Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot
Episode
Particulars: S2EP5, “The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim” , original airdate
February 4th, 1990.
Standalone
Thoughts: This is an episode that is simultaneously heavily padded but is
made entertaining precisely because of the padding. The mystery itself is
inexpertly executed—some of the bits are good, but a good deal of it feels
clunky—and it honestly feels like we don’t spend all that much time on it.
Meanwhile, we get two sources of
padding from Poirot; he spends his time learning magic tricks and demonstrating
them, and he’s forced to take care of a parrot. For all that, though, the
casual way in which he shows off his skills while continuing the conversation
about the mystery is fun to watch, perhaps because magic tricks are always cool
and Poirot isn’t openly bragging about it, so we can just enjoy the skill that
went into it. The parrot material is a little less successful, and seems to
only exist for the gag at the end of the episode that ties the two pieces of
padding together. Before that, I’d assumed the parrot had been brought in
because it would squawk something that would help Poirot solve the case, but
no, it’s just there for some humor, mostly at Hastings’ expense. Though none of
it is as mean-spirited as “Peril at End House”, so at least there’s that.
Even if the mystery itself falls flat, though, the
episode does do two things right. One (which admittedly probably came from the
source material) is the hook of having Poirot solve the case without leaving
his apartment, thus shaking up the dynamic slightly. The other is by using
flashbacks, both for testimony from witnesses and for the big reveal scene.
Like I said in “The Lost Mine”, including a good reveal scene will earn you a
lot of goodwill in my books, so maybe that’s why I thought the episode was
decent despite everything mentioned above. Whatever the reason, though, I have
to say that I’ve been enjoying this season a little better than its
predecessor, so I guess I should just accept my enjoyment in whatever form it
chooses to take. I just wish it was because of the whole package instead of a
few random elements.
Number of Tropes
Followed/Subverted: We’ve got 1/15 tropes (barely), 2/15 subversions, and
one uncertainty. On the subversion scale, we’ve got one spoiler and a (non)
case of “Stopped Clocks are Wrong”, because the time of Davenheim’s
disappearance is mentioned but never comes into play. As for the uncertainty,
there seems to be a moment that plays into “Coincidental Comment”, but I never
quite figured out what grand revelation Poirot had. And then there’s “Playing
Fair” in the trope category. On the one hand, I feel like all the facts didn’t
really cohere, or that we were missing some information. On the other hand, we’re
given a lot of the clues, so it all makes sense during the reveal scene. But
what really tipped it into the trope category is the fact that there’s one
gigantic hint that, if you pick up on it, pretty much gives you the answer to
the mystery, albeit leaving out some of the details. An unorthodox way of
earning the trope, but I guess it works.
Other: *Just
one observation today. There’s a musical motif throughout the episode that’s
heavily flute based and seems tonally out of place. Depending on the sound, it
seems like it would be more at home in either a movie about a haunted house, or
in a Western. I’m guessing the intent was to be mysterious, but in this case,
it backfired.
Most Interesting
Character: Most of the supporting characters today didn’t get much to do,
so they didn’t have a lot of opportunities to stand out. By that standard, the
only one who really did anything interesting is;
Gerald Lowen
You don’t often see a businessman who’s also a racecar
driver, especially when he seems to be decent at both. I’m kind of curious to
figure out which one he started out as, and how he got into the other
profession/hobby. I don’t know if I’d read a story about that sort of thing, but
it at least gives him a bit of flair.
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