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Title: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (13 Nov 2013)
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| Episode cast overview: | |||
| David Suchet | ... | ||
| Helen Baxendale | ... |
Elizabeth Cole
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| Hugh Fraser | ... | ||
| Anne Reid | ... |
Daisy Luttrell
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| John Standing | ... |
Colonel Toby Luttrell
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| Aidan McArdle | ... |
Stephen Norton
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| Philip Glenister | ... |
Sir William Boyd Carrington
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Adam Englander | ... |
Curtis
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| Alice Orr-Ewing | ... |
Judith Hastings
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| Shaun Dingwall | ... |
Doctor Franklin
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| Matthew McNulty | ... |
Major Allerton
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| Anna Madeley | ... |
Barbara Franklin
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| Claire Keelan | ... |
Nurse Craven
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Gregory Cox | ... |
Coroner
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David Yelland | ... | |
Still mourning the untimely death of his wife, Bella, Hastings is summoned to Styles Court in Styles St. Mary by his old friend Poirot. It is the country manor where, thirty years previously, he and Poirot had first met in England and where they had also solved their first murder mystery together. Now, Styles has changed hands and is being run as a modest post-war guest house, and it is here that Hastings makes a gut-wrenching discovery: Poirot's health has taken a turn for the worse. The Belgian detective is now old, gaunt, arthritic, and confined to a wheelchair as he battles a weak heart. But his little gray cells are as active as ever, which is why Poirot has called him to Styles in the first place - a murderer is in their midst, and may be ready to strike again. He asks Hastings to be his eyes and ears about the place, for Poirot does not know who is likely to be the killer's next victim. Being as observant and vigilant as possible, Hastings takes stock of his fellow company, ... Written by shanty_sleuth
Where is the fun of the early Suchet Poirot? This episode was boring to look at and boring to listen to. The best thing about it, besides Hastings (yay!), is that they finally stayed fairly true to Agatha Christie's book. Otherwise, we didn't think much of it.
Poirot was portrayed as being ornery and we had to listen to him wheeze, not pleasant. In her book, Christie uses words like "twinkling" and "affectionate" and "quiet" and only "faintly scornful" when describing Poirot, but he was so demeaning in the film that by the end, we didn't like him much at all.
The cinematography was washed out, which in a film industry that creates such eye-catching TV as Inspector Lewis, Midsomer Murders, and Sherlock is a huge shame and a waste. It's possible to be bleak and picturesque at the same time.
Usually we try not to be too critical, but Masterpiece knows how to create fabulous shows, so when they fall below the mark, we speak our mind in hopes that they'll always go for creating characters that we care about and put them in scenery that fascinates. There are many Masterpiece and BBC shows that we watch again and again. These later Poirots aren't in that group. Major bummer.