A Bucket Full Of Jerks | Brokenwood | "Old Blood Money" | Mystery Maniacs Podcast EP250
This is really a great filming location, and it was easy for us to book. We should use it again.
Mark:Hey, maniacs. Hey, mystery maniacs. Mystery maniacs is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to Mystery TV. Each week, we dig into an episode of the show including the murders, the mayhem, the loonies, and everything else we love. This week, the Brokenwood Mysteries Old Blood Money season nine episode two.
Sarah:Otherwise known as episode of jerks.
Mark:Yes. There are a lot of jerks in this episode.
Sarah:A lot of unlikable people. It's very midsummer in that way. Yes.
Mark:I'm Mark. I'm Sarah. 250 episodes. 250.
Sarah:This is two fifty? This is two fifty. Welcome to two fifty.
Mark:That is In six years and roughly three months, which is insane.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:On top of that, when you you add the numbers together, we're well over 600,000 downloads of audio only.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:We're close to 500,000 views on YouTube. Mhmm. More on YouTube in just a sec. 3.33333 episodes a month for six years.
Sarah:That's awesome. That's insane. Thanks for listening. I cannot Thanks for being there.
Mark:I cannot believe the community we built, the fun we've had, the laughter
Sarah:COVID stuff. Stuff. The COVID stuff. The sheer hours of evidence of our insanity
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:That are out there to the public.
Mark:Our that our children will be able to listen to in their old age.
Sarah:Neither of us is ever gonna run for office anyway.
Mark:No. It's fine. I don't think so. By the way, there's a new thing on the YouTube. So if you're listening on the YouTube, not only like, subscribe and do all that good stuff as normal, but if you're listening on the YouTube's and it's in the first seven days of the podcast being released, there's a hype button.
Mark:The hype button on the bottom of the video is there so that smaller creators can get in for get out and get listed and get attention.
Sarah:And that's a new thing.
Mark:And that's a new thing and we support this 100%. It's completely free.
Sarah:Yep.
Mark:All you gotta do is click a button.
Sarah:Yep. That's it. If you wouldn't mind, click the hype. Click click the hype. Hype us, baby.
Mark:We got lots of incredible stuff coming up including new midsummers and all sorts of other things coming up. So, I know this is an important episode but we will be celebrating kind of for the next two months of Mhmm. Of stuff coming up. So But, first, as promised on the Reddit, before we start this episode, we must return to Knitter's Corner.
Sarah:And why are we returning to Knitter's Corner?
Mark:Well, we are returning to Knitter's Corner. First of all, because boy, it was a hit. A number of people mentioned loving Knitter's
Sarah:Corner. I kind of know our audience. Yes. Have some things in common.
Mark:But last episode, we mentioned a particular sweater
Sarah:that talked about Skillfully bad.
Mark:Yes. We contacted Tanya Clowens who is
Sarah:The costume designer. Costume designer. Mysteries.
Mark:Who was was the one who introduced Tracy Lee Gray to our podcast, which is fantastic. Thank you. And we asked her about how that was created and if she had anything to do with it. Swishri, she responded like instantaneously that a friend's mother made that for them in a hurry. The brief was it was supposed to look terrible and that would be great.
Mark:And they finished off the last few rows of the hem with the gray macrame cord that they used. Macrame. Macrame, which they used in the episode.
Sarah:It's perfect.
Mark:She says, from memory, I think she did it in a little over a week, which is insanely fast. It is very fast.
Sarah:Kudos to friend's mother because it is art.
Mark:That we predicted that and now confirm that from the show.
Sarah:And that is knitter's corner. Knitter's corner. I
Mark:don't think we have a knitter's corner for this episode.
Sarah:We don't get the harp coming out of knitter's corner too.
Mark:Here you go.
Sarah:Thank you.
Mark:Okay. Back to the regular show. Midsummer on stage last night, we already have reviews on the subreddit Mhmm. For Midsummer. Apparently, it was quite an amazing show.
Mark:It's going on all this week. So it's October 24 to the November 1.
Sarah:But we're waiting for a maniac review.
Mark:Yes, we are waiting on a maniac. Ari has suggested that since she's traveling all the way from Sweden to go see mid summer live, then she should be a correspondent. And I completely agree. I cannot wait to hear from them about mid summer live. That's gonna We've be already heard good reviews.
Sarah:I didn't doubt it for a minute. Apparently, it's hilarious,
Mark:which that episode is full of hilarity. Yeah. Yeah. Also, I did mention a couple of episodes ago the Poirot video game. Now, is Death on the Nile, the disco version.
Sarah:It's very much a Kenneth Branagh Poirot.
Mark:Yes. He looks It's very much a Kenneth Branagh Poirot, though it's not supported by that.
Sarah:No. No. But but he looks more like the Kenneth Branagh version
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Than the David Souche version.
Mark:Yes. And I've been playing this video game and that's Sarah will attest, been frustrated by said video game.
Sarah:It's kind of hard apparently. He walks into a lot
Mark:of walls. Difficult video game. The puzzles are difficult, but I'm gonna do a full review as a video review of that game for our listeners. When I post that, I'll I'll mention it on the podcast and tell everybody about it. So that is all our announcements.
Sarah:Are we ready for old blood money?
Mark:Sarah, it is cold outside. There are leaves blowing down the street. Mhmm. There is soup in the crock pot. Mhmm.
Mark:The heat is on. Yes. This is fall time, and we are cozying up to this show.
Sarah:To a party of jerks.
Mark:It is a party of jerks in which the the episode also does a very good job of being psychic. And what I mean by being psychic is you spend the episode going, isn't that and then they confirm that it is.
Sarah:Yes. That is the house from the Clue party.
Mark:Yes. That is Jules.
Sarah:Yes. That is Jules. Yeah. Like,
Mark:they do a very good job of predicting what you would be thinking about.
Sarah:My biggest issue with this episode it's a fun episode, but my biggest issue is they break the rules
Mark:This a is a pure mystery episode, and they break the rules a couple of times. But more than a lot of Broken Wood episodes, it's a pure whodunit.
Sarah:Yeah. And and by breaking the rules, what I mean is that the detectives are privy to information that they don't share with us. You know, look at a phone and go, oh my gosh. But they don't show us what they're seeing. So we can't solve it along with them.
Sarah:And that's breaking the rules. I don't like that.
Mark:And who are those rules by? The detectives club. Yes. The Agatha Christie was part of. Yeah.
Mark:And I meant to mention this to you. It's a tiniest side, but it has been announced by the Agatha Christie estate that Marple will be returning.
Sarah:Oh, awesome.
Mark:There will be a new Marple, which
Sarah:One old lady actress will play her this time.
Mark:Once we hear more, we can figure out which old lady actress can play her. And by old lady, I mean awesome. Old lady.
Sarah:Well, yeah, but over over 60.
Mark:Yes. Original air date of this episode, the 04/10/2023, which seems like two seconds ago. Katie Wolf directed this and it was written by Tim Baum.
Sarah:Jules is Crying and Driving.
Mark:Which is a band from the
Sarah:No. That's Driving and Crying.
Mark:Yes. Driving and Crying is the eighties band from
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:Atlanta, Georgia. I think they're from Atlanta. They're I know they're from Georgia.
Sarah:Here, this is a personal question, but we're married, so I can ask you in front of all these people. Yes. Have you ever done that? Yes. Cried that hard while driving?
Mark:Oh, absolutely.
Sarah:It sucks. It doesn't. It's horrible. It it I feel bad for her in this moment.
Mark:It is I don't like Jules at all. Fun.
Sarah:I don't We're not supposed to.
Mark:We don't we're supposed to we're supposed Jules is kind of like that aunt who always gets in trouble and we go, oh, well,
Sarah:we That's know just aunt Jules.
Mark:That's just aunt is
Sarah:like, she makes poor decisions.
Mark:Like, we're not supposed to hate her.
Sarah:But we
Mark:were supposed to assume that she's making decisions that are beneficial to her financially in the realm of love.
Sarah:But while smiling and banging her eyelashes and wearing tiny, tiny disco pants.
Mark:Those disco pants. Hey.
Sarah:You know what? You know what Jules is good at besides making bad choices? Walking in heels.
Mark:She walks upstairs in heels.
Sarah:Drunk. Yes. The woman has three inch heels minimum on Yep. The entire episode. Yes.
Sarah:And some of them are like tiny tiny stiletto heels
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Which I can't even like stand up in, and she's acting in them.
Mark:Good for climbs the stairs and incriminates herself.
Sarah:Then we have Chalmers running in slow motion. So It's beefcake cam.
Mark:Yeah. It's well, there are a lot of cams in this episode that we'll get to, but yes. But it's definitely It's
Sarah:not just jogging. It's slow motion Chalmers jogging.
Mark:And slow motion Chalmers in the morning, I'm like, you're going to find a body different.
Sarah:Of course. So No detective is allowed to exercise or walk their dog or join a club or anything without finding a body. You have to. No. It's Jules in a ditch, though, and she's not dead.
Mark:No. She's just unconscious, but no one loves me anymore. Dial dial 111.
Sarah:Why didn't her airbag go off?
Mark:I don't know.
Sarah:Was this a slow motion crash?
Mark:Maybe.
Sarah:She didn't really hit anything. Right? So
Mark:So Chalmers goes to the back of the car. The boot? The boot. The trunk. I'm not exactly sure what leads him there.
Sarah:I think he's just going back and forth. He goes to the street and that jackass in the van doesn't let him use his phone. I'm a police officer, there's somebody in the ditch. Yeah, right.
Mark:Yeah, whatever. I'd be getting
Sarah:a license plate of that jerk.
Mark:Yep. And finds a dead body in the trunk. This is a great setup. This is a great setup. We know we know Jules.
Mark:Yeah. We know Jules is gonna be innocent. Yeah. But we have a dead body with no shoes on the trunk. It's immediately a mystery.
Sarah:Dun dun dun. Yes. Let's talk about the Wadsworths.
Mark:Yes. The
Sarah:house of horrible people.
Mark:So this is the house in which the Pluto game took place.
Sarah:Yes. Miss Scarlet was murdered there by the old housekeeper. By the housekeeper.
Mark:Who was now in prison. She wasn't old.
Sarah:No. The former. The former housekeeper who was now in prison.
Mark:Yes. And we never met the Wadsworth.
Sarah:No. Because they were on the continent.
Mark:But I But this is clearly a thing that Tim Baum placed in the the filing cabinet in his head, way at the back. He's like, we will get back to the Wadsworth.
Sarah:I think it's more like, this is really a great filming location and it was easy for us to book. We should use it again.
Mark:Agreed. It is definitely those two things.
Sarah:So we've got Dolly and Jonti, brother and sister. Yes. Right? It's Dolly's ninetieth birthday. Yes.
Sarah:I think Jonti is older.
Mark:So one thing in this episode that is in the setup that is then completely forgotten is that this is her ninetieth birthday party and she wants people to come dressed for a decade that she was alive. Mhmm.
Sarah:That's a weird request. She's old and rich.
Mark:Very can make secret look party like already is difficult. But, yeah.
Sarah:But by those rules though, people could just wear whatever they want because she's alive now.
Mark:Exactly. Right? The the twenty twenties is a decade. Oh my gosh. The 20s.
Sarah:So she's 90 and 23 when was she born?
Mark:Living on the moon and driving flying was born
Sarah:in '33? Yes. So you've got the 30s, so you're post flapper. Yes. So World War I, World War II fashion, all the way to the '50s, the '60s.
Sarah:You could do Madonna '80s Yes. Bullet bra if you wanted to. Yes. I mean, really
Mark:Why does Doctor. Death Magnet not wear a bullet bra?
Sarah:You know, I've got an argument about that. I don't think that Plummer is a death magnet.
Mark:Okay. The last two episodes he has found dead people.
Sarah:I know. But Three, three dead people. But I don't I don't think that's the defining characteristic. I think
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:His defining characteristic is that he associates with the wrong people.
Mark:Well, okay.
Sarah:Because notice, Rev Green is never with him. No. Right? No. Green says, you wanna go hang out with the Wadsworths?
Sarah:Have fun. I'm not coming with you. Yeah. Because I'm sure he could have come to the party. He chose not before.
Mark:He was there for the the The Pluto. Pluto episode.
Sarah:But, no. He's like, if you're gonna hang out with those people, I'm not coming. No. He's got better taste in people.
Mark:I'd also like to know what Doctor Death Magnet now does because he was supposed to take over the fire station.
Sarah:But clearly, he has not. No. He didn't. He said he couldn't.
Mark:He said
Sarah:he said it would ruin his marriage.
Mark:It would ruin his marriage.
Sarah:So what is he doing? He's a psychotherapist, isn't he? Or a psychiatrist.
Mark:Supposedly psychotherapist never sees patients and never talks to someone?
Sarah:He does. It all happens in Riverstone. Oh, okay. See it there. We're not allowed to see Riverstone.
Mark:The of Riverstone.
Sarah:Yes. That's where it happens.
Mark:Cloak over it.
Sarah:Right. I mean, is just a weekend. Right? Yes. So Monday through Friday, he's a hard working therapist.
Mark:Now I wanna I wanna I wanna briefly interject and speak to all the parents out there. Our second child is almost off to work today. So we will have two children at work today, and we will be alone in the house.
Sarah:The two of us and we're doing this. Yes. But we are excited that we get to eat lunch together. Yeah. Not include children.
Sarah:We get to eat whatever we want.
Mark:They're wonderful, but ordering food is just
Sarah:You know, yesterday, We're on a tangent already. Yesterday, I was leaving work, and I was talking to a couple people before I left, and we were talking about the weekend and what plans we had. And I said, I'm going home now because I think when I get there, I might be alone in the house. And they were like, and you're talking to us? Get out of here, go, go!
Sarah:Like I was gonna speed home and be like, I'm home alone. And I got home, and Olive walked out and went,
Mark:what are you doing here? Because now she's a country music singer.
Sarah:Dang old dog. Okay. So Dolly and Jonte used to be a duo, a musical act. Yes.
Mark:Brothers They toured and the world.
Sarah:So Jonte did not get married. No. But we assume Dolly did Yes. Because she's got grandchildren, and either her daughter or her son and their spouse died.
Mark:In in an avalanche in Switzerland.
Sarah:Yes. Saint Maritz. Wow. So she's had to raise her grandchildren. Yes.
Sarah:Charles and Belinda.
Mark:Which I'm gonna say, Charles is a unlikable get, but he doesn't kill anybody.
Sarah:No. But he sent his best friend to prison and Yes. Perjured himself.
Mark:He did in fact do those things.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. He's bad. Yeah.
Sarah:And this whole family has weird sibling relationships.
Mark:Indeed. It has the rich people with weird sibling relationships vibe to it.
Sarah:Dolly and Jontie have clearly spent too much time together. They hate each other.
Mark:Do not like each other.
Sarah:Linda and Charles are just very much on the family tradition.
Mark:How could you live in the same house and be like that with a person? I would just move.
Sarah:I don't know. But as Dolly, I I think having one child was probably a smart thing. Even though her child tragically died, at least she only had the one.
Mark:Yes. So the reason why we're talking about the Wadsworth is because Jules was at the party at the Wadsworth where she obviously picked up the dead body.
Sarah:The other people at the party, Victor Cantrell, Boy Wonder
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Who's now 60 I I think Their protege.
Mark:He does a great job being slightly skeezy and suspect the whole time. Like, you're kind of like, did he do it? And like, up to the very end until I remembered what happened, I was like, did he do it?
Sarah:Okay. Victor is a grown ass man who is still idolizing two crotchety old people. He isn't. He's made bad choices in his He's made bad choices. This is a house full of bad choices, okay?
Mark:Though when Mike asks him if he stays in the house, he goes, no.
Sarah:No. He's not a sick fan. Like, he will criticize Dolly. He's like, he says their stories are boring and things like that. But he's clearly given a lot of his life over to these two people.
Mark:Well, they're taking care of him, obviously.
Sarah:Are they? I don't know.
Mark:Maybe.
Sarah:So he's at the party, Doctor Death, Roger Plummer, he's at the party. Yes. Then there's Tamuka, who is Jonti's nurse
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Who is the grandson of a man who was the family chef in Zimbabwe Yes. When they ran the tobacco plantations way back when.
Mark:When it was Rhodesia before the war. They do a fantastic episode of this, in this episode of glossing over war and genocide in Africa, like whatever.
Sarah:I don't know much about that country except what I heard in the news. Hopefully, it's better now. Anyway, who else is at the party?
Mark:There are a lot of people in the video that just were at the party and then left. They just disappear. Yeah.
Sarah:I it's like there's 10 people at the party max. It's a small room anyway.
Mark:It's it's kind of like the remember the episode where they were playing the game with the coins? Mhmm. There were a lot of people in that room. Mhmm. And then they all went away.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. So since this is a party for jerks Yes. Even the caterer is a jerk.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Apprentice, who has the worst hair ever. What is that hair? Is that middle aged man trying to recapture youth hair
Mark:or what? I don't I don't know.
Sarah:He's got a bob.
Mark:All I know is Flat. If I had Karen hair and I was in the position I am, I would wanna change my hair.
Sarah:You think he has Karen hair?
Mark:It's a little bit Karen hair.
Sarah:He has a greasy bob.
Mark:He does?
Sarah:It's not flattering.
Mark:Oh. And he does and the actor who plays him does an excellent job of being skeezy. Being a greasy bob. Yeah. Yeah.
Mark:And Like that moment where he goes to knock on the glass door and he hears the baby Yeah. Is perfect.
Sarah:Yeah. He but the catering operation is like they're catering a party for 50.
Mark:And there's two of them.
Sarah:It's him and Gaia, who he hires at the last minute. He only ever had one other person working with him. And yet he's taken inventory of dishes and glasses like he's just done a party for 1,000. Yeah. I don't understand.
Sarah:And Are we supposed to think that he cooks? That he makes food? I don't know. Or did he just do drink service? Though there are some other waiters there.
Mark:There are.
Sarah:There are some other service.
Mark:There are other waiters.
Sarah:So now that I think about it, he did have more than one person hired to help. But Gaia showed up not dressed apart. She's also kind of a loser jerk. Okay.
Mark:Gaia is that person who you look at and you go, they're a nice person, but they're always getting themselves into trouble.
Sarah:I don't think she's a nice person at all. I think she's a horrible person.
Mark:That's true. She kinda is she's awfully taunty at the
Sarah:end. Yeah. Drunk people are usually more themselves than less themselves. That's who she really is.
Mark:That's true. And I did actually think that her getting up on the the side of the veranda was realistic.
Sarah:The balcony? Yeah. Yeah. That's the kind of thing that she seemed like she would be likely to do. If we're talking about this party Yes.
Sarah:We've got a whole bucket of jerks at the bottom. I would say, though Temuka is a killer, I would put him slightly higher
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Than the rest of them. And then there's Plummer at the top who just has bad associations
Mark:with He has bad friends. Yeah. That's what he has.
Sarah:He associates with the wrong people. Yeah. But by far the highest quality person at the party, I guess. The rest of them are just awful. Yeah.
Sarah:All the Wadsworths are awful. Yeah. And Victor's awful. No one claims to recognize the body, though they all know who she is. Yeah.
Sarah:Everybody lies.
Mark:Everyone lies.
Sarah:Everybody looks at the phone Yep. And pretends they don't.
Mark:No idea.
Sarah:Never seen her before.
Mark:They totally close ranks.
Sarah:Now, Plummer does say he saw her in the kitchen. Yes. Again, highest quality person at the party
Mark:is plumber. When doctor plumber is your highest quality person.
Sarah:Prentice's business seems to be run out of his garage.
Mark:Yeah. It's a home based business. He's got a car. A van. A van, That's just full of glasses.
Sarah:Mean, it's just glasses apparently. Just racks of glasses. There's still plastic racks of glasses in the kitchen at the house. Yeah. I did notice in the kitchen.
Sarah:Yep. Like, did they just take one sip out of each glass and then put it down? I mean, the other thing in his garage is he has a pair of blue pickleball bats on the wall.
Mark:Well, you know, when you're not doing catering, you wanna play some pickleball.
Sarah:It's Prentiss Prestige catering with the pickleball paddles.
Mark:And now we have the name of the episode. The thing I wanna know about him is, did he cook? And usually in a small town, when you do catering, it's from a restaurant in town. Like, let's what restaurant could we choose? Ray's Pizzeria.
Mark:Mhmm. Right? So, you go to Ray's and you say, I'm having a party with 40 people, can you cater the party?
Sarah:Can you make pizza for 40, mister pigeon? Not everybody wants pizza. Because You have small scale caterers. People people who make cakes especially.
Mark:I understand all that, but in a small town, you usually don't have that. Like, we live in a town with 40,000 people in it, I bet you there's no caterers that just do catering except for ones that have restaurant attachments, except for the one you're thinking about right now.
Sarah:Except for the seven thinking of right now.
Mark:Okay. Well, I could be wrong.
Sarah:That we hire a school to
Mark:cater I'm not aware of the catering incident. Catering economy. Industry.
Sarah:Dahli and Jonti don't like each other. No. Right? Jonti's on his deathbed upstairs. Tamuka is his nurse.
Sarah:Yes. And he is an actual nurse and does seem to actually give medical care to Jonti. He's not a faker or anything. Until he kills him. Until he kills him.
Sarah:This is a spoiler podcast by the We're going to tell you, we have already told you.
Mark:By the way, easiest acting job in the world.
Sarah:Jaunty? Yes. Yeah. Lay in bed and be crotchety.
Mark:Yep. Naughty. Even crotchety. How many lines does
Sarah:he have? Like three? Yeah. But Easy gig. Dolly's party is downstairs.
Sarah:Jonte can't come to the party, obviously, because he's upstairs on his deathbed. Yes. So Dolly has Tamuka set up a livestream for him.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Which just seems cruel.
Mark:It does, it does.
Sarah:And tells you a lot about their relationship.
Mark:It does indeed.
Sarah:And Jonti has no interest in watching it either. She even comes to the camera and goes, why don't you just die already? She's a great actress. Did you notice every day that old, and she's awesome.
Mark:Did you notice she never sits properly on any piece
Sarah:of No. She doesn't.
Mark:Which I think is fun. Her legs up Slumped. Slumped over or something. She obviously said, okay, this lady is going to not sit properly on anything.
Sarah:It's gonna be her signature thing. Yep. She must have been a great grandmother. Yeah. An awesome grandmother.
Sarah:A fun grandmother. Maybe not a reliable one.
Mark:Well, she's gonna be well, as we get to what happens afterwards,
Sarah:she She raised a couple of jerks.
Mark:Yep. But she's a great grandmother now and needs to to definitely
Sarah:She's literally a great grandmother. Yep. So Well, no. Great aunt.
Mark:Great aunt. Yes. Yes.
Sarah:Jules is engaged to Charles, the wads
Mark:worst It's on again and off again. Charles is like, don't tell the police about me. Oh, I love you.
Sarah:How old do you think he's supposed to be?
Mark:Early forties. That old?
Sarah:Yeah. I was thinking mid thirties. How old do you think Jules is supposed to be?
Mark:Late forties.
Sarah:So ten fifteen years between Is that too much of an age gap?
Mark:Jules looks at people and says, how much money do you have? And then says, I'm attracted to you. I would if it wasn't and Sims puts the nail on the head and says she has more husbands than Mike has
Sarah:wives. Yeah.
Mark:And you're like,
Sarah:oof. And they all die while she's visiting her mother. Yeah. She she definitely has
Mark:I a love that little part where Chalmers is like, were you visiting your mother? And she's like, my mother died. And Sims is like,
Sarah:because Chalmers is like, were you in Hamilton visiting your mother again? My mom died.
Mark:Sims is like, oh, whoops.
Sarah:Oops. So Zara has fallen and broken her neck, And she also has bruises all over one side of her body.
Mark:Zara and Gaia are the same person. We're going to use that name interchangeably.
Sarah:Yeah, it's hard not to.
Mark:It's hard
Sarah:not to. She because she fell from the balcony.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And Gina, of course, figures that out very quickly.
Mark:Now, do you think this is possible? She is roughly 20 feet in the air.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:She falls onto a gravel driveway. No. It's concrete. It's concrete? Okay.
Mark:Yeah. It's asphalt. Okay. She falls onto asphalt. Mhmm.
Mark:You think she's dying? Yeah. I think she has a definite possibility of dying, but she has, I would say, an equal possibility of being hurt. So
Sarah:Yeah. I agree with that. So Especially since she's drunk. So she's either loosey goosey, which makes you decreases your chance of serious injury. Or she's drunk, so she doesn't have the wherewithal to fall well Yes.
Sarah:Now and falls on her head first.
Mark:Yes. She she has equal percentage possibility. Mhmm. Which is why I feel slightly easier in saying that this is actually an accident. I don't know if
Sarah:I agree with that. It's difficult. We'll see. We'll get to the end. Yes.
Sarah:We'll pass verdict at the end. How
Mark:about Yes. Absolutely.
Sarah:So Gaia has come to town. Gaia Zara has come to town
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Because her mother, Ginny
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Also lives there. Yes. And Gaia Zara is a person who makes very bad choices and has come back beforehand in the past to just get money, and her mother's basically trying to cut her off for her own good.
Mark:Now, there is a child involved with this.
Sarah:Yeah. But now she's come back with a baby.
Mark:Now she has a baby. Now when they first go visit Ginny, she gets them away from the trailer right away by going down to the beach to collect mussels.
Sarah:Mhmm. Ginny. You're talking about you said when they and them Sorry. So when Mike and and Sims first visit Jenny at the trailer She gets them down to the beach pretty quickly.
Mark:Away from the trailer.
Sarah:Because the baby's there.
Mark:You learn lady later because the baby's there, but I thought they did that really well.
Sarah:Yeah. I did too.
Mark:Like, you don't feel like, oh, something's up here. No. No. It seems completely natural that she's like, whatever. I'm gonna do this thing.
Mark:You can come with me if
Sarah:you want. She lives in a trailer basically in kind of a park. Yep. She's a very independent woman Yep. Who kind of lives an isolated life.
Sarah:She's one of those. We've seen them in lots of shows. The I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do, and if you wanna talk to me, follow me because I'm gonna go do what I do.
Mark:It's a Trudy like person.
Sarah:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Mark:And so I think it really worked there. Yeah. Because then when the reveal of the baby happens, it's much better. Yeah. And you go back and go, ah.
Sarah:That's why she wanted to get them away from the trailer. Yeah. Because she didn't want them to find out. Yes. And when they show her the picture of Gaia and she finds out that her daughter is dead, she never wished her harm.
Sarah:No. She just knew that no help that she gave her would ever actually help her. Yes. It's almost like Gaia was an addict or something, and she just had to, like, just cut her off.
Mark:You know? It's totally played as if Gaia's an addict.
Sarah:What Ginny doesn't know is that Gaia has learned who her father is, and it's Jonti Wadsworth.
Mark:And she's known for a while.
Sarah:And has been skis and money off of him too. Yes. And his reaction is far worse than just cutting her off. He sends his nurse to kill her.
Mark:Yeah. That is the thing I do not like about this episode is that Jonti sends him to kill her. He would never go. Like, I know he's a killer.
Sarah:I don't think Tamuka ever had the intention of actually murdering Gaia if he found her. That's why Jonti sent him. Yeah. But I don't think he ever would have gone through with it and probably knew that he never would go through with it.
Mark:Okay.
Sarah:That's why he had arranged for the death certificate to fake it and probably hoped that she would never show up. So but also had no problem taking Jonti's money afterwards as payment for killing her. Yeah. He has some But Jonti is a horrible person.
Mark:Jonti's a horrible person. But Tamuka's only slightly better. Slightly. Charles' sister, what's her name? Belinda.
Mark:Belinda is in a relationship with Tamuka.
Sarah:But also engaged to Alastair who's in prison for the fraud that he committed with Charles.
Mark:So where do you think that relationship is? Do you think that's a friends with benefits relationship or more? In reality and in her head?
Sarah:I think in her head, it's some kind of convenient relationship that she probably sees as
Mark:When I'm drunk and want to fool around
Sarah:Possessive of him because he's less than her because he's the help. Yep. And I think that he absolutely understands that that's the position that he's in. Yep. I don't think he thinks that he's in love with her or she's in love with him.
Mark:So I think her him going to the city to pretend to kill Gaia and falling in love with Gaia fits. I think that works.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Because I'm away from these people now. Yeah. And I'm happy.
Sarah:Well, and if Gaia was having a good day, she was probably charming. Yeah. You know? They seem, The photos that they show of the two of them together are convincing that they were happy together. Yes.
Sarah:But he did lie to her about his name and who
Mark:he The best of the worst.
Sarah:He didn't say, I'm your grandfather's nurse, I've come to kill you. No. But I'm not going to.
Mark:He forgot to mention that over dinner.
Sarah:Now, that would have been smart. Yeah. Because then the two of
Mark:them So how can we get more money out
Sarah:of the old
Mark:bamboozled the jerk. Because he also took advantage of my family. Mhmm. So I'm going to take advantage of him with you.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. They could have teamed up. Yep. And not just for greed, but for for justice.
Mark:Almost. Yeah.
Sarah:Like, he sent Tamuka to kill me. Let's go to the police tell them about that.
Mark:If they took a bunch of money from Jonti and conspired to do that and did nothing else
Sarah:Didn't kill him.
Mark:Didn't kill him, I think Mike would be like, you're on your own.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. The rev green is back at the church, and we get the first incidents of the special cam. Vacuum cam.
Mark:Vacuum cam. Now if you remember, this is not the first instance of vacuum cam we have had on mystery maniacs.
Sarah:When have we had vacuum cam before?
Mark:There is a midsummer episode with vacuum cam.
Sarah:Oh, yeah? Yes. Maybe it's some inside joke.
Mark:This is our second instant incident of
Sarah:Vacuum cam.
Mark:Vacuum cam.
Sarah:No. Maybe it's some inside joke among like show producers and videographers that like you try to slip in at least one vacuum cam in a show. Maybe. Strap a camera to a vacuum.
Mark:Like I know that the Broken Wood people haven't leaned into it, but many people call them the Midsummer of New Zealand. Right? They have been linked to the show several times.
Sarah:That makes sense to me, not because that they're so similar, but because they have a similar level of coziness and
Mark:And so I don't think this is a callback to Midsommar. No. I think this is we have a toy that we can put on a vacuum.
Sarah:Hey, look. We got this new little camera.
Mark:Yeah. Let's put it on stuff.
Sarah:What can we put it on? A vacuum. Vacuum. Yes. It's the same thing you'd use for like killer cam,
Mark:knife I
Sarah:do love Laird's coffin cam.
Mark:Yes. I do love that he vacuums the church because that is a thing that a priest does.
Sarah:But Plummer's the one vacuuming.
Mark:Well
Sarah:Because he's so sorry they stayed out
Mark:all night. He's so sorry he stayed all night, but at least he didn't try to bring some young man home.
Sarah:If green can guilt plumber into doing chores every time plumber has made a bad choice, their house is pissed. I am all
Mark:for And
Sarah:plumber's like, yeah, I deserve it.
Mark:But churches, like, those are the things that people forget, that churches need maintenance on a regular basis.
Sarah:That's what the flower ladies are for, isn't it? Don't they do that kind of stuff?
Mark:The organ lady might do it occasionally, but if he wants to make sure the plumber does the right thing.
Sarah:Core plumber realizes that he has not told Mike exactly the truth and goes to the police station and talks to Kristen
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:And accepts an offer of coffee Yes. And makes the perfect
Mark:face. Then it is it is such a great run on joke that they don't have to make a big deal
Sarah:about Nobody has to say it.
Mark:No one has
Sarah:to say We're all watching. Is he gonna drink it? Is he gonna drink it? He drank it. We're all
Mark:looking for the coffee, and there it is.
Sarah:When at the whiteboard later, Kristen says that Warhol's first work was an ad for shoes. Yes. Did you look them up, the ads?
Mark:No, I didn't.
Sarah:They are absolutely typical Warhol sketches of very dainty pointy shoes.
Mark:Oh. A lot of people get started in advertising. A lot of people, a lot of filmmakers like Ridley Scott. Well, first of all, we I don't think we've told this story on the podcast before. Ridley Scott was a guy.
Sarah:Ridley Scott who directed Aliens. A guy
Mark:on Z car. Zed car.
Sarah:Mhmm. We have talked about that.
Mark:Yeah. And somebody walked up to him and said, do you want a directed episode? Alien. Right. So Ridley Scott did a ton of commercials.
Mark:He did famously that 1984 Apple commercial.
Sarah:That that totally sir fits his style now.
Mark:David Lynch did probably the weirdest car commercial of all time. I cannot describe it. You have to go see it.
Sarah:David Lynch car car commercial?
Mark:It is bonkers.
Sarah:Give it a Google.
Mark:So lots of people did this. So I can assume that she's telling the truth that Warhol did this.
Sarah:It is in fact true. Another artist who didn't get his start doing advertising, but did at least one advertising is Dolly. Do you want to guess what Dolly did? I'll give you a hint. He drew the logo for a brand that is still its logo today.
Mark:Oh, wow. Yes. I didn't know that.
Sarah:Yes. Drew it in an hour on the back of a newspaper.
Mark:Oh. He's a special guy.
Sarah:Mhmm. But he was well into his career when he did it.
Mark:I don't know.
Sarah:Do do you know what a chuppa chupp is?
Mark:Chuppa chupp.
Sarah:Chuppa chupp. The lollipops? Yes. He drew the chuppa chupp logo. Oh, wow.
Sarah:And told them to put it on the top of the lollipop instead of on the side, which is like their signature thing.
Mark:He's a totally smart guy.
Sarah:Yeah. But just just kinda whipped it out like as a it's a doodle.
Mark:We haven't talked about it, and I'll put the trailer in the the show notes, but there's a new movie coming out called This Is Not a Murder in which a murder happens at a collection of surrealists in a Country house. In a country house. It's a country house murder, a cozy, but with Dolly and Man Ray
Sarah:All kinds of strange people.
Mark:All sorts of strange people. It looks fantastic.
Sarah:Well, I got to thinking, like, it's it's so odd that Warhol did a shoe ad. I was thinking, what products would other famous artists have created ads for if they did? Yes. And the first thought was Picasso doing a bra ad.
Mark:That would be fun. Wow. You got
Sarah:one of those cubist ladies who's got one boob on her shoulder and one on her chest, and she's wearing a maiden form or whatever, Playtex bra. And then I thought of Pollock doing a Swiffer ad. Yes. Because Pollock always did his canvases on the floor because they were gigantic.
Mark:With like a wipe right Yeah, through the just one
Sarah:clean clean swipe across the canvas where the Swiffer had been.
Mark:Oh my gosh. I know lots of people don't like Pollock. I love Pollock, but the thought of somebody doing that to a Pollock fan.
Sarah:Cleaning a whole strip of it. Or the last one I thought of was Duchamp?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:What do you wanna
Mark:So Duchamp relates to that trailer I'm telling you.
Sarah:Yeah. Because he's
Mark:because is the painter of the this is not a pipe picture.
Sarah:Yeah.
Mark:Right? It says on the picture, this is not a pipe.
Sarah:And there's a picture of
Mark:a pipe. And it's a picture of a pipe and it's true because it's not a pipe, it's a picture of a pipe. Right. And it's the words of a pipe, it's all abstract, But also it is a pipe.
Sarah:Okay. So if he was gonna do an ad, what would he do an ad for?
Mark:Deschamps. He could do green green. He has a famous picture of a man in a bowler hat with a green apple. Mhmm. And he could do green apples.
Sarah:Like Jolly Ranchers? Yes. Like green apple Jolly Ranchers?
Mark:Something like that.
Sarah:So another thing that he's famous for is the fountain Yes. Which is a mass produced urinal Yes. Just sitting in the corner So of a gallery as a piece of art.
Mark:You could do, like, maybe Kohler would hire him.
Sarah:Well, I was thinking, like, Lysol.
Mark:Oh, okay.
Sarah:Bathroom cleaner. Somebody's gotta clean it.
Mark:Someone's gotta clean
Sarah:it. Because every once in a while, somebody tries to pee in
Mark:it. Yeah.
Sarah:Even in the museum. Wow. That didn't get stolen from the Louvre.
Mark:By the way, we didn't rob the Louvre.
Sarah:No. No. Crossed us off the list.
Mark:Nope. We did not do it.
Sarah:You know I didn't do it because they went up on that ladder and there's no way I would do that.
Mark:Thought about it. We about You know?
Sarah:We rented the scooters and everything.
Mark:But And then we just kinda ran.
Sarah:Yeah. I'd rather record a podcast. Let's go do
Mark:that. Wouldn't it be nice to leave this country?
Sarah:We're in Paris. Let's have a snack. Jules' antique shop is called the House of Jules.
Mark:It's the House of Jewels and
Sarah:And it's like a shack.
Mark:When they go in, they should look around because it's also the same place as the woman in the coin episode Yeah. Runs her shop out.
Sarah:Yeah. It's the same storefront.
Mark:It's the same storefront.
Sarah:The same gift shack.
Mark:Yep. The counter is in the same place.
Sarah:Oh, it's white. It's practically the same store.
Mark:Exactly the same store.
Sarah:Except Jules has a whiteboard that says furniture and accessories or something written on it.
Mark:What is Jules doing? She got so much money from people. What is she doing working? Did she? She remember she inherit she got bunches of money.
Mark:Oh, but it got taken by the the the European guy.
Sarah:And it strikes me as she she strikes me as the kind of person who blows it
Mark:real I would assume that she blows through that money.
Sarah:Or gives it away to some handsome guru or something. I don't think that she's a smart investor.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Charles Wadsworth and Alastair, his business partner, construction guy Yes. Have committed major fraud.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Right? Enough that Alastair went to prison for it, not for a month, for a long time. And Charles
Mark:casually admits that he framed him and that, oh, well, I got away with it. To the police.
Sarah:He admits that to the police, which is why he's broken up with Jules because he says, you can never be with me if you knew what I'd done. And what he's done is frame his best friend Yeah. And let him go to prison.
Mark:But then he gets over it.
Sarah:I think by the time he's admitting it to the police, he's like, look, I'm a bad person. I'm your redeemable, whatever. Yes. He probably also thinks that he got away with it and they can't do anything.
Mark:I would think that as well.
Sarah:Then we Just another example of poor behavior.
Mark:So the the most egregious not showing us is Gaia's phone.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Because Gaia's phone has pictures of her and Tamuka on it. And after they set it in rice and blow air over it
Sarah:Don't forget, it's in the bowl that Mike has bought from Jules to get her handwriting to match it to the note Yes. In Gaia's hotel room.
Mark:Which is a nice callback that we don't even hear. We find out quickly after that Tamuka knew Gina. Gaia. Gaia. At this point in time, the old lady tries to save everybody.
Sarah:Dolly? Yeah. Yeah. She confesses everything and Mike's like, and how'd you put her in the car? Kind of falls apart at that point.
Mark:Do we like Dolly more because she does this?
Sarah:Maybe. But I think she's doing it because she knows that her grandchildren were probably involved. Yes. And they're assholes, and it's probably her fault because she raised them. So maybe now at the end of her life, she's like, I got nothing to lose.
Sarah:What are they going to do? Put me in prison?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:I did it. So she's not really it's not self sacrifice
Mark:on the
Sarah:part is what I'm saying.
Mark:What happens is Gaia talks to Temuka and says, I have a baby now. His rich girlfriend
Sarah:Well, and out of sheer chance, they run into each other there.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Because she doesn't even know that she that that Temuka is his is her grandfather's no. Her father's nurse.
Mark:She does a really good job of going, what the hell are you doing here?
Sarah:Tom? Yes. No. My name is Mooka.
Mark:And then then his girlfriend slash employer, always a bad situation. Belinda. Belinda pushes him and he hits Gaia and she falls off the balcony.
Sarah:But she's standing on the rail. Yes. Where you shouldn't be, by the way.
Mark:You this episode is your mother told you not to do that. Mhmm. For good reason. Mhmm. Then the boy wonder is creeping around.
Sarah:Victor.
Mark:And he knows everything but doesn't say anything. I don't like him at all for that reason. No. And Ginny had pulled up in the car, missed everything by a few moments, and then drives away in a tragic situation that her daughter's
Sarah:Has no idea that her daughter has just been killed.
Mark:A few yards away.
Sarah:Yeah. Yeah. And that stupid Jules is about to take the shoes off of Belinda's feet that are actually Gaia's shoes, and that Victor's lurking around and the boy Wonder's gonna try to frame Jules for the murder Yeah. By throwing the shoes with her fingerprints into the Azaleas.
Mark:They're all horrible people. Yes. Would you okay. I know you put photos on caskets. Okay.
Sarah:This one's got Blu Tack underneath it or something because they move it all over the place and it never falls over. Yeah. You can't set an easel frame like that on a shelf without it falling over all by itself.
Mark:You don't pick up a casket with anything on top of it except for flowers. Maybe. Maybe. But where where are our undertakers?
Sarah:The awesome duo?
Mark:Who would take care of that?
Sarah:Yeah. They're not there. They should be.
Mark:They should be.
Sarah:The funeral so there's they're putting the casket in the hearse to take it to the crematorium, but Mike's like, no.
Mark:We need to have a meet at the house.
Sarah:Well, no. He's like, the coroner needs to check out this body. Gina needs to look at it because he thinks there's some sus behavior going on with Jonti's death, he's right. Yes. Because Tamuka has injected him with insulin.
Mark:Why does he do that? I know he's mad at Jules for a number of reasons, but why on this night in particular does he do that?
Sarah:No, he's mad at Jaunty.
Mark:At Jaunty.
Sarah:I think Temuka killed Jaunty because he knows that Gaia is Jaunty's daughter, and that he was supposed to go and kill Gaia, and he didn't. And so now that Jonti knows, Jonti's going to know that Tamuka lied, Tamuka's going to get turfed out. He can't exactly call the police on him for fraud or anything since he hired him to kill No. But he's gonna truth is gonna come out, and he's gonna get turfed out.
Mark:Yeah. I agree. That works.
Sarah:It's it's total self preservation.
Mark:Yep. They have a meeting at the house where everybody confesses to everything, and everyone leaves.
Sarah:And then Tamuka gets to meet his son.
Mark:Tamuka and Belinda are led off by the cops. I think Charles should be led off by the cops.
Sarah:I think everybody except Dolly should be led off by the cops. I think Charles admitted fraud and perjury and should be taken off by the cops. Timuca killed Jonte, that's murder. I think Belinda did kill Gaia. I think it's reckless manslaughter that she shoved him knowing it was
Mark:like At the very least. At the very least.
Sarah:You said it was an accident, but I I think you could absolutely say that it was at least reckless. Yep. And then Victor should go because he framed Jules for the murder, so he's an accessory.
Mark:Plus he interfered with the investigation. Yep. They all should be going up the pogie.
Sarah:So in the end, it's Dolly and Ginny and the baby in the big house hanging out.
Mark:Now this is where it gets interesting, and I move to appendix A from my
Sarah:notes. About inheritance?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:There's an assumption in the episode that with Gaia out of the way, Charles and Belinda as the grandchildren will great niece and nephew, sorry will split the inheritance, and that's not true.
Mark:Yes. That is completely incorrect.
Sarah:But with Gaia dead, if she inherited the house, who's it go to?
Mark:Okay. According to the New Zealand Administration Act of 1969, if the disease has a a spouse, it goes to the spouse and children, it's split. If they have no children and a spouse, it goes to the spouse. So she doesn't fall she falls in the category of no spouse but children.
Sarah:So everything would go to her son?
Mark:Everything goes to her son.
Sarah:The house goes because that's all she inherited, right, is the house. Which is extremely valuable, I assume.
Mark:And if she didn't have a son, because I looked this up before I knew there was a baby
Sarah:It would go to her mother.
Mark:It would go to her mother.
Sarah:So her mother's probably going to be
Mark:The executor, because she's the closest living relative.
Sarah:Well, she's going to be his guardian. Yep. Right? Yep. So Ginny's his guardian, so she inherits the house on his behalf Yes.
Sarah:Until he's of age. Yes. And Dolly hasn't done anything wrong except be a crotchety old weirdo who doesn't sit right.
Mark:And so But Ginny could throw her out.
Sarah:She could, but she could also let her stay.
Mark:Yes. I don't think Charles should get any money. No. I don't think Melinda's should get any money. No.
Mark:I don't think Tamuka should get any money.
Sarah:No. You can't you can't profit from crime.
Mark:But I think that Tamuka should form a relationship with Ginny and the baby.
Sarah:Well, it's not like Dolly holds it against him that he killed her brother. Yeah. When he gets out of jail No. She'll be cool with it. Well, she'll be dead.
Mark:No. I also think that a good lawyer like Mhmm. Who's a good lawyer? Mister Buchanan and it's scotch, and is single malt scotch, that he would say in court that it was an accidental overdose. He was at the party, he was upset, it was he didn't Could.
Sarah:Or he could argue extenuating circumstances and say that Tamuka had been abused by a Wadsworth family, and his family was going back generations. He's a victim of them.
Mark:In a show in which you go up the pogie for murder for about five minutes Mhmm. I think Tamuka will get out before the child's fifth birthday. Yeah. I
Sarah:I think that's probably fair too.
Mark:And then they all live in the house together.
Sarah:If Dolly, Jenny, the baby, and Tamuka end up in the house, I think that's okay.
Mark:I I am I'm 100% okay with that.
Sarah:I would like to see Charles and Belinda on work release doing community service on the side of the road Yes. Picking up trash.
Mark:I think
Sarah:they And Victor. They all deserve that.
Mark:It is not the first time we've seen the trope of siblings who hate each other and hate other people who are rich that Timbalm has no patience for.
Sarah:I want an episode of Belinda in the ladies prison.
Mark:Oh, yeah.
Sarah:Because she won't do well there. No.
Mark:Jules will come see her on release.
Sarah:She's awfully uppity. I don't think she's gonna do well in that prison with the other ladies. But she deserve it.
Mark:The Brokenwood Women's Prison.
Sarah:It's a place. It's a place. It has a culture. And and that the lady who runs it, has a jungle office.
Mark:Yes. And that is old blood money. So next week is Halloween. We are once again taking the week off.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:Because it is Halloween.
Sarah:But it's our last weekend that we're gonna take off.
Mark:On a regular basis. So we're back to once a week. Plus, I think on Acorn comes out with their schedule on the first of the month. Mhmm. And I think the last week of that November 1, they will say is the first episode of the new Midsummer's.
Mark:In November? They'll release one in November on the very last Monday. Oh. And then do the rest of them in December. That's what they've done before.
Sarah:Well, we'll see.
Mark:Won't we? I bet that's what they're gonna do.
Sarah:And if they do, we'll be making minis for them.
Mark:And by the time that's all done with the new Brokenwood season will be out. We've got lots to We have tons to cover, and we love you guys. And thank you so much for being understanding, and enjoy
Sarah:And thanks for being with us for 250 episodes.
Mark:250 episodes. We I cannot say thank you enough. Absolutely.
Sarah:Bye, maniacs.
Mark:Bye, maniacs. 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.
Mark:Bye, Maniacs. Midsummer women's prison. Oh my gosh. Brokenwood. Yes.
Mark:The Brokenwood. Brokenwood midsum
