‘The Madame Blanc Mysteries’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 2’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘The Madame Blanc Mysteries’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Something that we often forget about when it comes to celebrities and the people, we admire is that they are just that… people. Who wake up groggy like the rest of us, drink their morning wake-up beverage like the rest of us and go about their day. They just happen to do rockin’ stuff that is different than what we do. But that also means, they have problems, they have struggles and dark times as well… and it is quite important we always take the time to remember this truth. Simply because, it’s created problems and misunderstandings and it has forced celebrities to sometimes, isolate themselves and live in a world that isn’t healthy. One that keeps an illusion handy for us while they suffer, and that can cause real trouble for these folks.  
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The kind that sees their lives upended out of a fear of reaching out, or worse… it can motivate someone to cause them great harm when the illusion breaks, even someone that is close to them, as evidenced by the next episode of The Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn TV. For the next chapter in Jean’s journey through the world of sleuthing, involved a celebrity chef she admired named Vernon. Who had come to Saint Victorie to promote his new book, and since Jean was a fan, she was over the moon regarding his arrival. But it didn’t take long for the proverbial fan honeymoon to quickly end. Simply because Vernon’s long-time protégé, fell to her death, which initially put Jeremy under Caron’s microscope, since Jeremy was on the houseboat that served as her final resting place.

But of course, Jeremy is no killer, and once he was set free… it was up to Jean to figure out who managed to commit this heinous crime and well… that’s when the glamour and glitz of the celebrity was removed and the truth about how being isolated because of our expectations of them, can create illusion and harm. Because as Jean dug deeper and deeper into Vernon’s life, she came to discover that Vernon deeply lost himself in his celebrity standing. To the point where he wanted to be nothing more than a pillar of hope and joy to his fans, and that prompted him to keep that going via a world of painkiller addiction, since it afforded him the illusion he needed and the numbing he needed to cope with some dark times, and he even turned his cooking over to that very understudy when the addiction took deep hold.

All because he could not handle the thought of his life being upended by something so… normal and of course… the discovery that his assistant was getting ready to leave his side and his clearly broken nature, led Caron to believe perhaps the baker did it. But Jean wasn’t good with that, she knew a man this focused on being in the limelight and hanging onto that illusion, wouldn’t succumb to murder and she was right. For it turned out that Rose, his wife, fell out of love with her celebrity hubby and his standing long ago, mainly after the addiction took hold since that burst the bubble of illusion, and she forged a new love with his protégé, and well… when talk had begun of a split between master and apprentice, the opportunity arose to be rid of Vernon once and for all, and had it not been for several mistakes on her part, the kind that involved a resurgent Vernon using ingredients that his protégé had an allergy to and ingested, and Rose’s violent desire to keep her actions a secret… she might have gotten away with the whole thing. 

In the end however, this was just… a brilliant mystery for Jean to handle. One that really did hammer home how we have created unhealthy stigmas and illusions for people that just want to entertain and share a gift, and that… it must stop. That we need to let them live and be the flawed individual they sometimes can be, just like the rest of us, because they are the rest of us and kudos to this show for taking the time to point that out through a compelling and engaging mystery. One that truly kept us guessing from beginning to end, and of course, left us eager for more of this incredible show. So, we can see what other kind of unique cases await Jean and this loyal audience as she continues to live her best life and works to keep the streets of Saint Victorie as safe and as comfortable, as can be. Especially now that a blast from the past… has returned to the fold. Until next time. 

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