Headscratchers / Murdoch Mysteries

• Why didn't Dr Ogden's sister or Murdoch's father or half brother show up for their wedding?
  • Word of God is that Ruby was out of the country, and Murdoch's relationship with his father is strained at best, and virtually non-existent with Jasper.
• Why didn't Murdoch tell his sister about their half brother? Then again, how does one broach that subject to one's little sister who's also a nun?
  • It was implied that Susanna was dying of a terminal illness and she didn't have much time left. This is borrowed from Maureen Jennings' original novel, where it's all but implied that Susanna is dying of breast cancer.
• In "Blast of Silence", Walter Pike was driven to madness because of all the noises of industrializing Toronto. Why didn't he just move?
  • Because he was driven to madness.
  • Maybe he couldn't afford to. Remember, this was the Gilded Age, when income inequality was even higher than it is now.
• In "The Murdoch Trap", Gillies is revealed to have set up a trap that Darcy accidentally triggered and got shot, while he was pretending to be the driver. Yet he was explicitly stated to be seen entering the house ten minutes before the shot was fired? How the hell was he in two places at once? And how did he set up the death trap in Darcy's house?
  • The timeline in the episode is much longer than ten minutes. The call is placed about 2pm, "Julia" is seen entering the house around 4pm, and the gunshot isn't heard until 6pm. He would have had two hours to set up the trap that killed Darcy. The "Murdoch Trap" could have been set up anytime after Julia was arrested since it isn't until after she's convicted that Murdoch finds the contraption at Darcy's house and is captured.
• In "Raised on Robbery", the baby Roland is described as being nine months old, and Murdoch mentions that it's August (since he finds it odd that the Inspector is wearing a scarf). Then, in "Wild Child", characters are wearing winter clothing, and four other episodes/cases have happened in between. But Roland is still described as nine months old, and his dead mother's body is only now getting an autopsy, even though she died during "Raised on Robbery". So how long has it been exactly?
• When Dr. Ogden takes the job in Buffalo, why doesn't Murdoch try to get a job there as well? While it was difficult for a woman doctor to find a position, as she pointed out, surely it wouldn't be so hard for a detective of Murdoch's reputation to secure a position in the Buffalo police department. (The obvious explanation is that, in the late 19th century, it was inconceivable for a man to sacrifice his career for a woman's career, even for someone as progressive as Murdoch. Still, the thought didn't even occur to him for six months?)
  • Medicine is medicine everywhere. Policing and law are significantly different in different countries, so William might well have had to start his career all over again at an American police department, and may have felt the loss of rank, prestige and income too great for him to remain worthy of a woman like Julia, had he taken such a position.
  • On the other hand, the police department in Toronto was controlled by Protestants, and this was the reason Murdoch could never get a promotion beyond Detective. Buffalo's police, on the other hand, were controlled by Irish Catholics, so it's possible he could have advanced further there!
  • She also broke up with him because of her inability to have kids and the misbelief that that would be a dealbreaker for him. He may have felt that moving to Buffalo and getting a new job there wouldn't fix the underlining reason why she left him in the first place. Different place, same issues.
• Word of God confirms that the Bill Murdoch who appeared in the Republic of Doyle episode "If the Shoe Fits" is the descendant of William Murdoch. Both characters are portrayed by Yannick Bisson. However William and Julia's son, Roland, is their son by adoption, as Julia is unable to have children after a botched abortion in her youth. Therefore, Bill would not be related to William by blood, and it would be impossible to be his Identical Grandson. Could this mean that Julia actually isn't barren (we're dealing with late-19th and early-20th century medicine, after all) and she might yet end up pregnant later in the series? Or worse, that Julia is William's first wife, and Bill is his grandson by another woman?
  • Or worse William Murdoch and his fiancee Elizabeth Milner did have a child. On a pretext, Elizabeth could have been sent away to hide the pregnancy. Without Murdoch knowing. Elizabeth could have died due to consumption, and complications due to childbirth.
  • On the other hand, for all we know William could have simply outlived Julia by several years, long enough to form a romantic relationship with another woman in his senior years. This wouldn't have to mean Julia died all that young, only that William was willing to court a new wife who was young enough to have children after he'd mourned sufficiently. Sad, but reasonably bittersweet also, if Julia made him promise not to give up on finding happiness again.
  • Or Julia's experimentation with fertility treatments in season 11 are successful.
  • This looks like it might be resolved as of "The Night Before Christmas", the show's 2021 Christmas special. In the final scene, Julia reveals to William that she's pregnant again. Assuming everything works out, this plot hole might be filled in if the baby is a boy and carries on the Murdoch name.
  • We eventually learn that Murdoch slept with Anna Fulford several years ago and unwittingly conceived a son he only recently met. If the boy has Murdoch's last name, then he can probably carry on the family line.
• In season 13's "Forever Young", Murdoch says that the worst thing the schemers did with their machine that supposedly stopped aging was to raise false hopes in people. Did Murdoch forget that back in season 10's "From Murdoch to Eternity", he publicized a fake tonic that restores youth as part of a scheme to catch a criminal? How many false hopes did he raise?

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