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redfiona99Appointment with Death was so so, they changed too many details of the original story, but if they're building up to what I think they're building up to, they will be forgiven. Even more than that, I think they've been plotting this.
UK shows don't do arcs all that often, or at least not until recently, the seasons are a bit too short for that. This is especially true of things that are only occasional treats like the later Poirots have been. But I think they're planning to do it properly.
Basically, because of budgets and the like, they've had to leave the big hitters of the Poirot canon till later, such as Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express. They've also started doing to Ariadne Oliver stories so you can tell we're getting quite close the the end (counting the ones in the can but not shown yet, we've got 10 stories before Poirot is done). And they're going to do it properly.
Basically as of the start of set 11 (I refuse to call them series when there's only 4 at a time) they've shifted the weight of where they've put the actors. I mean, they used to have the best actors be the distressed damsel or the chief red-herring suspect, but from Mrs. McGinty Is Dead, they've been casting the strongest actors as the villains. Mrs. McGinty had Paul Rhys playing a blinder even by his standards [the man is awesome], Appointment With Death had John Hannah giving it some [which was enough to make me forgive them the changes, there may have been tears], and, the future ones have Martin Shaw as the villain [who is one of the more understandable ones] and Julian Rhind-Tutt [finally he gets another good role].
And, because of the way it's been playing out, the murderers are getting more and more understandable, and Poirot is getting older, and in the most recent one, he even gave away his rosary and vanished. He also appears to be aimlessly looking for something, which makes sense, given that he is without Japp, Hastings and Miss Lemon. If you know what happens in Curtain, you may well know who he is looking for.
They're setting us up for Curtain and for what happens in it to make sense given Poirot's moral code.
Also, I have recently seen Hugh Fraser playing a character who was in a similar position to the one that Hastings is in at the end of Curtain and he played it marvellously well, so there won't be a dry eye in the house at the end of Curtain.
If ITV are doing this deliberately, and if they manage to pull it off, I exempt them from a year of my criticism.
UK shows don't do arcs all that often, or at least not until recently, the seasons are a bit too short for that. This is especially true of things that are only occasional treats like the later Poirots have been. But I think they're planning to do it properly.
Basically, because of budgets and the like, they've had to leave the big hitters of the Poirot canon till later, such as Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express. They've also started doing to Ariadne Oliver stories so you can tell we're getting quite close the the end (counting the ones in the can but not shown yet, we've got 10 stories before Poirot is done). And they're going to do it properly.
Basically as of the start of set 11 (I refuse to call them series when there's only 4 at a time) they've shifted the weight of where they've put the actors. I mean, they used to have the best actors be the distressed damsel or the chief red-herring suspect, but from Mrs. McGinty Is Dead, they've been casting the strongest actors as the villains. Mrs. McGinty had Paul Rhys playing a blinder even by his standards [the man is awesome], Appointment With Death had John Hannah giving it some [which was enough to make me forgive them the changes, there may have been tears], and, the future ones have Martin Shaw as the villain [who is one of the more understandable ones] and Julian Rhind-Tutt [finally he gets another good role].
And, because of the way it's been playing out, the murderers are getting more and more understandable, and Poirot is getting older, and in the most recent one, he even gave away his rosary and vanished. He also appears to be aimlessly looking for something, which makes sense, given that he is without Japp, Hastings and Miss Lemon. If you know what happens in Curtain, you may well know who he is looking for.
They're setting us up for Curtain and for what happens in it to make sense given Poirot's moral code.
Also, I have recently seen Hugh Fraser playing a character who was in a similar position to the one that Hastings is in at the end of Curtain and he played it marvellously well, so there won't be a dry eye in the house at the end of Curtain.
If ITV are doing this deliberately, and if they manage to pull it off, I exempt them from a year of my criticism.
