Shardlake (2024)
From Mostly Murder (But Sometimes Not) by The O'Brien Siblings
March 11, 2026 · 1h 38m · Season 1 · Episode 123
About this episode
The episode discusses the medieval mystery miniseries Shardlake, focusing on character development, themes of truth and justice, and various historical references.
New episode out now! We watched all four episodes of the medieval mystery miniseries Shardlake . We discuss the character of Matthew Shardlake and how we were intrigued with his journey, enjoyed that his investigation challenged his faith in the institution he works for, and liked how he realized that the definitions of “truth” and “justice” change depending on who was talking. We thought the show had momentum in part due to the two totally separate threads of investigation, checked out a little at all the underlying politics, marveled at how so much of the investigation is sourcing bureaucratic records and waiting for letters, and got very frustrated with men in power in both the church and government. Katy drops some knowledge about spymaster John Dee, Carrie channels her inner NPR, Maddy shares suppository facts, and Mack teaches us about sword and knife culture. We also talk (a lot) about various Lord of the Rings references, learn about an imaginary competition Mack is in, debate how good the first 20 seconds of being tortured by rack would feel, and do not like Henry VIII. Listen to hear more about The Hunchback of Notre Dame , animal sounds, the Tower of London…
People in this episode
Hosts: Katy, Carrie, Maddy, Mack
Topics covered
- medieval mystery
- character analysis
- investigation
- politics
- historical references
- torture
- disability
Keywords
- Shardlake
- Matthew Shardlake
- John Dee
- Henry VIII
- medieval mystery
- investigation
- torture
- disability
- politics
- Lord of the Rings
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Places: Tower of London, medieval
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