TV Review: Whodunnit? 107: "Party Crasher"

DA- I hope I am not crashing your party tonight with my weekly Whodunnit? review but there has been another murder in Rue Manor and I need a trained monkey you to help me solve how exactly Geno got crushed by a chandelier. Before you say Geno was simply crushed by a chandelier stop monkeying around and let’s get started!

Even though I could have sworn last week that it was bright and right after dinner when they previewed Geno’s death it seems like this week it takes place precisely at midnight. Because nobody works well in the middle of the night (except for whoever just killed poor Geno) Giles tells everyone to go to sleep to rest up for the most complicated investigation yet.

The next morning Giles has them choose where they want to explore this week and he wants them to hurry and pick so he can rest. Hey, you just woke up! If you were actually doing your job instead of sleeping or tanning for the entire episode maybe you could be stopping every single one of your houseguests from dying!

As Ronnie focuses on the dance floor and belittles Kam for taking the time to search around the room (and finding a timer), Melina and Cris are in the morgue answering cell phones found inside Geno’s pants. Man is Giles mad that his cell phone was missing. After he yells at both of them for finding the phone, Cris and Melina tell them they found it in Geno’s pocket in the morgue. This leads Giles to ask “my phone is in Geno’s pocket in the morgue?” Yes! Talk about being redundant! (You see what I did there?) Maybe you should go and rest up Giles…

Before Giles can go back to sunbathing he leads the blindfolded investigators to a pitch-black room where they must find a clue after they find the night vision goggles of course. Ronnie is the first to make it to the morgue to start rearranging a bees beads puzzle with Cris, Lindsey, and Kam hot on his tail. (Meanwhile Melina is literally and figuratively in the dark). They all end up in the morgue and when Melina begins to help Ronnie with his beads and sees Kam trying to look on, she is not happy.  “Be a man and get your own beads!” Umm…Melina I don’t want to sound mean but maybe you should take your own advice and get your own too.

Despite Ronnie’s early lead Kam solves the riddle first, which involved locating a pair of monkey statues after the beads spelt out “hear no evil.” Between this and an earlier clue saying “monkey see, monkey do” Ronnie is lead to believe a trained monkey not only dropped the chandelier but used the gun to shoot Geno in the belly. And that ladies and gentlemen is a certified bounty hunter working alongside us everyday. This guy has been a detective for 17 years and he thinks a trained monkey is working with the killer this week based on the saying “monkey see, monkey do.” Speaking of this is it also weird that an attorney, ex-homicide detective, and a television crime reporter have also failed to piece together a fake crime on a network summer television show. These people are solving our nation’s crimes in real life. Yikes!

This week Lindsey, who got to hear what happened in the other two rooms and was the only one to visit the last known whereabouts, had the best theory. She figured out that the killer had two plans. First, the killer was going to strangle Geno with a nutshell lei that had fluorescent green paint on it. But when Geno decided not to wear it, he/she had to go to plan B. When the lights went out with the timer at midnight, the killer put on the night vision goggles and shot Geno in his stomach. With the help of the illuminated crest on the floor he/she dragged the body to the center and dropped the chandelier on him before hiding the goggles in the drawer. Somehow this was all accomplished in the fraction of the second when the lights went out.

Since they did not have any information from the riddle and because Ronnie thought it was a monkey (I’m not going to let this go), both him and Melina were “scared” this week. Before Ronnie heads to bed he checks the room for bobby traps. Yeah, good luck buddy! Meanwhile Melina starts crying and wants a hug. How old is Melina? It’s just a game here guys! Don’t go all bananas or anything!

Both end up making it to morning and to celebrate it’s a spa day! Everyone gets a fun relaxing spa activity except for Kris, who has to do yoga (which believe me is more work then play). While I thought Melina was going to suffer from some sort of asphyxiation like the secretary in Goldfinger thanks to her facial, it was Ronnie who dies after some sort of exploding hot tub. Now how exactly did this happen? Is the hot tub a time machine? Were there any monkeys involved? All these questions will be answered next week on Whodunnit?

In and Out Points:

- Kris knows how to shoot a gun because her father was a cop and taught her at a young age how to handle it because she may find guns just lying around I guess. I am not telling Kris’ dad how to raise his kids but perhaps you may want to invest in a gun cabinet and a good lock. But hey that’s just me!

- Why did the killer choose Geno? He/she asked him to steal Giles’ cell phone and in return he will be safe. So he does and this “dishonesty” is another reason why he must go? Wait, what? First off you already planned on killing him and secondly you told him in order not to die he must do what you asked. If I was the killer I would be angrier if he didn’t follow my orders. Besides why are you looking for a motive now anyways? You never needed one before.

- Kris at the end is the only one unsupervised at the spa day (except for the now eliminated Ronnie). While she does yoga alone the other houseguests had people tending to them like Kam with his massage and others with the pedicures. This would make it pretty easy to sneak out for a little hot tub fun…

- If Melina survives next week and she does not solve the riddle it could mean she is the killer. This week she was “scared” after only getting to hear what happened in two rooms and next week she is only going to get one third of the story while Kam’s team may get 100% (provided they all work together). If she does survive with only 33% of the story while others die with even more information it is safe to say she is the mastermind behind this whole season. Yes you heard me right. I am talking about Melina!

With only two weeks left who do you think is the killer? Did Ronnie deserve to die? Most importantly if there was not a trained monkey, who has been eating all my bananas? Let me know in the comments below or @eastwoodmcfly!

TV Review: Whodunnit? 106: "All The World's a Stage"

DA- We’re back on the case! Sorry about the absence for the deaths of Adrianna, Don, and Ulysses. I was actually fleeing across the country to escape a “scared” fate after one to many blog posts angered the killer. But now that I am safe in hiding I am ready to resume my Whodunnit? recaps and boy you better butter up that popcorn because we have a double feature to solve!

After Geno, Dana, and Sasha were “scared” the killer kicked off the night with a double murder. Both Dana and Sasha were found statue-like by the piano in Rue Manor. Despite five previous deaths contestants were perplexed that yes, some more contestants are “dead.” Man what is this killer’s problem?!

However, Giles was unfazed by two of more his guests being murdered and decided it was appropriate to bust a move with one of the housekeepers. After he showed off his dance technique, he spilt the groups up into the three sections yet this week there was two last known whereabouts instead of a “crime scene” to explore.

After their explorations the two teams that have formed (Kam, Cris, and Lindsey vs. Melina, Ronnie, and Geno) spilt apart to spill what they saw. One bright spot for the future of this show is the increase level of strategy involved. In weeks prior we had Geno tell only Kam and Cris information solely to try and get Ulysses “scared.” Now this week we have Kam trying to get Ronnie and Melina to completely shut out Geno so he definitely ends up murdered.

This plan goes into effect and involves Ronnie lying in front of Melina and Geno only to win the award for the worst poker face in history as he tries passing a note of the truth to Melina literally behind Geno’s back. Despite his best effort to shun Geno, Ronnie is forced to work with him when he is the one to figure out the first part of the riddle and that the clue is in the piano. In the end it is Cris who finds the morgue inside the morgue (MORGUE-CEPTION!) and thus solves the riddle this week.

Once they talk to themselves and state their case to cameras that mysteriously vanish as they cut back and forth between them, it is time for dinner. Ronnie should have known his lies would come back to him as they all shared their stories. Luckily for him, Geno, the person he stabbed in the back this week, ended up with a chandelier crushing his back instead. Close call Ronnie!

Despite Cris solving the riddle first, it was Kam who did the best on a written test did the best stating his case for the killer. To sum it all up, the killer broke into Sasha’s room and knocked her out with chloroform. He/she then loaded the body up in a cart and headed over to Dana’s room to get his/her next victim. Instead of knocking her out too, like a polite killer would, the killer threatened her with a knife and forced her to push the cart with Sasha to the elevator. After the lazy killer saw that Dana placed Sasha on the autopsy table in his second morgue, he/she finally knocked her out with chloroform as well. The killer then slashed their wrists, let the blood drain out, dressed them up, and let them stand by the piano to be found by the rest of the house. This killer is really getting violent if you ask me. They went from using a slingshot to knock Sheri out and a simple poison on Don as he made his breakfast to now forcing others to partake in the crime and redressing bodies as mannequins. Now this is where I draw the line!

Thankfully the killer saw the error of his ways and decided not to kill anyone tonight. Instead the contestants are all getting laid! No lei’d (because the next party is a luau). Then again after Giles starts undressing and holds a limbo contest maybe Lindsey is right that maybe at least Giles actually did get laid. This could explain his happy dancing from before. Then again he may just be ecstatic that all of his houseguests are dying and that means less people to take care and watch. Win-win!

However, the party is short live. When the lights cut out we find Geno crushed by a chandelier and next week’s question of “whodunnit?” lingers over the once gleeful luau.

In and Out Points:

- The last known whereabouts this week had crime tape blocking the doorway. Where did this come from? Did Giles buy some à la Kramer and set it up? Obviously it was not the police because I am not sure the police would first let untrained professionals solve crimes or secondly let a person continue to die every single week.

- As they head down to the movie theater, Melina says she does not want to go. She  fears they all may get trapped down there for two weeks and be forced to kill themselves. While anything is possible at Rue Manor, I am going to say this is highly unlikely. On the bright side it would be much easier to find the killer and figure out how they did it when they are all inside of a small room. So maybe this isn’t such a bad idea…

- For some reason a Hollywood theme overtook the investigation, which led to Giles to say every single cliché you could imagine. However, there were a few that irked the Emmy and Oscar obsessed side of me. Here they are one by one:

“Someone gave an Oscar winning performance…” 

Really, these guys? The killer must not be watching Melina crying over two of her competitor’s possibility of exiting the game next week. Melina, this is a good thing for you!

“…and the nominee is… KAM!” 

Actually Giles since he won the best theory he would be a winner. Since they all were eligible to win everyone else is a nominee.

“It looks like the other nominees were snubbed.” See you just said they were nominees yourself!  

Also to be technical “snub” usually refers to the people not nominated at all. These guys were not snubbed. They just lost. 

That is it for this week. Who did you wish won the award for “next to be murdered” and who actually was “snubbed?” But most importantly, do you think you could out limbo Giles? Let me know either in the comments or @eastwoodmcfly. Until next week watch your back! You never know when a giant chandelier may be on top of it!