Murder in the First Review: Who Dun It?

at .  Updated at .

Not one murder. Not two murders. Three potentially connected murders were introduced in the Murder in the First premiere.

That's crazy, right?

All three deaths were connected in some way to billionaire tech wizard, Erich Blunt, played by Harry Potter baddie, Tom Felton. Instead of introducing and solving a new murder case each week like other procedurals, Murder in the First will track these cases from the beginning to the end over ten episodes.

Murder in the First Season 1 Episode 1 opened by introducing us to the two detectives who would be investigating the murders, Terry English and Hildy Mulligan. So far, they haven't had much trouble finding and interpreting the evidence necessary to move their case forward.

They uncovered the truth about Kevin's connection to Erich and possibly to Sarah Harbach's murder 22 years before without any difficulty. It will be interesting to see if these murders come up again or if the police are satisfied that the duck tattoo man killed Kevin on his own. I'll be disappointed if there's not more to them.

Out of all the characters introduced, Erich, is by far the most complex and intriguing. Is he a murderer? Or, perhaps unlucky by birth? I'm not sure, but he's a young, successful and powerful man who's used to getting what he wants and doesn't care what others think about him.

While I don't like Erich, he has a special charm about him. When Terry and Hildy first visited him, he dismissed them and gave her a wink. It was in that moment that I was drawn into Erich's persona and wanted to find out more about him. He's arrogant enough to believe he could get away with the killings, but I hope it's not him.

If he was going to kill someone or have someone killed, wouldn't Jeremy have been a better target? Despite Erich's dismissal of Jeremy's claims appeared to have some validity. Jeremy didn't come across as someone who was trying to take advantage of Erich's wealth, rather someone who was cheated out of his contribution.

The big difference is that if Erich killed Kevin or Cindy, it would have been out of a personal rage and anger. His "sperm donor" wasn't a good man and seemingly killed his mother and he had a romantic fling with Cindy. In this first hour, there wasn't any mention of forensic evidence so it's difficult to know at this point, what's what.

I'm intrigued to find out how Cindy ended up at the bottom of her staircase naked. if it wasn't Erich, my next guess was her boss, Bill Wilkerson, but the pilot seemed genuinely upset and perplexed when he found the body.

The pace of the case and investigation in the first hour gives me hope that Murder in the First won't fall into the never-ending, slow pace that other recent single case shows have fallen into. HIldy and Terry's investigative methods were top notch. I especially liked how they scared the wits out of the two young copper thieves.

As engaging as I found the murder investigations, I can't say the same about Hildy or Terry's personal lives. Her life as a single mother didn't provide an real insight into her character or her ability to do her job. The only exception was when she found the rubber ducky and that was margin at best.

Terry's wife's condition and her coming death clearly affected his ability to do his job. His outbursts were unprofessional and threatened his job entirely. While it was touching how much he loves his wife and struggled, it didn't feel right for the story. It felt forced upon the rest of the hour. That could change as he deals with Emily's death, but that was one aspect of the show I wish wasn't there at this point.

Overall, the premiere was entertaining. The multiple murders and people involved have set up for a season-long mystery that I'm looking forward to seeing solved.

Did Erich kill any of the victims?

Pilot Review

Editor Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
  • 4.0 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 4.2 / 5.0 (16 Votes)

Carla Day is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and on Google+.

Show Comments
Tags: ,