Brokenwood-o-saurus – As this episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries begins, someone drags something wrapped in a tarp through the rain. The next day, Trudy Neilson (Tracy Lee Gray), Frodo (Karl Willetts), and Becky Baker (Bronwyn Bradley) gather for the announcement. Ray and the others talk about the dinosaur. Doug (Peter Tait) says hello to Maggie (Joanna Briant) and gives her flowers. Another man has already given her flowers. The Mayor arrives and addresses the crowd. Neil Bloom (Phil Peleton) says Brokenwood is set to become the dinosaur capital of New Zealand. He credits the homegrown paleontologist, Maggie Sturridge. Her find will be officially authenticated today.

Ray Neilson (Jason Hoyte) takes the microphone to tell everyone he refurbished the old sawmill which is now named The Dinosaur and Panther. Later, Frodo complains to Todd (Kauri Williams) about Ray offering everyone free drinks. Moments later, Todd notices a body floating in the stream nearby. They rush in to recover the body. It’s a man with a hammer sticking out of his head. Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) tells Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) what they know about the victim. Doug tells Mike that it’s the Waterford Stream so the source is up there in the hills. Gina Kadinsky (Cristina Serban Ionda) arrives and tells everyone that it’s a rock hammer instead of an ice pick. DC Daniel Chalmers (Jarod Rawiri) learns Gina always carries around an ice pick because she wants to be prepared.

Gina says the victim is a man of class based on his manicured fingernails. At the station, Kristin suggests the hammer may have been used for fossil hunting. Mike is told they don’t know much about Maggie’s research. He tells Daniel and Kristin to start with Maggie before leaving to visit Gina who wants to demonstrate something for him. Gina goes on about ice picks and how they’re not effective for killing people. She shows Mike evidence that the victim likely fell forward forcing the rock hammer further into his skull. Maggie is having a meeting with the professor. Doug is saving her a seat at the pub. Trudy tells Doug that Maggie wouldn’t be interested in him. Daniel and Kristin arrive at the pub to try to get information about Maggie and the dig site. Todd lets it slip that they fished a body out of the stream.

Maggie’s daughter, Rowena (Tess Sullivan), tells Daniel and Kristin that Maggie isn’t home. Rowena and her fiancé Jake (Jack Barry) don’t know where Maggie is. She doesn’t have a phone. Rowena says the Lord keeps them connected in the ways that matter. Kirstin decides to watch the house since Maggie has to come home at some point. Doug finds a vehicle and takes a notebook from it. He calls Mike to tell him where the abandoned rental vehicle is. Maggie returns home so Kristin and Daniel confront her. She confirms the rock hammer belongs to her because she put the tape on the handle to stop blisters. Mike checks out the abandoned vehicle. Doug tells him that the property nearby belongs to Frida Dunlop. Mike asks if that’s where the dig site is. Doug tells him to talk to Ron because he’s been sniffing around Maggie. Mike calls to get a QCR from Brokenwood Rentals to find out more about the vehicle.

Maggie tells Kristin and Daniel that the hammer is always stored at her dig site. She was there yesterday showing a fellow paleontologist, Howard Wainwright, the find. The US professor was optimistic. Maggie says she knew from the moment she saw it that it was a portion of a toe from a giant sauropod. Mike arrives and interrupts the interview. He tells Kristin that the rental car was linked to Howard Wainwright who is the victim. Mike tells Maggie the news. She says that’s why Howard wasn’t at the chalet this morning. Howard was supposed to show Maggie his notes before he sent them off to his university. Daniel leaves to see what he can find at the Brokenwood Chalets. Maggie explains that Rowena invited Howard. During his visit, Howard told Maggie that she’d struggle to convince the paleontology community without his testimony.

Maggie tells Kristin she researched him online and found out he was trying to share credit for other people’s discoveries. He reassured her though. Maggie says Howard was convinced. He promised to send the images and specifications to his university to register the find. Maggie takes them to the dig site and learns it’s where Howard’s rental car was found. She finds that odd since they left the site at the same time. Doug keeps an eye on them using binoculars as they walk to the dig site. Maggie discovers that the fossil is gone. She confirms the saw belongs to her. Doug and Ron arrive and learn about the fossil being stolen. A woman with a gun, Frida, watches them. Maggie tells the detectives that the men come up there too often and it’s distracting. As Maggie leaves with the detectives, she explains that Frida calls herself a survivalist and keeps to herself.

Mike and Kristin confront Frida (Dra McKay) who says Maggie seems all right. Maggie has a calling and Frida respects people with a calling. Frida says there was a storm last night so she didn’t see anything. In the morning, Daniel tells Mike he has three things to report. He checked Howard’s chalet and laptop. Around 8:53 p.m., Howard emailed his university saying he believed Maggie found the distal phalange of Titanosaurid. The flat tire was caused by a bullet. It was likely caused by a .308. Gina tells Mike she wants to speak to him about fingernails. She explains that Howard’s fingernails were long enough to retain a certain amount of sediment. Gina found that it was sedimentary rock that would not have come from the river. It became stuck under his nails around the time he died. It likely came from the rock that contained the fossil.

Gina admits it’s more complicated to determine his time of death. Howard realizes the sedimentary rock means Howard likely returned to the dig site after sending the email. Kristin tells everyone how Howard was respected by some and criticized by others. The email states that Maggie was responsible for the find. The team wonders if Howard had changed his ways. Kristin speaks to Jake about the work he does at the dig site. Jake admits it has been a passion of his since he was a kid. He asks if they’ve located the fossil yet and offers to give them a hand. Ray gathers everyone at the pub to tell them the fossil has been stolen from the dig site. He wants the community to work together to find the fossil. They discuss the possibility of becoming vigilantes.

Kristin goes to the church where the Reverend tells her she just missed Rowena. He tells Kristin that Rowena has been devoted. Rowena views the Old Testament very literally. Daniel approaches Frida who admits she owes a .308 rifle. Daniel asks if they can examine her rifle to see if it matches the bullet that hit Howard’s tire. He leaves with the rifle a short time later. Daniel takes pictures of tracks. Doug sneaks into Rob’s house in the middle of the night. Rob catches him and confronts him with a shovel. Doug says he’s there to get the fossil back. Rob denies taking it. Kristin tells Mike that Howard’s prints were on the saw. Daniel returns and says he thinks the track is from a trail bike. Jake owns a trail bike and fancies himself as an amateur paleontologist. The tracks were fresh, but Jack says he hasn’t been up there for a week.

It appears the driver lost control. Kristin suggests it was weighted down with something heavy. Mike wants to put pressure on Rowena and Jake. Later, Daniel confronts Jake to ask about his bike. Jake admits he contacted Maggie initially. She eventually realized he was genuine. Now, Jake is engaged to Rowena. Daniel snaps pictures of his bike while asking him about Howard. Jake claims he hasn’t ridden up to the dig site since the storm. Kristin speaks to Rowena about what Reverend Greene said. Rowena says she was in Bloomington, Indiana studying theology. She wants to be a pastor. Rowena claims he only met Howard there, but heard he was the best and thought her mom deserved that. Kristin suggests her beliefs don’t align with her mother. Rowena says she was at the church at the time of the storm. She claims she was praying that Howard would recognize the truth.

At the station, Kristin tells Daniel what creationists like Rowena believe. She wonders why Rowena would engage a professor who could disprove her beliefs if she believes the earth is only 10,000 years old. Mike suggests Mike believes Howard would confirm the fossil is only 10,000 years old. Kristin speaks to Reverend Greene who says Roger bought a new tandem bike and they were late for their first ride. Rowena would’ve been left alone at the church around 5 p.m. after Greene left. Mike wonders if she met Howard at the dig site. The tire on Jake’s bike seems to match the trail. An unknown person’s fingernails were found on the rental vehicle. They believe it was Doug. Frodo finds Doug writing something in a diary. He sits down and annoys him. Mike calls Doug to ask him to come down to the station.

Frida tells Daniel a lot of locals were up there nosing around. She tells him that they wouldn’t leave the fossil up there. Frida asks him to hurry up with the gun. Doug asks why he’s being treated like a criminal. When he’s asked about his fingerprints being on the car, he says he had to make sure it was what he thought it was. Doug denies moving the car. He says he doesn’t know anything about Howard, but he might’ve seen him heading up to the dig site. He didn’t see them leaving. Mike asks if he took anything from the car. Doug gets mad and complains about them hassling hard-working farmers. He leaves. Kristin says they have to consider that someone got the fossil out of there. Mike wants to secure a warrant. Doug goes to the pub.

Seeing Ron sitting at a nearby table, Doug demands to know why he is there. Ron says having a beer and warns that he is going to file a complaint against Doug for breaking into his house. Doug claims to have found the door open and went inside before accusing him of possessing stolen goods. The bickering turns into a physical altercation. Trudy breaks them up and throws Doug out because he started the fight. Ron finds Howard Wainright’s notepad on the floor.

Maggie and Ron are sitting at a table when Mike and Kristin pull up in the driveway. Mike sees Ron leaving. Kristin gives Rowena a warrant to search the house before stepping inside. Rowena believes the police are harassing them. When Mike asks about Jake, he gets nothing but a smart-aleck remark from Rowena. Three police enter to commence the search while Mike questions Maggie about the night of the storm. She claims to have taken Howard to the dig site where they spent an hour before returning to the cars at 5:30pm. She says Howard went to document his findings while she drove home to tell Jake and Rowena before going to the pub. A short time later, the dinosaur fossil is located in the shed. Mike orders the fossil to be transported to the police station. Rowena and Maggie swear they were set up Jake secretly observes from a short distance away.

Ron turns Howard’s notepad over to the police. He tells Mike that Doug dropped it and expresses his desire for him to be punished to the fullest extent of the law before taking it back. Mike gives the notepad to Kristin. After several hours of trying to decipher Howard’s notes written in code, Kristin receives an offer of help from Daniel which she declines. Upon leaving, she assures him that she will crack the code tomorrow and dares him to touch the notepad. Once alone, his intention is obvious.

Mike and Kristin arrive at the station to see Howard’s decoded notes. Daniel says Rowena made a deal with Howard to pay his travel expenses and a fee in exchange for “the truth.” He adds that Jake was asking around about the value of the fossil which could fetch 100 grand. Mike receives a call from a distraught Maggie alleging Jake attacked and Rowena is gone. A short time later, Jake is riding his motorcycle down the road when he sees the police traveling in the direction of Maggie’s. He hides until the police are out of sight. In a flashback, Jake attacks Maggie demanding she hand over the money which she refuses. He dumps the content on a table on the floor before leaving. Back in the present, Maggie claims Rowena left shortly after she arrived. Forensics informs Kristin that a match was made between the bullet in the tire and Frida’s 308. Daniel locates Jake and what is left of his motorcycle.

At the police station, Frida claims to have been at home on the night of the storm. Mike says forensics matched the bullet in the tire with her 308. She admits to seeing the rental car when she came back from checking on the horses. When she went to check on Maggie, she found her walking pole near a blue tarp but denies seeing the fossil. She shot the tire as a warning to keep people away from her property. In another interrogation room, Jake refuses to talk until Mike threatens a search warrant for his property. He says Rowena met Howard at a college in Kentucky. Kristin believes Rowena went to college in Bloomington, Indiana. In a flashback, Jake arrives at the site the morning after the storm with the intention of stealing the fossil but it is not there. Back in the present, Daniel arrests Jack on an assault charge.

Lucas and Roger tell Kristin that they were caught out in the storm. While looking for shelter, they encounter Rowena near Howard’s chalet around 8pm. Kristin confronts Rowena about her relationship with Howard. She questions why Howard estimated the dinosaur fossil was 10,000 years old. In a flashback, Maggie informs Rowena and Jake that Howard identified the fossil as a Titanosaurid. Back in the present, Rowena claims Maggie that Maggie went to the Dinosaur and Panther.

Frida tells Mike that Maggie was not at the site but her car was parked at the road. At the police station, Gina estimates the victim was in the water for 12 to 15 hours. She says the time of death was between 4pm and 8pm. Daniel says if Howard died before 8:53pm, someone else sent the email. A short time later, Rowena becomes agitated during Kristin’s interrogation. She claims to have gone to Howard’s chalet to make him see reason but he was gone. Holly MacPherson’s letter reveals the dinosaur fossil was a Hemiechinus and as young as 10,000 years old. Mike and Kristin bring Maggie in for questioning. Kristin tells Maggie that Howard died at the site between 4pm and 8pm on the night of the storm. She says a witness saw her car at the road past the time recorded in her statement. Maggie points out that Frida is not known to wear a watch before claiming to have been with Ron all night. In a flashback, Maggie declines Ron’s offer to go to his place and leaves the pub after a 30-minute visit. She sent the letter claiming it was a titanosaurid when it was actually an insectivore.

Maggie wanted to find a fossil that would give her recognition, not money or fame. Howard informs her that the fossil is a petrified prehistoric hedgehog. Laughing, he warns of how she will become a laughing-stock when the story goes public. She kills him to keep her find from going public. She conceals Howard’s body under a blue tarp and flees before Frida reaches the site. She returns home to tell Rowena and Jake that Howard identified the fossil as a titanosaurid. After a visit to the pub, she went to Howard’s chalet to send the email. Planning to bury Howard’s body, she returns to the fossil site but the water washed it downstream. She cuts out the fossil and conceals it in her shed. Maggie blames Rowena and Jake for ruining her life. Kristin arrests Maggie for the murder of Howard Wainright.

Lucas, Roger, and Todd take down The Dinosaur and Panther signs. Todd takes the signs to the landfill. Ron and Doug rekindle their friendship over a beer as the episode ends.

 

The Brokenwood Mysteries Review

The writers try to set the series apart by adding a touch of humor. Unfortunately, it is still a typical crime drama. Watching a 1-1/2-episode is okay until the boredom sets in.

The acting and cinematography are good. The setting is mostly bleak which is ideal for a murder. The soundtrack feels out of place but it is easy on the ears.

About 30 minutes in, the outcome is obvious. The flashbacks could have been utilized more effectively. In this case, it feels as if their only purpose is to drag out the story. The episode deserves a 6 out of 10. Get more The Brokenwood Mysteries recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by donating. Learn how advertising with us can help build brand awareness. Join our newly established forum to discuss new and classic movies, TV shows, professional wrestling, and many other topics.