On the third day of February in the year of our Lord , the twelfth episode of Murder, She Wrote aired. The opening shot was actually a closer-in shot of the paddle boat behind the bridge.
Even in the s paddle boats were antiquated; screw-driven propellers are more efficient and less bulky. The paddle boat was iconic of the Mississippi river, though, so it makes perfect sense that our establishing shots have one. Mysteries frequently make use of iconography. Murder, She Wrote , in particular, also made heavy use of types and archetypes to convey more in the relatively short time that it had.
Upbeat Jazz music plays over these images, solidifying the New Orleans feel. The cabbie, Lafayette, is explaining that the secret to good gumbo is using stale beer to make the fish stock, because that makes for an excellent roux. Jessica is polite, but not super interested. Jessica is tempted, but has her obligations. But, uh, the taping starts in six minutes.
The establishing shots in Murder, She Wrote are interesting because they do so much of the heavy lifting for the set decoration, and this one is no exception:. Lafayette screeches up with two minutes to spare. When Jessica gets inside, she goes to the stage, which is empty. The stage, by the way, is quite interesting from the perspective they show it:. Which he does. The woman sitting next to him is Lisa. Shortly after this, Jonathan comes up to the table and introduces Jessica to Ben and Aaron.
There is small talk and the topic of the upcoming move to Las Vegas comes up. The guy on the right is named Eubie, the one on the left is Jimmy. Ben and Aaron try to avoid the subject, but eventually admit that they and another musician Hec are being dropped from the group in Vegas. Eubie feels betrayed. Instead, Ben insults him. They leave, disappointed, but partially consoled. He then invites Jessica to attend and Jonathan assures Aaron that she will.
