Death and Dreams is the second episode of the sixth series of Midsomer Murders and was originally aired on 10th January 2003.
Barnaby and Troy investigate an apparent suicide that is just a tad too elaborate for them to accept at face value. The man had been under treatment for depression, his wife had recently divorced him and he owed money to a good many people. Barnaby's doubts are confirmed when the autopsy reveals the man was drugged. There are no end of suspects: the ex-wife, her soon-to-be new husband, who also happens to be a dispensing chemist, and the doctor and counsellor who treated him at a nearby clinic. When other residents of Midsomer Worthy are killed, the detectives must try to determine the common link among all the victims.
Tropes:
- Freudian Excuse: Nastily subverted in this case; the killer appears to have this, but doesn't...instead, they all have a rampaging and lethal version of the Oedipus Complex (a more literal Freudian excuse). The three children of Barnaby's psychiatrist friend saw their father die in a climbing accident, which we're lead to believe is the cause of their obsession with keeping their mother with them. Then it turns out the two older children killed their father for daring to be affectionate with their mother!
- Not the First Victim: Inspector Barnaby investigating a series of garrottings that appear to tie to a respected local psychiatrist who provides support for ex-criminals. It's eventually revealed the murders were committed by her three children as the individuals were taking away their mother's attention. It at first seems they were motivated by the death of their father, only for it to turn out they murdered him as well for the same reason.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Mozart's world-famous Turkish March
plays in the background as chemist Gordon Leesmith is strangled and hung on the wall with his own lanyard.
