Two of my all-time favorite shows growing up both had their own rendition of a murder mystery weekend. First The Golden Girls with The Case of the Libertine Belle (S07E02) and then Saved By The Bell with the more obviously titled Mystery Weekend (S05E13). Both alike in so many ways but each putting a spin on it to differ them just enough.
Let's begin, shall we?
Always shoving the tall, smart ones in the corner.
Plot
The gist of both of these is that the collective gang embarks on a classy weekend trip involving a murder mystery dinner theater. The entire group is among people that may or may not be actors and are active participants in solving a fictional mystery. In both cases during the dinner there is a "snag" and there ends up being what is discussed as a "real" murder. Everyone is scared and worried about what is happening but come to find out that in the end, "the game had never stopped" (this was literal dialogue from the Saved By The Bell episode, word for word, The Golden Girls just implied it).
So we'll start there, in Saved By The Bell Lisa wins a radio contest that grants her the tickets to the dinner whereas in The Golden Girls Blanche plans the entire thing as a social outing for her museum colleagues. She mainly is trying to win the affections of her boss, Kendall Nesbitt to gain a promotion and she figures that this weekend will cast a positive light on her plunging neckline.
Throughout both shows, there is a know-it-all that starts to think that they have the winner pegged from the beginning. Dorothy for Team Golden (obviously, and who are you to judge her!?!?) and Zack for Team Bell.
We'll start Golden. The purpose of this fake weekend is the club-goers are celebrating the marriage of a wealthy older gentleman to a much younger gal named Candy. Both of his children in attendance, neither of which approve of the marriage seem to take matters in to their own hands. Blanche's rival for the promotion, Posey McGlin, seems to have the murder figured out, but in the end it is Dorothy that points out her mistakes and solves the mystery. Of course she does. Things take a turn. Blanche gives her key to Kendall so they can have some private time, only for the waiter to discover him dead on her bed with a steak knife to the heart. This isn't real, this isn't supposed to happen. Dorothy even tests his breath by putting a mirror to his nose which in turn does not fog up (she uses this on her mother every morning, if it fogs up, she starts the coffee). And since Blanche was the only one in the room, she becomes the prime suspect. Dun, dun, dun. Everything just got real. Everyone convenes back in the dining room, police and private investigators show up to reconstruct the murder. Blanche is guilty, they have enough evidence to make an arrest. Posey doesn't help, she admits she already had the job that Kendall was proposing to Blanche and that Blanche must have found out, invited him to her room, flung her dress on the bed to seduce him and then murdered him in a jealous rage! The police completely believe her because why not! Dorothy then, being the badass she of course is, reveals that the only people that saw the room after it was roped off were the cops and the girls...so how could Posey know the condition of Blanche's dress on the bed? She then correctly reconstructs the murder: Blanche in the shower, Posey finds out that Kendall came to Blanche's room so she knocks at the door. Thinking it was the champagne he ordered that the waiter delivered, he answers and Posey stabs him in the heart. Turns out Dorothy is right so of course Posey tries to shoot her! The cops intervene and it is revealed that Kendall is still alive and this was all part of the game! Blanche tries to admit that she was in on it too, but alas she was left in the dark, and still has a chance at the promotion.
Now as for SBTB Zack starts to piece things together but much to his chagrin keeps getting proved wrong by the people he selects being offed. The piano player dies by his drink. The waitress brought the drink. The butler poured the drink and then, the butler promptly dies. Poor Zack, you know he hates being wrong. Now for them, the turn starts with one of the visitors (Mrs. Bankhead) necklace being stolen. Mr. Jameson, the curator, promptly stops the game as this was not supposed to happen. He offers Lisa (and Zack, for some weird reason) some free vouchers for another weekend and when Zack shows up in his office to claim them he disappears, but not after giving him the voucher envelope which actually has prize money, inevitably framing Zack. Enter the police. Zack tries to prove his innocence and advises them that Lisa can be his alibi, Jameson told her about the vouchers. They go to the room where he left Lisa and she is nowhere to be seen but has left behind her fancy watch among all of Zack's things. What else is found? Mrs. Bankhead's necklace! Everyone gathers in the dining room (is there anywhere else?) where the police begin to interrogate Zack. They go back through the sequence of events and in Jameson's office find one of his cigarettes and two drinks, all marked with lipstick. One of the glasses contains a mango tonic with a kiwi twist, something that Lisa has been sipping on all night. So who else was in on it? Who was the other woman drinking with Lisa? Jameson in drag of course! He is revealed as one of the police investigators, along with the butler posing as the other cop. Lisa reveals herself and congratulates him on his victory. He totally nailed it and it's now clear (as if it totally wasn't before) that the SBTB universe loves their dressing in drag. Progressive, guys.
Characters
Dorothy Zbornak vs Zack Morris - The solver. It's really tough to do but I must side with Zack. Dorothy uses all of her amazing book knowledge to solve this mystery like a boss. And it was a hard mystery, there were a lot of little details she noticed, such as the hand a wristwatch is worn on indicating if they're right or left-handed. Zack does have a hiccup being he is also the one being blamed for the murder so the fact that he is able to solve it under than kind of pressure is pretty sweet. Maybe it's because he felt compelled to clear his name, either way he did a really good job. That just puts him a tiny bit above Dorothy because really, figuring out that Jameson was wearing a wig wasn't terribly hard, but if you're being accused of killing someone it may not be the first thing on your mind.
Blanche Deveraux vs Lisa Turtle - The participant. I will go with Blanche on this one. Lisa didn't really have to do much but make herself scarce by crawling into a secret passage, playing dumb a few times and making sure she orders her mango tonic with a kiwi twist (who knew that would be the giveaway? And sidenote they almost make it seem like it's an alcoholic beverage by the way that Jesse and Kelly scoff at her order choice, it drives me nuts. It isn't vodka, kids). Blanche was made to think that she was a suspect and honestly seemed scared out of her mind. She really couldn't even form a complete sentence to vouch for her innocence, she had to have Dorothy do that. She should win something, even if it is just in this blog post.
The Extras
When it comes to the extras besides the primary cast, I've gotta give this one to Saved By The Bell. They seemed to be a little more quirky in having the staff of the hotel dress in drag and mustaches and somehow get away with not being revealed as their true identity. Either that or the kids are really clueless. Could be both.
Breakdown
Actual mystery - This one goes to The Golden Girls. See, Saved By The Bell didn't really have a "real" mystery. They had the fake ones that happened at the beginning that were never totally solved, it was more the mystery of the disappearance of Lisa and Mr. Jameson, whereas The Golden Girls were tricked the whole time into thinking one of them really had been killed. I don't even think Dorothy knew until the very end that it was still a game.
The initial dinner murder - Again, goes to Golden. There was a lot more thought put into theirs and the reconstructions were much better conveyed than they were on SBTB.
The big reveal - Again, Golden you have this one. Thinking that Nesbitt is actually dead and then BAM he is alive and pulls his own murder weapon from his chest? Blanche looked like she was going to faint. That had much more of a reaction than Lisa walking out of the fireplace like hello I did not actually disappear! Super, you can go back to the mall now!
Wow, almost a sweep? As much as I love both of these shows, discovering them around the same time and relating to each in a different way I'm really happy that The Golden Girls came out on top. Good for them, the old bags.
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