Blood on the Saddle is the third episode of the thirteenth series of Midsomer Murders and was first broadcast on 8th September 2010
Tom and Joyce Barnaby attends the village fête in Ford Florey and the DCI soon has two murders to solve. The fête has an American Wild West theme but the first victim is Faye Lennox who was dressed as a witch and working at the dunk tank. She was shot however and nothing out of the ordinary was heard given the show that was going on at the same time. Lennox was having an affair with local landowner Jack Fincher, something that was generally known in the village and also by his wife, Susan, who was sitting with Tom and Joyce at the time of the shooting. Then Jack Fincher is later found dead having been roped and dragged through the fields. Fincher was known to have been in a dispute with his neighbour, Silas Burbage, over the ownership of a piece of land. The ownership issue is coming to a head as the leader of a group of travellers, Dan Malko, is keen to purchase the property for his group. Two more deaths and a near-deadly attack will occur before Barnaby sorts it all out.
Tropes:
- Cacophony Cover Up: The killer uses the noise of a mock gunfight being conducted in the main arena to cover the rifle shot he uses to murder Faye Lennox.
- Cowboy Episode: It becomes rather hilarious to southern/western residents of the United States as well...
- Dead Man's Hand: Leo Fincher, third Victim of the Week in a string of wild west-themed murders is found slung over the saddle of his horse with a dead man's hand planted in his fist.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Susan Fincher seduced Adam Burbage, taking advantage of his love of Westerns and the Old West meaning that he secretly owned and knew how to use several illegal guns, to murder her husband and anyone else who stood in her way of gaining the disputed land in Ford Forley, planning to simply have Adam take the fall. However, she underestimated how unstable Adam was, thus upon realising she’s betrayed him Adam turns up intending to kill her next. She’s only saved by the intervention of Inspector Barnaby and Sergent Jones.
- Genre Savvy: Barnaby’s advantage when dealing with Adam Burbage after discovering he honestly believes he is Billy the Kid, is that whilst genuinely dangerous he realises that Adam is still thinking like a film outlaw rather than a real one. Thus, as he explains to Jones in the climax, he knew that he wouldn’t simply shoot him dead when he went outside and would instead give him an opportunity for a Quick Draw as the conventions demanded it.
- Graceful Loser: Fittingly with his belief that he’s an outlaw in a Western, at the climax after Adam believes Barnaby beat him to the quick draw (really Jones shot him from the window) he concedes defeat and lets the police take him away.
- Lost in Character: Originally Adam’s outlaw persona of Billy the Kid for the Old West show was simply a form of escapism for his otherwise dull life as an optician. However, following Susan convincing him to commit several murders in the role, by the end Adam honestly believes he is Billy the Kid. In the episode’s climax, he hallucinates that the Fincher farm is a saloon and believes Inspector Barnaby is Marshal Wyatt Earp.
- Man Behind the Man: As revealed in the final act Susan Fincher is the mastermind behind all the murders, having seduced Adam and convinced him to play up his role of Billy the Kid, to kill off all her rivals to secure control of the disputed swamp land. However, in the climax, she loses control of Adam, who now believing he is Billy the Kid and knowing that she’s betrayed him, wants her dead.
- Shout-Out: The optician asks Barnaby "Is it safe?" while examining him, a Shout-Out to the famous torture scene in Marathon Man.
- Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Implied. At the climax, despite now believing he’s Billy the Kid, Adam hallucinates that Tom Barnaby is Marshal Wyatt Earp. As it's established early on his persona is drawn from his love of Westerns, it is implied that his delusions are manifesting as an epic climax between the greatest Western outlaw and the greatest Western lawman.
- What a Drag: Leo Fincher is killed by being lassoed and dragged along behind a horse.
