For two seasons, we've seen Dr. Lucien Blake, Ballaret police surgeon, be a mostly thorn in the side to the Police Superintendents he reports to, first Lawson and then Ashby. But that is nothing compared to the forthright antagonism he faces this season from the new Chief Superintendent, William Munro, who tells Blake, "Know that this isn't just the kind of thing that could cost you your role here. If I have my way, you will lose your license to practice."Behind the episodic mystery plots are larger questions. How and why did Lucien's mother die 40 years before? Why is his daughter not responding to his letters?Last, but not least, if you've been paying attention, there is the question of whether Lucien and Jean Beazley are going to get closer. Maybe not, if she's going to move to Adelaide to be closer to her son and new grandchild."Doctor Blake Mysteries: Season 3" originally aired in Australia in February-April, 2015. The season's eight episodes total 480 minutes without commercials. If you buy it on discs, all episodes have English SDH subtitles available. There is no bonus content on the discs.....1. "King of the Lake" Two Ballaret high schools compete in the Wendouree Classic 1959, a rowing competition which will send its winners to the Olympic trials. Following tradition, the 17 year-old winners of the two-man race are thrown into the lake afterwards. A good dunking, all in good fun. Except that one of them doesn't come back up.....2. "My Brother's Keeper" An illegal dice game of two-up is getting rowdy in McCain's Alley. No one is seriously injured, though, so it's pretty odd when Mark Dempster survives the alley melee only to be trampled by his own cows afterwards.Side note: I like the expanded role of Dr. Alice Harvey, pathologist. She is a great match for Lucien.....3. "This Time and This Place" Remember Remember the 5th of November. It's Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes) with a picnic, sparklers and a bonfire. Mattie has an unfortunate confrontation with Mr. De Heyden, who's not upset about the festivities. He's upset that Mattie's friend, Emma, a social worker, is socializing with the aboriginal children at the Mount Clear Orphanage. Somebody's going to be shot. Too bad it isn't De Heyden.Trivia: The orphanage is for mixed race children. They are there through the forced removal of mixed race children from their aboriginal mothers. This federal program, run from about 1910 to as late as 1970 in some areas, resulted in what is now called the "Stolen Generations". The Australian federal government formally apologized for this program in February 2008.....4. "By the Southern Cross" Mattie joins her student communist friends at the Eureka Stockade Memorial, celebrating the anniversary of the Eureka Rebellion. The police break up the peaceful protest, and the student speaker, Des Somerville, is found dead at the memorial the next morning.....5. "A Night to Remember" It's the Annual Charity Dinner for Returned Servicemen at the Colonist Club. Everybody is there to support a good cause, including Lucien and Jean. So the good doctor is on hand when rising star, Jacqueline Maddern, collapses on stage after performing from Sophocles' "Electra":"Here, without a friend, my days shall wither.Therefore, if any in the house be wroth, let them slay me.For it is a grace if I die, but if I live, pain."Note: At the end of the episode, the screen shows, "Dedicated to Jeff Truman, 1957-2014." Truman was the screenwriter for this episode.....6. "Women and Children" It is extraordinary sight at the Ballarat hospital. Sometime in the night, someone got the unpopular surgeon, Dr. Orton, onto a slanted operating table, and professionally cut his throat so that the blood flowed down neatly into a metal basin. Not just murder, but murder meant to compare him to a stuck pig.....7. "Room Without a View" At the Royal Hotel, the inebriated Henry King retires to his hotel room. The next morning they have to break into his room because a chair was put under the doorknob to block the door. So how did someone kill King and disappear from the room?....8. "Darkness Visible" Patrick Tyneman breaks the speed limit driving to the great house of his colleague, Judge Neville Franklin. He runs in to intercept Edward, his furious son. Do you remember Edward Tyneman, from the Season 2 episode "Crossing the Line"? Franklin was the judge who sentenced Edward, recently released on parole.Now a furious Edward strides through Franklin's house clutching a poker. He and his father enter the parlor at the same time, to find a very dead Franklin stretched out on the floor. A humbled Patrick Tyneman, Ballaret tycoon and perennial critic of Dr. Blake, now has to ask Lucien for help.Season 3's last episodes are full of tension and excitement. Much recommended. If you missed the prior seasons, you've missed some nice mysteries and background which will increase your enjoyment of Season 3: Doctor Blake Mysteries: Season One and Doctor Blake Mysteries: Season Two. Season 4 has already aired in Australia, over February-March 2016, so we'll have to wait patiently for it to make its way to us.Happy Reader