Questions, questions

[duvduv]

I  am almost finished watching Season 10, and am aware of the two reasons why the Inspector missed several episodes. But what was Thomas Craig's reason for his absences?? Every episode with him adds a certain unmistakable flavor and he is missed. Did he have some health issues?
So far I think I have seen two episodes where George was absent as well.
I like seeing Jackson get more participation but usually find Higgins to be a pain in the neck.
Overall I like the series immensely and just forget about the handful of episodes that I found flat or boring or campy.  On the odd occasion I assumed that the writers and producers were rushed and just didn't have the time to develop a good story line. 
Is it ever revealed what religion Julia Ogden is? 

Here's another question: When the Inspector, Murdoch and George are all away from the Station for an extended period (as when traveling somewhere) who mans Station #4 and holds the fort?

Are there additional detectives working along side Murdoch under one inspector, or is there just one inspector and one detective for each Station House (except for when Watts comes into the picture)? Sometimes we get the feeling that Brackenreid doesn't have much else to do besides working with only Murdoch and occasionally taking a "wee nip".....

[lizmc]

Mar 21, 2018 17:59:44 GMT duvduv said:

I  am almost finished watching Season 10, and am aware of the two reasons why the Inspector missed several episodes. But what was Thomas Craig's reason for his absences?? Every episode with him adds a certain unmistakable flavor and he is missed. Did he have some health issues?
So far I think I have seen two episodes where George was absent as well.
I like seeing Jackson get more participation but usually find Higgins to be a pain in the neck.
Overall I like the series immensely and just forget about the handful of episodes that I found flat or boring or campy.  On the odd occasion I assumed that the writers and producers were rushed and just didn't have the time to develop a good story line. 
Is it ever revealed what religion Julia Ogden is? 

Here's another question: When the Inspector, Murdoch and George are all away from the Station for an extended period (as when traveling somewhere) who mans Station #4 and holds the fort?

Are there additional detectives working along side Murdoch under one inspector, or is there just one inspector and one detective for each Station House (except for when Watts comes into the picture)? Sometimes we get the feeling that Brackenreid doesn't have much else to do besides working with only Murdoch and occasionally taking a "wee nip".....

Welcome, DuvDuv.......Both Thomas Craig and Jonny Harris had other projects on the go during the shooting of season 10, which explains their absence......Helene Joy has also been away in prior seasons because of other projects, and in season eight, she was off because she broke her arm badly (in the episode The Incurables, she really did have a cast on her arm.....)

Julia's religion has never been specified, however, given Toronto was very Protestant in Victorian/Edwardian Toronto, especially the more affluent families, I think we can assume she was nominally Methodist, Presbyterian or Anglican.....I suspect we can also safely assume she wasn't practicing any religion.....

Toronto in this period wasn't all that big and Station House 4 only covered part of the Eastern portion....if you know Toronto at all, the station was located near Parliament and Dundas in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood, so 1 inspector and 1 detective probably would have been more than adequate.....

Hope this answers your questions.....

 

[shangas]

Interesting post.

As stated multiple times throughout MM, Toronto, being a Canadian provincial capital, and Canada being a dominion of the British Empire, the city was largely protestant (I imagine predominantly Anglican) among the more well-heeled members of society. I think we can safely assume that the Ogdens, being, by all accounts, a rather socially prominent family, would have been protestant.

Judging by previous episodes, I'd say that the structure of each station-house covering the various districts of the city were pretty standard. At the top is the inspector, in charge of the station-house and overall charge of the men.

Below that comes the station-house detective: Murdoch, Watts, Slorach (prior to his promotion to inspector), Giles (prior to his promotion to inspector) etc etc.

Below that come the various ranks of officers. PC 1st Class, 2nd Class, 3rd Class, sergeants, etc. Things were set up slightly different around the world. London, New York, etc.

I suspect that when the Inspector and the Detective are absent, the next person down would be the desk sergeant. He would be the guy who sees everyone entering and exiting the station through the front door and would therefore be familiar with everybody in the area, all the men, their activities etc.

Another thing to consider is the crime-rate. In an interview on MM, Maureen Jennings said that Toronto was actually relatively crime-free. Sure there were always loads of petty crimes - but big ones like murder, serial-killings, big robberies, etc, were actually quite rare. That being the case I would agree with LizMac in that one detective per-station was probably sufficient.

Remember also that this is the 1890s-1900s. There's no CCTV or internet. The VAST majority of policemen would've been employed simply to patrol the streets, do research, and shuffle papers. Writing and walking were a BIG part of their duties. This is rather outside the scope of MM, but in "Dragnet", Detective Joe Friday says that writing, writing, writing, writing reports, writing reports on reports, writing incident reports, crime-reports, response-reports etc etc etc etc etc etc...was a HUGE part of being a policeman.

[duvduv]

Unfortunately I am trying to get over the fact that I don't like a lot of the episodes in Season 10. I am wondering whether the writers were burned out in Season 10. That goes beyond the fact of seeing episodes with themes that appear to derive from other detective shows.

[duvduv]

Nowi have seen Hell to Pay and Up from Ashes. I can say that this two parter was one of the best episodes of the series. Just a couple of questions.
When Watts directed two of the constables to the hospital and one to the morgue, how did Crabtree end up on the morgue if it was Jackson who was killed?
When Julia escaped her captor, where did she find the disguise?
And where did she, Brackenreid and George hide for several days and obtain food, etc.??
Do all the single characters live on their own in single rooms in rooming houses, such as George, Henry, Rebecca Watts, etc.?

[duvduv]

Does anyone know who became the Chief Constable after Davis by the end of Season 10 ??

[shangas]

Julia has her own house. As does the Inspector. George I believe lived in a boarding house. It was very common in those days for people to live in boarding houses. Usually run by widows who were left large houses by their husbands. Julia has played a man before, so I suspect she kept a few suits around, just in case she had to do it again.

If going home wasn't a possibility, then I suspect that they laid low at Hodges' pub. Perhaps they rented rooms upstairs or something. He was a close friend, and could easily have supplied them with food, clothing, drinks, weapons etc.

Crabby ended up at the morgue possibly because that was the closest place with a competent doctor.

CCs were:

1). Stockton.
2). Giles.
3). Davis.
4)...?

As yet we don't know who #4 is.

[duvduv]

When Watts was at the church he said, "these two to the hospital and this one to the morgue." The person who was dead was Jackson, although for some reason we saw no one dealing with him or even mention of him there. So the two going to the hospital were Higgins and Crabtree, but Crabtree ended up protected at the morgue assumed to be dead (even with a fake death certificate) whereas Higgins ended up at the hospital. . Some kind of hole in the story line. And I am sure none of them went back home, so they obtained shelter, food, and in Julia's case a disguise elsewhere.

[duvduv]

Did anyone notice that at the end of the Christmas special between seasons 10 and 11 Murdoch informed Julia that tomorrow morning they were leaving on the train for California for Ecuador, but since tomorrow was Christmas, how could a good Catholic like Murdoch make such arrangements on Christmas day?!

[shangas]

I strongly suspect that Julia used her familial connections to secure safe harbour, and that the others likely used Hodges' pub as a base.