Day 181: Poirot, The Incredible Theft

(This picture has no actual bearing on the episode’s contents, but there are certain members of my audience that will get a kick out of this being the header, so…)

Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Episode Particulars: S1EP8, “The Incredible Theft”, original airdate February 26^th, 1989.

 Summary: Tommy Mayfield (John Stride) has created a new airplane that could be of use to the war effort, but the government, as represented by Sir George Carrington (John Carson) isn’t sure they’re willing to put forward the funding for it. Meanwhile, Mayfield’s wife (Ciaran Madden) contacts Poirot because she’s concerned that a guest Mayfield has invited for the weekend, a Mrs. Vanderlyn (Carmen Du Sautoy) has suspected connections to the Germans and might be up to no good. Sure enough, one of the key papers of the airplane plans go missing that night, and Poirot finds himself having to solve a case for the sake of national security. Though since that’s the sort of case he was hoping for in “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook”, I don’t think he’s too put out by this.

Standalone Thoughts: Despite the title, there’s not a lot that’s incredible about this episode. It’s one of the shorter episodes (only forty-nine minutes when they’re usually at least fifty), and while most of that time isn’t taken up with too much padding, it still feels fairly insubstantial. Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t feel like there’s too much of a mystery here. Once the theft happens (and to be fair, it happens before the halfway mark for once), the number of suspects is fairly limited, and we’ve got a vague inkling of where this is going, though not enough that I could say they were playing fair (see below). Plus, despite everyone going on about how important these papers are, there doesn’t really feel like there’s any stakes. Mayweather and Carrington bluster angrily about it, but I don’t get any sense of tension, not even in the music. Things only get interesting at the very end, and even that’s spoiled by a last minute revelation that just makes you feel even more annoyed with proceedings. After that, the lack of personality for the supporting characters (two in particular are completely pointless) or unusual pieces of evidence is just the icing on the cake.

What makes this extra frustrating is that the episode keeps coming close to the familiar tropes that make Poirot mysteries so much fun. You’ve got a manor house, supporting characters who interact with each other, Poirot actually questioning people and poking around the house…if it was structured a little differently, it could have been good. Instead, we get blah material that’s only slightly livened up by a car chase. And it’s not even a very exciting car chase.

Number of Tropes Followed/Subverted: A very straightforward 2/15 tropes, and 2/15 subversions. Right from the title, we can guess we’ve got a “There’s More to Life Than Murder” subversion on our hands, and in the first five minutes we learn that there’s some “The Spy Who Killed Me” as well (although this is a theft rather than a death). Plus, there’s a definite “Coincidental Comment” that keeps the story moving near the end. As for the other subversion, it unfortunately goes to “Playing Fair”, because while some hints are dropped that there’s more to this than meets the eye, I don’t think they give us enough to put all the pieces together. Not that I’m surprised by this point.

Other: *I will credit the episode this much; with all the shots they had of the fan on Mayfield’s desk rustling the very important papers, I was afraid the answer to the mystery was going to be “No one stole them; it just got blown off into the curtains”. That’s not a bad twist, but they were telegraphing it far too much.

*There was very little in the way of standout character moments, but I did appreciate it when Mayfield stood up for his servant Carlile (Albert Welling) when it looked like Poirot was accusing him. Servants being loyal to their masters is one thing, but it’s kind of heartwarming when it’s the other way around.

*I did chuckle at Hasting’s descriptions of what Japp says when he talks in his sleep, especially when he mentioned the word “blancmange”. Was someone on the script a Monty Python fan, perchance?

*I also kind of love the fact that Poirot and Hastings carjack the police. It’s a common trope in American movies and shows, but seeing it in an English period piece is unexpected and therefore charming.

Most Interesting Character: Most of the characters this episode are either unlikeable or complete non-entities, so my choice was purely on aesthetics this time around. Therefore, the winner is;

Mrs. Vanderlyn(’s silver dress).

Most of Mrs. Vanderlyn’s outfits are nicely fitted and have some elegance about them, but this dress is obviously the standout, though not for the same reasons. I think you could probably see that fabric from space. Plus, its garishness only highlights the fact that she’s different from the rest of the crowd (and might be a commentary on Americans too). It’s not the most flattering reason to choose a person, but I’m afraid that’s the best I’ve got today.