Once Upon A Time Part 1 – The episode opens with the narrator (Amelie Abbott) telling a story about a golden-haired princess, Cinderella. At a pantomime committee meeting, CC Lowsley (Robert Daws) congratulates Chairman Aubrey Frobisher (Martyn Ellis) and Bunny Frobisher (Katherine Kingsley) on their recent marriage. Mrs. Clam (Belinda Lang) looks unhappy. Aubrey tells everyone that Bunny was an actress. Lowsley says they need to appoint a director. Aubrey recommends an Australian Playwright, Jonas Blake (Ed Birch), as guest director. Clam is not familiar with Jonas. He says Jonas offered to serve as their director. A notable actress, Samira Rowbotham (Mina Anwar) expresses her desire to be the director. Lowsley assures them that as director, Jonas could draw big crowds. Aubrey questions if she would be better served in the spotlight. Bunny claims Laurence Olivier will be in attendance at their last showing. Miss Thimble (Sarah Crowden) reads Clause 18 aloud which would require a vote for nonmembers to participate. All of the members raise their hands. Elsewhere, a man is leaning against a tree. Snow dusts his clothes. His pointer finger moves. A crow pecks at him.

During a church service, Wilf Wilson (Daniel Laurie) lights a candle. Lowsley urges Peggy Button (Virginia Fiol) to audition for Cinderella, with her fine voice. Sam Gillespie (Max Brown) says acting isn’t his thing. Lowsley orders Felix Livingstone (Jerry Iwu) and Sam to attend the auditions. Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson), Sister Reginald (Virginia Fiol), and Sister Peter (Tina Chiang) check out a turkey. Reverend Mother Adrian (Carolyn Pickles) asks for volunteers to chaperone the Sunday School Medley. Sister Boniface has a flashback of a torturous Sunday School Medley. She assigns Sister Reginald to fatten the scrawny turkey.

Clam hangs a poster for the Cinderella auditions. Norman Whalley (Jack Gouldbourne) interviews Jonas who was an actor before becoming a playwright. Jonas urges him to audition for a part in Cinderella but warns it can get quite intense over the weeks of practice. Seeing Peggy, Norman gets terribly excited. Reverend Mother and Wilf escort a group of rowdy children through a parking lock. Terrified, Sister Boniface and Sister Peter shout orders at the children from a short distance away. Felix threatens to arrest the children. Placing their hands on their heads, the children line up and follow Sister Peter without further problems. He tells Sister Boniface about Lowsley ordering them to audition. Reverend Mother insists Wilf sign up to audition. Samira questions how Grimley Chase would feel about its patient leaving its premises at will. Reverend Mother says the warden trusts Wilf is competent enough. He says she lent him a bike. Samira tells Clam that people may not want to see someone like him onstage. Clam offers Wilf an assistance props master position. Believing it is an important position, he accepts. Samira gives Clam a stern look.

Bunny embraces Aubrey and asks if he has considered Jonas’ proposal for his new play. He tells her he prefers to invest in something fickler. She playfully teases him. Miranda Frobisher (Tiffany Gray) barges in. Aubrey scolds her for spending so much time in the stable. Bunny tells her that she needs some decent clothes and makeup. Miranda sarcastically says so she can snag a rich husband. He orders her to work backstage at the pantomime. Elsewhere, Clam complains about Bunny auditioning for Cinderella. Thimble says rumors have it that Bunny played minor roles in a Shoreditch variety theatre. She looks down to see the cat playing with an eyeball. At the police station, Peggy and Norman are talking with Lowsley arrives with the cast list. He congratulates Norman for snagging the role of Buttons. Peggy expresses disappointment in her role, Buxom Wench 3. Aubrey says Bunny is Cinderella when Clam and Thimble arrive with the eyeball in a jar. Examining the eyeball, Sister Boniface says it is human and suggests a crow removed it while the victim was still alive.

Clam appoints Miranda to the prop mistress position. Wilf overhears Bunny and Aubrey talking about a difficult Miranda. He promises to do something about her. Wilf apologizes to Miranda and claims his family never wanted him. She demands he mind his own business. Sam and Felix inform Lowsley that they must invest their time in finding who the eyeball belongs to. He says Sister Boniface can narrow down the victims, so they can still take part in the pantomime. Bunny complains to Jonas about not having her own dressing room. He suggests Clam can figure something out. Miranda apologizes to Wilf for being rude to him earlier. He tells her about growing up in an orphanage and living at Grimley Chase Asylum. She asks if he likes living here. He says the residents are older and he doesn’t have any friends. She denies having any friends. They agree to be friends. Sam and Felix are dressed in a horse costume. In a laboratory, Sister Boniface performs tests on the human eyeball.

Jonas promises the cast that they will make history. Jonas tells everyone it’ll be a pantomime like no other. Dotty and Clam have no idea what he’s talking about. Reverend Mother Adrian weighs the turkey and insists it’s getting the best cornmeal. They wonder if something is wrong with the bird. They agree to double his rations. Felix and Sam tell Sister Boniface that CC Lowsley insists they narrow the area before mounting a search. Boniface says any forensic evidence was removed when Clam put the eyeball in a jar of pickling vinegar. She is building a medical profile of the victim. Boniface says they’re 70 to 80 years of age based on the stage of a cataract. The pterygium growth suggests they spent a lot of time outside. They were diabetic and needed glasses. She might be able to create a prescription and see if the optician recognizes it. Meanwhile, Jonas yells for Buttons to speed things up. The rehearsal continues.

A dead Aubrey falls out of the wardrobe. When Sister Boniface arrives, she learns that Aubrey was stabbed with a knife with serrated edges. He also has redness and irritation around the mouth. Boniface believes Aubrey was chloroformed and tied up before being stabbed. Felix says the last entry in his notebook was “Henson, CFYC, Wheels”. Bunny is busy searching through papers when the police arrive. She tells Sam that she met her husband at a restaurant in London. After her husband died, she never thought she’d find love again. Then, this wonderful man swept her off her feet. Bunny claims she saw her husband around midday yesterday. He had to dash off for a meeting with Samira Rowbotham. Bunny is asked if he had any enemies. In a flashback, Miranda gets into an argument with Bunny and Aubrey because of Wilf.

Aubrey tells Miranda they’ve decided it’s time she was independent. She has a place at a secretarial college in Edinburgh starting in the New Year. Aubrey tells her that she brought this on herself. In the present, Bunny says there’s something not right about that girl. She doesn’t know what the last notebook entry means. Wilf and Miranda talk about Jim. Felix approaches them to speak to Miranda in private. Miranda tells Sam and Felix that Aubrey did his best to avoid her because she thought she killed her mother. Miranda says she was riding Jim between one and four. She admits she hated her father, but he was the only family she had. Miranda suggests trying his widow. Sister Boniface visits Mr. Simpson and tells him what she knows about the victim’s eyeglasses prescription. Samira yells at Robbie to tell him the Glenisters are building a conservatory. She expects an invitation because they’ll want to show off.

Sam and Felix enter to tell Samira they’re trying to track Aubrey’s last movements. She tells them why she met Aubrey. She’s treasurer of the charity GSADS and Aubrey was the chairman. Samira claims it was a routine meeting to go through the accounts. Robbie says Aubrey’s existing will left his whole estate to his daughter, but it was nullified when he remarried. He was in the process of drawing up a new one in which his daughter would receive the house and the rest of the estate. Robbie explains he died without a will. In those cases, the bulk of the estate passes to the surviving spouse. Bunny claims she would want to do the right thing. At the station, Sam speaks to Peggy about the current suspects. Sister Boniface interrupts to say she has a name for Horatio Nelson. It is 72-year-old Silas Kaleb. He had an address about eight miles east of Little Williamscot.

They find his body there. The optician said Silas was a known recluse. They try to find out why he was outside without a coat. Based on the evidence, Boniface believes he was incapacitated inside and dragged outside where he was left to freeze to death. Next, Felix learns that Silas’s wife died in 1946. They had a child, but their name has been struck out of the family tree. Boniface finds out he received a hand-painted Christmas case. Jonas and the others discuss finding a new narrator. Bunny arrives and says the show must go on. The rehearsals begin. Then, they all argue about the glass slipper scene which involves severed toes. Peggy finds out that Jonas and Bunny are possibly in a relationship. Bunny reminds Jonas she’s more than just a checkbook. She asks if he’s thought about a leading lady. Jonas believes Larry will be happy with her. The Sisters find out that Terry has been eaten by a fox.

Later, Bunny tells Miranda that they need to talk about her leaving. She wants to sell the home and move back to London. Bunny is willing to give her an annual allowance of 250 pounds. Miranda accuses her of killing her father and questions whether she killed her last husband too. Bunny gives her until the New Year. Felix and Sam talk about the charities, CFYC, Henson, and Wheels. They’re all supported by PANTs. Peggy interrupts and tells them what she saw. Sam and Felix confront Jonas to ask him about his relationship with Bunny. He insists it isn’t an affair. He admits he tried to use this opportunity to try to undo Aubrey’s purse strings. On Tuesday between one and four, Jonas was supposedly pounding the keys and praying for inspiration. He insists he didn’t kill Aubrey. In a flashback, a young boy is told a story.

It appears someone is poisoning a massive strawberry. Jonas is not happy with the rehearsals. He argues with Clam about Sam and Felix’s performance. Jonas tells them they’re no longer needed. Samira collapses and dies. Sister Boniface finds it odd that rigor mortis has already set in. She suspects Samira ingested some sort of fast-acting poison. Boniface says they have a serial murderer. Sam wonders who will be next.

 

Sister Boniface Mysteries Review

For a Christmas special, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a cheesy comedy with a hint of drama sprinkled in. The series has always lacked seriousness, titillation, realism, and suspense, the much-needed elements of a good crime drama. The acting is over-the-top corny.

The pacing, cinematography, and editing are all top-notch. The episode deserves a 5 out of 10.

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