‘My Life Is Murder’ Recap: ‘Pleasure and Pain’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season two finale of ‘My Life Is Murder’.
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It is definitely safe to say that season two of the Acorn TV series, My Life Is Murder, has wowed us every step of the way. Thanks in large part to the fact that Alexa Crowe and the always plucky Madison have been involved in solving some genuinely unique cases. The kind that are as unconventional as they come and are also filled to the brim with fascinating depth. Which has allowed for us to learn a great deal about how murder isn’t the black and white and evil act that it is normally portrayed to be on the silver and small screen. Instead, we’ve come to learn that it is quite the complex act, one mired in emotion and fear and sometimes outright mistakes. But this series has also taught us, that it is a crime and wrong regardless of the circumstances.

But while this season did indeed put forth some fascinating and meaningful cases for Alexa to explore, one particular aspect of murder has been absent from her investigations. Specifically, crimes related to love and passion… a decision that made it seem as though this series wasn’t going to go near a tried-and-true formula, to keep things unique, despite the fact that we all wanted to see this show’s spin on such a notion. But thankfully the series was simply saving the best for last since the season two finale, ‘Pleasure and Pain’, opted to finally dig into a murder that related to a love triangle and the pains of jealousy. A feat that it accomplished by having Alex explore the end of an entrepreneur named Otto Klein.

Because Otto died under circumstances that concerned Harry, since the evidence surrounding his demise seemed a little… too perfect. Something that Alexa agreed with and well, it didn’t take long for her and Harry’s suspicions to grow. For the woman that found Otto dead, Sarah, was back at work at the wellness company that Otto founded without a tear to shed. And his wife, Clarissa, seemed undisturbed over the fact that her husband and co-founder of the company had departed this plane and that level of apathy concerned Alexa. Since it really did seem that someone had something to hide and was indeed involved with Otto’s death. Which prompted her to push buttons to see what the response was and that led to the possibility that Sarah was the one that committed this crime, since she was easily flustered and quick to hide when confronted with facts about Otto’s death.

But the fact that the police found Sarah dead as well, forced Alexa back to square one. But little by little, the tiniest of clues… such as the fact that Otto had a love affair with Sarah and a bevy of other former employees, led Alexa to wonder if a jilted wife was the real culprit here and thanks to a bold decision to enter Otto and Clarissa’s home, she was able to prove just that and learn why Clarissa was motivated to end her husband’s life. Which as it turns out, was related to outright jealousy over never once being the jewel of Otto’s eye… and it didn’t hurt that she would stand to inherit millions by offing him and well, that brought the case to a close and reminded us quite nicely that a jilted lover, one that wants it all… will have no problem in choosing murder when they cannot reconcile the pain in their heart.

Which makes this finale, quite satisfying in the end. Since that kind of story serves as the perfect bookend to a year of fascinating exploration. Plus, it was also quite awesome to see Renee O’Connor reunite again with Lucy Lawless after all these years and to see how they’ve both grown as actors. Since Renee embodied the role of Clarissa perfectly and of course, Lucy played off of the evil she portrayed nicely and that chemistry is undoubtedly a carry-over from their days on Xena: Warrior Princess. If anything, the only real complaint that one can lobby about this finale, is that the season has come to an end, and that’s a shame because… we all want more. Because this is series is simply engrossing and Lucy Lawless is electric and the cases are amazing and well… all we can do at this point, is sit and wait and hope for the announcement of a third season of this phenomenal show. Until next time.

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