my actual favorite scene in wake up dead man is the one where jud is on the phone with the woman from the construction company and she asks him to pray for her, the sudden turn from humor to complete seriousness without it feeling like a tonal whiplash is really really good
literally like one of the most beautiful scenes ever
I also loved how it played with our expectations of the genre. Let me tell you, as a big classic murder mystery fan who's seen this particular trope play out multiple times I was fully expecting the big '...wait, say that again?' penny-drop moment from Jud when we realise she's said something crucial to the case, that she's given us a Clue; because that's always the point of these scenes, that you have to listen to the rambling oddballs because they'll be the ones who share the vital evidence...
...so the fact that the whole point of the Louise interlude is not that her character exists solely as Evidence Provider? The fact that, narratively, she pops up not to serve Jud but so Jud can serve her?
That messed with me in a big way, I can't lie to you. They could not have set up Jud's 'I'm here to be a priest, not a detective' revelation in a more appropriate way.
