I've had the best time again, watching another full season of one of television's best mystery series, Murder, She Wrote. Running for 12 seasons on CBS, Murder, She Wrote was a Sunday night addiction for tens of millions of TV viewers who remained fiercely loyal to this Nielsen ratings' powerhouse. Improving on the prior fourth season, Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season is a particularly strong group of episodes, with Angela Lansbury effortlessly entertaining as the widowed ex-English teacher turned international best-selling mystery writer Jessica Fletcher.

You know, there's just something about Angela Lansbury. Now I know that often, she stated (in nice enough terms) that the role of Jessica Fletcher wasn't exactly a reach for her, and that often she became bored by the repetition and the daily, grueling grind of doing a weekly TV series. And if you've seen her in anything else, or been lucky enough to see her on stage, you can agree that Jessica Fletcher is hardly a stretch for this multi-talented actress. But Lansbury is nothing if not a total professional, so her portrayal on Murder, She Wrote is focused and totally believable. Watching her perfectly pitched reaction shots, she's a marvel of economy; Lansbury can get more out of a raised eyebrow or an eye roll than most of the other actors on TV today who equate flailing around with serious dramatics. One of the highlights of each episode is the inevitable confession of the killer (after Jessica has methodically cornered them in their own webs of lies and subterfuge). When the killer reveals his or her motive for murder, Lansbury often does this little sad head shake, accompanied by closing her eyes, which is utterly devastating. Lansbury projects such a poised, polished, moral image onto Jessica Fletcher that the viewer, as well, feels a little fluttery when she does that head shake, grateful that he or she will never have the opportunity to let down Jessica.

However, that's not to say that Jessica Fletcher is in any way a moralizing character. Often forgiving those who do wrong to her (such as Jean Simmons in the final two-part episode of this season), Jessica almost never gives a speech or lecture on why it was wrong for the killer to do what he or she did. She almost always lets the killer explain their motive, without comment - except of course, for that simple, devastating head shake. Self-assured yet self-effacing, confident, and educated, Lansbury's Fletcher comes off as kind of sexy, in a way - in the way that all confident, assured people come off (if it didn't occur to you to think of Lansbury as sexy, I suggest you check her out in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Samson and Delilah, and The Manchurian Candidate - when she starts talking about grinding the Commies into the dirt, I get the whim-whams). It's hard to imagine, but Lansbury's role as Fletcher, certainly the role she will best be remembered for, was nominated 12 times for a Best Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy, which she lost every time. Even when a particular episode isn't up to the high standards of the series, Lansbury is always worth watching.

Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season, covering the 1988 - 1989 television season, finished the year firmly entrenched in the Nielsen Top Ten. And it's easy to see why. The guest stars, made up of familiar star names, were still fun to watch; the mystery plots were still compelling (I almost never figure them out), and the production was glossy and professional. At the time of the series, there were a lot of jokes about so-called "has-beens" who couldn't find work after The Love Boat was canceled, who were lining up to be murdered in Cabot Cove. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Murder, She Wrote scripts were noted in the industry for their excellence, and for the opportunities they provided for underutilized actors who had difficulty finding other suitable vehicles. In the episode, Something Borrowed, Someone Blue, My Little Margie's Gale Storm does an absolutely hysterical turn as a frazzled mother - where else but on Murder, She Wrote would you get a chance to see such a performance by a too-little seen star such as Storm?

New additions to the series this year include Ron Masak as Sheriff Mort Metzger, who replaced Tom Bosley's Sheriff Amos Tupper (Bosley left the series to star in his own Murder, She Wrote knock-off, The Father Dowling Mysteries). I like Masak's gruff, New York street-savvy attitude; it's a welcome bit of grit against the usual sweetness of Cabot Cove, as well as providing plenty of laughs when he thinks he has a case solved, only to be politely corrected by Jessica. Keith Michell's jewel thief character Dennis Stanton is introduced this season; evidently, he made enough of an impression on the producers that when Lansbury wished to cut back on her appearances on Murder, She Wrote, the Stanton character was used several times as a substitute sleuth. Of particular note this season are the episodes Snow White, Blood Red, which features an unusually bloody, gory murder (almost never shown on the series); The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel and Prediction: Murder, a two-parter that finds Jessica being courted by Dale Robertson; Something Borrowed, Someone Blue, one of the funniest episodes this season (when the victim is found with a meat thermometer in her back, a cop says, "She's done, all right."); Weave a Tangled Web, which has Jessica impersonating a trampy bar chippie (!); The Sins of Cabot Cove, with a sensation female cast in a Peyton Place spoof; and the final two-part episode, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which takes the time to ruminate on Jessica's widowhood (series regular William Windom has a fantastic scene with Lansbury where they discuss her private life), as well as a funny inside joke by Masak, who equates the murder rate in Cabot Cove with the South Bronx.

Here are the twenty-two, one hour episodes of Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season:

DISC ONE:

J. B. as in Jailbird
Jessica finds herself behind bars and without a clue when she's mistakenly accused of murdering a Bulgarian operative while the real killer runs free.

A Little Night Work
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Jessica is neither dazzled by her new agent nor the diamond necklace that everyone is so eager to get their hands on.

Mr. Penroy's Vacation
Cabot Cove's new sheriff finds his "paid vacation" on the job suddenly interrupted by the appearance of two dead bodies in the backyard of two very non-threatening sisters.

DISC TWO:

Snow White, Blood Red
There's something sinister on the slopes when Jessica finds herself snowed in at a resort with the U.S. Ski Team and a murderer.

Coal Miner's Slaughter
Deep in the hills of West Virginia, Jessica looks under the surface of a corrupt mining company that claims no responsibility for the death of two perceptive employees.

Wearing of the Green
Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but they're no ally for Jessica when she must find the killer of a jeweler and locate a priceless missing tiara.

The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel
The past comes back to haunt Jessica when she attends the investigation of an abandoned Air Force cargo plane with a mysterious tie to her deceased husband.

Prediction: Murder
Jessica visits an old friend on his Arizona ranch, but her peaceful, and potentially romantic, visit is marred by the serious predictions of a famous psychic.

DISC THREE:

Something Borrowed, Someone Blue
It's time to walk down the aisle for Jessica's nephew and his wealthy fiancee, but will a mysterious death disturb their nuptial bliss?

Weave a Tangled Web
Jessica retraces her footsteps between New York and Cabot Cove when a woman with a double life becomes entangled in murder and blackmail.

The Search for Peter Kerry
A prodigal son returns to Cabot Cove to claim his large fortune, but Jessica and the extremely wealthy Kerry family have their suspicions about his twenty years of amnesia.

Smooth Operators
A visit with an old friend in New York should be taking Jessica on a walk down memory lane, but it instead involves her in a new case when the body of a man wearing only one shoe is discovered.

Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble
Cabot Cove feels a bit like Old Salem when Jessica investigates the story of a supposed witch who has been dead for three hundred years -- or has she?

DISC FOUR:

From Russia...With Blood
While taking part in a Russian writers conference, Jessica feels more than the usual chill in the air when government officials discover microfilm in her purse and suspect her of espionage.

Alma Murder
Jessica comes to the aid of her former college professor, who has confessed to the murder of a young undergraduate -- along with several other would-be killers.

Truck Stop
Car trouble strands Jessica and another writer in a small desert town and drives her straight into a puzzling, film noir-style case.

The Sins of Cabot Cove
The line between fact and fiction blurs when one of Jessica's students writes a bestseller exposing the hidden lives and secrets of the seemingly idyllic Cabot Cove.

Trevor Hudson's Legacy
The publishing world can be murder, which becomes clear to Jessica when she travels to Montana to commemorate the posthumous publication of a major American writer.

DISC FIVE:

Double Exposure
A chance reunion with an old friend becomes troublesome for Jessica when he denies knowing her -- and his wife claims that he died two weeks ago!

Three Strikes, You're Out
Jessica's nephew is traded to a major-league baseball team, but when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, it's clear that a different kind of game is being played.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Part 1
Life imitates art when the once renowned mystery writer Eudora McVeigh arrives at Jessica's doorstep looking for clues on maintaining success -- and creates a real-life would-be murder mystery.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Part 2
The mystery continues as Jessica ponders whether the struggling fiction writer McVeigh could really be a nonfiction killer.

The DVD:

The Video:
Looking crisp and clean, the full screen video image for Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season is excellent.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 mono soundtrack is entirely adequate for this dialogue driven series.

The Extras:
There's a nice, ten minute bonus feature, Origin of a Series, that features a new (2006) interview with Angela Lansbury, Ron Masak, and some of the creative personnel behind the hit series. It's short, but informative.

Final Thoughts:
You can not go wrong purchasing Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season. Excellent mysteries for this strong season, fun guest stars, the always dependable production polish, and the invaluable, enchanting Angela Lansbury make for one of the series' best seasons. I highly recommend Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Fifth Season.