Day 194: Poirot, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Show: Agatha Christie’s Poirot

Episode Particulars: S3EP2, “How Does Your Garden Grow?” original airdate January 6^th, 1991.

 Summary: When Poirot attends a garden show because they’re naming a rose after him, he runs into Mrs. Barrowby (Margery Mason), an older lady who slips a seed packet with no seeds into his pocket. When Poirot returns to his apartment, puzzling over the action, he finds a letter from Mrs. Barrowby, explaining that she suspects something going on in her house and asking him to call on her. But when he does, he finds that she’s dead, poisoned by strychnine. Naturally, he feels compelled to investigate, although fortunately for him, there are only four potential suspects this time. There’s Lucy (Dorcas Morgan) the maid; Mrs. Barrowby’s niece and her husband, Mary and Henry Delafontaine (Anne Stallybrass and Tim Wylton); and Katrina (Catherine Russell), a Russian woman who was Mrs. Barrowby’s primary caretaker. And in a move that dates the story (although in an interesting way), Katrina’s got a connection to the Communists…

Standalone Thoughts: While the episode does a few interesting things, it’s mostly a mediocre showing. I do like the shaking up of the dynamic by having Miss Lemon accompany Poirot to the scene instead of Hastings, and some of the supporting characters participate in well-written bits of subterfuge, which I will always appreciate. But for all that, the mystery is underwhelming. We just kind of drift from scene to scene, and even if each scene gives us at least one piece of important information, it’s mostly presented matter-of-factly, with no tension or excitement. That is, until you get to the grand reveal, where things take a turn for the scenery-chewing on the part of the murderer. It just feels unnecessarily over-the-top, especially when you realize the real motivation behind the murder. The episode doesn’t annoy me the way “Four and Twenty Blackbirds” or “Double Sin” did, but it’s far from top-tier Poirot. Though I’m starting to get hard pressed as to what top-tier Poirot actually is.

Number of Tropes Followed/Subverted: A fairly straightforward  3/15 tropes and 2/15 subversions. We manage to get both “Ambiguous Foreigners” and “The Butler Did it…Again”, as well as a “Coincidental Comment” (very coincidental, in this case). As for subversions, while Communism keeps cropping up, it wasn’t the reason for the murder, so this isn’t a “The Spy Who Killed Me”. And of course, the episode completely fails at “Playing Fair” because the key clue is mostly withheld from us until the last moment. You could try to argue with me on this point, but I think it’s still mostly accurate.

Other: *I had to laugh at this moment;

I have no idea what is actually going on here (I guess it’s so the guy holding the card can gain access to the flower show), but because WTF has an entirely different meaning nowadays, it caused an unintentional snort on my end.

*Mrs. Barrowby’s lawyer (John Burgess) does a clever workaround to tell Poirot who’s going to inherit Mrs. Barrowby’s money even though he shouldn’t legally do it until the official reading of the will. He’s judging a horse show, and he describes the last three contenders in ways which mirror the three potential beneficiaries. The horse he chooses, of course, represents the one who will get all the money. On the one hand, I think it’s a neat trick. On the other, I can’t help but worry that he didn’t actually give the award to the best horse, because he was more focused on making a point. I know that’s a stupid thing to focus on, but you never know what’s going to grab your attention.

Most Interesting Character: Most of the characters don’t get a lot of time to be fleshed out, but one person in particular caught my attention;

Amelia Barrowby

She may be curt and difficult to get along with, but she’s definitely smart, since she quickly orchestrates a way to be alone with Poirot and pass on information in a way that won’t look suspicious. Add to that the fact that she’s careful with what she writes down in case of discovery, and I wind up appreciating her talent for espionage. Some might call it paranoia, but in this case, someone really was out to get her, so I think she can be forgiven.