I like mysteries—specifically movies with mysteries. I’ve enjoyed many Hallmark mysteries over the years, but finding non-Hallmark mysteries without content issues is hard. That’s why I was so pleased when I learned about The Thursday Murder Club. Although it’s not a Hallmark mystery, it sounded like a good movie overall. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Welcome to the Club
The Thursday Murder Club is set in the United Kingdom. Two elderly men and two elderly women who live in an assisted living facility solve mysteries together and call themselves the “Thursday Murder Club.” They’re in the middle of solving a mystery that happened several decades ago when a new mystery unfolds. Two men are killed, so the Thursday Murder Club collaborates with a local police officer to figure out who killed them.
Long story short, there are three murderers. The first is a Polish immigrant. He murdered a man who had withheld his passport from him, thus preventing him from returning to Poland to visit his ill mother. The second is an elderly man at the assisted living facility. He murdered a man because he thought the man would discover that his wife had committed murder several decades ago. (The Thursday Murder Club had been trying to solve this several-decades-old murder when the two new murders occurred.) The third murderer is obviously the elderly man’s wife, who is in a coma. She murdered a man who had killed his girlfriend but hadn’t been punished for it.
I realize the plot probably sounds complex. It’s not easy to explain, especially because the mystery involves several murders (and murderers). Frankly, however, it’s not worth trying to understand because the movie ends in such an unsatisfying way.
Disappointing and Disturbing
To be honest, I didn’t know much about The Thursday Murder Club before I watched it. I did look at a review that claimed it has a moral worldview. Plus, I watched it through a filtering platform called VidAngel, which eliminated the obscenities, profanities, sexual innuendos, etc. However, I found the movie’s ending extremely disappointing and disturbing. It doesn’t promote justice. In fact, it promotes suicide.
When the Thursday Murder Club members find out that the elderly couple are guilty of murder, they keep their lips sealed. Instead of telling the truth, they cover it up. (Practically speaking, what’s the point of having a mystery-solving club with members who aren’t willing to share their findings? Just saying.)
Not only do the Thursday Murder Club members refuse to speak to the police about what they discovered, but they also give the elderly couple the opportunity to commit suicide. I suppose their desire is to help them avoid the consequences of their actions, but murder is murder. Crime is crime. Sin is sin.
Justice, Righteousness, and Truth
How blessed are those who keep justice, who practice righteousness at all times! (Psalm 106:3 NASB1995)
I think it’s interesting that not one person who commits murder in The Thursday Murder Club is portrayed in a bad way. Their actions aren’t frowned upon; they’re basically glorified. The movie ultimately communicates, “The people who committed murder are good people who did bad things for good reasons.” I just don’t see that truth in Scripture, especially when I look at passages like Psalm 14:1-3 and Romans 3:10-18.
I’m not saying we need to always choose justice and never choose mercy. God is the ultimate judge of sin, and He knows what consequences are best in every situation. But failing to disclose the truth (i.e., lying) is antibiblical. God hates deceit (Psalm 5:6). I suppose the Thursday Murder Club missed that in its search for the truth.
Tizzie's Tidbits of Truth 