Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) Night Fears (1991) User Reviews

"Stranger in the Night? Campus Seems Strange, But Even Stranger in the Night"

[WeatherViolet · 7/10 · 15 March 2010]

Angela Lansbury demonstrates clear intentions for the direction of her J.B. Fletcher character under the helm of "MSW" Season Eight's interim Executive Producer David Moessinger, with Jessica's authoritative presence of mind shining upon her matching wits with colleagues in the fields of Education and Law Enforcement, as well as with argumentative students, as evidenced in this episode, which introduces Jessica to her Instructor's post at Manhattan University. J. Michael Straczynski joins the co-production team this season and pens seven interesting scripts, including his first, "Night Fears."

After establishing her part-time residence in a New York City apartment building last time around, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) now arrives at Manhattan University, a campus with 3,000 students, for her Criminology course teaching position, designed to instruct criminal perspectives to Law Enforcement officers and students majoring in the curriculum.

Doctor Raymond Auerbach (Alan Oppenheimer) welcomes Jessica to campus, and introduces her to three fellow instructors, including Wallace Evans (Wings Hauser), a former police officer, who has taught Criminology here, and now instructs Forensics Science.

On the first day of the term, Jessica presents a lesson based upon the topic "Perspectives of the Criminal Mind." Jessica delights as Roslyn Aramendi (Julie St. Claire) shows promise as a student who identifies a quotation from Shakespeare.

But NYPD Officer David Morelli (John Lavachielli), a member of the student body, questions Jessica's qualifications for imparting knowledge to professional Criminologists; she manages to convince him that she and they would be able to learn from one another.

NYPD Officer Kevin Bryce (Bobby Hosea) also participates in Jessica's course and commends her ability for astute observation. When Kevin informs her that he has been studying to achieve the rank of Sergeant although unsuccessful at passing the examination requirement, Jessica volunteers to assist his studying.

Luke Phillips (Tim Choate), another among her students, approaches Jessica in the cafeteria to declare his pride for signing onto the class of a famous Mystery author, of whom he has read each of her books twice. But when Jessica objects to his praise and admiration as the basis of taking a Criminology course, Luke objects harshly, pointing out that her book fans have created J.B.'s celebrity.

Wallace Evans also delivers put-downs in Jessica's direction on the heels of a series of night-time muggings, which victimizes campus students, while the assailant remains at large in a city of eight million residents. He points out that this isn't Cabot Cove nor one of Jessica's Mysteries containing five suspects with two of them falling to murders.

Jessica does not accept Wallace's public challenge (which he makes upon entering her classroom while in session) to identify the mugger. He also inform Jessica that the Chairman, Doctor Raymond Auerbach, has hired her because of her celebrity, to boost course enrollment.

Jessica resents this fact, and during a confrontation with Doctor Raymond Auerbach, she asks for a replacement instructor. But when one of her promising students falls victim to the mugger, Jessica has a change of heart, to investigate matters, and to continue her tenure.

And, after a subsequent murder, in which Busboy (Anthony Darren) is also injured by the bullet which exits the victim's body, a knife is discovered in the carnage, and the perpetrator later fires three shots at Jessica.

NYPD Captain Jim Lupinski (Al Pugliese) prohibits Officer Kevin Bryce's removing evidence from the precinct office to share with Jessica, so she visits Kevin's mother, Jennifer Bryce (Roxie Roker), to learn of the fate of Kevin's father, while Kevin works around Jim's orders against obtaining evidence.

After additional altercations, when Jessica decides to research a book about the "Psychopathic Psyche," Reference Librarian (Mary Pat Gleason) informs Jessica that it has been signed out, but she may not disclose the identity of the borrower although she willingly provides a clue as to the source of "Night Fears."

The cast is rounded out by Kelle Korbel as Student, Leesa Bryte as Another Student, and Alina Rosario as Female Professor.

This episode represents the first acting credit by Kelle Korbel, the first television credit by Alina Rosario, and the most recent appearance to date by Anthony Darren.

This also marks the first of two "MSW" guest roles each for Bobby Hosea and Alan Oppenheimer, the second of two each for Tim Choate and Al Pugliese (who team as Daryl and Ole in "Mr. Penroy's Vacation (#5.03)"), and the second of four "MSW's" for Wings Hauser.

Roxie Roker, acting on television and in film since 1974, and Tim Choate, acting since 1979, have unfortunately since passed.

Wow, School Is Really Difficult, Ain't It?

[richard.fuller1 · 7/10 · 5 November 2006]

Jessica gets a job teaching a class on criminal behavior and is taunted by first a young officer in the class, then by another officer (Wings Hauser) who taught the class about a year before her.

Hauser and Angela Lansbury's debate on her credibility as a teacher is worth watching, case closed. Any downfall is not giving Hauser an equally feasible argument he will lose when he debates her again at the end of the episode. What a pity.

Hauser held his own against the magnificent Lansbury, something very interesting to watch.

The strange aspect of this episode is everything these students had to go thru to get an education.

First there was a mugger on campus, then a student was even murdered during a mugging.

Add in the strange stalker Jessica herself had to contend with (he took the class simply because he was a fan, nothing else), along with Jessica only being hired as a teacher not for her credibility, but because of her name and it was felt she would get butts in the seats, . . . . man, I'd take a blue-collar job any day of the year (oh, wait, I already have one).

But I digress.

Strange concerned mother bit from Roxie Roker. Fun to imagine her being concerned over Lennie Kravitz like that. haha! Oh yea, there was all the commotion in the police department as well.

Murder She Wrote seems to have quite a few episodes of corrupt policemen. I wonder what the headlines at that time must have been? Fun to see for Wings Hauser alone, but the university aspect was an interesting vision as well.

I got to give this episode more than being exploitive campiness.

Day one in the job, and Jessica is on the case.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 12 September 2023]

Jessica finally takes up her position as a lecturer at The University, she quickly becomes aware of a series of muggings on the campus, she is challenged by fellow lecturer Wallace Evans, to unmask the mugger.

It's a very enjoyable second episode, Series 8 is definitely one of the show's highest points, and this is a very good offering, I'm enjoying the change in format, it feels worlds away from the early years.

The ending may be a little predictable, but the characters are rather good, and seeing Jessica in the lecture room really does work, her role there feels organic, rather than the usual chance meeting with a random nephew in Milwaukee.

Jessica has definitely changed with time, maybe the move to the big City has toughened her up a little, she's somewhat ruthless, maybe a little rude to the creepy guy who said he was a fan, she could have been a little kinder to him.

I really enjoyed the performance of Wings Hauser, I enjoyed Jessica's conflicts with Wallace, he definitely had a bit of an ego problem. Hauser appeared many years prior to this in one of my favourite episodes, Reflections of The Mind, well worth seeing.

Very good.

8/10.

Mugging and murder on a university campus

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 20 October 2017]

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

After Season 8 started off strongly with "Bite the Big Apple", "Night Fears", while not as good, continues the high standard. The mystery is engaging and interesting, but it's not one of the twisty, brain-teasing ones on 'Murder She Wrote' with a particularly predictable ending. It is a touch strange at times too, while interesting the whole thing with the stalker didn't quite gel. With that being said, there is not much wrong here, it is a very solid and well done episode but just lacks the extra spark of the very best episodes.

Like "Bite the Big Apple", "Night Fears" continues to do a good job establishing Jessica's move to New York and her new job, remarkable for so early on when it has practically only been introduced. The story intrigues and engages with some nice atmosphere, with a touch of subtle creepiness.

Can't say anything bad, as always, about Angela Lansbury. Wings Hauser is excellent in support and their chemistry is a joy to watch. The appearances from Roxie Roker and Mary Pat Gleason are charming, though Roker's role is a touch odd.

As for the production values, they are slick and stylish as ever. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune. The writing is thoughtful, cosy and light-hearted while taking itself seriously as well.

Overall, solid and well done but not Season 8 or 'Murder She Wrote' at its best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Jessica's energy for work seems limitless

[FlushingCaps · 6/10 · 15 March 2023]

After the season-opener where Jessica takes a New York City apartment for 3-4 days a week to let her teach a class on criminology at Manhattan University, this episode sees her meeting her new colleagues and begin teaching.

One faculty member she meets is the man who taught her course last year, Wallace Evans, who clearly resents her taking his place, although he still has other courses he teaches. In her introductory course, one student challenges her ability to teach them anything since she is a fiction-writer trying to teach a roomful of people, many of whom are actual police officers with experience in the real world of criminals. She does a Sherlock Holmes-type of observational deductions about this young man that convinces him, and the others who may have silently wondered the same thing, that her amateur talents which let her figure out several facts about the man may just be useful to others.

Another student in her class approaches her in the cafeteria to tell her how excited he is to be in her class because he's a big fan of her novels. Here we saw a very surprising reaction from Jessica. She figured that he might struggle in her class simply because he let her know he wasn't a cop or someone following a career in the subject, and that was fine. But instead of being the friendly lady she normally is, even with people who are kind-of rude to her, Jessica practically kicked him out of her class, harshly telling him that he will slow down the others in the class because he isn't serious about the subject.

College students (as Jessica would know) going for their bachelor's degrees have to take many classes that aren't in their intended field of study. Part of the discipline of college is learning to work hard to pass classes even when the subject isn't your favorite. My school had us all take a "basic intensive"-three semesters in one area, such as math, a foreign language, or other choices. My plans involved nothing where I would need these subjects-I took French, but didn't learn enough to converse with someone on a trip to Quebec because I never lived there long enough to truly be fluent.

It would have made more sense for her to be more friendly to a big fan, and nicely caution him that she hopes he knows that he will have to spend a lot of time in order to succeed in her class. Instead, she practically insisted that he drop her course right away-thus making an enemy her first day on campus. Totally not the usual Jessica to us viewers.

The main story deals with the campus being plagued by muggers accosting the female population, particularly at night-hence the title. Of course, someone gets killed and Jessica works to solve the case, helped by a young police officer who is in her class, who violates procedure by letting a civilian have full access to the case paperwork. If I am not mistaken, since this officer wasn't assigned to the case at all, he himself should not have had access to those papers. Anyhow he faces a warning from the captain about how he is not to violate protocol again.

This leads us to a derailment of sorts-leaving the investigation of the murder, while Jessica tries to find out what is troubling her young student by dropping in on him at home, where she meets his mother and learns much about the young man's father, also a police officer, and sees that his mother really doesn't want him to be a police officer at all.

Jessica also has one other altercation with that young student she was so nasty to earlier, as he approaches her in the library and lets her know he is still most upset at the way she treated him. I believe we viewers are supposed to wonder if this unusual person might be the mugger, or if he is a red herring.

As a personal note, there is a scene later when the college librarian violates policy by letting Jessica not only learn who has checked out a book she wants, but see a list of the last 5-6 people who checked it out. It's always interesting when a character has either my first or last name on a show. In fact, there is another episode this season where the killer's first name matched mine. In this case, one of the people on that list has the identical first AND last name of a former colleague of mine. I note that Jessica saw this list in a college library and that is the type of building where I worked with this lady.

I do agree with others who say the "bad guy" was rather obvious. He was tripped up in the usual MSW manner.

My final thoughts here delve into the vast energy Jessica Fletcher displays. She went from being a retired school teacher to a mystery writer, who spends most of her time meeting with publishers, traveling all around the country for book signings, radio and TV appearances and newspaper interviews. When at home, almost anytime a visitor comes over, she tells them she doesn't have time to do X because she has a deadline for her next novel and the publisher won't wait.

Without dropping any of those activities, she now has time to spend half of each week in New York City, where even teaching just one class will surely fill up many hours of her time, planning each class, grading papers, etc.

You would think she would never embark on such a time-consuming new adventure unless she was retiring from writing novels.

If Angela Lansbury had as much energy as J. B. Fletcher, she would never had wanted to do those "bookend" shows the past two seasons. I am NOT criticizing the actress at all, simply observing how hard-working Jessica never seems to tire of her busy schedule.

As for this episode, a 6.

The actual killer is rather obvious but it's still a very enjoyable episode.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 February 2023]

In the previous episode, you learn that Jessica has moved to New York City part-time in order to teach a class at a college. "Night Fears" actually shows Mrs. Fletcher teaching her criminology class...and the many teething problems it has. First, a really weird student has taken the class just to be near Jessica...and she's creeped out by him. Second, someone is attacking people on campus and a scum-bag professor (a VERY cocky and awful ex-cop) is defensive about her being there. He seems to be trying his best to make her look bad and challenges her to solve the mystery of who is behind all these attacks.

This is an enjoyable episode with one big problem...it's pretty obvious who the attacker is...too obvious. It's sad, as it's otherwise a fine episode and is worth seeing.

Sloppy

[the_venetian · 3/10 · 2 October 2022]

This episode has its points, but it does not resolve the central issue: the mugger is not caught. The Wings Hauser character Evans) is nailed as the (accidental) killer of a student, and injurer of another, but the mugger gets away. Yet they all celebrate.

The stalker is a red herring who contributes nothing, and the premise that a university would put a celebrity in to teach a course is not quite credible. They were looking for enrollments in the department, so why not have Jessica, who was a long-time English teacher with by now considerable experience with crime, not teach a course on detective fiction, emphasising both the literary aspects and the portrayal of the police, forensic experts, etc., in fiction? After all, Six Days of the Condor (reduced to three for the movie) imagined an FBI -- or was it CIA? -- unit that researched fiction for ideas and the imaginings of writers on subjects like terrorism.

Night fear

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 21 May 2022]

Jessica Fletcher accepts a challenge from a policeman-turned-professor to investigate a series of muggings committed on a college campus - but the case soon takes a far more sinister turn. Ok episode, though at times found it boring at times.