It’s 1988, Jessica. Happy New Year. But will you make it to 1989? In this episode, Sheriff Amos’ sister and her in-laws descend upon Cabot Cove; Jessica hosts a dinner party with homicidal results, leaving the finger-pointing at the lawman’s sibling.
Season 4, Episode 12: Who Threw the Barbitals In Mrs. Fletcher’s Chowder? (January 3, 1988)
Out of nowhere, Amos’s little sister escapes Kentucky, leaving her manic depressive drunk husband Harold. He shows up with the entire family to get her back…and then he dies. Guess who gets blamed?
Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley and William Windom?
Colleen Camp as Deputy Marigold Feeney: Camp is an absolute royalty of cult and genre cinema! Her credits include The Initiation of Sarah, The Seduction, Clue (as Yvette the maid), Death Game, Wicked Stepmother and so much more.
Henry Gibson as Harold Banner: A phenomenal character actor known for his distinct voice and brilliant comedic timing, Gibson cemented his cult status playing the sinister Satanist neighbor Dr. Honegger in Joe Dante’s suburban nightmare The ‘Burbs, as well as roles in Robert Altman’s Nashville and the blues-fueled chaos of The Blues Brothers.
Geoffrey Lewis as Kenny Oakes: A legendary face in gritty westerns and 70s/80s exploitation and horror, frequently collaborating with Clint Eastwood (High Plains Drifter, Every Which Way But Loose) or showing up in movies like Salem’s Lot.
Anne Meara as Winnie Tupper Banner: A legendary comedy icon (half of the legendary Stiller and Meara duo), Meara brought immense heart and dramatic weight to television and film, with genre appearances including The Boys from Brazil and Highway to Hell.
Barbara Rhoades as Flo Oake: She was Tennessee Sue in the Don Knotts western comedy The Shakiest Gun in the West.
You also have Donnelly Rhodes as Ed Bellamy, Guy Stockwell as Elmo Banner, Dennis Bailey as Deputy Grover and Joseph V. Perry as Ralph.
What happens?
Sheriff Amos Tupper’s sister, Winnie Banner, flees her domineering and paranoid husband, Elmo. As she gets to Cabot Cove to seek refuge, the entire obnoxious Banner family descends upon the town. During a dinner party hosted by J.B., a pot of her famous clam chowder is laced with Phenobarbital. Everyone at the table falls into a deep, drug-induced sleep except for Elmo, who ends up dead from the poison. Suspicion immediately falls on Winnie, but our favorite mystery-solving novelist works alongside Dr. Seth and the newly appointed, eager-beaver Deputy Marigold Feeney to unmask the true killer before an innocent woman takes the fall.
Do you think Winnie wondered if Jessica is with her brother or with Dr. Seth or if they’re a throuple? Me too.
Who did it?
Kenny, the brother-in-law, laced both the chowder and bourbon with goofballs because he believed Elmo was decimating the family business.
Who made it?
Another episode directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and written by Robert Van Scoyk, who was the writer for more than a hundred episodes of the show.
Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?
Negative on both counts! Jessica keeps her dignity fully intact here, relying on her sharp intellect, unwavering intuition and steadfast belief in justice rather than any ridiculous disguises or playing the fool. As for romance, she remains strictly dedicated to the pursuit of truth, leaving any flirtations in this episode to Seth Hazlitt and Winnie.
Was it any good?
Yes. No Grady makes me so much happier.
Any trivia?
Amos tells a woman that the deputy who handled cats in trees isn’t there anymore. This is a reference to Deputy Jonathan Martin in “If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly.”
A Spanish-dubbed scene from this episode appears in Knives Out.
The title is based on the Irish folk song “Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder?”
Give me a reasonable quote:
Dr. Seth Hazlitt: Well, look, perhaps you could take some time off, have a bit of lunch.
Sheriff Amos Tupper: If I could take time off, I’d go to the bathroom.
What’s next?
While visiting her astronomer nephew-in-law (not Grady), Jessica must prove that he and her niece did not murder a young politician.
