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"Anything You Can Do...​" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the twenty-sixth episode of the series. It first aired on May 27, 2009.

Summary

Detective Murdoch finds himself in competition with another police officer when he investigates the death of Humphrey Breen who has apparently fallen, or was pushed, out of a third floor window. The rival is North-West Mounted Police Sgt. Jasper Linney, who has come to Toronto from British Columbia to interview Breen, a possible witness in a death he is investigating in his own jurisdiction. Murdoch and Linney are remarkably alike in their interests and also in the way in which they try to use modern investigative techniques in their investigations. The murders center on a possible mining claim in British Columbia and there is evidence of fraud. When Murdoch sees his father's name on a list of possible land speculators, he travels there with Sgt. Linney. He soon learns that Harry is also Linney's father, thus making Linney his paternal half-brother. After arresting the shooters at the mining creek, father and sons bid their awkward farewells. Linney advises Murdoch on Dr. Ogden.

Upon returning to the station house, Crabtree and Brackenreid, who were asked by a jealous Murdoch to look into Reginald Poundsett, inform the Detective that man in question is merely her aeronautics professor – not her new love interest. With this new information in hand, Murdoch rushes to the Poundsett School of Aeronautics and makes the jump to join Julia in her unfettered hot air balloon ride over Toronto, rekindling their relationship.

Character Revelations

  • Murdoch is revealed to have a paternal half-brother - Sergeant Jasper Linney of the North-West Mounted Police.
  • Julia is taking aeronautics lessons, preparing for a solo flight in an untethered hot air balloon.
  • Jasper and Julia share a passion and knowledge of poetry, especially the romantics Byron and Shelley.

Continuity

  • Harry Murdoch, William's father, makes his second appearance.
  • William alerts Julia that he is no longer seeing Mrs. Jones.
  • William and Julia's relationship takes flight.

Historical References

  • This episode takes place in Toronto 1896 – Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 1819 - 1901) is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and Empress of India.
  • In 1873, the Parliament of Canada established a central police force, and sent recruits west to Manitoba. The new police force gradually acquired the name "North-West Mounted Police" (NWMP).  In 1904, King Edward VII conferrs the title of "Royal" upon the North-West Mounted Police. The North-West Mounted Police was amalgamated with the Canadian Federal Police; the Dominion Police in 1920 to form what is now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (or the RCMP).
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and George Gordon, Lord Byron, are poets of the later Romantics and the next generation who shared their predecessors’ passion for liberty and individualism.
  • The hot air balloon is considered the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology.
  • The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was in Paris, France, on November 21, 1783, performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.

Trivia

  • "Anything You Can Do (I can do better)" is a duet song from the 1946 Broadway musical, "Annie Get Your Gun", composed by Irving Berlin.
  • Season 2 began with an appearance of Annie Oakley and ends with an episode named after a song from musical about her.
  • Lord Byron and Shelley poetry quotes and references made by Julia and Jasper.
  • The Julia's book of Byron and Shelley poetry catches the bullet that would have killed Murdoch.

Notable Quotes

Jasper to William: "Dr. Ogden. Any woman that can recite "To a Skylark" while cutting open a human heart is a rare woman indeed. Make it right, William."
Julia to William: "Are you willing to see which way the wind takes us?"

Errors

  • Murdoch and Linney mention taekwondo as a form of martial arts that derives from the Far East. However, this episode takes place in 1896; taekwondo was not developed until the 1940s and 1950s.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as George Crabtree

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Dylan Neal as Jasper Linney
Stephen McHattie as Harry Murdoch

Guest Cast

Jeffrey Douglas as Reginald Poundsett
Danny Cunningham as Eldon Fremont
Michael Kash as Accidental Al
Sean Sullivan as Oscar Vanderlay
Catherine Hayos as Woman
Sean Sullivan as Man

Gallery


Murdoch Mysteries Season 2
Mild Mild WestSnakes and LaddersDinosaur FeverHoudini WhodunitThe Green MuseShades of GreyBig Murderer on CampusI, MurdochConvalescenceMurdoch.comLet Us Ask the MaidenWerewolvesAnything You Can Do...
Season 1Season 3Season 4Season 5Season 6Season 7Season 8Season 9Season 10Season 11Season 12Season 13Season 14Season 15
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