Loveday Writing

This episode was all about a murder at a “haunted” house.

The episode kicks off with Alexa meeting up with Harry after getting kicked out of an outdoor boxing class and getting the case of the week – a real estate agent, Payton Green, who was found dead in the pool of a 100-year-old home, although the autopsy showed a broken neck and bruises consistent with a fall, and the home is believed to be haunted.

The prime suspect is Baxter Wells, a fellow real estate agent and rival of Payton’s, who claims he was putting his flyers in mailboxes nearby when Payton was killed, and Payton was the only person shown entering the house and being there on the security cameras, before the prospective buyers who found him, arrived.

Alexa and Madison go to the house to both meet and question Baxter, as well as check if there were any entrances that are not shown on the security cameras. They meet the next door neighbour, Leslie, who hates Baxter and has lived next door to the house and its owners for her entire life. When Alexa questions Baxter on the murder and his possible motive for murdering Payton – revenge for Payton reporting him for bringing his girlfriend to the open houses for a hook-up – Baxter orders Alexa to leave. Meanwhile, Madison doesn’t find any entrances not shown on the security cameras, as the windows are deadbolted and there is no side door.

Later, Alexa lures Baxter to her house under the guise of getting an appraisal to find out more and also to get Madison to clone his phone, however he catches on and leaves. Madison manages to clone his phone and discovers he had three hours blocked out every Wednesday evening, including the night of Payton’s murder, and that he paid to have negative reviews of his work removed from the internet. The reviews are later revealed to have been written by Payton’s fiancée, Greta.

Later, Alexa discovers that Baxter gave a false alibi by doing a step count of his flyer route and discovering it was off. Alexa follows him and discovers that he is taking sensitivity training. After they argue and trade insults, they are kicked out of the class after Baxter angrily admits to the class that he hasn’t changed or learnt anything.

Throughout the episode, the home’s current owner, Sage, a millennial content creator who has created a YouTube channel about the supposed “ghost” in the house, tries to get Alexa and Madison to believe her. This leads Madison to do research on the house and find its blueprints. Madison also discovers an old photo of a former owner who made the house a brothel. Leslie tells Alexa and Madison that she remembers the madam and that she would have tea and play cards with the prostitutes working there, as her mother would hide them from the police during raids.

Alexa also does a walk around of the house and discovers that one of the bedrooms is smaller than it should be. This leads to her discovering a secret basement under the house that is connected to Leslie’s house, which explains how the prostitutes managed to avoid detection when it was owned by the madam, and how the killer managed to avoid the home’s security cameras. She later tells Baxter, Leslie, and Sage about her discovery, telling them that she hopes it will lure out the killer.

Later that night, Alexa sits in the home waiting for the killer to come out, which is revealed to be Leslie. Alexa reveals to Leslie (and the audience) that Payton’s death was an accident as he discovered the secret basement, unintentionally, through the home’s pantry and Leslie was there trying to find money that the madam left her. She startled Payton and he fell backwards, down the stairs back into the basement and broke his neck. However, Leslie’s mistake was trying to cover this up by dragging him into the pool, when she could have called for help.

The episode ends with Alexa, Madison, Reuben and Harry getting together at Alexa’s, and Baxter dropping by hoping to both to appraise Alexa’s home and get a drink with her. Alexa laughs at him and shuts the door in his face.

Overall, this was an enjoyable episode with Alexa and Baxter’s interactions providing great comic relief throughout and an interesting case of the week, however I felt that the outcome of Leslie being the murderer was a little predictable, and the lack of explanation of how Leslie dragged Payton’s body into the pool was a little unsatisfying. Whilst Madison contemplating moving out of Alexa’s and getting a place of her own was a wasted opportunity of a subplot, as she was clearly never going to leave as she loves living with Alexa too much (that and with the current economy, she probably couldn’t afford the type of apartment she deserves).

Stray Observations:

Running gags: Alexa’s hatred of real estate junk mail, and Alexa getting kicked out of various classes.

-Reuben once worked in a restaurant that the staff thought was haunted by the ghost of a 1920s maître d’.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “You can’t give up after one class.” “I’m not giving up Harry, I’m not allowed back.” (Harry-Alexa on the boxing class Alexa tried where she punched the instructor)
• “Sure, I’d miss having a housemate who invites every murder suspect she meets to our home.” “One time, two times!…You want your room back Chowder? He says yes!” (Madison-Alexa on Madison contemplating buying her own property and moving out of Alexa’s)
• “I was kicked out of a boxing class yesterday, so I was born for sensitivity training.” (Alexa to Prue, the sensitivity class teacher)
• “Narnia isn’t what I expected it to be.” (Alexa to prospective home buyers after coming out of the house’s secret basement and exiting through the pantry)