Jessica is in Hong Kong — finally making the time to visit with a dear old friend (and perhaps also give lectures at a local university). When her friend is kidnapped while she and Jessica are out shopping for jade, Jessica immediately goes to the police — but she is surprised to find that nobody else is as concerned about the kidnapping as she is.
Just the facts:
Click on the text below to reveal spoilers.
Click to reveal the victim
It was Brian Dunbar, the head of the House of Dunbar and Jessica’s friend’s husband!Click to reveal the killer
It was Louise Walton, a high-ranking employee of the House of Dunbar!Click to reveal the weapon
It was cyanide poisoning — the chemical was painted onto a dish used for dipping a century egg in lime juice!Click to reveal the location
It was during the House of Dunbar 110th anniversary dinner!Click to reveal the motive
It was professional greed — with Brian dead and Emma framed for his murder, the killer would lead the company!Click to reveal the major clue
It was the rain and yellow paint smudge on Emma’s Rolls Royce!Cast of characters (in order of appearance):
- France Nuyen as ceramic artist Emma Soon Dunbar — Jessica’s friend whom she met 8 years ago at a UNESCO art festival in Paris.
- Calvin Jung as Chang, Emma’s chauffeur.
- Jen Sung Outerbridge as a Chinese kidnapper (who appears with two other uncredited kidnappers).
- Raymond Ma as Mr. Li, the proprietor of a store that sells jade.
- Barrie Ingham as Brian Dunbar, Emma’s husband and owner of the House of Dunbar — a fashion design business. This is Ingham’s second and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “Sing a Song of Murder”.
- Soon-Teck Oh as Kai Kuan, owner of Kuan Consolidated Industries — a company negotiating a merger with Dunbar’s company.
- Teri Austin as Louise Walton, a high-ranking employee of House of Dunbar.
- Dustin Nguyen as David Kuan, son of Kai Kuan and working at Kuan Consolidated Industries. Nguyen is best known for his role as Officer Harry Truman Ioki on 21 Jump Street.
- James Sutorius as Mark Tower, another high-ranking employee of House of Dunbar. This is Sutorius’s fourth of five appearances on MSW; he previously appeared in “The Committee” and “Weave a Tangled Web“.
- David Warner as Inspector McLaughlin, a policeman in charge of the kidnapping case that Jessica called in. This is Warner’s second and final appearance on MSW; he previously appeared in “The Szechuan Dragon“.
- Vivian Wu as April Dunbar, Emma and Brian’s daughter — a lounge singer who is also dating David Kuan. This is Wu’s first of two appearances on MSW.
Final thoughts and other trivia:
While this episode was meant to take place in Hong Kong, of course Angela Lansbury didn’t actually travel there to film. In between stock footage of actual Hong Kong, some on-location filming took place in Los Angeles Chinatown. Specifically, the scene in which Emma Dunbar gets kidnapped (depicted below) appears to have been filmed at the Chinatown Central Plaza on Sun Mun Way.
Additionally, TV sitcom fans may have noticed that the house used to stand in for the Dunbars’ mansion is the same house that was used for the governor’s mansion on Benson.
Murder, She Watched 