Day 190: Poirot, The Adventure of the Cheap Flat

Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Episode Particulars: S2EP7, “The Adventure of the Cheap Flat”, original airdate February 18^th, 1990.

 Summary: An American FBI agent, Agent Burt (William Hootkins) has come to Britain on the trail of an American woman who stole the plans for a submarine and is looking to sell them to the Italians. While Japp has to deal with Burt literally taking over his office, Poirot finds himself intrigued by a much smaller case; a couple called the Robinsons recently moved into a cheap apartment that had been on the market for ages. Poirot is curious why it took so long to rent out, and rents an apartment in the same building to learn the truth. As you can probably guess, these two things are related, although in a somewhat roundabout way.

Standalone Thoughts: I have no idea what the original version of this story was like, but the TV version, at least, apparently decided not to film it as a mystery. It feels more like an old crime thriller than a mystery, as most of the facts are just handed to us and involves a lot of sneaking around, complete with a dramatic confrontation involving guns at the end. To be fair, they kind of telegraphed their intent by having the opening scene be Japp, Hastings, and Poirot watching a gangster movie, but you still probably won’t realize what that means until later. Besides, a lot of the episode is still cloaked in the trappings of a mystery; you might not even realize until the very end that it’s not a conventional one.

One thing kind of has to be addressed, though, and that’s the character of Agent Burt. I feel like the episode is using him to poke fun at something, but I’m not sure if it’s meant to contrast the flashy style we see in movies (which is fine), or meant to be a dig at Americans (which is not fine, although I can understand the impulse given what we Americans get up to). He’s overweight, dismissive, arrogant, rude, talks rapid fire, uses a lot of slang, dominates the room, and seems obsessed with using guns, which all fit the stereotype of Americans in one way or another. Depending on how much this rankles you, this could lower the quality of the episode for you. As for me, while it did get my back up a little, it wasn’t enough to make me consider this episode bad. Though as you can see, it gave me something more concrete to talk about.

Because the whole episode feels slightly off, I’m not sure where I come down on it. Some of it is fine, some of it’s a little confusing, and it all kind of mixes together into something that’s watchable but hard to pin down. All I can say is it’s probably in the middle to lower middle of the rankings for this season. Depending on what the remaining two episodes are like, I may just consider it the actual middle; after all, it’s not quite good or bad, and thus would be the perfect candidate.

Number of Tropes Followed/Subverted: An even split of 1/15 tropes and 1/15 subversions, although there are a few mixed bags in there as well. The trope is an unquestionable “The Spy Who Killed Me”, and the subversion is “Ambiguous Foreigners”, as long as you consider Americans to be foreigners in a British context. As for the mixed bags, there’s a back stairway for the garbage men that everybody knows about, but is used in a way to at least feint in the direction of “Funhouse Manor” and a mention of fingerprints and gloves that recalls “Fingerprints or Lack Thereof”. I’m also not sure if this qualifies as “There’s More to Life than Murder”, because while murder isn’t the main point of the plot, a murder and assassination take place, and the assassination at least is intertwined enough with the plot that I don’t know if it “taints” the rest of the material. And as for the lack of “Playing Fair”…well, since it’s not really a mystery, I don’t know if “Playing Fair” even applies. But this one may be more a matter of opinion than most.

Other: *You know you’re an old movie buff when you realize after a few seconds that the movie the characters are watching is “G” Men, because you recognize both the lead actor (James Cagney) and the setting of the movie’s climax. Sure, I needed to confirm it by checking the end credits (or rather, when Poirot mentioned the name of the main character), but the fact that I recognized it on my own makes me oddly proud of myself.

*I don’t like the bait-and-switch the episode does by having the Robinsons be let into the apartment, then immediately cutting to a very lavish set of rooms which turns out to be some sort of fancy party. Given the episode’s title, all it does is confuse the audience. Though it did make me go “If that’s a ‘cheap’ flat, I hate to think what the expensive ones are like. Also, where can I get one?”, so at least it was good for a joke.

*I am astounded that there appears to be a blatant example of a man soliciting a woman for sex in the background of one scene. Sure, it’s not the focus, but she’s wearing red and he’s waving money around emphatically. I wouldn’t have thought the networks would let them get away with that, but then again, Britain seems a little more lax about such things.

*The “reveal” scene of this episode features a flashback to New York, which starts out decently. But the closer the camera zooms in, the more you can tell that the skyline is just a painted backdrop, and not a very good one at that. It’s probably due to a TV budget, but I think they could have done a little better than that.

Most Interesting Character: While a lot of the characters had potential, only one remained interesting all the way through. And that one is;

Bernie Cole (Nick Maloney)

His accent and shifty mannerisms stand out in your mind, he’s got a mix of huckster charm and pathetic sleaziness that fits his job as a nightclub owner, and his reluctance to answer the telephone suggests a checkered history that we only get a glimpse of. He probably couldn’t play a major supporting role in a story, but as a bit part, he does just fine.