When an unpopular man is knifed at his 60th birthday party, suspicion falls upon his daughter.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: Alexander Taylor, the episode's victim, was an alcoholic and abused both Charlotte and his stepson Robert.
- Asshole Victim: In the course of solving his murder, Murdoch discovers that not only did Taylor abuse his daughter, he murdered his first wife.
- Big Brother Instinct: Both played straight and inverted. Charlotte's younger brother Joshua would give her food whenever she was locked in the cellar and let her out as soon as their father wasn't paying attention, and also goes to comfort her while she's in jail. Their older brother Robert left the two of them with Alexander when he ran off (something that he regrets) but has since came back to the area, being there for Charlotte in his disguise as a farmhand, attempting to commit the murder in a way that would ensure that no blame would fall on her, and stating he would have turned himself in if the investigation had remained focused on Charlotte.
- Creepy Basement: It's established that Charlotte is terrified of the cellar of her family's house and won't go into it voluntarily. This turns out to be because she witnessed her father dismembering and burying her mother there when she was three years old.
- Creepy Doll: Young Charlotte's rag doll Maddie, which ended up buried with the corpse of Charlotte's mother.
- Dead Person Impersonation: By proxy! When he remarried, Alexander persuaded his new wife to change her name to that of his first wife Bernice, with the explanation that Bernice had run off with another man and some land that he wanted to sell was in her name. Since Bernice's son Robert had already left home and the other children were too young to remember their real mother, the deception served to hide the original Bernice's murder until Murdoch discovers her corpse buried in the cellar.
- Demonic Possession: Since Charlotte has no understanding of the concept of multiple personalities, she believes that her memory lapses and the things she does during those blackout periods are happening because she's possessed by the devil. Murdoch and Dr. Roberts explain otherwise.
- Harmful to Minors: While going into the cellar to retrieve her doll, three year-old Charlotte saw her father dismembering her mother's corpse, causing her mental break.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Julia is the mirror image of Charlotte's late birth mother. This leads to the discovery of Charlotte's third personality, Girlie.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: The Taylors assume that "Boo Boo" is an imaginary friend Charlotte made up as a young child. It's actually her nickname for her older half-brother Robert.
- The Shrink: Murdoch's favourite head doctor makes an appearance, excited to consult a case involving extremely rare case of split personality.
- Split Personality: Charlotte exhibits a rare realistic portrayal in fiction. "Maddie" acts as the protector, surfacing to fight back when Charlotte feels threatened, and "Girlie" embodies her repressed memories, surfacing when Charlotte sees something or someone that reminds her of her childhood.
- There Are No Therapists: Subverted. Charlotte's just never seen one before and when Dr. Roberts, an actual psychiatrist, arrives he's able to diagnose her and offer a lot of help (although after so many years, the damage is already done).
- Un-person: Alexander Taylor gave his stepson Robert this treatment after he ran off, to the point that Joshua (the youngest of the Brewster/Taylor children and a baby at the time that their mother died and Robert left) doesn't even know that he ever existed.
- The Un-Reveal /Red Herring: Murdoch displays curiosity that it took one of the farmhands, Norman Copps, fifteen minutes to go buy some tobacco when he could have easily made the trip there and back in less than five, but this is never brought up again, and since Copps isn't the murder, wasn't relevant to the story.
