The previous three episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" were episodes in which Angela Lansbury didn't star. Instead, she introduced the shows....and that was all. Generally, these are poor episodes and so I was thrilled to see she WAS in "Shear Madness". Sadly, my joy was short-lived....as it was a very badly written episode.
Jessica is visiting with relatives...which, of course, means someone's gonna die and some family member will be accused of the killing. In this case, her cousin George (Robert Walker Jr.) is accused of murder...and he'd also been sent to an insane asylum years before for another murder!
There are three big problems with this episode. First, the plot was lifted from both "Straight-Jacket" and "Psycho II". If you've seen them, you KNOW where the episode is going. Second, the show is full of psychological mumbo-jumbo and impossible to believe things...such as the hypnosis bit near the end. Third, Barbara Babcock's character is ridiculously acted...VERY broad and amateurish...which is odd since she was a competent actress. Overall, a very bad episode of a show I really like...normally.