That you might have to see your doctor about?
Mark:Yeah. If your boner is longer than 4 hours.
Sarah:Last longer than 4 hours. What I have to tell you though is that Priapus' boner is way longer than 4 hours. It's kind of what he's known for. He's the god of fertility and agriculture. Just took a drink.
Sarah:And so these scarecrows were probably scary because their bits were bigger than their bodies. Yeah. Like Wow. In medieval era, kids were made to run through fields and scare off birds.
Mark:Yeah. That makes
Sarah:that makes sense.
Mark:It's noise.
Sarah:But then when the Black Death came around, you really couldn't have your kids out running around so much. You wanted to keep them in.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:And so then they started using scarecrows again. Ancient Native American men used to stand on high stands in their fields and just yell at birds
Mark:Oh.
Sarah:Which I think sounds like fun.
Mark:Yes. Hey, bird. Bird. I found Young bird. Get out of here, bird.
Sarah:I found a lot of this information in an article I read that has an excellent title.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:The tie the title of this article is, hey, man. Hey as in h a y. Yeah. Hey, man. The curious life and times of scarecrows.
Mark:Oh, somebody was being clever that day at the at the,
Sarah:Published in the Modern Farmer Journal. The next search result in Google Scholar was development of a renewable energy powered avian pest scarer. It's an avian pest scarer.
Mark:It's certainly a folklore boogeyman.
Sarah:Yeah. Because you just you can't see them and not imagine them getting down.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:And you can't forget Wizard of Oz. Like, everybody has seen a scarecrow move because they've seen Wizard of Oz
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Or read Wizard of Oz. Do you remember how the scarecrow was introduced in Wizard of Oz? Isn't he In the book? No. So in the book, he explains that he was made just 2 days before, and that the first thing the farmer did was make his head and paint his ears on.
Sarah:And as soon as he did, he could hear. And then the farmer painted an eye on his face, and then he could see. And he watched them put his body together. Oh.
Mark:Those are weird books.
Sarah:They're way weirder than you remember. That's for sure.
Mark:There's there's also a Patrick McGowan Disney film. I think it might be called the scarecrow where he plays this scarlet pimpernel like figure, but he's a scarecrow. Ugh. No. Rides on a horse and
Sarah:No. I don't want that. No. Thank you. Well, Philip I mean, Mike Edward who plays Philip and Thomas, I'm gonna give him an 11 on the scale of 10 for dead body acting Oh.
Sarah:Only because he tolerated that line across his face because and I looked frame by frame. It is absolutely pressing his face.
Mark:And then has beautiful scars.
Sarah:The scars are great. They did a really good job on Morgue. Yep.
Mark:And then also does an amazing death scene Yeah. Yeah. While being a jerk brother too.
Sarah:I just hope that the line they used on his face was like elastic and didn't wasn't as rigid and tight as it looked. Like, if you put a rubber band on your face, it will deform your face. Yeah. But as soon as you take it off, you're fine.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:But if you put something rigid like fishing line on your face to make that tight of an indentation, it would hurt a whole lot more.
Mark:I thought it was barbed wire. Like, I was remembering it was barbed wire, but it clearly isn't. That would be so
Sarah:much work. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It's still really hideous.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Leave it to Trudy
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:To drag, like, a 200 pound man, change his clothes, put him up on a pole.
Mark:As as we've mentioned, Trudy is she hulk. Mhmm.
Sarah:So I don't even know that we need Thomas Taylor. I realize you need a third person to make the business deal go hinky. There's gotta be 3 people. But he and his sons, I just feel bad for them.
Mark:Yep. And they don't like, they get their, it's Dougie that poisons their bees.
Sarah:Yeah. Puts gasoline in their hives.
Mark:And that's and then what the guy says about the humming of Sinclair? The bees. I was like, oh.
Sarah:That's so sad. Yeah. Well It's like a jet engine, and then it just goes silent.
Mark:This episode is like, oh, we hate every oh.
Sarah:It's a roller coaster. It's like, oh, scary scarecrow. That's a freaky death.
Mark:Now we hate everybody. Everybody's horrible.
Sarah:2 little kids found a dead body. That's horrible. Oh, Trudy's such a bad person. Oh, I think his girlfriend did it. No.
Sarah:I just wow. Up and down up and down. Yep. I really don't need Philip's stomach contents super zoomed on a 55 inch TV in the morgue. I was having a snack while I was watching that, and I stopped having my snack.
Sarah:I was It's gross.
Mark:I was like, I could go for some honey and bread.
Sarah:It's so gross. She says, oh, maybe he died of a fiber overdose. Trudy. What do you make out of Trudy and Doug? First of all, were you are you surprised that she's married?
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:It's When you first watch
Mark:this episode. Nowhere.
Sarah:Like, it's never mentioned. Hint. We don't see them dating. You imagine them dating?
Mark:The own the only hint that we get of this episode is the honey in 2 episodes ago.
Sarah:On the counter at the
Mark:It's on the counter.
Sarah:At the frog and lion toad and cheetah, whatever it is. Trudy originally comes to town to help her brother out.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Like, she
Mark:When did she and Dougie get together?
Sarah:I don't know. I mean, life goes on, I guess, behind the scenes while other murders happen. But it it feels like they're supposed to have been married for a while, but they couldn't have been because she didn't even live in town until a season ago or whatever.
Mark:I guess.
Sarah:I don't know. Do you buy them as a couple?
Mark:It's really easy to sell it as a gold digger, but she cares about Dougie.
Sarah:Yeah. And he's not wealthy. No. And he's a curmudgeon.
Mark:He's
Sarah:He'd have to have a
Mark:lot of
Sarah:money to make it worth that. He's he's
Mark:He's got no kids? Did he have a previous wife? Does he say anything?
Sarah:I doubt it. Wow. He doesn't he doesn't come across as like Gentleman, bachelor, farmer. Exactly. Exactly.
Sarah:But I buy it. I I think their relationship is is believable. They seem to really care about each other, but it also strikes me as 2 fully grown independent adults who have their own thing who then get married to each other that they tolerate one another's quirks and And that can happen. Independent things, you know, like
Mark:That can be like, oh, I'm not gonna get another chance here. Yeah. I don't imagine the bachelors are banging down Trudy's door.
Sarah:But I can also see, like, we can make this work. You you stay out of some of my business, and I'll stay out of yours. That's your life. This is my life. This is our life together.
Sarah:Okay.
Mark:I didn't know if you caught this or not. They don't spend a lot of time together.
Sarah:You never see them together.
Mark:So because we know he goes to bed early. Mhmm. She works in a bar.
Sarah:Yeah. So let's Breakfast.
Mark:Let's say let's say that she works 6 to 2. Mhmm. Right? So she doesn't see him all night.
Sarah:No. Okay. He gets up at 6.
Mark:He gets up at 6. They spend a few hours in bed together. Yeah. She doesn't get up till 9.
Sarah:But then he has breakfast with her because
Mark:he's just on their own farm. Together, and then he goes to work on
Sarah:the farm. Well, they might have lunch together too. Maybe.
Mark:But they don't spend a lot of time together.
Sarah:No. And that's how some relationships work.
Mark:I guess.
Sarah:That's why they work because they're not, you know, living in each other's pockets. When Sims goes to see Kahu
Mark:On Smogo.
Sarah:Is he at home?
Mark:No. He is, he's doing a job because he says the owner said it was okay for me to make a cuppa.
Sarah:Oh, okay. I missed that line
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Because then they're out on the porch, and I'm thinking this is his place. Like, a plumber just happens to be doing plumbing at his own house when you come in?
Mark:No. No. He said Then
Sarah:I'm not upset about her just walking in. It's not his house.
Mark:No. It's not his house.
Sarah:Because she clearly just walks in.
Mark:He's doing a job.
Sarah:Yeah. Okay.
Mark:So then we get the real subplot of this episode, which is Sims' ability to make coffee or not. Because our current theory, Sarah's mostly, is that Sims pretends to make coffee poorly as a way of getting out of it.
Sarah:Or Sims actually is bad at making coffee, hence why she has such an expensive coffee maker because it doesn't work for her. Well, here She makes instant coffee that tastes like tea.
Mark:That is hard to do.
Sarah:No. It's easy to do. You just don't put enough coffee in it.
Mark:Oh, I guess.
Sarah:Like, the instructions are on the container.
Mark:She goes, I don't bake.
Sarah:Instant coffee is disgusting anyway. I don't know why anybody would have instant coffee. But, yeah, as soon as Kahul says Smoko, I'm like, I'm on Smoko, so leave me alone.
Mark:And then he got he goes, did you bring any baking? I'm like, wait a minute. There are rules for Smoko?
Sarah:You have to bring baked goods to Smoko?
Mark:I didn't know there were rules.
Sarah:The whole point was leave me alone. I'm on Smoke O. I don't like Dahlia. Maybe it's just because she's a granola, sage locust, organic.
Mark:They try to make her interesting by making her lie and making her steal the honey. She's so stupid. Where would you okay. I stole something, so I'm going to display it in my kitchen.
Sarah:Yeah. Exactly. What are you doing, woman? Yeah. Now
Mark:she is grieving. Yeah. Okay. Because, like, she had her dreams set.
Sarah:But if she didn't have Sims as a best friend, she'd be in prison. If she didn't have somebody looking out
Mark:for her Mike and Breen constantly remind her.
Sarah:Like, this girl probably did it. Now she didn't. No. But she's looking awfully guilty, and a lot of people wouldn't have looked past that. But Sims is actually looking out for her.
Sarah:But she says everything happens for a reason, and I'm just like, okay. I don't like you anymore.
Mark:I detest that phrase.
Sarah:I know you do.
Mark:Sometimes everything happens for a reason because you're stupid and make bad choices.
Sarah:And again, Breen and I have the same fears. I think Trudy is also scary.
Mark:And he gets the collie wobbles.
Sarah:Where where does that come from? Where does collie wobbles?
Mark:It's like Virginia's in the early 19th century.
Sarah:Oh, you looked it up? Yep. Okay.
Mark:Comes from colic and wobble. It's folk etymology.
Sarah:So when you had colic, you got the wobbles? Like, dizziness from coughing? And now it's Means the opposite. It makes you unstable. This.
Sarah:Yeah. Alright. I love that Trudy's garage has a sign that says the honey trap. Yes. She is the Well, that's
Mark:the logo.
Sarah:I know, but she is the least honey trap woman ever. She's like bee repellent. Like, she is so outwardly scowly and intimidating. She's never gonna work as a honey trap. You know what I mean?
Mark:Well okay. So did you see the flyer for the honey? No. Or the sign? Uh-uh.
Mark:So it says it buffers immune system, system support, creamy manuka honey, and then it says collected from the New Zealand bush.
Sarah:Okay.
Mark:Now from the native New Zealand bush.
Sarah:As opposed to that imported New Zealand bush.
Mark:I guess. Did you see how much it was? Uh-uh. 45 nzed dollars for one of those containers.
Sarah:That's a lot of honey, though.
Mark:That's a lot of honey, but that's a lot of money,
Sarah:honey. Artisanal.
Mark:So how much do you know do you know about the exchange rate?
Sarah:I don't.
Mark:It's about $25.
Sarah:That's that's reasonable for that. That's well over 16 ounces of honey in that jar. And it's a cute little jar.
Mark:It is a cute little jar. Dougie has the best line. There's the most country versus city line ever. He goes, he's a townie who dabbled.
Sarah:Wow. You've probably heard farmers say
Mark:that, haven't you? Yeah.
Sarah:I don't know. I like Trudy and Dougie. They may not see each other very much, but they are on the same script.
Mark:Oh, and she has a phrase for
Sarah:They are absolutely looking out for each other. They don't they don't, they're absolutely looking out for each other. They don't give statements on one another's behalf and they don't comment on the other one's statement. Nope. Right?
Sarah:So, like, if you wanna know something about Trudy, you ask Trudy. You don't ask Doug. Yeah. Because he's not gonna tell you. Nope.
Sarah:And and when they ask her to confirm something he said, she's like, well, you're just gonna have to ask Dougie. We don't boil our cabbage twice. Yeah. And I love that.
Mark:That's Like fantastic. We
Sarah:are a team.
Mark:That's when you know Dougie and Trudy love each other because they are the same person.
Sarah:Yeah. He says the dog needs to go out. I don't squeeze it to make sure. Like, they're on a team. Yeah.
Sarah:Just like she and her brother are.
Mark:Well, if she phones, he Dougie phones her.
Sarah:Right? Sims is on her way.
Mark:Yep. He doesn't say anything, like, don't tell her this or don't tell her that.
Sarah:Just be aware. And that's when we get to see Sinclair for the first time. Yes. And he's another he's he's an odd character. You really dislike him at first.
Sarah:You think he's a skeezy businessman confronting Philip at the farmer's market and, like, trying to undermine his business or whatever, and you're like, who is this scabby guy? But then he actually turns out to be, like, a legitimate businessman who actually seems to care about bees Yeah. And know with bees.
Mark:Yeah. We it is the change of opinion of people in this episode that I like.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Speaking of, Philip's brother arrives in his I'm the city man from the city.
Sarah:It never occurred to me how devastating it would be to lose somebody you love and then have their identical twin show up.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:Especially, if you'd never met them and they looked that much alike.
Mark:Yes. That is horrible. Like, how I I can't even imagine it. But my problem was Sims stuck at the front of another bad funeral.
Sarah:Yeah. This
Mark:is 2 now. What is Sims doing that everyone around her is dying?
Sarah:I understand her being there trying to support Dahlia. Yeah. You know? I get it. And this is the only time I actually feel bad for Dahlia is when Thomas walks up.
Sarah:Thomas, never Tom. Yes. It's never Tom. Nope. Not Tommy.
Sarah:Nope. You call him Tommy. He's probably gonna do some yoga on you.
Mark:Yep. Dougie can't call him Tommy.
Sarah:Get his little tight pants out. Yep. But when he walks up and she's never met him before
Mark:Yeah. Oh, I just They do that really well.
Sarah:The few people in my life who I've lost, I cannot imagine if somebody who looked just like them walked up at the funeral. It'd be so upsetting.
Mark:It would be so weird. And Dougie shows that he's a good guy here. He's a neighbor. We didn't see eye to eye, but he's a neighbor.
Sarah:Yeah. He didn't kill him. Meanwhile. His wife did.
Mark:Meanwhile, Trudy's like, I got a place to have the party.
Sarah:Yeah. You wanna come back and buy drinks off of me? Yep. Missus Marlow made rolls, cheese rolls. She must buy a lot of white bread.
Mark:She must. I heard he was hung, drawn, and quartered. That's a bit messy.
Sarah:That's a bit now Yeah. That missus Marlow says, is it true that the murder happened, like, this horrible, unrealistic way that it probably didn't? Yes. Well, that's good.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:She asked that almost every time now.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:You're a good friend, but you make terrible coffee. When somebody who's grieving has to tell you, please know, don't make me coffee. It's bad. You know, it's bad.
Mark:So the second mystery of this episode is is it a pawnshop? Is it a junk shop? Are they a travel agent?
Sarah:Is it a costume store?
Mark:Are they selling costumes? This place sells everywhere. Did you notice that junk was on the side?
Sarah:Yes. So, Sid, the pawnshop guy Yep. Who we previously thought was also a travel agent Curios and collectibles. Definitely is into selling taxidermies. Different store.
Mark:Completely
Sarah:different. Trying to push ferrets on the Sims at at every chance.
Mark:And Xena costumes.
Sarah:And Xena costumes. It must be like a running joke for them.
Mark:It's between Xena, power rangers, and lord of the rings. Yeah. They have they can hit any one of those in each episode and know they got a guaranteed laugh.
Sarah:Yeah. It's like an inside joke for New Zealanders. But where's he getting all these ferrets? Like, if there's a taxidermist who keeps selling him ferrets, he should stop buying them. Yeah.
Sarah:But they did buy one before for Mike. So maybe he thinks she's starting a collection. You sure you don't want another ferret?
Mark:Yeah. You sure? And then there's the doctor do Dolittle joke.
Sarah:You mean the who's on first joke? Yes. It would have had to have been doctor Dolittle. Doctor who? No.
Sarah:Not him. The other one. The one who talks to animals. He's on first.
Mark:I've got the cauliwabbles.
Sarah:And they talk about that that is it a tutu tutu flower? Yes. That has poison in it. Yes. And the the tooting getting in the honey.
Sarah:Yes. And all the time I'm thinking, I know Trudy did it. And all I could think of is tooting Trudy. Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug, Doug. Do do
Mark:the turn into I haven't done that since my wife died. Like
Sarah:Oh, it's my turn to be sad. Me raising my boys all by myself.
Mark:Like, wow. But that junky garage, I was like, I've been in that garage.
Sarah:Thomas t Taylor's property is is just, lockjaw waiting
Mark:to have it.
Sarah:Yeah. Like, it's Tetanusville.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:I need to go back to the pawnshop for a second.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:If we imagine this is the pawnshop where Sid has always worked.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And I don't know. You used to be able to get there by walking through the travel agent or something. I don't know how that worked. This is the store that was burgled and only taxidermy was stolen. Yeah.
Sarah:You're right. All that other junk. The only
Mark:guy in town only took that?
Sarah:Only stole white taxidermy from the junk shop. He he's a worst burglar than we imagined when he ripped off the
Mark:worst god.
Sarah:The sky jumping place.
Mark:Worst get,
Sarah:the street. Stuff he could have stolen. Yep. And he goes through and goes, jewelry? No.
Sarah:Expensive collectibles? No. Taxidermy, but only the white ones. Yes. A duck, a dog, a fox Yep.
Sarah:A ferret. That's what I'm gonna take.
Mark:I gotta tell you, Sarah. When you pawn stuff after you've murdered me, don't use your real name.
Sarah:No. I won't. Okay. Though if I do it in our little town, people will know who I am anyway.
Mark:Our town is not that small.
Sarah:No. But if we live someplace like Brokenwood, they'd they'd be like, hey, Sarah. Oh, is that Mark's ring you're selling?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:He's dead now. Right?
Mark:Meanwhile, Mike is like, who profits from Phillips' debts? Boy, does he bang that drum.
Sarah:Well, he's right. He is.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:And again, we get I don't I don't like that they do this. I think it's cheaty. I don't like that broken wood shows us reenactments of scenes that never happened. Yeah. We see Dahlia and Philip having their romantic dinner, and they never had that dinner.
Mark:Never had
Sarah:that dinner. That never happened. No. They shouldn't show it to us. It's breaking the rules.
Mark:Something that's not breaking the rules, but I didn't need to see was the yoga class. First of all, there are a lot of people in this scene that are like, I was in a yoga class on broken wood. Mhmm. 2nd of all, mister biz mister Bregnis
Sarah:Thomas.
Mark:From the city is maybe not the best yoga candidate in the world. Now the guy, the actor, is a yoga guy. Oh, yeah. He does a actual yoga move.
Sarah:He does that one handed body stand thing.
Mark:Yep. And then spreads his legs and says, here's my scarecrow.
Sarah:I'm cooling down. I'm Priapus.
Mark:Let me rub on this bumper thing.
Sarah:We're both, like, going back and forth in our chairs. Nobody can see us do it. We're doing the pelvic thrust for podcast. Nerds. Yeah.
Sarah:So you don't believe Thomas is a yoga type? No. Oh, I do.
Mark:I don't. And I immediately thought when he fell down and did the face plan at the end when he does his death scene Mhmm. I was like, he should've lifted up on one arm and been like, yoga move.
Sarah:I know a ton of super successful, especially men, businessmen, who treat their bodies like temples and wear a headset and talk about stocks while they do their yoga. Like, it doesn't surprise me at all that he needs to maintain his body like a temple.
Mark:Let me take my shirt off.
Sarah:Just randomly. I love the Sims is like, can you stop doing that for a minute?
Mark:Would I have to cool off?
Sarah:And then he, like, whips his sweaty shirt off and then stands so close to her. Oh. He's gotta be stinky. Yeah. Apparently, Tooten is instantaneous too.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:When they think that she will have po poisoned Dougie, he drinks it, and he doesn't drop dead. So they're like, well, okay. I guess you're alright.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Like, how much do you have to eat? I couldn't find the toxic dosage of tootin anywhere because it really depends on the concentration of it and the honey and stuff. So apparently, 44 pieces of toast is enough for sure to kill you pretty immediately. But would it like a teaspoon and a glass of whiskey?
Mark:I don't I don't but I don't I don't think she would have done that.
Sarah:I don't know.
Mark:I think she loves Doug.
Sarah:I don't know why they thought she would. I
Mark:well, she's crazy. So, Philippa, is that her name? What's her name?
Sarah:Dahlia?
Mark:Dahlia.
Sarah:Are you mixing her and her dead boyfriend together now?
Mark:Dahlia steals his honeycombs. Yeah. Have you ever eaten honeycomb?
Sarah:Uh-huh.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:It's kinda crystally.
Mark:You chew
Sarah:on it and you
Mark:get the Crystal.
Sarah:The wax is left over.
Mark:It becomes a kinda gum thing. Yeah. I ate it all the time as a kid.
Sarah:I'm I've only had it, like, once. But
Mark:Land, like, went to the place that had the hives to get it.
Sarah:Like, you squeezed a bee off of it and said, let me put that in my face. Yeah. I was always kinda ever so slightly creeped out about it because I don't like holes like that.
Mark:Yeah. I know.
Sarah:And plus, I couldn't not think that's food for be maggots. Yes. Like, what if the cell next to it had a b pupa in it? Pupa. You know, it's kinda you're off it now.
Sarah:You're like, that's really good. Woah. Wait. Oh. Oh.
Sarah:Now you're making me think about it. Oh.
Mark:Well, Nick, you've come to work today to be DC brain. We're going to crucify you. Okay.
Sarah:Well, there's a handy dandy, like, foot pedestal.
Mark:I know. And Sims pushes him up, like, with no problem at all. Yeah. Of course, he's tiny man. He's a wee man.
Sarah:No. I don't think so. He's gotta be 6 foot.
Mark:He's not very muscular.
Sarah:I think he's solid. Hey. Have you seen him as a Power Ranger? No. He's not scrawny, but she's got leverage.
Mark:Yes. She does. There's been a development at the sage locust. Why would you call your place of business a locust?
Sarah:I don't know. It's like crunchy bug cafe or something. This whole fishing thing. There's a lot going on in this episode.
Mark:There's so much.
Sarah:I love when Doug says, you're into fishing, but not that kind of fishing. He grows on me. Yep. I kinda like him the more it goes on, like,
Mark:He goes, those are Trudy's boots. They're too big, too small for me.
Sarah:It would have been funnier if he said they're way too big for me. She's a big woman.
Mark:So what has happened is Philip has decided to sell the farm. I I actually like how the Taylors are like, we love this land, but somebody's gonna buy it. Yeah. So I'm gonna sell it.
Sarah:And the money is more important than the sentimental.
Mark:The money is way more important to my family than the sentimental. And it would be. Yeah. Obviously. And so she is gonna lose the farm, and then Dougie does the worst thing.
Mark:And I don't think Dougie does this spitefully. I think he does it thoughtlessly.
Sarah:Yeah. He Agrees to receive a royalty in exchange for not having bees. Somebody's gonna pay me for doing nothing. Yeah. And it and he never was doing anything.
Mark:Money for It was sent honey for nothing and It's
Sarah:just for free. Kinda Trudy's hobby. Yeah. So but he can't.
Mark:But he doesn't understand how important that hobby is to her.
Sarah:Well, he doesn't understand how much she wants him to get off the farm Yeah. So that he'll live longer.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:And when he not only doesn't sell it, but does sell her thing Yeah. That's upsetting. And But she's not mad at him. She just has to find another way Yep. To get him off the farm.
Mark:So she decides to become a killer.
Sarah:No. She decides to make Phillips sick.
Mark:Yes. With poison. Whoopsie. Oopsie. And then frame the Taylors Mhmm.
Sarah:And By traumatizing Scare
Mark:Dougie.
Sarah:Yeah. Because Dougie strikes me as the kind of guy who's gonna go, wow. The neighbor was murdered. Guess I better sell up and get out of here.
Mark:So No. You feel sorry for Trudy, but then you remember that she's psychotic.
Sarah:That not only did she kill somebody, because she did kill him. Yep. She snuck into his house, broke into his house. Like, premeditated. Premeditated.
Sarah:Even if she didn't think it would turn him
Mark:gloves?
Sarah:It was she was risking his life. Yep. But when he dies from it, she thinks, in the moment, I know. I'll string him up like a scarecrow. Yeah.
Sarah:I'll change his clothes.
Mark:Where did
Sarah:she find the scarecrow clothes?
Mark:They were on the scarecrow.
Sarah:Oh, that's right.
Mark:Yep. That's where the hat comes from.
Sarah:I'll strip the scarecrow that's here.
Mark:Also in my head.
Sarah:And move his body and string him up, and that will make the other neighbor look guilty. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why that makes Taylor look more guilty than it would Doug considering they had an altercation.
Mark:I don't know either.
Sarah:She's running a risk there of framing her husband for it.
Mark:Like, I understand the older gentleman farmer and needing to move on from the farm. I remember I remember a phone call with my mother where my mother said, well, that was after my your father broke his ribs. And I'm like, what? Yeah. And she goes, oh, just a few months ago, he was over at the barn, and a cow moved the wrong way, and he broke his ribs.
Sarah:And you weren't gonna mention,
Mark:like Wait.
Sarah:Why? Time for you to move off the farm Yeah.
Mark:To me. She goes, well, he walked back to the house. Oh, sweet Jesus. So then then, like, my parents had the decision made for them because the ice storm of 96 happened, and they were out of their house for 6 weeks living in town with my brother, and they got the taste for town.
Sarah:Yeah. Because the farm had no power for 6 weeks.
Mark:6 weeks. And then they, like, it it was the next year or the year after they moved to town. Now I have to tell you, dear listener, as far as I remember from maybe 4 years old on, I, on a regular basis, said to my parents, why are we not living in town? I want I was like, why are we not living in the city?
Sarah:Yeah. You wanted to move to Toronto or something.
Mark:I wanted to move to New York City.
Sarah:I was like Can I go live with the Jeffersons?
Mark:Can I go live with the Jeffersons? They live in an apartment, which is awesome. There are no cows, and their next door neighbor is British. Like, that's the best thing in the world. No.
Mark:We will never move to town. Then I move out, and they moved to anyway, I know it puts stress on
Sarah:people. Mhmm.
Mark:But it does not make people sick.
Sarah:No. No. And I
Mark:know it's heightened here and everything, but you really feel sad for Trudy here. And we think this is the end of Trudy.
Sarah:But it's not. So do
Mark:you think they came to her and said, we need to change your character, or do you think she went to them and said, I wanna change my character, or maybe I'm gonna be away for a little while?
Sarah:I think it's that. I think Tracy Lee Gray, who plays Trudy, probably had some reason for needing
Mark:to operate from the show. Like her.
Sarah:And they said, oh, we'll just make you a killer. This will be great, which is a super brave thing for the writers to do because they could have just sent her, you know, off on a self discovery trip or something. They didn't have to turn her into a murderer. No. But they did.
Mark:This is a permanent change
Sarah:for me. Comes back, it works. Yep. A killer comes back to town, and she's still Trudy. And there's even an episode while she's in prison
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:About her.
Mark:Yep.
Sarah:So she's a good actress, and it's a good character.
Mark:I think they really like her.
Sarah:You love her. You hate her. You love her. So I
Mark:think they really like her as an actress.
Sarah:Well, they should, and the character's really good.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:The the window in the interrogation room has super powered window blinds. Also That make it a one way window and soundproof.
Mark:I I also would like to state they need to stop doing interrogations with the door open.
Sarah:There is that too.
Mark:Because that's kinda illegal. Yeah. Gonna say
Sarah:mostly illegal. Probably not okay to have the suspect's husband on the other side of the window either.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:I'm surprised he doesn't knock on the window. Hi, Trudes. That's the only thing he doesn't do is, Trude, shut up. You know? Because he's like, oh, she'll be fine.
Sarah:Yeah. Because he doesn't think she has anything to hide.
Mark:I absolutely believe wholeheartedly that two way glass is a seventies cop television show convention that doesn't actually exist in the
Sarah:We know it's not two way glass.
Mark:Sorry. One way of glass.
Sarah:It's well, no. It's not one way glass. Yes. Because in the last episode, the suspect looks out and sees Sam standing there.
Mark:That's it's
Sarah:It's just regular glass.
Mark:It's the plot flash.
Sarah:It's the super powered window blinds. If you turn them, so they're slatted a little bit down.
Mark:She can't hear a word.
Sarah:You can't hear and you can't see.
Mark:Even though the door of the room you're in
Sarah:is open and the room that they're in is open and they're next to each other. Suspension of disbelief, Mark.
Mark:Then Dougie cries.
Sarah:Oh, Trudy is legitimately crying. Which prior to this, you you would have never thought. No. You would ever see that character legitimately cry. Even if her brother was murdered in front of her, it would just make her mad.
Sarah:But then he sees her and his eyes are teared up. It's like, oh.
Mark:It misses a beat that because it's so emotionally heavy here, the the reality of what would happen doesn't happen, which is Ray would show up with the sleazy lawyer after she gives the confession. Yeah. And that would be bad. Yeah. Like but that's what Ray would do.
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:Of course, he would. They're like, shut up, Trudy. We're here. We're here. And she'd be like, I already confessed.
Sarah:Go on.
Mark:Ray absolutely loves his sister.
Sarah:Oh, yeah. Wonderful. Team. Yep. They're a team.
Mark:And Ray skirts the line of Elia Gali Yeah. But doesn't actually cross it.
Sarah:Well, kinda stands on it. Yes. You know, maybe maybe leans one way or the other sometimes. Hence, the what was it? Lord of the Rings or whatever they called it.
Mark:But okay. The Hobbit. So this is Ray's next holiday. Okay? Ray's wife, as we remember, died after selling shark fin soup.
Sarah:Yes.
Mark:So she's dead. Yes. Trudy, his only family, he says that
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:Is now in prison. Yeah. And his brother-in-law is also going to prison for for destroying the hives or at least paying
Sarah:He's paying a fine.
Mark:Paying a fine. But I don't think Ray and Dougie get along all that well.
Sarah:We don't know.
Mark:That's what he has for Christmas next year,
Sarah:Dougie. And we're so we're talking after the credits here. Right? Yeah. So does Thomas still buy the Taylor?
Sarah:No. Does Sinclair still buy the Taylor Farm?
Mark:Sinclair, I think, buys everything.
Sarah:Does he buy Dougie's Place, you think?
Mark:I think Dougie needs the money to pay the fine.
Sarah:Because it's gonna be an awkward neighbor relationship Yeah. If he doesn't.
Mark:Maybe Dougie goes to work in the bar.
Sarah:Maybe.
Mark:Maybe?
Sarah:It's bad enough that you gotta go to the bar where the killer's brother owns the place. Yeah.
Mark:But to
Sarah:have her husband working behind the bar. I can't imagine Dougie would be very good at hospitality.
Mark:I don't think so. I think you're probably right.
Sarah:What do you want? Get it yourself. Yeah. I don't boil cabbage twice.
Mark:So best corpse, of course, is Philip. Oh, yeah. Just does amazing.
Sarah:Well, he's the only one. Yeah. And epic. Next week, season 4 episode 4, as if nothing had happened.
Mark:Yes. It's the McMansion with Frodo doing the yard work
Sarah:near has yet another job.
Mark:Near a old age home
Sarah:Yes. Episode. They're fun. Alright. Until next time.
Mark:Bye, maniacs.
Sarah:Bye, maniacs.
Mark:Thanks for joining us on the Mystery Maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes. Follow us on social media for updates, beyond the scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word. Bye, maniacs.
Sarah:5
Mark:4
Sarah:32. Hey, maniacs. Hey. Fail. Cough.
