Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home

I've been watching these Hallmark Murder Mysteries series for many years and try to go into each and every one of them with an open mind. Sure, they're low budget, shot in BC, with a mid-level stable of competent Canadian and American actors, and written by screenwriters with a background of churning out simple, paint by numbers scripts that are never profoundly clever (I know who the killer is and why they did it 20 minutes into each movie)...

But what really irritates me, as of late, is how Upper Middle Class, White and privileged the characters all are. Leads & supporting all have fabulous jobs and live in 3 million dollar homes, with granite kitchen islands, glorious bay windows, 4 bedrooms/5 baths and a back yard you can play football in. Their cars all cost $60k+ and their clothes are effortlessly classy. Frankly, I just want to bash their faces in!

Look, it's fine to watch aspirational characters onscreen, getting into trouble and solving crimes. But I've been a TV writer & producer for many years and very much want my characters -- all still clever, talented and determined -- to live in 2 bedroom rental apartments, work as a waitress, janitor or retail clerk, and get their clothes & home decor at Walmart! Audiences can RELATE to those people and not hate/resent them for living a lifestyle they will never, ever have.

Sorry I wasn't crazy about this, and I don't know if I will continue to watch the series.

The story concerns an ex- Army surgeon who returns to her hometown, where she and joins an already-edtablished group of family practice physicians. When a patient dies mysteriously, she becomes embroiled in solving the murder.

Part of my problem is the lead, Amanda Schull. She's completely one note, plus she comes off as cold and uptight.

The film moved slowly. I did like that there were animals, and the subplot with the man down on his luck.

This suffers in contrast to the Hannah Swenson mysteries which has more lively characters and humor. I found Family Practice Mysteries: Coming Home dull.

I have always enjoyed the Hallmark Mystery franchises but the last two entries have been very disappointing. 'The Curious Caterer' has annoyed avid readers of the books with its unnecessary deviations and I just hated seeing two of my favorite strong lead actors struggling to get through it. Andrew W. Walker seemed so uncomfortable in his role.

This one was even worse. The two leads are not as strong in general so they had no chance of rescuing this dreadful and poorly directed script.

Amanda Schull is seasoned but here her delivery was flat and boring. There was no chemistry between her and Brendan Perry, the detective. She always seemed on edge and in spite of speaking very slowly and deliberately she lacked any emotion. She was a military doctor in the field before her husband's death so perhaps her restraint was how the director wanted the character to behave. But coupled with the poorly written dialogue it didn't work.

After her obsession took hold to find a murder where none was apparent, we no longer saw her doing any medical work with patients. She just plunged into pestering everyone for an autopsy and interviewing everyone as if she were the police chief once murder was established.

Brendan Perry was a one-man police force it seems. (It would appear they lost their 'police station' location or perhaps they couldn't afford it or the additional actors or the uniform rentals). He was also not a very good one and he gave her even more access to the investigation than Andrew W. Walker in 'Curious Caterer'. He wasn't at all upset by her discussing all the important details of an on-going police investigation with everyone she met. Of course, perhaps it was partly because he wasn't doing any of the investigating.

I couldn't understand why anyone would answer her questions and only once did the victim's brother ask her outright why she was interrogating them and accepted her lame excuse that she had been his doctor. Perry also allowed her to watch his official interrogations so I began to wonder what alternate universe we were in. Even a very small town would surely draw a line there.

The movie appeared to be a very low budget, rushed, indie production. Most of the cast were 2nd rate (probably local actors) and the few background actors they could afford were distracting in scenes by walking aimlessly back and fro or being poorly placed by an uninspired director. None of this helped Schull's wooden and Perry's bland performances. Even as a Hallmark rom com lead, he just delivers his lines as if he's reading them. He rarely "listens and reacts" ... acting 101.

The story was so lacking luster it's not worth describing. The murderer was obvious from the start. I fell asleep and had to rewind to finish it.

The script on this episode needed drastic fixes to get it up to speed as a well-written mystery, but it's too late now. The usual Hallmark cringey scenes were also dialed up to extra-cringey in this one.

On to the issues. Our hero, the doctor, was wildly incompetent. Her kids and live-in Dad provided the needed investigation expertise when she hit a wall over basic investigation and logic concepts. Dad functioned like an all-seeing oracle for some reason. The cops also inexplicably inserted her into the department to monitor witness statements and suspect interviews. They cops also didn't seem to care that the doctor went around blabbing about every major case detail to anybody and everybody, even possible suspects.

Other logic problems were sprinkled throughout. The state of the crime scene was a major red flag that nobody bothered to mention, not the cops or the coroner. The coroner was so incompetent that her behavior stood out as author intrusion in our story; she would never have been allowed on the job being that dumb.

The show had the cozy mystery setting, but beyond that, it needed serious work in every other department. We barely made it through to the end.

I enjoy most of the Hallmark Mysteries. Some are better than others, and all follow a bit of a formula, but the twisted and turns in each is different. The actors, almost without exception, are strong personalities that fit the roles well. Both the female and male leads and supporting actors bring excitement to their characters.

It's great to see new mysteries and this one seems real with its depiction of a military vet returning to civilian life. This will be a great addition, though we still miss some of our favorites like Gourmet Detective and Mystery 101. I look forward to seeing this and more of the coming mysteries on Hallmark.