‘My Life Is Murder’ Doesn’t Stop Once You’re Retired

What’s the use of retiring if you’re going to keep doing your job? Alexa Crowe (Lucy Lawless) was a cop, so for her retirement means not having to do things by the book, but that’s not exactly a change most people want to encourage.
As TV shows go, My Life is Murder is a bit of a head scratcher. The mysteries in season one are enjoyable enough, and a few episodes, like “Can’t Stand the Heat,” are lifted up by well-written guest parts, but Alexa’s motivations are unclear and the whole arrangement by which she’s being offered cases is unethical. She’s getting results (because of course she is – she’s Xena: Warrior Princess) but her ex-colleague shouldn’t be enabling her to continue.
Sure, her temperament isn’t naturally suited to retirement, but she’s not the one going to Detective Inspector Kieran (Bernard Curry) for cases. He’s coming to her, and that’s the first unexplainable problem with My Life is Murder. The police aren’t supposed to be sourcing out work. It’s one thing if Alexa was assisting the cops in an official capacity, but she’s not. Retirement isn’t supposed to be a way of beating the system, and while all of the cases are ones the police would’ve dropped or stopped looking into (making Alexa the reason they’re ever resolved), many of them are given to Alexa on a hunch.
Since Kieran thinks they might not be accidents, Alexa investigates, but what happens when Kieran gets it wrong someday? Here they are, reopening old wounds for loved ones who think their cases are closed. It’s one thing if they weren’t satisfied with the verdict, but otherwise Alexa’s simply stirring things up. She also doesn’t have any real authority, which means waltzing around the question of who see is, so she can ask questions. If nothing else, she’s opening the department up to a lawsuit (and that should make them concerned, anyway).

Then there’s the fact that Kieran’s basically turning Madison (Ebony Vagulans) into Alexa’s private data analyst. You’d think she’d have enough on her plate, doing research for actual, working cops but, somehow ,she’s able to drop everything when Alexa calls.
Alexa didn’t ask for these resources. Kieran came to her, and while her objections might be mostly show (she caves pretty fast) she wasn’t looking to re-insert herself. The show would almost make more sense if Alexa was doing all of this behind Kieran’s back, but he’s being a lousy friend on top of it. Alexa suffers from insomnia and is still grieving the death of her husband, Gary (surprisingly, the show never does a full episode on Alexa’s past, with “Old School” coming closest, involving a case set at Alexa’s high school). Her physical health is a concern. She’s told she shouldn’t be asserting herself (hence the whole retirement thing) but he still continues to guilt her into accepting more files.
As the season goes on the show draw less attention to its problematic premise, making it easier to look past, if it’s never properly resolved. The show title popping up in a different place every episode becomes a fun sighting to anticipate and nothing could be more unexpected than a six-episode animated series about the cat that moves in with Alexa. That’s included as one of the bonus features. Called My Name Is Captain Thunderbolt (Sometimes), the cat talks like a hard-boiled detective, using voiceover. Along with a behind the scenes featurette, where you can learn how Lawless gets into her Aussie accent and which TV detective she considers the best, My Life is Murder Series 1 is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Acorn and is currently streaming on Acorn TV.