"Things I Learned" - Telemovie: A Family Portrait review by Joanne Flood
Things I learned in The Telemovie: A Family Portrait. Originally Broadcast November 12, 2017
1. Episode is rated M for mature audiences. It should be rated P for perfection.
2. Opening scene – Edward’s wedding. Patrick says Edward wanted Lucien and Jean to be there. Do we ever find out why? With Edward it has to be something mean. Lucien wants to leave after about 30 seconds.
3. Lucien sees Patrick and Edward having words – speaks to motive – all will become clear.
4. And, then there are the toasts. Patrick’s is a bit snarky, and Edward’s is actually a bit more gracious, albeit delusional. Ed says his wife, Harriet, has taught him what’s important in life and how to be a better man. Don’t worry, we’ll find out that Edward hasn’t changed and what is important in life is screwing over dear old dad.
5. Peggy, a childhood friend of Edward’s and the woman both sets of parents wanted him to marry when they were young, approaches Edward. He whispers something in her ear. Brian, the best man, drags Peggy out, causing a commotion. Peggy slaps Brian. Jean says now we can go, and Jean and Lucien get the hell out of there. Haven’t we all been to that kind of wedding?
6. Harriet wakes up alone, and it doesn’t look like Ed’s side of the bed has been slept in. She puts on her bathing suit and goes swimming. Music is ominous – personally, I thought I could hear the Jaws music in the background. This time, the shark (Edward) is dead at the other end of the pool with a slashed throat. Although we thought he might be one of the three victims, it still felt shocking to know it was over with him.
7. In Lucien’s surgery: We now know why he likes being the police surgeon. Three kids are running around the office and there’s a baby crying in a carriage while Lucien tries to talk to the mother. He asks the mother if she wants more children. She says no. Happily, it’s 1961, and he prescribes the pill.
8. Lucien’s aunt, Dorothy Lucas, arrives. She is exactly as we would have imagined Thomas’s sister to be – severe, a bit snobby, and obviously from her voice and dress from the upper crust. She wants Lucien to help find her granddaughter – Catherine Lucas. Dorothy cut off her allowance and hasn’t heard from her in months. She shows Lucien a newspaper photo of a girl dancing and bending backwards over a man’s arm. Lucien is not keen to get involved, but she throws a guilt trip on him - she’s dying of endometrial cancer.
9. Lucien has a flashback – first of two – to when he was a child in Thomas’s office. Thomas is shouting to Genevieve to get Lucien out of the office. To be fair, Thomas is with a patient. We get a glimpse into Lucien’s formative years – showing up uninvited at inappropriate times. Hmm…the child is father of the man.
10. Lucien gets a phone call from Rose, giving him a heads up re Ed. Lucien goes to the crime scene, where, of course he’s not supposed to be. See #9.
11. The soon-to-be short-lived, new police surgeon, Doctor (wouldn’t know a carbuncle from a kidney) Wallace shows up late to the crime scene. Dr. Wallace has no particular enthusiasm for the job, and Matthew seems exasperated. One can assume that this is not the first crime scene with the good, er, the bad doctor.
12. Rose hints that Lucien may want to question Harriet and her father, Milton. Being unfamiliar with the concept of boundaries, Lucien does. The bride says Edward never came to bed. Perhaps, that touch aversion therapy didn’t work as well as we had thought. (Ref. eps. 3.8 and 5.7).
13. Matthew finds Lucien with Harriet and Milton, and tells Lucien he cannot be involved in the investigation. Matthew threatens to have him arrested. They both know this is an empty threat, and Lucien says we’ll talk when you get home. Lucien then proceeds to investigate outdoors where he finds a sapphire and a bloody towel. He proceeds to take both from the crime scene because, well, he’s above that whole chain of evidence thing.
14. Lucien goes to the club to see Patrick. Patrick says that Edward knew the bride and her father for three months. They come from Richmond. Aussies, help us out, does that have any significance?
15. Patrick needs answers, and he wants Lucien to find out more about Harriet’s family.
16. At the morgue, Wallace is obnoxious to Alice – bumps into her and calls her Miss Harvey. Wallace destroys a piece of evidence, and tries to blame Alice. Matthew defends Alice, and Alice hears him – yes, Malice is happening!
17. Lucien turns the bloody towel over to Bill, who asks if Lucien wants to give it to Matthew. Apparently, Bill has developed a sense of humor.
18. Back at home, Jean is going over the RSVPs with Rose. Charlie and Rose have broken up by mutual agreement, so she won’t mind if he’s at the wedding. Charlie, btw, is sequestered at detective training, Christopher is deployed overseas, and Jack hasn’t responded.
19. Lucien and Jean go to Melbourne for wedding shopping. There are a lot of light notes in this movie. Lucien looks a bit bemused when Jean says she has a vague idea of what she’s looking for. Lucien asks our little Nancy Drew to go to Melbourne with him to investigate.
20. The best man, Brian Underwood, and Milton get into a fight in the hall. Bill breaks it up without punching or kicking anyone.
21. Jean goes wedding outfit shopping. The sales person thinks she is the mother of the bride. Jean selects a dress with a jacket. Not to worry, this is a mystery series and red herrings are a common technique.
22. Lucien and Rose go to the station in Melbourne and meet with Danny. Lucien asks him to look into Milton and Harriet Dunne. He sends Rose to the look up birth, death, and marriage records. For research purposes, Lucien goes to the pub to drink. I’m guessing no AA in the last few months.
23. Lucien, Rose, and Jean meet up. Jean yells at Lucien for not investigating Catherine’s disappearance. Lucien looks guilty and goes off to Catherine’s address, where he breaks in and falls down the basement stairs. Lucien smells something bad. Of course, it’s a dead body, a young woman fitting the description of Catherine. At the morgue, Lucien introduces himself as Dr. Wallace in order to attend the autopsy in Melbourne.
24. It’s good to see Lucien has learned all his lessons – no drinking while on duty, no breaking and entering, no unauthorized investigations. Wait…Oh, let’s face it, we’re happy he hasn’t changed.
25. Back in Ballarat, Lucien breaks the discouraging news to Aunt Dorothy that the body in the morgue fits the description of Catherine.
26. Lucien goes to the Ballarat morgue, and finds out from Alice that Edward was drugged. Dr. Wallace comes in with the happy news that Lucien has been reinstated. Glad they didn’t drag that out. These writers are so smart. Matthew asks him if he’s going to navel gaze or get to work. Lucien shows him the sapphire he found.
27. Patrick visits Jean. He’s actually looking for Lucien. He wants something to help Susan sleep. He encourages Jean to go ahead with the wedding – Time is a thief. Don’t waste it. Harkens to the life is too short motif we heard earlier in season 5.
28. Harriet and Milton plan to stay in Ballarat. Patrick says they are not family. Lucien has to pull Patrick off Milton.
29. Lucien tells Patrick the Dunne’s (Harriet and Milton) are known in Melbourne. Father was a tram driver when Harriet was born. Milton’s documents were destroyed in a flood in 1934. Patrick tells Lucien he got him reinstated. Lucien promises him he will find Edward’s killer. Lucien likes to make these promises, and God bless him, one way or another he does keep them – the ones re murders, not the one he made to Jean.
30. Lucien goes to Peggy’s house and plays the piano with her. The writers must have looked at our wish list. J Lucien says his mother taught him to play. Surprise there. I would have thought it was dear old dad, the virtuoso.
31. When they were younger, Peggy and Edward were expected to get married. Edward true to form was a cruel bully and called her piggy. She went to Lucerne for plastic surgery. Sounds like nose and boob jobs. When she approached Edward at the wedding, he whispered in her ear, “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Lucien sees medication on the table and puts a vial in his pocket. We expected nothing less as Lucien continues his unbroken streak of tampering with evidence!
32. The vial turns out to be liquid morphine, which could be the drug that Edward had in him.
33. Lucien goes to the pub and buys a drink for Milton. Oh, Lucien. You are officially on duty. Please stop. You’re making me nervous. Lucien talks to Milton about the tram in Melbourne – we know where this is headed. (Ref. 5.6 Psycho plot to trap murderer) Later, Lucien tells Matthew that the particular line stopped running when Lucien was a boy in boarding school and Milton was about his age. Milton couldn’t have been the tram driver. Milton says Lucien was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. There are several references to class in this episode, including from Jean and Matthew.
34. Lucien exits the pub and goes into a dark deserted alley. He hears someone is following him and waits, but the only one who appears is a woman walking a dog. Third show this season with a dog. I’m optimistic this is a trend. (Ref. eps. 5.4 – dog as victim and 5.7 – dog as crime solver)
35. Susan invites Harriet to move in to the Tyneman house. Ergo, Harriet doesn’t need Milton any more.
36. Lucien goes to the Colonists’ club. He sees Roslyn Kerr – who works at the hotel where Edward’s reception was held. For the sharp-eyed, look for the name of Patrick’s mother in the cemetery.
37. Cec finds Patrick in an alleyway near Milton’s dead body. Lucien arrives. In a sweet touch, Rose takes Cec inside to give him brandy. Last week, I cautioned our dear friends in Ballarat to be careful around Lake Wendouree. Now, I have to warn about alleyways. (Ref. 1.1 for the first alleyway murder.)
38. Evidence from the crime scene – Alice finds a switchblade up the victim’s sleeve. Apparently, this was a popular weapon in mid-20th century Ballarat. (Ref. 2.2) There’s also a note at the scene. Bill, in a surprising display of intelligence, analyzes the handwriting. We, Lucien, and Matthew are shocked by this turn of events. But, I do wonder if Bill is being set up for something in series 6. First, the Christmas lunch invite, then the sense of humor, now this?
39. Patrick is being interrogated with his attorney sitting in. I don’t want to give anything away, but Shakespeare wasn’t all wrong about lawyers. (Henry VI, Part 2) Matthew yells at Patrick, and, in a role reversal, Lucien tries to calm Matthew down and is protective of Patrick. Lucien notices that Patrick’s shoes are untied. He tells Matthew that this along with other things shows that Patrick was too weak to murder Milton.
40. Roslyn Kerr arrives and gives Patrick an alibi.
41. Flouting Uncle Matthew’s orders, Rose goes to Brian’s used car lot. He’s just as slimy as we thought. He puts the moves on Rose and sells her a roadster, er, a VW that’s a lemon. In a cute interchange, Lucien later says he’s a good doctor, but not a good mechanic. (Ref. ep. 4.1) (Roadster reference for the Nancy Drew fans.)
42. Patrick’s car has broken down.
43. Lucien goes to the morgue. He leaves Alice to test all the glasses and cups from the reception. Alice is not pleased.
44. Lucien and Jean go to the Tyneman’s with a casserole. Nice gesture, but seems unnecessary with all the servants running around. I wonder if this is a reference to class. In Jean’s circle, this is what people do. The Tynemans don’t need friends bringing them food.
45. Susan is drunk. Lucien gives her something to sleep, but warns her not to take it with alcohol. We are momentarily worried. Susan blames Patrick for Edward’s death.
46. Patrick says Edward was his only son, doesn’t say child, there must be at least one daughter. Patrick says it’s the end of the family name and legacy. Lucien tells Patrick to go home and rest. Roslyn Kerr approaches. Patrick tells her to go away and calls her a stupid girl. Young women in Ballarat do not like to be called stupid girls. (Ref. ep. 2.4) Patrick says he should have fixed things with Edward. He thought they had more time. He says he made plenty of mistakes as a young man. Tells Lucien, “we all just become our fathers.” The father motif again.
47. The chest of pain reappears. When was the last time we saw that? Season 1? Lucien pulls a pocket watch out of a box. The inscription is “Do your best.” His father gave him the watch when he packed him off to boarding school. There’s a flashback to the day he left. Thomas won’t hug him. I have to say, the car kind of steals the scene. We haven’t seen one from 1919.
48. Dinner at the Blake’s: Lucien, Jean, Matthew, Danny, Rose, and Alice. Matthew breaks the news that Danny has been assigned to Ballarat for a few weeks. Danny offers to go to Brian’s party with Rose. Hmm…ok. Cec calls, concerned about Dorothy.
49. Dorothy is drunk. She gives Cec a Christmas bonus. He explains it’s March but keeps it anyway. Lucien and Jean show up. It turns out Thomas became estranged from his family over his marriage to Genevieve. Lucien is angry over it, but Dorothy explains that Thomas was her favorite brother, and she tried to make amends for decades. Thomas blamed the family for Genevieve’s death – did he think that drove her drinking? “Favorite brother” – opens door for more long-lost relatives.
50. In one of the loveliest scenes of the entire series, Lucien and Matthew have a heart-to-heart in Lucien’s surgery. Lucien is worried that he isn’t going to be a good husband. Matthew tells him Jean chose Lucien and all he has to be is the best version of Lucien Blake he can every day, for her. Reminiscent of the watch inscription: Do your best. Matthew also tells him to accept for just once that everything is going to be all right. He also says he would do anything for Lucien. So much to think about in that scene. Their deep friendship and Lucien’s difficulty in accepting that he can be happy and that he can make Jean happy.
51. Police are down at, you guessed it, Lake Wendouree pulling a car out. In addition to the safety of the residents, I am now worried about pollution and Lake Wendouree. We’ve seen cars, bodies, satchels, etc. pulled out of that beautiful lake. Environmental worries aside, sadly the body in the car is Patrick’s. In a room off the autopsy room, Lucien cries over Patrick, and Alice consoles him. I am struck time and again by the character development in this show. Remember when Lucien was exasperated by Alice’s eccentricity and Alice flinched when Lucien touched her hand.? Thank heavens this gem of a show was saved by Channel 7.
52. Upset upon learning of Patrick’s death, Rose runs out of the station. She seems to like to do this. (Ref. ep. 5.8) Lucien follows and sits in her new car to console her. Rose says Patrick was tough but fair. Hmm…who will be running the Courier in series 6? I digress. Lucien says Patrick was a complicated man and wishes they hadn’t butted heads so much. (Ref. most of series 1 and 2 + others) Lucien finds bennies in Rose’s new car.
53. Bill and Danny arrive at Brian’s used car lot. Patrick’s car is there. A car chase ensues. This could have been a little shorter allowing for another or longer Lucien/Jean kiss. Just saying. At the station, it turns out Brian is a drug dealer and was the one who followed Lucien in the alleyway.
54. Matthew also understands this death is difficult for Lucien. Alice is examining the body and determining cause of death. Patrick had a-fib. Too bad, he didn’t live in the U.S. in the 21st century. He would have seen those a-fib commercials that run it seems like 24 hours a day. Lucien is sure Brian gave Patrick bennies, and remember Lucien knows about bennies. (Ref ep. 1.1) Later, Alice says there were no bennies in Patrick’s system. Lucien asks her to run the tests again. She tells him gently that she’s run them three times and sometimes, people just die. Alice and Matthew exchange sympathetic looks. I guess Lucien would rather it was murder than natural causes, because Patrick was his patient and he feels like he failed him.
55. In his grief, Lucien turns to Jean. Jean is shocked about Patrick. She says she knew him her whole life. Lucien says soon after Thomas’s funeral, Patrick arranged a membership for Lucien in the Colonists’ Club. Lucien told Patrick he didn’t want it because he didn’t intend to stay. Lucien says, Jean my darling, we may have to postpone the wedding. Jean says they can’t because after Edward’s death, she promised Patrick she would go ahead with it. Over and out. Another plot point this isn’t needlessly dragged out, but the clip in the preview did cause quite the stir on FB.
56. Jean drives Lucien’s car to the Tyneman’s. Another reminder that she’s not the housekeeper anymore. Susan is on the floor looking at photos. Jean says Patrick loved her. Susan says Patrick loved a lot of women over the years. (Ref. ep. 3.5 for one) Jean spots something in the photos. A picture of Ed and Harriet dancing reminds her of the photo in the newspaper of Lucien’s cousin. Milton had cancelled the scheduled photographer and substituted a photographer from the Courier.
57. Back at the Tyneman’s, Susan is trying to drown Harriet. Harriet is rescued by Lucien, and it turns out Harriet is pregnant. So, maybe not the end of the Tyneman line. Hopefully, we and the show will all be around when the spawn of Satan grows up.
58. Later, Susan and the lawyer say they will run a paternity test. The lawyer says it is not the first one he has done. Uh oh.
59. Harriet was posing as Catherine Lucas and running a sting with Milton. Patrick’s lawyer Wellman was going to help Edward push Patrick out of his company. (See #39 above re lawyers.)
60. Rose asks Lucien and Jean what they are doing cleaning up boxes from the studio. Jean says her bedroom is upstairs, his is near the front door, and both are too small, so…Yay, in series 6, we can look forward to more mysteries and a home reno! I, personally, am praying that get rid of all the browns.
61. The dead girl in the basement is identified at Elsie Denton, Harriet’s sister. Milton killed her. He was Harriet’s partner in scams and was not her father. They had a scam to get elderly people to sign away assets. In a facility, Harriet recognized Catherine Lucas and got her transferred to another hospital.
62. Lucien finds a box with letters from his father. He and Jean have a conversation about Thomas. Lucien tells Jean he came home to tell his father he was engaged. Thomas said if you marry that foreign girl, don’t ever come back. Thomas thought Lucien married Mei Lin to spite him. Lucien didn’t come home for twenty years. When he came home, his father was dying and unable to communicate. Ironic that Thomas did the same thing to his son that his family did to him.Thomas wrote to Lucien over the years, and Jean knew about it, but Lucien returned all the letters unopened. Lucien reads part of one of the letters…All I ever hoped was that you do your best (inscription on pocket watch) and you would find someone to love you regardless of what comes happens next. (Echoes Lucien’s words to Jean in ep. 3.2 ) Jean says his father sent him away to protect him. Lucien says he hated Thomas and was afraid that if he came back to Ballarat, he would wind up like Thomas. Jean asks if he’s still afraid of that. He touches her cheek and says not anymore. I still don’t understand what Thomas was protecting Lucien from.
63. Funeral for Patrick and Edward. At the funeral lunch, Roslyn is giving out drinks, but her hand is a little shaky. Lucien sees that as an a-fib symptom and notices that Roslyn’s bracelet is on Patrick’s mother’s hand in a portrait hanging on the wall. Patrick’s mother’s name was Roslyn. Roslyn is Patrick’s child. Wellman told Roslyn not to go near Patrick. Lucien feels that was Wellman’s doing and not Patrick’s. Roslyn says old men always under estimate young girls and attempts to stab Lucien. Luckily, she only nicks him, but he acknowledges that Jean “won’t be pleased.” Having committed two of the three murders, Roslyn is hauled off. Her lawyer will argue service to the community for Edward’s murder. The other one may be a problem.
64. Jean and Rose find Catherine. She is in an institution, and Lucien has her moved to Blackhill Psychiatric Hospital in Ballarat. (Ref. 1.7) Catherine has no memory. I’m not sure why. Drugs?
65. And, what we’ve been waiting for since 2013…the wedding! Matthew and Rose are the witnesses. Rose is wearing the suit Jean bought. Jean is wearing a lovely white dress. Lucien has his father’s watch in his pocket and is wearing a black suit, white shirt, and skinny black tie with a tie clip – very early 60s. Charlie runs in at the last minute and sits next to Bill. Cec is there. I think I also saw dead Ned’s mom. The ceremony is beautiful. As Jean approaches Lucien, he says I have waited for you for such a long time. So much meaning in such simple words. Lucien is very emotional. First dance – I asked George Adams on Facebook what the music was. I thought a couple of notes sounded like “When I Fall in Love…” He guessed it was a mix. Rose dances with Danny…hmm. Alice is with Matthew and says she is beginning to understand all this wedding stuff. Matthew suggests going outside for some air. She says, God, yes. This is happening people!
66. Four months later, Lucien and Jean arrive home in a cab. Must have been a round the world trip. Aww, just what we hoped for. They only have two suitcases and a small bag. Next is a spinoff series on how to travel for four months with two small suitcases. (Ref. ep. 3.8. for Adelaide luggage)
67. Lucien and Jean are kissing in the kitchen, and Matthew startles them and tells Lucien they are wanted at the station. He’s replaced the phone as the romance killer. This time, though, after leaving the kitchen, Lucien comes back and kisses Jean again.
68. Last words of the telemovie: Lucien says to Jean: “I love you.” Last image, Jean looking happy and, dare we say, satisfied. Perfection
1. Episode is rated M for mature audiences. It should be rated P for perfection.
2. Opening scene – Edward’s wedding. Patrick says Edward wanted Lucien and Jean to be there. Do we ever find out why? With Edward it has to be something mean. Lucien wants to leave after about 30 seconds.
3. Lucien sees Patrick and Edward having words – speaks to motive – all will become clear.
4. And, then there are the toasts. Patrick’s is a bit snarky, and Edward’s is actually a bit more gracious, albeit delusional. Ed says his wife, Harriet, has taught him what’s important in life and how to be a better man. Don’t worry, we’ll find out that Edward hasn’t changed and what is important in life is screwing over dear old dad.
5. Peggy, a childhood friend of Edward’s and the woman both sets of parents wanted him to marry when they were young, approaches Edward. He whispers something in her ear. Brian, the best man, drags Peggy out, causing a commotion. Peggy slaps Brian. Jean says now we can go, and Jean and Lucien get the hell out of there. Haven’t we all been to that kind of wedding?
6. Harriet wakes up alone, and it doesn’t look like Ed’s side of the bed has been slept in. She puts on her bathing suit and goes swimming. Music is ominous – personally, I thought I could hear the Jaws music in the background. This time, the shark (Edward) is dead at the other end of the pool with a slashed throat. Although we thought he might be one of the three victims, it still felt shocking to know it was over with him.
7. In Lucien’s surgery: We now know why he likes being the police surgeon. Three kids are running around the office and there’s a baby crying in a carriage while Lucien tries to talk to the mother. He asks the mother if she wants more children. She says no. Happily, it’s 1961, and he prescribes the pill.
8. Lucien’s aunt, Dorothy Lucas, arrives. She is exactly as we would have imagined Thomas’s sister to be – severe, a bit snobby, and obviously from her voice and dress from the upper crust. She wants Lucien to help find her granddaughter – Catherine Lucas. Dorothy cut off her allowance and hasn’t heard from her in months. She shows Lucien a newspaper photo of a girl dancing and bending backwards over a man’s arm. Lucien is not keen to get involved, but she throws a guilt trip on him - she’s dying of endometrial cancer.
9. Lucien has a flashback – first of two – to when he was a child in Thomas’s office. Thomas is shouting to Genevieve to get Lucien out of the office. To be fair, Thomas is with a patient. We get a glimpse into Lucien’s formative years – showing up uninvited at inappropriate times. Hmm…the child is father of the man.
10. Lucien gets a phone call from Rose, giving him a heads up re Ed. Lucien goes to the crime scene, where, of course he’s not supposed to be. See #9.
11. The soon-to-be short-lived, new police surgeon, Doctor (wouldn’t know a carbuncle from a kidney) Wallace shows up late to the crime scene. Dr. Wallace has no particular enthusiasm for the job, and Matthew seems exasperated. One can assume that this is not the first crime scene with the good, er, the bad doctor.
12. Rose hints that Lucien may want to question Harriet and her father, Milton. Being unfamiliar with the concept of boundaries, Lucien does. The bride says Edward never came to bed. Perhaps, that touch aversion therapy didn’t work as well as we had thought. (Ref. eps. 3.8 and 5.7).
13. Matthew finds Lucien with Harriet and Milton, and tells Lucien he cannot be involved in the investigation. Matthew threatens to have him arrested. They both know this is an empty threat, and Lucien says we’ll talk when you get home. Lucien then proceeds to investigate outdoors where he finds a sapphire and a bloody towel. He proceeds to take both from the crime scene because, well, he’s above that whole chain of evidence thing.
14. Lucien goes to the club to see Patrick. Patrick says that Edward knew the bride and her father for three months. They come from Richmond. Aussies, help us out, does that have any significance?
15. Patrick needs answers, and he wants Lucien to find out more about Harriet’s family.
16. At the morgue, Wallace is obnoxious to Alice – bumps into her and calls her Miss Harvey. Wallace destroys a piece of evidence, and tries to blame Alice. Matthew defends Alice, and Alice hears him – yes, Malice is happening!
17. Lucien turns the bloody towel over to Bill, who asks if Lucien wants to give it to Matthew. Apparently, Bill has developed a sense of humor.
18. Back at home, Jean is going over the RSVPs with Rose. Charlie and Rose have broken up by mutual agreement, so she won’t mind if he’s at the wedding. Charlie, btw, is sequestered at detective training, Christopher is deployed overseas, and Jack hasn’t responded.
19. Lucien and Jean go to Melbourne for wedding shopping. There are a lot of light notes in this movie. Lucien looks a bit bemused when Jean says she has a vague idea of what she’s looking for. Lucien asks our little Nancy Drew to go to Melbourne with him to investigate.
20. The best man, Brian Underwood, and Milton get into a fight in the hall. Bill breaks it up without punching or kicking anyone.
21. Jean goes wedding outfit shopping. The sales person thinks she is the mother of the bride. Jean selects a dress with a jacket. Not to worry, this is a mystery series and red herrings are a common technique.
22. Lucien and Rose go to the station in Melbourne and meet with Danny. Lucien asks him to look into Milton and Harriet Dunne. He sends Rose to the look up birth, death, and marriage records. For research purposes, Lucien goes to the pub to drink. I’m guessing no AA in the last few months.
23. Lucien, Rose, and Jean meet up. Jean yells at Lucien for not investigating Catherine’s disappearance. Lucien looks guilty and goes off to Catherine’s address, where he breaks in and falls down the basement stairs. Lucien smells something bad. Of course, it’s a dead body, a young woman fitting the description of Catherine. At the morgue, Lucien introduces himself as Dr. Wallace in order to attend the autopsy in Melbourne.
24. It’s good to see Lucien has learned all his lessons – no drinking while on duty, no breaking and entering, no unauthorized investigations. Wait…Oh, let’s face it, we’re happy he hasn’t changed.
25. Back in Ballarat, Lucien breaks the discouraging news to Aunt Dorothy that the body in the morgue fits the description of Catherine.
26. Lucien goes to the Ballarat morgue, and finds out from Alice that Edward was drugged. Dr. Wallace comes in with the happy news that Lucien has been reinstated. Glad they didn’t drag that out. These writers are so smart. Matthew asks him if he’s going to navel gaze or get to work. Lucien shows him the sapphire he found.
27. Patrick visits Jean. He’s actually looking for Lucien. He wants something to help Susan sleep. He encourages Jean to go ahead with the wedding – Time is a thief. Don’t waste it. Harkens to the life is too short motif we heard earlier in season 5.
28. Harriet and Milton plan to stay in Ballarat. Patrick says they are not family. Lucien has to pull Patrick off Milton.
29. Lucien tells Patrick the Dunne’s (Harriet and Milton) are known in Melbourne. Father was a tram driver when Harriet was born. Milton’s documents were destroyed in a flood in 1934. Patrick tells Lucien he got him reinstated. Lucien promises him he will find Edward’s killer. Lucien likes to make these promises, and God bless him, one way or another he does keep them – the ones re murders, not the one he made to Jean.
30. Lucien goes to Peggy’s house and plays the piano with her. The writers must have looked at our wish list. J Lucien says his mother taught him to play. Surprise there. I would have thought it was dear old dad, the virtuoso.
31. When they were younger, Peggy and Edward were expected to get married. Edward true to form was a cruel bully and called her piggy. She went to Lucerne for plastic surgery. Sounds like nose and boob jobs. When she approached Edward at the wedding, he whispered in her ear, “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Lucien sees medication on the table and puts a vial in his pocket. We expected nothing less as Lucien continues his unbroken streak of tampering with evidence!
32. The vial turns out to be liquid morphine, which could be the drug that Edward had in him.
33. Lucien goes to the pub and buys a drink for Milton. Oh, Lucien. You are officially on duty. Please stop. You’re making me nervous. Lucien talks to Milton about the tram in Melbourne – we know where this is headed. (Ref. 5.6 Psycho plot to trap murderer) Later, Lucien tells Matthew that the particular line stopped running when Lucien was a boy in boarding school and Milton was about his age. Milton couldn’t have been the tram driver. Milton says Lucien was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. There are several references to class in this episode, including from Jean and Matthew.
34. Lucien exits the pub and goes into a dark deserted alley. He hears someone is following him and waits, but the only one who appears is a woman walking a dog. Third show this season with a dog. I’m optimistic this is a trend. (Ref. eps. 5.4 – dog as victim and 5.7 – dog as crime solver)
35. Susan invites Harriet to move in to the Tyneman house. Ergo, Harriet doesn’t need Milton any more.
36. Lucien goes to the Colonists’ club. He sees Roslyn Kerr – who works at the hotel where Edward’s reception was held. For the sharp-eyed, look for the name of Patrick’s mother in the cemetery.
37. Cec finds Patrick in an alleyway near Milton’s dead body. Lucien arrives. In a sweet touch, Rose takes Cec inside to give him brandy. Last week, I cautioned our dear friends in Ballarat to be careful around Lake Wendouree. Now, I have to warn about alleyways. (Ref. 1.1 for the first alleyway murder.)
38. Evidence from the crime scene – Alice finds a switchblade up the victim’s sleeve. Apparently, this was a popular weapon in mid-20th century Ballarat. (Ref. 2.2) There’s also a note at the scene. Bill, in a surprising display of intelligence, analyzes the handwriting. We, Lucien, and Matthew are shocked by this turn of events. But, I do wonder if Bill is being set up for something in series 6. First, the Christmas lunch invite, then the sense of humor, now this?
39. Patrick is being interrogated with his attorney sitting in. I don’t want to give anything away, but Shakespeare wasn’t all wrong about lawyers. (Henry VI, Part 2) Matthew yells at Patrick, and, in a role reversal, Lucien tries to calm Matthew down and is protective of Patrick. Lucien notices that Patrick’s shoes are untied. He tells Matthew that this along with other things shows that Patrick was too weak to murder Milton.
40. Roslyn Kerr arrives and gives Patrick an alibi.
41. Flouting Uncle Matthew’s orders, Rose goes to Brian’s used car lot. He’s just as slimy as we thought. He puts the moves on Rose and sells her a roadster, er, a VW that’s a lemon. In a cute interchange, Lucien later says he’s a good doctor, but not a good mechanic. (Ref. ep. 4.1) (Roadster reference for the Nancy Drew fans.)
42. Patrick’s car has broken down.
43. Lucien goes to the morgue. He leaves Alice to test all the glasses and cups from the reception. Alice is not pleased.
44. Lucien and Jean go to the Tyneman’s with a casserole. Nice gesture, but seems unnecessary with all the servants running around. I wonder if this is a reference to class. In Jean’s circle, this is what people do. The Tynemans don’t need friends bringing them food.
45. Susan is drunk. Lucien gives her something to sleep, but warns her not to take it with alcohol. We are momentarily worried. Susan blames Patrick for Edward’s death.
46. Patrick says Edward was his only son, doesn’t say child, there must be at least one daughter. Patrick says it’s the end of the family name and legacy. Lucien tells Patrick to go home and rest. Roslyn Kerr approaches. Patrick tells her to go away and calls her a stupid girl. Young women in Ballarat do not like to be called stupid girls. (Ref. ep. 2.4) Patrick says he should have fixed things with Edward. He thought they had more time. He says he made plenty of mistakes as a young man. Tells Lucien, “we all just become our fathers.” The father motif again.
47. The chest of pain reappears. When was the last time we saw that? Season 1? Lucien pulls a pocket watch out of a box. The inscription is “Do your best.” His father gave him the watch when he packed him off to boarding school. There’s a flashback to the day he left. Thomas won’t hug him. I have to say, the car kind of steals the scene. We haven’t seen one from 1919.
48. Dinner at the Blake’s: Lucien, Jean, Matthew, Danny, Rose, and Alice. Matthew breaks the news that Danny has been assigned to Ballarat for a few weeks. Danny offers to go to Brian’s party with Rose. Hmm…ok. Cec calls, concerned about Dorothy.
49. Dorothy is drunk. She gives Cec a Christmas bonus. He explains it’s March but keeps it anyway. Lucien and Jean show up. It turns out Thomas became estranged from his family over his marriage to Genevieve. Lucien is angry over it, but Dorothy explains that Thomas was her favorite brother, and she tried to make amends for decades. Thomas blamed the family for Genevieve’s death – did he think that drove her drinking? “Favorite brother” – opens door for more long-lost relatives.
50. In one of the loveliest scenes of the entire series, Lucien and Matthew have a heart-to-heart in Lucien’s surgery. Lucien is worried that he isn’t going to be a good husband. Matthew tells him Jean chose Lucien and all he has to be is the best version of Lucien Blake he can every day, for her. Reminiscent of the watch inscription: Do your best. Matthew also tells him to accept for just once that everything is going to be all right. He also says he would do anything for Lucien. So much to think about in that scene. Their deep friendship and Lucien’s difficulty in accepting that he can be happy and that he can make Jean happy.
51. Police are down at, you guessed it, Lake Wendouree pulling a car out. In addition to the safety of the residents, I am now worried about pollution and Lake Wendouree. We’ve seen cars, bodies, satchels, etc. pulled out of that beautiful lake. Environmental worries aside, sadly the body in the car is Patrick’s. In a room off the autopsy room, Lucien cries over Patrick, and Alice consoles him. I am struck time and again by the character development in this show. Remember when Lucien was exasperated by Alice’s eccentricity and Alice flinched when Lucien touched her hand.? Thank heavens this gem of a show was saved by Channel 7.
52. Upset upon learning of Patrick’s death, Rose runs out of the station. She seems to like to do this. (Ref. ep. 5.8) Lucien follows and sits in her new car to console her. Rose says Patrick was tough but fair. Hmm…who will be running the Courier in series 6? I digress. Lucien says Patrick was a complicated man and wishes they hadn’t butted heads so much. (Ref. most of series 1 and 2 + others) Lucien finds bennies in Rose’s new car.
53. Bill and Danny arrive at Brian’s used car lot. Patrick’s car is there. A car chase ensues. This could have been a little shorter allowing for another or longer Lucien/Jean kiss. Just saying. At the station, it turns out Brian is a drug dealer and was the one who followed Lucien in the alleyway.
54. Matthew also understands this death is difficult for Lucien. Alice is examining the body and determining cause of death. Patrick had a-fib. Too bad, he didn’t live in the U.S. in the 21st century. He would have seen those a-fib commercials that run it seems like 24 hours a day. Lucien is sure Brian gave Patrick bennies, and remember Lucien knows about bennies. (Ref ep. 1.1) Later, Alice says there were no bennies in Patrick’s system. Lucien asks her to run the tests again. She tells him gently that she’s run them three times and sometimes, people just die. Alice and Matthew exchange sympathetic looks. I guess Lucien would rather it was murder than natural causes, because Patrick was his patient and he feels like he failed him.
55. In his grief, Lucien turns to Jean. Jean is shocked about Patrick. She says she knew him her whole life. Lucien says soon after Thomas’s funeral, Patrick arranged a membership for Lucien in the Colonists’ Club. Lucien told Patrick he didn’t want it because he didn’t intend to stay. Lucien says, Jean my darling, we may have to postpone the wedding. Jean says they can’t because after Edward’s death, she promised Patrick she would go ahead with it. Over and out. Another plot point this isn’t needlessly dragged out, but the clip in the preview did cause quite the stir on FB.
56. Jean drives Lucien’s car to the Tyneman’s. Another reminder that she’s not the housekeeper anymore. Susan is on the floor looking at photos. Jean says Patrick loved her. Susan says Patrick loved a lot of women over the years. (Ref. ep. 3.5 for one) Jean spots something in the photos. A picture of Ed and Harriet dancing reminds her of the photo in the newspaper of Lucien’s cousin. Milton had cancelled the scheduled photographer and substituted a photographer from the Courier.
57. Back at the Tyneman’s, Susan is trying to drown Harriet. Harriet is rescued by Lucien, and it turns out Harriet is pregnant. So, maybe not the end of the Tyneman line. Hopefully, we and the show will all be around when the spawn of Satan grows up.
58. Later, Susan and the lawyer say they will run a paternity test. The lawyer says it is not the first one he has done. Uh oh.
59. Harriet was posing as Catherine Lucas and running a sting with Milton. Patrick’s lawyer Wellman was going to help Edward push Patrick out of his company. (See #39 above re lawyers.)
60. Rose asks Lucien and Jean what they are doing cleaning up boxes from the studio. Jean says her bedroom is upstairs, his is near the front door, and both are too small, so…Yay, in series 6, we can look forward to more mysteries and a home reno! I, personally, am praying that get rid of all the browns.
61. The dead girl in the basement is identified at Elsie Denton, Harriet’s sister. Milton killed her. He was Harriet’s partner in scams and was not her father. They had a scam to get elderly people to sign away assets. In a facility, Harriet recognized Catherine Lucas and got her transferred to another hospital.
62. Lucien finds a box with letters from his father. He and Jean have a conversation about Thomas. Lucien tells Jean he came home to tell his father he was engaged. Thomas said if you marry that foreign girl, don’t ever come back. Thomas thought Lucien married Mei Lin to spite him. Lucien didn’t come home for twenty years. When he came home, his father was dying and unable to communicate. Ironic that Thomas did the same thing to his son that his family did to him.Thomas wrote to Lucien over the years, and Jean knew about it, but Lucien returned all the letters unopened. Lucien reads part of one of the letters…All I ever hoped was that you do your best (inscription on pocket watch) and you would find someone to love you regardless of what comes happens next. (Echoes Lucien’s words to Jean in ep. 3.2 ) Jean says his father sent him away to protect him. Lucien says he hated Thomas and was afraid that if he came back to Ballarat, he would wind up like Thomas. Jean asks if he’s still afraid of that. He touches her cheek and says not anymore. I still don’t understand what Thomas was protecting Lucien from.
63. Funeral for Patrick and Edward. At the funeral lunch, Roslyn is giving out drinks, but her hand is a little shaky. Lucien sees that as an a-fib symptom and notices that Roslyn’s bracelet is on Patrick’s mother’s hand in a portrait hanging on the wall. Patrick’s mother’s name was Roslyn. Roslyn is Patrick’s child. Wellman told Roslyn not to go near Patrick. Lucien feels that was Wellman’s doing and not Patrick’s. Roslyn says old men always under estimate young girls and attempts to stab Lucien. Luckily, she only nicks him, but he acknowledges that Jean “won’t be pleased.” Having committed two of the three murders, Roslyn is hauled off. Her lawyer will argue service to the community for Edward’s murder. The other one may be a problem.
64. Jean and Rose find Catherine. She is in an institution, and Lucien has her moved to Blackhill Psychiatric Hospital in Ballarat. (Ref. 1.7) Catherine has no memory. I’m not sure why. Drugs?
65. And, what we’ve been waiting for since 2013…the wedding! Matthew and Rose are the witnesses. Rose is wearing the suit Jean bought. Jean is wearing a lovely white dress. Lucien has his father’s watch in his pocket and is wearing a black suit, white shirt, and skinny black tie with a tie clip – very early 60s. Charlie runs in at the last minute and sits next to Bill. Cec is there. I think I also saw dead Ned’s mom. The ceremony is beautiful. As Jean approaches Lucien, he says I have waited for you for such a long time. So much meaning in such simple words. Lucien is very emotional. First dance – I asked George Adams on Facebook what the music was. I thought a couple of notes sounded like “When I Fall in Love…” He guessed it was a mix. Rose dances with Danny…hmm. Alice is with Matthew and says she is beginning to understand all this wedding stuff. Matthew suggests going outside for some air. She says, God, yes. This is happening people!
66. Four months later, Lucien and Jean arrive home in a cab. Must have been a round the world trip. Aww, just what we hoped for. They only have two suitcases and a small bag. Next is a spinoff series on how to travel for four months with two small suitcases. (Ref. ep. 3.8. for Adelaide luggage)
67. Lucien and Jean are kissing in the kitchen, and Matthew startles them and tells Lucien they are wanted at the station. He’s replaced the phone as the romance killer. This time, though, after leaving the kitchen, Lucien comes back and kisses Jean again.
68. Last words of the telemovie: Lucien says to Jean: “I love you.” Last image, Jean looking happy and, dare we say, satisfied. Perfection