In Review: Houdini & Doyle – Episode 7

Synopsis: Houdini & Doyle travel to Canada following reports of a homicidal poltergeist. They meet other paranormal experts and one of them, Thomas Edison, shows them his Necrophone with which he claims to be able to talk to the dead.

Review: After having repeated and episode last week. ITV brings us the seventh episode of ‘Houdini & Doyle’, but continues to show the episodes in what appears to be the wrong order. At least if you are looking at how IMDB has ordered the season.

When word reaches them about a poltergeist being blamed for a murder in Canada Houdini & Doyle along with Stratton travel by boat to investigate. Houdini who is returning to New York to bury his mother is of course skeptical. Whereas Conan Doyle is fascinated by the supernatural and anxious to learn about Thomas Edison’s new device for detecting ghosts.

Upon arriving in Canada Doyle and Stratton are fascinated by Edison’s latest creation. However Edison is understandably protective of his device and insists that only he should operate it.

Houdini travels back to Canada from New York and rejoins Doyle and Stratton and makes his presence known by faking a poltergeist and provoking Edison by dismissing his machine as a nonsense.

As the investigation develops another murder transpires where Edison’s assistant is pushed off a cliff. However some red dust found on the sole of the victims shoe leads the team to believe the murder was committed elsewhere.

Stratton, who has joined the team on the trip to learn about her husbands fate is having nightmares, which involve her dead husband contacting her via Edison’s machine, this acts as foreshadowing for the reveal about her husband at the close of the episode, but makes for an interesting diversion.

As the team delves deeper into the haunted property they find evidence, which includes a super magnet, which has obviously been used to make the chairs on the upper levels move as in on their own accord. This leads them to the conclusion that the woman being blamed for the murder is guilty, but has an accomplice.

By the close of the episode the team use Edison’s machine in order to scare a confession out of the guilty party.

I really enjoyed this episode. Despite the fact that I had figured out how they were faking the movie chairs. Houdini who is hurting after his mothers death is as ever the voice of reason while Doyle continues to be obsessed with the supernatural, but more so given that his wife is still in a coma.

There are some nice moments where Houdini tells his friend not to give up hope.

Peter Outerbridge is fantastic in his portrayal of Thomas Edison and I loved the fact that we had a few references  nikola Tesla throughout the story. 

The revelation that Stratton’s husband is alive is the one thing that I didn’t see coming.