Jessica comes to the aid of a promising young reporter when he is suspected of murdering a rival magazine's unscrupulous publisher.Jessica comes to the aid of a promising young reporter when he is suspected of murdering a rival magazine's unscrupulous publisher.Jessica comes to the aid of a promising young reporter when he is suspected of murdering a rival magazine's unscrupulous publisher.
- NYPD Lieutenant Artie Gelber
- (as Herbert Edelman)
- Hans Dietrich
- (as Reiner Schoene)
- Man
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaActor Reiner Schöne, who plays photographer Hans Dietrich, also plays a photographer in a two-part episode of Matlock: The Picture: Part 1 (1992).
- Quotes
[last lines]
Ben Forman: Hey, oh, and Abby's going to be doing this great role, a-a real plum, at this little theater in Connecticut.
Jessica Fletcher: Oh, well, I certainly hope that Gary Mannion isn't negotiating your deal.
Ben Forman: We've severed that relationship.
Abby Peters: Ben is my manager now. Oh, and you should hear him on the phone, Mrs. Fletcher. He is a regular killer.
Dean Richards: Yeah.
- ConnectionsReferences Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
- SoundtracksMurder She Wrote Theme
Written by John Addison
After a promising start to Season 10, with "For Whom the Ball Tolls" being the best up to this very early point in the season, "The Phantom Killer" is pretty underwhelming. To me it's one of the season's weaker episodes, though there are certainly far worse episodes of 'Murder She Wrote'. Not a bad episode by all means and there are a fair share of good points (as well as an equal share of faults), just that many of its components have been executed a thousand times better before and since.
"The Phantom Killer", as always for 'Murder She Wrote', contains a terrific Angela Lansbury who can do no wrong in one of her best roles. She gets charming support from Herb Edelman, who is always good value throughout his rather too brief stint as Gelber. They work very well together as with their previous and subsequent appearances. David Kriegel is very good as the prime suspect, and even so a deliciously ruthless Alan Thicke (though he isn't in it for long).
Production values are slick and stylish and the setting and scenery is nicely done. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune. Some of the script is thoughtful and amiable, and the tensions behind the scenes of the publishing company intrigue.
Conversely, "The Phantom Killer" is rather too formulaic with a couple of the subplots being slightly soap operatic on top and a mystery with next to no surprises. It is obvious from the start who the victim will be, what the outcome of the prime suspect's predicament is and the whole business with the evidence against the suspect is as obvious to the viewer as it is to Jessica plus we get to that conclusion before she does. Even the murder method is on the derivative side and there is a lack of mystery and energy. The ending is very poorly acted by the killer and is one of the season's least surprising (too obvious too early to me actually).
Some of the script is lacking and, apart from the aforementioned exceptions, the acting is not that note-worthy with the only other standout being the terrible performance of Vanessa Angel.
Overall, watchable but really not great. 5/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 9, 2017
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