Why the Final Scenes of Murder, She Wrote Stay With Andrew Balzano in One of My Life’s Passions
The killer has been named, and the case is closed. Then someone delivers one more line, and the audience leaves smiling.
Andrew Balzano has a knack for spotting the moment after the mystery. In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, his tour of Murder, She Wrote does more than recommend episodes. It points to the closing scenes, running jokes, and small exchanges that turned a crime drama into something audiences welcomed into their homes week after week.
Many of those moments belong to Cabot Cove, the small Maine town where J.B. Fletcher lived, and to the regulars who made it feel like home.
Sheriff Tupper, Doc Hazlitt and a Jar of Preserves
Keep the Home Fries Burning is a perfect example. Jessica and Sheriff Amos Tupper, played by Tom Bosley, must find out who killed a customer at the Joshua Peabody Inn with a jar of tainted strawberry preserves. The breakthrough comes from an ordinary remark: a scientist tells a waitress she left her tip on the credit card, and Jessica suddenly sees the case clearly. But the final scene is what Balzano remembers. The inn’s owner announces he will close and take a franchise for the Ethan Allen Inn in Vermont. Doc Hazlitt quips that at least Ethan Allen was real, which earns a frown from the sheriff. Balzano also spots a familiar face: the actor who plays the inn’s cook returns as the detective in Mourning Among the Wisterias.
That joke has roots in Joshua Peabody Died Here… Possibly, where Chuck Connors plays a hard-nosed bureaucrat. When a skeleton is found, Sheriff Tupper wonders if it could be the Revolutionary War hero himself. Doc Hazlitt, played by William Windom, dismisses Peabody as a figure from old wives’ tales.
Lines Worth Repeating
Balzano gathers many more. In Footnote to Murder, Jessica’s friend Horace Lynchfield, played by Paul Sand, keeps alarming people with a gun disguised as a cigarette lighter. After he sets off an alarm at a front desk, Jessica remarks that it is another habit he should consider giving up. In We’re Off to Kill the Wizard, a detective married to Jessica’s niece reveals that the murdered theme park owner was digging up dirt on her aunt, and the niece wonders aloud whether the Pope was next on his list. In Murder Takes the Bus, a stranded passenger argues that if he had wanted someone dead, he would have shot him, not used a screwdriver.
- Why do the funniest lines often follow the most serious scenes?
- How does humor make a murder mystery feel more human?
A Nephew Who Never Made It to the Altar
Balzano also follows the romantic life of J.B.’s nephew, Grady, played by Michael Horton. In The Murder of Sherlock Holmes, Grady falls for Kitty Donovan, the press secretary who organizes Jessica’s busy schedule. In Crossed Up, he shares a strong attraction with Leslie Cameron. Each time, viewers wonder why wedding bells never ring. Then comes Just Another Fish Story, where Grady’s fiancée, Donna, becomes the prime suspect. Balzano points out that Donna is played by Debbie Zipp, Michael Horton’s real-life wife.
The Comfort of Coming Home
Even Final Curtain, Balzano notes, ends with a scene viewers will enjoy: Jessica in front of her computer, very tired. Hit, Run and Homicide features Van Johnson as an eccentric inventor and a driverless vehicle, long before such cars were real-world news. Home Care sees Jessica, with Doc Hazlitt’s help, clear a wrongly accused nurse. In Crossed Up, a bedridden Jessica overhears two men plotting a murder, and the Med Alert that Doc Hazlitt gave her ends up helping to save her life. Indian Giver ends with a humorous exchange between Jessica and Seth.
Episodes like these explain why Balzano calls the series truly solid and entertaining across all twelve seasons. Cabot Cove may have seen more murders than any small town should, yet audiences always wanted to go back.
A case can be solved in an hour…
A good line can last for decades…
A small town can feel like home…
In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, Cabot Cove always saves the best for last!
