Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries "Dead Air" #2.11 (2013)

Phryne Sings, 6 June 2017

One of Dot's school friends is found murdered outside the radio station where she worked. The woman was violently strangled. Quite naturally, Phryne agrees to investigate. The first thing that Phryne discovers is that Jack is working undercover at the radio station as a news reader named Archibald. Jack is investigating a series of unusual happenings at radio stations across the area. Are their cases related?

Dead Air is a perfect example of what I love about Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It's just so much fun. Between the violent opening death scene, the coded horse betting tips, the dead fish, and Jack's hideous sweater vest, Dead Air is chock full of so much to enjoy. There are clues and leads by the boat load – some helpful, some designed to distract. I admit that the episode doesn't exactly play fair with the clues. There are key pieces of information necessary to solve the mystery that are not available to the viewer. Usually, this is a mystery killer for me. But with everything else Dead Air has going for it, hiding clues is merely an annoyance. The final resolution is more than satisfactory with Phryne getting into a tight spot with the killer. As a result, the tension is ratcheted up in the last act. It's all so perfectly written, acted, and directed. Fantastic!

One of my favorite bits in Dead Air had to be hearing Phryne sing that radio jingle. I'm assuming that was Essie Davis' real voice. Nice! Well, that was my favorite thing, but then in the very last scene, Jack and Phryne sing a naughty little ditty called Let's Misbehave together at the piano. It's not just one of my favorite moments from this episode, it's one of my favorite moments so far in the entire series.

9/10