Jessica’s niece is smitten with a rodeo rider and refuses to believe he could have committed a murder.
Season 4, Episode 20: Showdown In Saskatchewan (April 10, 1988)
Jessica Fletcher trades Cabot Cove for the rugged Canadian plains of Queensbridge, Saskatchewan, where cowpokes, bulls, and bad choices run wild. But when the local circuit “doctor” gets torched in his own trailer, it’s up to our favorite mystery writer and a Mountie fan-boy to steer this rodeo straight.
Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?
Rosana DeSoto (Consuela Schaeffer): Best known for her unforgettable role as Connie in La Bamba and as President Azetbur in Star Trek VI.
Joe Dorsey (Doc Schaeffer): A reliable character actor best remembered for playing Kittridge, the stubborn park supervisor who refuses to close the park in William Girdler’s legendary killer-bear cult classic Grizzly.
Patrick Houser (Marty Reed): He was in Hot Dog…The Movie.
Terry Kiser (Wally Bryce): Universally celebrated for playing the title corpse, Bernie Lomax, in the mega-hit dark comedy cult classic Weekend at Bernie’s, as well as appearing in From a Whisper to a Scream, Tammy and the T-Rex and Mannequin 2.
Lance LeGault (Inspector Roger McCabe): A towering character actor best known as Colonel Buck Greene on Magnum, P.I., and for genre features like the drive-in sleaze/supernatural oddity French Quarter and biker horror flick Nightmare Beach.
Paul LeMat (Luke Purdue / Carl Mattson): Best known for his iconic starring roles as John Milner in George Lucas’s American Graffiti and as Melvin Dummar in Jonathan Demme’s Melvin and Howard, alongside sci-fi/horror cult favorites like Strange Invaders.
Kristy McNichol (Jill Morton): 1970s and 80s teen icon best known for her Emmy-winning work on Family, the hit movie Little Darlings and the sitcom Empty Nest.
Larry Wilcox (Boone Talbot): Best known worldwide as Officer Jon Baker on the hit TV series CHiPs.
Cassie Yates (Carla Talbot): A familiar face of 70s and 80s television who starred alongside Richard Crenna in the spooky, Roger Corman-released haunted-house cult classic The Evil.
Devon Williams (Mona). Thomas H. Middleton (Warden Burns), Conrad Hurtt (policeman), Ed McCready (Bartender), Ron Troncatty (P.A. Announcer), Michael Frederic (Medic), Eileen T’Kaye (secretary), Richard Molnar (intern), Lisa Long (Flirtatious Girl), and Gerry Okuneff (Man) all play minor roles.
What happens?
Jessica visits her niece, Jill Morton, after Jill’s mother panics over her romantic entanglement with rodeo rider Marty Reed. Upon arriving at the Canadian rodeo circuit, they witness a chaotic scene involving a mean bull and a dodgy circuit healer, Doc Schaeffer, who treats a leg wound for Luke Purdue and grounds Marty with a concussion.
The next night, Doc Schaeffer is murdered in an arson fire inside his trailer, though Luke is heroically pulled out just in time by top cowboy Boone Talbot. Enter Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Roger McCabe, a huge JB Fletcher fan who readily teams up with Jessica. As the rodeo drama continues with injuries, rivalries and spousal drama, Jessica and Inspector McCabe investigate the Doc’s shady past. They discover Doc wasn’t a real doctor at all, but a fugitive who spent ten years in prison before hiding out on the circuit. The killer planned to silence him before their true identity was exposed, leading to a trap involving fingerprints on a photograph.
Who did it?
Luke Purdue, the rodeo talent agent. He murdered Doc Schaeffer because the fake doctor recognized Luke as an escaped convict from their past prison days together, and Luke couldn’t risk the blackmail or exposure.
Who made it?
Vincent McEveety (who also directed episodes of Columbo, Simon and Simon and many other TV shows, as well as Gus, The Watcher in the Woods and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again) directed it, and Dick Nelson wrote it.
Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?
She doesn’t play the dizzy fool this time around, opting instead for a stylish western-adjacent jacket and sensible hat while matching wits with the Mounties. As for getting some? She shares plenty of mutual admiration with Inspector McCabe, but her heart remains firmly wedded to typewriter ribbons and solving homicides.
Was it any good?
It’s a solid entry that benefits immensely from a fun change of scenery and a great guest cast featuring TV icons like Larry Wilcox (CHiPs) and Terry Kiser (Weekend at Bernie’s). Sure, the Canadian accents are reliably dubious, and the Mountie speaks with a suspiciously British tone, but watching Jessica navigate the rodeo circuit never stops being entertaining.
Any trivia?
This is the second episode in which Jessica visits Canada, following “Witness for the Defense” earlier in the same season.
Joe Dorsey (Doc Schaeffer) previously played a murder victim in Season 3’s “Death Stalks the Big Top: Part 2.”
The title refers to the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, located north of Montana and North Dakota, whose name comes from the Saskatchewan River, meaning “swift-flowing river” in the Cree language. Spanning over 500,000 square kilometers with a population of over a million residents, it makes for a grand backdrop for a homicide.
Give me a reasonable quote:
Jessica Fletcher: Well, if he’s as good with horses as he is with visiting aunts from Maine, I’d say that Mr. Talbot was in for a lot of trouble.
What’s next?
When one of Jessica’s former students brings a play based on her novel to Broadway, she finds herself caught in a war between two rival critics.
