The end of an era.
‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot has been played by David Suchet for the
last 25 years and ‘Curtain; Poirot’s Last Case’ (ITV) ended with
a bang and a whimper. These productions, along with the Morse family
of superior crime dramas, have always been a good yard ahead of the
usual ITV gruel of ‘Personality’ TV, gameshows and X Factor type dross. But ‘Poirot’ was like a beacon in the dark morass of
schlock and like all good English Country murders, suitable
entertainment for the whole family. Yet, because of the subject
matter in this episode – the Belgian Detective’s demise and his commission of a
shocking act – spoiler implied – this was a much darker episode
than usual. The moustachioed moocher is near the end of his life and
returns to the scene of his first great mystery. He
is now in a wheelchair and, in his own words, relies on the
‘Tim-nice-but-dim’ Captain Hastings ‘to be his eyes and ears’.
There is murder afoot in this country mansion but with none of it
being even a hat-tip to the 'Midsomer Murder' jokey slayings. We’ve
never seen Suchet play the role with more darkness; the last episode
also has a spectre-like essence to it, it is most unlike the series. Christie fans knew what was coming
but the ensemble cast and production values made this a couple of
hours worth watching that still surprise. A wonderful denouement to an epic series. Now,
where is ‘thevreviewguy’, who doesn’t get ‘Downton Abbey’,
going to turn to for his quality period drama?
No comments:
Post a Comment