[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Murder in a Small Town Season 2 Episode 2, “Blood Wedding.”]
As the title of the episode warned, Tuesday’s (September 30) new Murder in a Small Town saw what should’ve been a happy day of nuptials turn into a homicide investigation after the father of the bride was murdered and the mother of the groom (portrayed by guest star Camryn Manheim) became the key suspect due to the decades-long blood feud between the families. As it turned out, it was a third party — the owner of the resort the wedding was actually taking place in — who did the deed in retaliation for a real estate deal-gone-wrong. Whether the couple can fully move forward in any semblance of bliss or if their families’ feud will wage on past this tragedy remains to be seen.
The case of the day wasn’t the only domestic drama to be seen in the episode, either. As Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) welcomed his second daughter, Stephanie, for a visit, she didn’t seem too pleased with Cassandra Lee (Kristin Kreuk) being around. However, Cassandra took the girl’s pointed comments about her — like saying she expected someone frumpier — in stride and treated her with grace, ultimately winning her over.
“Cassandra and Holly have a lovely relationship throughout this season, [with] a little kind of investigation of their own. And then Steph comes back, and… there’s a little bit more tension. It’s a little more complicated. I like that Cassandra kind of wins them over with her fierceness, her commitment to change, and to doing things that might make her unpopular, and throwing caution to the wind. Hopefully, we’ll get the chance to explore more of their dynamics, because it is complex territory, and his daughters end up being very generous with Cassandra,” Kreuk told TV Insider of her take on the dynamic.
“Also, there’s that element of them recognizing that their father is actually happy, although he’s not changing in the ways that they’d wish — he’s still quite stoic and silent and not particularly present — and so there’s a sheer challenge with Cassandra and the daughters to make this man be a better version of himself,” added Rossif Sutherland.
Cassandra’s desire to win people over also played out on a wider scale when she attended her first town council meeting since being elected and had her feet held to the fire by Mayor Christie Holman (Marcia Gay Harden) over her desire to use funding for an arts center. Although Christie tried to frame Cassandra as too idealistic for Gibsons, she delivered an impassioned response that had the crowd roaring with approval as she said, “Well, Christie, here’s how I see it. Gibsons is truly special. That’s why I moved back here five years ago. But it could be better, and it can be. An arts center can be part of that.. Programs and initiatives that remind us who we are when we aren’t just counting business. That means dreaming dreams and being brave and, yes, encouraging each other to keep our nerve because I love this place, and I am not giving up.”
About that speech, Kreuk said, “Cassandra came back to this small town on purpose. She came back because she had a vision for our community, and she thought she could enact that vision through the library. And then she starts to realize that it’s too limited. So she decides to try doing it through town council, which I think she’ll start to realize, too, that it’s much more complicated than she thought. So I think in the beginning [of the season], she’s not super politically savvy so much as she’s passionate, and she knows what she feels like is right and what’s wrong, and she’s going to stand up for it because that’s just the person that she is. And so she gets herself into some trouble because she is so righteous in her stance, which you see her express in that episode and also later on in the season.”
Murder in a Small Town, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox