Frankie Drake Mysteries Review: Things Better Left Dead (Season 3 Episode 5)
Frankie Drake Mysteries delves into spiritualism in Season 3 Episode 5, “Things Better Left Dead,” an installment that tries to fake the death of one of the series’ leads to…well, let’s just call it mixed results.
To be fair, it’s an unexpected way of telling a familiar story. When Chantel Riley’s Trudy Clarke turns up dead on the floor of the Drake Detective Agency in the episode’s opening moments, it’s wildly shocking.
Especially when it seems as though it’s very, very real. There’s a body, after all. And a police interview, murder investigation and funeral. The show really commits to the idea for a good half the episode that Trudy’s dead.
Except the problem is that we all never really believe it. We’re looking for the tell, the fake-out, the revelation of the trick the entire time. It eventually comes, as we knew it would.
Riley’s Trudy is the series’ co-lead, after all, with her role and set of stories happening within the world of Frankie Drake Mysteries. There was a less than zero chance that her character would be ignominiously bumped off in a mid-season installment of the show’s third season.
The question was always how the fact of her survival would be revealed.
At least the show makes something of an effort to explain Trudy’s “death”. Flo, apparently a master chemist in addition to a mortician, mixes up some sort of paralytic drug meant to fake death, Romeo and Juliet-style. Sure, I guess?)
That said, even though it doesn’t work, it’s at least something different. (And the whole ghost Trudy haunting a murder suspect thing was pretty great.) I applaud a series that’s willing to poke a bit at the formula that’s made it a success.
After all, this is a procedural show — we all pretty much just expect the ladies to solve a mystery every week, and that’s kind of all we need it to do. So I appreciate the effort to do something fresh, even if the execution was only “meh” for me.
The rest of “Things Better Left Dead” isn’t exactly a groundbreaking hour. The mystery itself is pretty straightforward — a hot, talented scammer targets grieving widows and families with his spirit board and promises of communication with their beloved dead.
In the wake of the first World War, Kardec would have had plenty of heartbroken families to prey upon. And spiritualism was an increasingly real and popular movement during this time period.
Maybe that’s why the whole “is Trudy really dead?” twist falls a bit flat here — there was enough story to make this episode stand out without that sort of narrative sleight of hand.
Wouldn’t the better subplot here have been to really dive into the world of spiritualism — which was, again, a real thing people believed in — and how desperation and grief can drive people to both embrace and do things that might otherwise seem pretty crazy.
I mean, who wasn’t fascinated by that woman who literally murdered someone because she thought he was a warlock?
That’s enough for a full episode right there, is all I’m saying.
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- The Drake and Clarke moms together are amazing, and I hope their weirdo friendship continues.
- Nora’s in-depth knowledge of cons and conmen actually added a fun edge to this story — it’s nice that though Frankie Drake Mysteries has softened some of Nora’s edges, it’s never forgotten that she’s a criminal with a shady past.
- Frankie’s seduction of Kardec really bugged me for some reason. I think it’s because, for the most part, this show has kept her personal and romantic life separate from her work as a detective. Sure, we had that weird subplot earlier this season that referenced her previous relationship with her superior. But, for the most part, Frankie’s love life has been its own separate entity. And, honestly, it works better that way.
- Every time Frankie Drake Mysteries reminds us how extremely degrading Mary’s job as a morality officer much have been it makes me love her all the more for her dedication to being a police officer in any way she can.
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
all those frankie drake mysteries fans out there,
if you want the show back on the air, with new episodes, write to the writers.
the show has or will be off the air. let them know we want new episodes of frankie drake mysteries; the re runs are great:) we want to see what happens to everyone on the show ( we were left hanging). If anyone knows the address to the writers of the show, petition; write to them.
Would love to find out what happened in the Trudy Clarke death
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