Stream It Or Skip It: ‘My Life Is Murder’ Season 4 On Acorn TV, Where Lucy Lawless Cheekily Solves Murders In New Zealand

Acorn TV has lots and lots of what we like to call “cat and mouse” mystery series. They’re the classic, Murder, She Wrote-style mysteries, where someone is killed and a private detective questions and probes, almost to the point where people would file a restraining order against them, until they figure out the whos, whys and hows of the murder. My Life Is Murder is one of the most fun shows of this format on the Acorn roster, and Lucy Lawless is a big part of why.

MY LIFE IS MURDER SEASON 4: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A shot of the Auckland skyline. Alexa Crowe (Lucy Lawless) is walking when she’s approached by a woman in a tiny red hat; she wants Alexa to take pics of her for her Instagram account. When she’s not satisfied with Alexa’s shots, Alexa gives her an under-nose selfie of disgust in return.

The Gist: Alexa is meeting her police contact, Harry Henarie (Rawiri Jobe); he’s giving her a new case, one that he doesn’t think his colleagues are seeing correctly. A socialite named Lulu (Kimberley Hill) is found on a local nude beach, a victim of dry drowning; Champagne is found in her lungs. One detail: Lulu left her sizeable estate to her cat, Cruz.

Alexa and her protege, Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vagulans), immediately get to work. Alexa talks to Bridget (Sia Trokenheim), a PR rep who moved in with Lulu after her divorce and is now the cat’s caretaker. given that she has access to the fortune, did she kill Lulu? Bridget not only has nothing but praise for Lulu, she also said that Lulu wasn’t a big drinker, so the idea that she drank herself to death doesn’t make sense.

When trying to rebuild the timeline between when Lulu last saw Bridget that day and when her body was found, Alexa notices that her roots were colored when she was found, but not when she left Bridget. This leads her to Lawrence (Erik Thomson), a high-end hairstylist, and Jett (Albert Cho), one of his best employees. Which one did the deed? And why?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? My Life Is Murder is a classic cat-and-mouse murder-of-the-week mystery series, with the uber-example being Murder, She Wrote. The series also has elements of Columbo and Elsbeth.

Our Take: The reason why My Life Is Murder has stood out amongst Acorn’s extensive roster of classic mystery series is because Lucy Lawless plays Alexa with the right amount of cheekiness. Sure, she has empathy for the victims and the people affected by their deaths, but she can definitely handle the lighthearted tone of the show while being authoritative enough to know that anyone who might try to silence her will have a lot to contend with.

Lawless has developed a fun chemistry with Vagulans, who plays Madison. Madison has gone from a police admin to being more or less Alexa’s partner in crime-solving, and she brings a lot to Alexa’s investigations, including the type of tech skills you only see on TV detective shows (it usually involves a thumb drive and a lot of scrolling text). Madison is there to point out when Alexa is being her quirky self, going off on investigative tangents without cluing Madison in on where her brain is heading.

It’s the classic Holmes-Watson model, where the partner rolls their eyes at the main detective’s methods but is there to help and support whenever they can. And in the case of Alexa and Madison, the old model completely works.

Do we know more about Alexa than we did when the show started five years ago? Maybe. At least we know she’s a cat person. But, to be honest, on a show like this, anything we learn about any of the main characters is a bonus. The mysteries are generally well-written and are structured so that the audience can try to solve it from their armchairs. Given that and the chemistry from Lawless and Vagulnas, My Life Is Murder continues to be eminently watchable.

Sex and Skin: Not that kind of show.

Parting Shot: Madison encourages Alexa to take a dip on the nude beach, but after Alexa disrobes and goes into the ocean, Madison takes Alexa’s robe and leaves, giggling the entire time.

Sleeper Star: Oh, the sleeper here is the Auckland scenery, without a doubt.

Most Pilot-y Line: The whole “she left her fortune to the cat” storyline would have had more impact if the cat was featured more. For a lot of the episode, Bridget can’t even find the cat, and the cat doesn’t really factor into the mystery at all.

Our Call: STREAM IT. My Life Is Murder continues to be a charming, lighthearted classic mystery, with Lawless being a fun to watch as ever.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.