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A genre that seems to transcend all trends in television is the good, old fashioned mystery show. A detective pursues a case and confronts the murderer at the end of the episode. The success or failure of a show like that always depends on how well-written the mysteries are, but it also depends on the performances of the show’s stars. A new series from Australia, My Life Is Murder, has all of those elements — and Lucy Lawless is the show’s star. Read more about Acorn TV’s newest series…
MY LIFE IS MURDER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A woman is on the phone with a “rent boy”, i.e. a male escort, talking about whether he can do electrical work, while she looks at pictures of his abs online.
The Gist: Why was Alexa Crowe (Lucy Lawless) calling up a rent boy? Well, we go back a few days to find out. Crowe, recently retired as one of the Melbourne PD’s top detectives, gets a visit from her old colleague, DI Kieran Hussey (Bernard Curry), with a case that has been stumping his department: A wealthy young woman died after falling from the balcony of an escort’s high-rise apartment. The question was: Did she fall or was she pushed?
Alexa is reluctant to take the case — she’s busy trying to fix the expensive German bread maker she just bought — but Kieran convinces her by saying she’s the only one who can solve it. He gives her the assistance of his admin, Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vagulans), who seems to be as obsessed with buying a particular hand-held vacuum as Alexa is with getting her bread maker fixed. Alexa is pretty sure the escort did it, but he’s wondering what relationship the young woman had with the guy. Was it more than business, or something else?
She figures the best way to figure it out is to pay for his “boyfriend experience,” where she gets to know him, and she can gently dig about the relationship he had with the victim. When she gets enough info to nail him with the murder, she confronts him.
Our Take: There’s nothing about My Life Is Murder that’s going to make you think you’re watching something revolutionary. It’s a traditional case-of-the-week mystery that only reveals details about its main characters when it needs to. We know by the end of the first episode, for instance, that Alexa retired from the police force because her husband, a fellow cop, passed away and she came into some money. By the end of the second, we find out that she worked undercover to bust a drug ring. But that’s about it.
Two things about this series, created by Claire Tonkin (Lawless is also an executive producer), make it a fun watch: 1) A lighthearted tone and performances to match, and 2) the show’s Columbo-esque format. You don’t see the killer actually commit the murder, like you did on the old Peter Falk series, but you pretty much know who did it within the first few minutes of each episode. The fun of the show is watching Alexa, with the help of ever-reluctant Madison, put the pieces together to nail the suspect by the end of the episode.
It’s a classic cat-and-mouse game, and the cast draws you into the mysteries with performances that tell you that they’re in on the fun. Lawless, who is especially adept at balancing comedy and drama, is a great lead for a show like this, because she can be quippy, and also kick butt when it’s time to confront the murderer.
Sex and Skin: Not that kind of show. Every time the “rent boy” tries to do what he’s paid to do, Alexa leaves. She’s not there for any other reason but getting what she needs to pin the murder on him.
Parting Shot: At Alexa’s apartment, Kieran and Madison are over. Kieran complains about Alexa’s expense report, because it includes all the charges for the rent boy. Madison is there using her vacuum. We pan back from Alexa’s window as Kieran tries to help Alexa fix the bread maker.
Sleeper Star: Vagulans makes a good comedic foil for Lawless; it’s funny when Madison blows off Alexa’s calls because she’s too busy watching vacuum videos or running down the battery in her car because she’s using that vacuum.
Most Pilot-y Line: Can’t really think of anything. The writing is that clever.
Our Call: STREAM IT. My Life Is Murder is a show that’s fun and light entertainment, enhanced by well-written mysteries and performances that don’t take themselves seriously.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.
