The Doctor Blake Mysteries

             When I first watched season four of The Doctor Blake Mysteries, I really didn’t think I would be writing about it.  The storylines felt rushed and scattered.  One of the main characters was missing for half the season.  Other characters left and ones I’m not so sure about came in.  The overdone ploy of a spouse long-thought to be dead turning up alive was used.  Plus, once again, two people who should be together ended up separated.  All in all, I was not happy with season four.     

                With all that said, you are probably wondering why I am writing about season four of The Doctor Blake Mysteries.  That credit needs to go to my local PBS stations.  For awhile PBS had two different seasons of The Doctor Blake Mysteries airing on two different stations on two different nights.  One night I would watch the repeats of season three, and on the next night I would watch season four.  Once the season three episodes finished, PBS immediately started re-airing those from season four.  Even though I had been disappointed the first time around, I decided to watch these episodes again.  What I found was that now that I knew what I didn’t like about the episodes, I could concentrate on the parts I did like.  This helped me enjoy each episode far more than I ever thought I would, which is how I find myself writing about them today.

                Dr. Lucien Blake (Craig McLachlan) has just returned from visiting his housekeeper, Jean Beazley (Nadine Garner), at her son’s when he is called in to look into the murder of a racecar mechanic.  At first this investigation seems like it will run a similar course (no pun intended) as all the others he has worked on, but things do not end up that way.  While looking to question a suspect, Chief Superintendent Matthew Lawson (Joel Tobeck) and Sergeant Charlie Davis (Charlie Cousins) are run down.  Lawson manages to push Charlie out of the way lessening his injuries, but Lawson himself is hit.  His leg gets broken so badly that he is at risk of losing it.  If it weren’t for Dr. Blake’s stepping in, Lawson’s leg would have been amputated.  That does not mean all is good news, though.  Despite Dr. Blake’s interference, the break was so severe that Lawson’s leg will never be what it once was and he is forced to retire.  In his place comes Chief Superintendent Frank Carlyle (Rodger Corser).

                Frank is very different from Lawson, and especially from Chief Superintendent William Munro (Craig Hall).  Unlike the other two, Frank pretty much lets Dr. Blake do whatever he wants.  He even lets Dr. Blake take the lead at times.  It’s a very odd arrangement, if I must say so, because when he does this, it feels as though Frank does not want to be doing his job.  That may not be the case at all, but his behavior does make me question his motives.

                After Lawson leaves, so does Mattie (Cate Wolfe), Dr. Blake’s boarder and frequent investigative partner.  She is taking a job in England, which gives room for Lawson’s niece, Rose (Anna McGahan), to come into the storylines.  A journalist, Rose likes to drive Dr. Blake and the police crazy by withholding information as well as inform everyone that that is what she is doing.  Neither of these things she actually needs to do.  Rarely, if ever, is Rose protecting an anonymous or confidential source which would make her restraint necessary.  Instead, I get the feeling, that Rose simply likes to hold over people’s heads that she knows something they do not.                               

                Back at home, things are definitely rocky for Dr. Blake.  He is about to propose to Jean when his wife, Mei Lin (Ling-Hsueh Tang), a woman thought to be dead, shows up at the door.  Not sure what to do, Dr. Blake tries to split his time between the two women, but Jean puts a stop to it.  She does not see his behavior as being fair to either her or Mei Lin, and that it is only right for him to be with his wife.  While Dr. Blake understands what Jean is saying, he does not stop trying to figure out how he can be honorable to both.  

                On top of all this, an old military friend of Dr. Blake’s is in town.  Major Derek Alderton (Neil Pigot) is determined to get Dr. Blake back into the military, no matter how hard he resists.  And Dr. Blake certainly does resist.  He does not want to go back into the military, and no matter what retaliations or needling Major Alderton comes up with, he is not going to be convinced otherwise.  That does not keep Major Alderton from trying though, to the point where you eventually wonder how far will Major Alderton go to get what he wants?    

                This is a lot to have going on in eight episodes.  Plus, there are the actual murder cases to deal with.  No wonder everything felt so scattered.  It did not help, either, that Charlie was practically missing for half of the episodes.  In the first four he would have a scene here or there, usually in the police station, but otherwise he was only mentioned.  This left an odd hole at times as other characters had to be found to do something that Charlie normally would.  Once Charlie was back regularly, everything started operating as it used to, and the episodes started getting back on track as well.                

                Unfortunately, the return of Charlie meant he and Rose were pushed together more.  I’m hoping this does not mean that some romantic relationship is being formed between them.  The writers wisely didn’t do this with Charlie and Mattie, and I really hope they don’t in this case either.  As I said when talking about The Brokenwood Mysteries, not every male and female character need to get romantically together.  Dr. Blake and Jean work perfectly as a couple, which is why it makes sense that something formed between them.  The same certainly cannot be said for all pairings.

                Speaking of Jean, she is the one I felt most badly for in this season.  Dr. Blake is most certainly caught between a rock and a hard place with Jean and Mei Lin, and Mei Lin had zero idea what she was walking into, but it is Jean who must put on a good face all the time.  It’s what she feels she needs to do since she is not the one married to Dr. Blake while Mei Lin is.  Jean is also the one who gives up Dr. Blake, despite her love for him.  Instead of being bitter, Jean continues to make sure Mei Lin is cared for, all while acting as though everything is fine.  That could not be an easy thing to do.  Not only does Jean have her own feelings to deal with, which she does on her own, but she also has Mei Lin shooting daggers at her all the time.  This season is clearly not a good time for Jean at all.                              

                With only one season left to go unless another network picks up the show, I am very curious to see how everything is going to wrap up in season five.  A lot of things were resolved at the end of the fourth season, but some things were either left hanging or not addressed at all.  I won’t say what those things are, as I have probably given far too many details already, but I am curious as to whether or not these situations will get brought up again.