Episode 18 - "If a Body Meet a Body"
We're on the final stretch of Season 2, and boy do they start bringing out the big guns. This one opens with the funeral of Henry Burning, a respected Cabot Cove businessman - but he's been cremated surprisingly quickly after dying on vacation with his wife. Wife claims it was a middle-of-the-night heart attack, but Henry's mistress storms into the funeral, accuses the wife of murder, and then topples the casket (!!).
And surprise, surprise, there's a body in the casket and it ain't Henry Burning. Who is it!? Poor Sheriff Amos complains to Jessica that everyone says she solves his cases (it's true!), so she steps back and lets him "handle" it. Predictably, Jessica must actually solve everything after all. Meanwhile, we have an amorous undertaker, a suspiciously randy widow making the moves on Amos, a volatile mistress, and a shady former partner all as suspects. Finally, right when you think nothing can get crazier, the REAL corpse of Henry Burning shows up (!!!). It's big drama in a small town.
Guests here include the lovely Audrey Landers (who made waves along with her sister Judy back in the early 1980s); she's well known for Dallas and the film A Chorus Line. Ever-familiar Robert Donner is here, known for many television appearances, perhaps especially Mork & Mindy and The Waltons. Carrie Snodgrass plays the widow; she's known for her Academy Award-nominated turn in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife.
Episode 19 - "Christopher Bundy - Died on Sunday"
The title here is a play on the children's rhyme Solomon Grundy:
Solomon Grundy / born on a Monday/ christened on Tuesday / married on Wednesday / grew sick on Thursday / got worse on Friday / died on Saturday / buried on Sunday / that was the end / of Solomon Grundy.
This is a good one, very trashy in the best sense. Jessica's nephew Grady is newly employed by vile publisher Christopher Bundy, and Bundy just bought an esteemed literary journal with the aim of converting the content into something like a porno mag. Jessica is PISSED. Grady and Jessica go to visit Bundy at his estate, which is monitored by a million cameras, and Jessica is convinced to stay until she can talk to his lawyers about the pieces she was going to publish.
Big surprise, Bundy is shot dead as a beef, in one of the few places the cameras can't see, and it's up to Jessica to solve things - but she's racing against time, since Bundy's sister - who stands to inherit everything - wants Jessica out, now, and the whole affair closed as quickly as possible. Stirring the pot is a fake butler, a hot model who equal parts snake and fox, a down-on-his-luck former editor, and more.
Guests include the great Robert Stack - what a voice he has - known, of course, for hosting Unsolved Mysteries, and also for narrating Hercules, for the show Strike Force, Most Wanted, and many more. Also here is Alex Rocco, known for many roles including The Division, The George Carlin Show, Sibs, and many others. Finally, the police officer here is Robert Costanzo, who is a longtime veteran voice actor.
Episode 20 - "Menace, Anyone?"
Another surprisingly nasty one - Jessica is the guest of honor at a tennis tournament to benefit a children's fund; sounds innocent, right? Not on this show. Jessica's friend Carol's fiance is soon blown up with a car bomb - and the car was borrowed from Carol. Then the police detective is knifed to death ... when visiting Carol. Meanwhile, Carol herself thinks the killer is her sister Barbara, who is supposed to be dead. Jessica's got her work cut out for her.
The carbombed fiance is a young Bryan Cranston! Of course, he's well known for the leading role on Breaking Bad, among many other roles; he appears two more times on Murder, She Wrote. Linda Hamilton is here, known for lots of movies and television but probably best as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Hollywood veteran Van Johnson returns, previously having been in Season 1, in a different role.
Episode 21 - "The Perfect Foil"
Although Netflix is missing the New Orleans-based episode from the first season, happily this one is available! Jessica goes to New Orleans during Mardis Gras to check on her cousin Calhoun Fletcher, as a favor to her aunt Mildred. She gets to Cal's house in the middle of a Mardis Gras dance party (it's wild), just in time to witness a murder - and Cal is impicated as the main suspect.
This one features an organized gambling outfit that is seedy and influential, involving politicians and lawyers. How deep do things go? Jessica is on the case to find out and clear her family's name.
Guests here include Barbara Babcock, perhaps best-known as Dorothy Jennings on Dr. Quinn, but notably also in every episode of the Murder, She Wrote spinoff The Law and Harry McGraw. Cal Fletcher is played by Peter Bonerz, who has appeared on big shows like Home Improvement and Friends, and had a long-running role on Murphy Brown.
Episode 22 - "If the Frame Fits"
The season finale is pretty solid - Jessica goes to visit her friend Lloyd, who wants her to read a manuscript ("a ... friend ... wrote it"). Lloyd's daughter bites the bullet, and Jessica has to step in to solve everything. Suspects include all kinds of upper-class degenerates and malcontents. Honestly, this plot was pretty boring, with little to offer compared to flashier or seamier episodes.
Guest stars include John de Lancie, who is instantly recognizable to Star Trek fans as Q, the impish and omnipotent alien on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jessica's friend Lloyd is played by Normal Lloyd, who is 101 as of the time of this writing (2016) and still acting! His career started in 1939, and includes highlights like Spellbound, A Walk in the Sun, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, St. Elsewhere, and more. Gordon Jump also appears here, an actor perhaps best known as the station manager on WKRP in Cincinnati. Finally, the great Audrey Meadows is here as well - I remember her from Too Close for Comfort, but she's best known as the acidic, long-suffering housewife Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners.
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