Women’s Murder Club: To Drag and to Hold

It’s funny, I just read a mystery novel that starts in the same place as this episode. The opening shot is in a bar as we watch a performer singing and dancing. But it quickly becomes apparent that this is not an ordinary nightclub. The singer is a drag queen, and we soon head into a dressing room where the star performer has been found dead. He drown in the toilet, yet he also shows signs of a drug overdose.

The murder plot was nothing but a chance to throw every stereotype imaginable into the mix. We’ve got a lesson in gay marriage as the victim’s partner suddenly has to deal with not being the next of kin. The victim had fathered a son through a sperm bank, and that son’s parents just happen to be conservative Republican Christians who hate the idea that the sperm donor was gay. And we can’t leave out the fraternity members who hit the nightclub with vandalism a few weeks before the murder, showing just how shallow those young men are. And messy. Are all frat houses a pig sty?

If the stereotypes had ended there, I probably would have been offended, but they kept going. There were several gay suspects, and they were as obviously stereotyped as anyone else. I don’t know why the only gay characters on TV are so over the top gay. I’ve met quite a few gay men over the years, and most of them were normal people.

So yes, the main story was an equal opportunity offender. I can’t think of anyone they left out, can you?

But let’s focus on the secondary storyline, but it was actually quite interesting.

Tom and Heather finally got married this week. And I’d say just as much time was devoted to the wedding as to the murder. We already knew that Claire was planning to go since her husband wanted to go and it would be his first trip out of the house in months. (BTW, have we ever learned what happened to him?) Jill and Cindy planned to kidnap Lindsay and take her to a spa for the day. That never happened. For Cindy and Lindsay it was because they got a break in the case. And I enjoyed getting to see Cindy and Lindsay working together so much this episode. I think I like Cindy just because she’s got the least logical role in the club, so I like watching her prove herself.

The day before the wedding, Denise told Jill that, in the interest of interdepartmental harmony, Jill was required to attend the wedding. As unhappy as that made her, things got worse when Denise showed up with Hanson North, aka the guy Jill slept with in the pilot. And that little secret just happened to come out in front of Jill’s boyfriend Luke. Gee, I didn’t see that coming since the pilot.  So it looks like Jill and Luke have now split, which is a shame. I would have liked to watch Jill get over her commitment issues.

Oh, and did I mention that an ill-timed phone call to Claire during the ceremony meant that Lindsay got to hear Tom’s vows to Heather?

And can I just say that I agree with Lindsay about Heather?  They haven’t turned Heather into a woman we’re supposed to hate.  In fact, they have made her a very strong woman.  So when Lindsay said every time she was around Heather, her respect for Tom’s new wife grew, I agreed.  I did think Heather getting mad at Jill for Denise’s drunken outburst was over the line.  That had more to do with Denise then Jill.  But still, Heather throwing all four women out of the wedding was a strong scene.

Then comes the cliffhanger.  I was beginning to wonder what happened to the Kiss Me Not Killer since we haven’t heard from him since like episode four.  Yet the FBI shows up on Lindsay’s door in the last minute with a bombshell.  They think Lindsay is the killer’s next target.  Of course, they tell us this right before we break for Christmas.  And I don’t even know how many episodes are left before the strike work stoppage hits.  I just hope we get a resolution to that storyline sooner rather then later.

Mark