Day 193: Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Episode Particulars: S3EP1, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, original airdate September 16^th, 1990.

Note: Despite being aired in 1990 like Series Two while the rest of the episodes of Series Three are from 1991, this episode is widely considered to be the start of Series Three, although I’m not entirely sure why. But I’m not going to argue with the majority on this.

 Summary: Although it’s not given a lot of fanfare, this episode is basically an origin story. Back in 1917, Hastings was injured in the war and on medical leave (or possibly discharged, I’m not clear), and received an invitation from his old friend, John Cavendish (David Rintoul) to come and stay at his country house of Styles Court. The house is full, if a bit strained; it seems that John’s mother Emily (Gillian Barge) has married a younger man, Alfred Inglethorp (Michael Cronin), and nobody really likes him very much. A few days into Hastings’ stay, he’s awoken by a commotion; Mrs. Inglethorp is having a fit, and all the doors into her room are locked. They finally break the door down, but Mrs. Inglethorp dies soon after, and the doctor who comes to look her over pronounces that she was poisoned. Fortunately (and by sheer coincidence) Poirot has fled Belgium thanks to the war and has wound up in the same town as Styles Court. Even more fortunately, he and Hastings are familiar with each other, and therefore Poirot is happy to discreetly investigate the matter. And thus began a somewhat unlikely partnership.

Standalone Thoughts: First things first: I’m a little surprised at the way this episode was presented. By which I mean, the fact that it’s just treated as a normal Poirot episode, despite the fact that it’s based on the first ever Poirot story, which took/takes place during WWI. I had been remembering this story as being a flashback told by Hastings, explaining why we were back in time instead of in the 1930’s, but apparently I was mistaken. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but when you’re watching them in order, it can be a little puzzling.

Focusing on the episode itself, it’s simultaneously good and mediocre. On the one hand, it’s good because it gets a lot of the formula right. There’s a large cast of characters, many of whom have a motive for wanting the victim dead. Most of the characters also have secrets they’re hiding, thus casting suspicion on a great deal of them. Poirot does a lot of exploring the crime scene and questioning witnesses, noticing little details that come in handy later. Above all, we get an excellent reveal scene, with almost all the suspects gathered together and Poirot explaining how everything happened, pulling in all the details and featuring flashbacks to the events as they happened. The episode also lacks overly blatant padding and is paced pretty well. So on paper, it looks like the show has finally found its way.

Unfortunately, it still feels slightly off to me. I think this is because, despite the large cast of characters and their secrets, most of them aren’t very interesting. John explains who they all are and their relationships to each other when Hastings first arrives, but it’s still difficult to keep them all straight; I didn’t realize that John was married until fairly late in the game, and assumed that his wife was actually his sister or one of his mother’s protégées. Not only is it hard to tell who’s who, very few of them really do all that much. They all mostly talk in a normal tone of voice, even when upset, and they don’t make unnecessary movements either—pacing, big hand gestures, nervous fidgeting, that sort of thing. Maybe it’s a subtle commentary on the upper class wanting to be composed and controlled, but that doesn’t make for stimulating viewing. Furthermore, while the handling of the mystery is decent, it does kind of fall apart the more you think about it. The case relies on certain pieces of evidence that, had the murderer been smart, they would have destroyed instead of hiding. Although there is a certain dark amusement to be had when you realize this; it feels like you might make a better criminal than the actual criminal.

Much like “Peril At End House”, this is an encouraging start to the “season”, despite the aforementioned flaws. If we’re lucky, the tricks employed in this episode will carry over to the remaining ten (shorter) episodes this season. If not, well, at least we can take it as a sign of (very) gradual improvement.

Number of Tropes Followed/Subverted: After some deliberation, the final ruling is 3/15 tropes and 2/15 subversions. There’s no question that we’ve got “Coincidental Comment” and “An Affair to Forget”, though there is also a surprise case of “Suspects In Love”, the first time that trope’s actually shown up, believe it or not. Subversion wise, one is a spoiler, and the other is “Playing Fair”. While the episode does give us a lot of the facts, it also conceals some of the important ones, or waits until late in the game to reveal something (like the existence of a dress-up box in the attic). It’s not as bad as some episodes, but it withholds enough to be eligible for a subversion. At least, that’s how I see it.

Other: *While the episode contains traces of the Poirot theme, it lacks the very classy opening credits. I’m not entirely sure why it wasn’t included, but I am a little sad. As I said in “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook”, this is one set of opening credits I don’t mind sitting through.

*Do you notice anything odd about the title here?

When I first saw it, I assumed the f’s were supposed to be musical fortes, and that music would tie into the mystery somehow. But no, there’s nothing music related in the episode at all. It’s just a bizarre stylistic touch, apparently.

*It takes about ten minutes for Poirot to even be brought up as a subject of conversation, and he actually puts in his first appearance at the eleven minute mark. In other words, his introduction is given more fanfare than it was in the official first episode of the show. It stands to reason, given that this was technically the first Poirot story, but it’s an interesting little factoid nonetheless.

*I’m no expert on how wills and the distribution of assets work, especially when it comes to Britain and the past, but I do feel like the younger Cavendish son, Lawrence (Anthony Calf), is getting an unfair deal. When Mrs. Inglethorp dies, John will inherit the property and Alfred will get all the money. Lawrence appears to be left out entirely. I know the first son gets the bulk of the assets, but surely you should leave a little something for your other children? Or is that just my modern sensibilities getting in the way again?

*Hastings has dreams about the war, which would be a believable touch except a) he never seems to be troubled by his war experiences outside of this episode (and while he is currently in the thick of it, I feel like this would probably be a recurring thing all his life), and b) he apparently dreams in stock footage, because I’ve seen at least half of those shots in documentaries or other movies. Kind of spoils the effect a bit.

*When Hastings and John break down the door to Mrs. Inglethorp’s room, the way the scene is shot makes it look less like the two of them are both shoving against the door and more like Hastings is using John as a battering ram. It’s bizarre and slightly amusing, and may break the tension of the scene for some people.

*During the inquest scene, people are naturally called upon to swear an oath before taking the stand. But instead of just putting their hand on a Bible and saying the usual words, they appear to be reading the oath off of a cue card. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to signify if the oath is a new development in court cases, but it’s definitely odd looking nowadays.

Most Interesting Character: As I said in the Standalone Thoughts, most of the characters have very little personality. Which means that my choice kind of had to be;

Evelyn Howard (Joanna McCallum)

She spits invective, moves with purpose, and generally offers up more verve than all of the other characters combined. It’s not much to go on, but I’m sure there are others who would find this character type appealing even if she was surrounded by more energetic characters, so it’s not like this is entirely a desperation choice.