Frankie Drake Mysteries Review: Healing Hands/Out of Focus (Season 1 Episodes 4 and 5)
As the first season of Frankie Drake Mysteries continues, both Season 1 Episode 4, “Healing Hands” and Season 1 Episode 5, “Out of Focus,” show off one of the best things about the series as a whole.
This is a mystery series that doesn’t just feature female leads – it also centers female stories. The cases that Frankie and friends take on are may have smaller stakes than those we see on male-driven procedurals like Midsomer Murders, but they’re telling stories that are uniquely familiar to women.
And giving us some great character moments at the same time.
“Healing Hands” centers on a young girl rebelling against her religious father’s desire to control her life. That’s a story that every woman can relate to, to some extent.
Ultimately the crime at the center of the episode is driven by her dad’s shady connections from his time in prison, but the money laundering this ultimately reveals is pretty much an afterthought to the rest of the story, which focuses on Elise’s dream of being a jazz singer and offers more insight into Trudy’s family dynamics.
The similarities between Elsie and Trudy go beyond their love for jazz, too. They’re also rebels, in their own way. Elisie’s father wants her to be a faith healer, and her presence is already a draw for his local church.
Though the show doesn’t really weigh in on whether Elsie’s supposed healing abilities are real, the fact that so many people believe in them almost makes that question irrelevant. If what she does helps people in a real way – which it seems too – that’s really all that matters.
Isn’t it?
Well, not to Elsie, who doesn’t seem particularly fervent in her religion. But who does love jazz, as well as planning to run away with a completely unsuitable man. (See, this is the part that women everywhere can relate to.)
Through her time with Trudy, however, Elsie learns that she has more options than she might have otherwise expected. Trudy, as we all know, has something of an unorthodox career — and it’s also one her mother doesn’t approve of, no matter how much they obviously care about one another.
She shows Elsie that it can be done – that women can take risks for the things they love, and lead unorthodox lives, and find joy in it.
“Out of Focus” is a more balanced episode, in that gives each of the Frankie Drake Mysteries main characters something fairly significant to do. But it also tells a story that feels remarkably relevant, even if it’s set in 1920s Toronto.
The basic gist of the story is that Frankie and Trudy must go undercover on a silent movie set, to solve a seemingly impossible murder. And that’s true, and the ultimate solution is one that’s both clever and that makes a depressing amount of sense.
But the larger story at work here involves women, work and the things that are expected of them.
We spend a lot of time with Sofia DeVoe, a silent film star whose life is in danger, and as a result, we learn a lot about the industry in which she works. And how utterly terrible it is.
Work in films is difficult for women in many aspects – and not just in the “someone might kill you” way.
Trudy is told that she can’t fulfill her dream of being an actress because she’s a Black woman. Frankie’s intelligence is discounted because she’s terrible at physical pratfalls. And Sofia’s stuntwoman, Ruth, is literally destroying her own body to keep her job, because it’ll be next to impossible for her to get another.
And, of course, there’s Sofia herself, who’s willing to commit murder to protect herself and her job.
It’s hard out here for the ladies, is what I’m saying.
Yet, in the end, the women triumph. Frankie not only solves the mystery, she does so by conquering the same physical stuntwork everyone assumed she couldn’t do.
Trudy not only gets to save the day, she proves a Black woman can be a compelling action star in her own right. (Even if it’s just for one movie.)
And even Mary and Flo get in on the act, successfully cracking a key part of the case by basically creating a science fair experiment to figure out how a bloated body might float down a river. All the while giving each other some solid friend advice at the same time.
(Flo’s insistence that Mary’s just fine the way she is? So lovely – particularly because these are the sorts of characters you would likely assume might not be friends. And yet they’re still so supportive of one another. More of this, show!)
It’s true, Frankie Drake Mysteries features mysteries that are the generally the lightest of fluff, with simple stories and fairly routine – occasionally predictable – solutions.
But let’s be real: The mysteries these women are solving are the least interesting part of the show. Instead, their relationships with one another, and the ways in which they come together as friends, partners and just people who support one another.
And their stories are worth tuning in for, whether they solve crimes or not.
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- Fun fact: Mack Sennett, the director from “Out of Focus” is also a real person, who is largely considered a pioneer in the early days of silent cinema and the “father of slapstick comedy”.
- Did we really have two episodes with no Hemingway? Or did I block him out?
- Mary is stealth becoming my favorite character. She’s so sweet and determined, and unashamed of the kind of person she wants to become.
- After three straight episodes in which Frankie largely took a back seat to everyone else, I feel like we are due for a story about her and her past again soon. Fingers crossed!
What did you think of this episode of Frankie Drake Mysteries? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Frankie Drake Mysteries airs Saturdays at 7/6c on Ovation.
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.
2 comments
here we go again about what black people can and can’t do; please my people can do anything we want. if trudy would have worked with oscar micheaux.
this episode was cute; everyone working together to solve a mystery. Hope max returns and does more movies with trudy.
2nd time seeing this; maybe trudy would have to find a black film maker,
if they had any in canada, or travel to the u.s.a. and work with oscar michaux… or maybe she can create her own movies; oscar did and work with him. is this the only time supposedly trudy was not allowed to work along side white people? who said she couldn’t? if i am mistaken,
didn’t max already have something else in mind for a movie to be in? i enjoyed her in the movie; frankie however, didn’t seem to get the knack of the pretending business; how could she not, doesn’t she do that
when going undercover to catch the bad guys. if they do another episode about movies, i would like to see trudy in an all black cast or maybe have connie quon in it, and maybe other people of color in it as well.
or did trudy say this herself?
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