‘Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries’ Recap: ‘New Year’s Evil’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season two finale of ‘Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries’.
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What is truly fascinating about the nature of revenge, is that it is oddly fleeting in nature. Something that is attributed to the fact that vendettas are best served in the moment. For when time comes into play, our vengeful tendencies cool and we can think clearly and move on from whatever it was that was chewing at us. But while the vast majority of us are eager to leave such negative emotions behind once fire and fury has left our veins, there are some people who don’t feel their anger subside with time and these are the folks that make revenge a reality, since they stoke that fire when they find it is still burning and use it to fuel them toward payback and well… their stories are quite compelling and tragic in the end.
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Simply because, it’s fascinating to learn what motivated them to strike back and sad to see the end result and really, the dark nature of revenge is relevant to our discussion today, simply because it served as the focus of the season two finale of Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries on Acorn TV. For ‘New Year’s Evil’ saw the death of a lead singer of a band, named Pat, occur at a New Year’s party that Peregrine put together and well, at first glance this seemed like an impossible case, since there were multiple parties that had a motive to put this young man down. For instance, Pat’s band mates couldn’t stand him, primarily because he believed he was an outright superstar and that never sits well in a team setting. And unbeknownst to Peregrine, one of Birdie’s friends, named Oona, had reason to put Pat down because he was involved in the death of her son.

But as the evening rolled on and the investigation continued along, it became apparent that Oona was merely pondering upon revenge and was unsure of how to go through with it and Pat’s bandmates, whilst angry… didn’t have the acumen to commit murder. Instead, it became clear that someone had worked hard to really plan out Pat’s end, and someone that was willing to go this far, really needed a deep seeded reason to take a life and in the end, it turned out to be Pat’s ex-girlfriend Iris and her twin sister Lily, who both had beef with Pat. For long ago, he encouraged and helped Iris in terminating her pregnancy to keep his bachelor and superstar status intact, and she simply could not forgive him for that and let notions of revenge fuel her to this moment and an unfortunate future. Since of course Peregrine figured it all out and eventually, the police led Iris and Lily off in handcuffs.

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If anything, this was quite a simple and impactful exploration in regard to revenge. Since it made it clear that the right kind of pain, one that goes unresolved and could fester in the depths of our souls, can create all kinds of problems for us mentally and help to engender a need to settle the score. Especially when we don’t have a healthy support network surrounding us. Which is why Oona’s journey was of note in this tale, since Birdie made sure to take the time to help her old friend reconcile the fury and the pain that comes with not getting the justice, we think we deserve, giving her some semblance of peace at last and really in the end, this final mystery of season two is a wonderful way to cap off a phenomenal year of storytelling. 
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In part because it ends with poignant commentary on a topic, we think we fully understand but do not, but also because… there was some wonderful character growth to be found in this story as well. For Samuel and Violetta came to discover that they’re starting a family and threw their worries to the wind and Birdie finally found herself in a good place mentally after working through the death of her fallen beau and most important of all, love was in the air in this finale. Because at long last, Peregrine and James finally were honest about their feelings for one another and in doing so, they were able to acknowledge that they belonged together and that made for a satisfying end to this tale. Since they went on a complete journey romantically and earned their love for one another and well, hopefully this genuinely joyful finale isn’t where the story ends.

Because this particular series really is something quite special. In part because it is now set in 1965 and offers up a little old-school detective work. But more so because… it really is one of the most refreshing crime shows around. Since it features unique cases that explore aspects of murder that no other series is tackling, which provides the viewer with fascinating and relevant commentary on our own world. But most important of all, it’s filled to the brim with incredible characters that we love and its fun and dynamic and well… it absolutely deserves a third season. One that can allow for more growth and more explorations of the human condition and hopefully we will all get some good news about season three soon… so we can see what the future holds for Peregrine and James, now that they are finally ready to move forward as a couple. Until next year.  

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