Shades of Grey

"Shades of Grey"
Season	2
Episode	6
Airdate	March 10, 2009
Writer	Laura Phillips
Director	Don McBrearty
Guests	Mary Walsh as Sally Smoot Anthony Lemke as Henry Bixby Steven McCarthy as Dr. Isaac Tash Ian D. Clark as Dr. Ralph Fitch
Recurring	Lachlan Murdoch as Henry Higgins
Previous	The Green Muse
Next	Big Murderer on Campus

"Shades of Grey​" is the sixth episode of the second season of the Murdoch Mysteries and the nineteenth episode of the series. It aired on March 10, 2009.

Summary

Detective Murdoch investigates when a young woman's nude body is found in a ditch. They learn that the young girl, Lillie Dunn, was fired from her job the day she died but according to Dr. Ogden the young girl bled to death and probably hemorrhaged after having had an abortion. The evidence leads to Dr. Ogden's friend from university, Doctor Isaac Tash who had helped Murdoch on a earlier case. With his own relationship with Dr. Ogden getting more serious - and physical - Murdoch is feeling both a little jealous and more than a little concerned about Dr. Ogden's professional conduct when he sees Julia leaving Tash's office. Murdoch pursues the case with his usual zeal, but when he learns the truth, he has to re-evaluate his position and perhaps his relationship with Julia.

Character Revelations

• Detective Murdoch becomes aware of the existence of birth control pills, known as “Countess Fausta’s Female Regulators.” They promise “They Do What a Woman Needs Done.”
• William Murdoch is unable to accept abortion as an option.
• Julia Ogden reveals that she nearly died when she had an abortion while pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor and it was her friend Isaac Tash who saved her life.

Continuity

• William and Julia's physical intimacy started in The Green Muse continues into this episode but this case causes Julia and Murdoch to become estranged when she reveals she once had an abortion, a practice that as a staunch Catholic, Murdoch cannot tolerate.
• Isaac Tash, first introduced in Still Waters, returns.
• Julia and Murdoch's opposing positions on the abortion issue will arise in future episodes but none will cut as deep into their relationship as in Shadows Are Falling in Season 11.

Historical References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.
• Julia gives William the latest Collin's Bullet Extractor as a gift.
• Abortion was banned in Canada in 1869. As in other countries, illegal abortions were still performed and often lead to the deaths of the women seeking them.

Trivia

• This episode has some similarities to Night's Child (novel) but is not based upon the book.
• Alex Paxton-Beesley, who portrays Lillie Dunn in this episode, returns in Season 9 as Winnifred “Freddie” Pink.
• My Body Is Mine To Rule: “Murdoch Mysteries´” Dr. Julia Ogden And Abortion "Murdoch Mysteries, abortion on tv. . .Very Canadian, and not only because it is set in Toronto" [**]

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

Steven McCarthy as Dr. Isaac Tash
Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgins

Guest Cast

Mary Walsh as Sally Smoot
Anthony Lemke as Henry Bixby
Ian D. Clark as Dr. Ralph Fitch
Vickie Papavs as Bertha Dunn
Alex Paxton-Beesley as Lillie Dunn
Rebecca Williams as Miss Binscarth

Gallery

Julia's gift to William

William and Julia in love

Whole Station House Knows

Constable discovers crime scene

On his Bicycle to question suspects

End Scene