45-Minutes to Cherish
People who come over say they can’t picture me liking these shows their grandfathers watch. But knowing myself, I can only imagine respite through a mystery solved in forty-five minutes.
The likes of Hercule Poirot, №1 Ladies Detective Agency, Rosemary and Thyme, Sister Boniface Mysteries and the lot. The calm that comes from their neatly-pleated and predictable plots. I could watch them a thousand times over. I have watched them a thousand times over.
I like these shows because there is a clever unsuspecting detective no one regards and a ‘why’ of each murderer that boils down to some jealousy, some want, or a lifelong regret stuck in their craw like a vitamin that never feels fully swallowed.
These shows are often simple, some episodes even silly but they all highlight that quick are our choices and lasting our memories of them. What of the choice of every antagonist to forgive themselves, their ex-business partners, fiancés, siblings or parents before making a choice that’ll land them in the gallows.
These shows highlight the killing of others is inevitably the killing of oneself. And so with spite, judgement, and condemnation. Seeking the punishment of someone else only creates a pit for ourselves.
These shows remind me of tea with a healthy amount of coffee mate, rainy quiet nights in the living room guessing the murderer this time, chuckling at Captain Hastings’ perfectly absent mind.
These murder mysteries for me provide a comforting resolution — something life does not often give. Something to cherish in forty-five minutes.
