Day 180: Poirot, Problem at Sea

Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Episode Particulars: S1EP7, “Problem at Sea”, original airdate February 19^th, 1989.

 Summary: Poirot and Hastings are taking a cruise of the Mediterranean, along with several other Englishmen and women. One of them, Mrs. Clapperton (Shelia Matthews), is a nightmare to be around, insulting pretty much everybody and being a general pain. Most of the passengers try not to let her get them down, though, and they all excitedly depart the ship for an excursion in Alexandria, except for Mrs. Clapperton, who isn’t feeling well. That proves to be a bit of an understatement when she’s found stabbed through the chest later that evening. And since pretty much everybody got a taste of her unpleasant personality, there’s plenty of suspects to go around.

Standalone Thoughts: I’ve said before that continuity doesn’t matter so much in Poirot, especially early Poirot, but watching the episodes in order does occasionally lead to a feeling that they should have been at least a little consistent. In “Triangle at Rhodes”, Poirot was on holiday in, well, Rhodes, Greece. In today’s episode, he and Hastings are on a cruise that stops at Alexandria, Egypt. A quick check of Google Maps confirms that these two cities are relatively close to each other (about four hours by plane, though probably a day or two by boat). So either Poirot went to Rhodes on vacation and met up with Hastings to continue the vacation with him (unlikely, as “Triangle at Rhodes” says Hastings has gone shooting and it sounds like Poirot’s heading back to England once his vacation’s over), or he went to Rhodes, went back to England…and then he and Hastings went on this cruise. I know we should probably assume that time has passed, but it’s hard not to notice things like that when you’re watching them in quick succession, especially when you’re used to more continuity heavy TV shows.

Even leaving the timing aside, I’m kind of at a loss for who this cruise is for. There are several single women on board, but a lot of the men appear to have been in the military, which is made all the more blatant when Hastings talks to one of the crew and points out that “we’re all civilians now”. There was something about the conversation that made me feel this was some sort of veteran’s cruise, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. All I know for sure is that the military and previous wars come up several times, but it never actually contributes to the plot. Very bizarre, to be sure.

Speaking of the characters, while we’re once again given a large cast of characters who interact with each other, this time the episode goes too far and has way too many characters. They’re introduced so rapid fire that it’s hard to keep everyone straight at first, and most of them only serve a small purpose in the narrative but are otherwise pointless (one couple, the Tollivers, don’t seem to have any reason for being there other than to be a target of ire for Mrs. Clapperton, which was unnecessary). Furthermore, almost none of them make a good first impression, to the point where I felt like Poirot’s pleasantries to his fellow travellers were getting increasingly sarcastic as the establishing scenes went on. That being said, Shelia Matthews’ performance as Mrs. Clapperton was perfect, in that she had me hating her almost from the get-go and gave a very good reason for why someone would want her dead. And most of the important characters soften up as we go along, so at least the episode isn’t a chore to watch. It can come a little close at the beginning, though.

As for the mystery part of the plot…it’s ok. The murder once again is discovered at the thirty minute mark, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to solve the case. We do get some questioning of the passengers, though not everybody and not for very long. Hastings actually gets to be more than just a bit of comic relief and helps advance the plot a little by noticing, following, and stopping a suspicious character, which is always a good thing. I am, however, disappointed that we came right up to the edge of having a proper “grand reveal” scene, but were denied it. It kind of relates to the rest of my feelings about the series in general; they keep getting close to the mysteries I remember, but don’t quite pull it off. Maybe I’ll have to wait until the next season…?

Number of Tropes Followed/Subverted: Only 2/15 definite tropes today, and no subversions. While it’s not too blatant, there’s at least a little “Ambiguous Foreigners” at play, and I’d say the episode mostly follows “Playing Fair”. And in the interest of fairness, I’ll mention that there are three tropes I’m uncertain about as well. “Stopped Clocks are Wrong” kind of comes up, but it’s acknowledged in the episode that it’s hard to establish the time of death thanks to the heat, plus the “doctor” is a sailor with minimal experience, so it doesn’t necessarily play a large role in the case. And while it’s not essential to the plot, there are scattered suggestions of “Suspects in Love”, enough that I thought it should at least somewhat apply. You could also argue there’s some “Actors Insulting Themselves” if you stretch it, but it’s not as blatant as other episodes have been, so I’m not sure how to classify that one.

Other: *While Hastings is back, Japp and Lemon still haven’t returned yet. It’s not an issue, it just seems weird that they’d be left out for two episodes in a row. I guess the Brits feel less of a need to include their main cast in every episode than the Americans do. Not that I think that’s a problem, mind.

*There’s an absolutely baffling line when General Forbes (Roger Hume) suggests Miss Henderson (Anne Firbank) take some exercise, and she responds “My religion forbids it at this time of year”, which General Forbes seems to accept with stunned understanding. Was that a euphemism for menstruation or something? If it is, I don’t think it’s a very good one.

*I have to admit, this…

…is kind of awesome. A walking stick with a built-in telescope is a neat idea, though I have no idea how practical it would be in real life. Great visual, though.

*Another odd line in the episode is when Poirot asks Hastings if he thinks women can’t be murderers. Hastings responds “Ladies don’t get found out.” Not only is that demonstrably untrue (there are several female murderers in this show), but I cannot decide if that line’s supposed to be pro or anti woman. Let’s just chalk it up to Hastings being well-meaning but oblivious and move on.

*On the one hand, this is one of the prettiest shots in the whole episode;

On the other, it’s clearly fake. The starry sky looks too unreal, and the moon is lined up with the town too perfectly. It’s great work by the artists, but it threw me out of the story immediately.

Most Interesting Character: As I said, none of the characters came off well initially, and although some improved, the one I think I consistently liked the most was;

Ellie Henderson

She’s nice, polite, a reader (she’s almost always carrying a book), and seems comfortable travelling alone, all of which are good qualities for anyone to have. She may not play a large role in the plot, but at least she leaves an overall positive impression. Which is more than you can say for some of the characters.