Episode 44: Barbara, Please!

When Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) finds herself at a cutthroat charity tennis tournament, it only stands to reason that someone would get blown up and someone else would get stabbed to death. MENACE, ANYONE?TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we are engaged in a rapid-fire noir mystery this side of Hitchcock, DePalma, and Fincher featuring people we thought were dead, people who actually are dead, and the folks who know them. At the center of it all is Carol McDermott (Linda Hamilton), who is just trying to make it in the business called “sport” while tragedy after tragedy strikes her. We meet her boss, Van Johnson—whose daughter (Betsy Russell) wants her job—and her supportive boyfriend (Bryan Cranston), as well as two tennis pros who are depicted as just the worst people ever, played by Kelli Maroney and Doug McKeon. But it's not all office backstabbing and tight shorts on the court; we soon have a murder to contend with, and Jessica has her hands full with the hysterical Carol, who may or may not be harboring multiple deep, dark secrets. See, Carol might actually be bonkers and the one behind the murder... make that murders... plus, is she concealing a major medical condition that only an 80s detective drama can depict so sensitively?Is Carol truly crazy, or is someone else behind the mayhem? We WILL find out, but you need to pay attention because SO MUCH is going to happen; even your pod hosts, Viktor and Petra, aren't sure we caught it all.