‘My Life Is Murder’ Recap: ‘To Dye For’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Erik Thomson and Lucy Lawless as Lawrence and Alexa Crowe in Episode 401 of ‘My Life Is Murder’ – ‘To Dye For’. (Photo Courtesy of Acorn TV.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Four Premiere of ‘My Life Is Murder’. To revisit the Season Three Finale, click here.
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One particular aspect of crime dramas that is genuinely fascinating, is how so many of them… exclude certain emotional motivations for crime. As though only anger and passion can lead to murder, or greed for that matter as well. When in fact, there are a bevy of emotions that will motivate people to commit crimes and cross the ultimate line and sometimes… those emotions are supremely petty in nature. For there are people that will stab, out of jealousy or because their ego is bruised. It just takes the right moment and the right circumstances for someone to let petty take control, as evidenced by the season four premiere of My Life Is Murder on Acorn TV.

For ‘To Dye For’ saw Alexa Crowe deal with a case that featured just that, but it took some serious digging to uncover that truth. In fact, at first, Alexa did not even want to take the case that was sent her way. Because a socialite, named Lulu, dying by drinking so much champagne that it got into her lungs, did not seem like foul play. But Harry made some good points about how this death was quite suspicious in nature and that was enough to get Alexa and Madison on the case, wherein… they immediately looked for the usual motivations and desires for murder. Such as greed since Lulu left her estate to a cat instead of her new bestie. 

Which proved to be a dead end since said bestie had no machinations upon the fortune in question, and deeper digging on crimes of passion or revenge went nowhere as well. Because the trail of clues brought them to a hair salon run by a man named Lawrence, and well… while he and his top hairdresser were shady at times, neither were involved with her, nor did either of them seem capable of murder. In fact, it turned out that the top dog was friends with Lulu and was thinking about opening up a salon of his own with Lulu’s funds and Lawrence just seemed interested in selling gossip, since he had a penchant for selling videos of what his clients had to say about their lives to the local gossip rag, which was also run by the bestie in question. 

But eventually, it became apparent that the devil was in the petty details. And the closer Alexa and Madison looked at the case, the more they realized… that the business union on the horizon, combined with the hidden surveillance in the salon, was something of a problem. Because it allowed for Lawrence to learn that his best hairdresser and client were leaving, and it informed him that he would have legitimate competition up the road. And well, a big ego combined with a tinge of jealousy and worry about having that ego bruised was enough to prompt Lawrence to put together a petty and pathetic, albeit successful plan… to end Lulu’s life.

All of which spoke to how there are reasons that people kill, that are not flashy or epic in nature. There are some reasons that are just plain sad, and downright pitiful, and come forth when the person is just that disgusting. Because it takes a gross individual to follow the path that Lawrence did here. Which in turn gave rise, to an amazing season premiere of this show. One that stays true to the kinds of cases that Alexa has always taken on and gave the audience plenty to chew upon along the way. Because this premiere was filled to the brim with quality twists and turns that kept us guessing, and well… it is just delightful to have this series back on the air and it will be amazing to see what other incredible cases await Alexa and her team as season four rolls along. Until next time.

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