MURDER, SHE WROTE: THE LAST FREE MAN (2000) **1/2 In which Jessica Fletcher/Angela Lansbury takes on the heady issue of slavery back in the pre-Civil War days. She's against it, and with the light but very human treatment that we've come to expect from her. She makes her points, makes them well, and entertains all at the same time. Who says that there's nothing ambitious about that! It helps that the action allegedly takes place (flashback via Jessica reading letters) in Virginia , and none of the principal actors appear to have ever been near an authentic Southerner. Angela's accent is the very worst (not quite as bad as Julia Roberts' Irish brogue in Mary Reilly , but closer than you'd think possible), and the truth is that there isn't much convincing about any of the other actors either. Phylicia Rashad is the exception, as a concerned academic; and of course Angela is more believable in her role of Jessica than her ancestral slave owner (assuming that you consider the role of Jessica Fletcher one that can be made credible under any circumstance). To their credit-and my mild disappointment-they don't just tack a happy ending onto it all, which would have been indefensible from a historical point of view but would also seem mandatory in terms of series format. I like Jessica/Angela, and I think she's cool, and she does nothing here to let me down.
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