Sat 24 Aug 2019
A TV Series Review by Mike Tooney: MY LIFE IS MURDER (2019).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[7] Comments
MY LIFE IS MURDER. TV series produced by Network 10, Melbourne, Australia. One-hour episodes, starting 17 July 2019. Cast: Lucy Lawless as Alexa Crowe; Bernard Curry as Detective-Inspector Kieran Hussey; Ebony Vagulans as Madison Feliciano; Alex Andreas as George Strathopoulos, the owner of Baristas Café; Dilruk Jayasinha as Dr. Suresh; and Todd River & Elliot Loney as Captain Thunderbolt, Alexa’s pet cat. Producer: Elisa Argenzio; Lucy Lawless, executive producer.
The cleverest thing about this new detective series is how they integrate the show’s title card into the location shots of photogenic Melbourne; it goes without saying that the most attractive thing about it is Lucy Lawless, formerly a long-haired brunette warrior princess turned short-coiffed blonde; but the least appealing part of the show is the tired plots, too many of which have been done to death.
Only the backgrounds, the everyday world inhabited by the characters in front of which the series takes place, have anything new about them. And “cozy” is the word here, with the violence content barely moving the meter — but at least the cat doesn’t try to solve the crimes.
The first episode of ten, “The Boyfriend Experience,” has a young woman dying from a great fall being investigated by Alexa, an ex-cop, at the request of D-I Kieran, who thinks a male prostitute is responsible; the trouble is, the closer she gets to this guy the less she thinks he might be the killer.
The second show, “The Locked Room,” has an executive being murdered in a locked hotel room. To solve that conundrum Alexa must first establish a motive, but her prime suspects all alibi each other. The locked-room gimmick is far from ingenious, but we’re thinking it just might work.
Episode three, “Lividity in Lycra,” has Alexa giving up jogging temporarily and taking up endurance bike riding because the victim, while cycling up a mountain, has died of dual traumas in what looks like a heart attack followed by cracking his skull in falling to the pavement; Alexa’s pretty sure she knows who did it, but the problem is determining how, with GPS coming to the rescue.
The fourth show, “Can’t Stand the Heat,” has Alexa going under cover as a student in a cooking school looking for who might have murdered an aspiring chef.
In this one, Alexa loses a lot more blood just trying to prepare food than from any bad guys that she’s encountered so far (her bandages, at least, match her outfits). The head chef is hardly a help, being a female version of that “Hell’s Kitchen” guy, complete with high-pressure demeanor and multiple f-bombs.
One more thing. The character of Ebony Vagulans, Alexa’s Internet cyber-whizkid, undergoes a radical and unexplained attitude change going from the first two episodes, where Alexa could barely get her to do anything, to begging for Alexa’s next assignment — but, with those thick, rapid-fire Aussie accents, maybe we missed something.
August 24th, 2019 at 11:52 am
I rotate my streaming services and I dropped Acorn last month. I will be back in a few months but MY LIFE IS MURDER is not tempting me to hurry back.
There are different forms of cozy TV mysteries. This looks to be the style where they use the tension of possible sex instead of violence. I suspect – from the popularity of this style in paperbacks and TV movies – young women might enjoy this. But as a old man with too many TV shows waiting to be watched I appreciate Mike’s warning.
August 24th, 2019 at 1:07 pm
Another Australian crime series that I found unpromising is MURDER CALL, where they take the kitchen sink approach by mashing CSI with every other mystery program trope you can think of. The first and so far only episode I’ve watched quite literally put me to sleep; so, to anybody out there who has managed to stay with the show (or just stay awake), you might let us know whether it gets any better.
August 24th, 2019 at 2:24 pm
Our opinion so far meshes exactly with Mike’s. She is good and I love the shots of Melbourne (makes me want to go there even more than I already did), but the plots basically suck. (We’ve watched the first three episodes so far.) Also, I dislike her “assistant” quite a bit. In all three shows, the cop basically has a case where he thinks he knows who the killer is and needs her to prove it.
Also, too many shows overload you with exposition and back story. Not this one. As the show starts, her husband is dead. How did he die? Who was he? Is this why she retired from the police to bake bread? Your guess is as good as mine. Unless I missed it, no information was given.
August 24th, 2019 at 5:12 pm
The Australian market has always had a hard time making the quality mass market TV shows that American and the British do well. As MISS FISHER proved even a hit is short lasting as the talent heads off to London or Hollywood.
The Australian market is at its best when it takes risks but it rarely does. MR AND MRS MURDER was wonderful but refused to push the formula until every episode was a rewrite of the same script.
I have hopes for the New Zealand market. I am hoping they can do something to match their BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES.
Yet I find Acorn new stuff better than the new stuff from the BBC and Britbox.
I do wish both offered more classics.
August 25th, 2019 at 1:33 am
Somehow I don’t think this one will lure me to ACORN just yet.
August 25th, 2019 at 6:45 am
We are enjoying BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES quite a bit.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:58 pm
Hmmnnnn …. OK …. the plotlines are nothing all that startling or original ….
…. but my wife and I have been enjoying it, if, primarily, for the performances and the chemistry between the various performers.