Poirot Season 12 Review

     So Masterpiece Mystery! on PBS tells me that this is season 12 of Poirot and that there are two episodes, The Big Four and Dead Man's Folly. Wikipedia tells me that those are 2 of the 5 episodes in season 13. I'm guessing the seasons are just different across the pond. I think we may have already gotten the first episode, Elephants Can Remember. I'm hoping we get the last two episodes, which include the series finale! Anyway, onto this season...
     Agatha Christy's Poirot faces two mysteries this season. The first is in The Big Four, which involves a worldwide conspiracy to accelerate World War II (which the characters do not know about, obviously, since this is set before WWII!). Poirot is on the trail of a series of murders, all related to an international Peace Party and its members. The Big Four, a mysterious group of four bent on worldwide chaos, may be behind the murders. Poirot struggles to identify the members of the big four and the ingenious methods of they have employed in their killings. Haunting each crime scene and place of interest is a reporter who is receiving cryptic clues about the big four from a mysterious source. This episode is pretty cool. Especially nice are the scenes where Poirot spends time figuring out how certain murders where committed, whether we see him contemplating and researching in his study or carefully examining a crime scene. This episode also has a really great and shocking opening scene that I really enjoyed. Beyond that, the whole show is big spoilers, so please, watch it for yourself.
     The second episode is entitled Dead Man's Folly. Poirot is summoned to Nasse House, a big mansion where rich people live. He is called there by his friend, Ariadne Oliver, who is arranging a murder hunt during the festivities of a private summer fair there. She is staging the fake murder and planting clues for the guests to try and solve. But something is off. She believes that different people that are helping to plan the fair are trying to influence how she plans the fake murder, and she has the worst feeling that real murder may be involved. Poirot is willing to hang around and investigate, and the owners of the house are happy to have a famous guy like him around. Things do go a little haywire, but maybe not in the way you would expect. Poirot ends up with quite the grand mystery to unravel. This episode's rundown of what is going on by Poirot is epic, and has some great editing of clips that let you see what he is talking about. Ariadne Oliver is a quirky and fun character who has some nice rapport with Poirot. Other characters, including the owner of the house, his wife, and her cousin who happens to drop by for a visit all give nice performances and are interesting as well.
     I prefer the 2nd episode over the first, although neither lives up to the first Poirot story I ever saw that got me hooked on the show, Murder on the Orient Express. Poirot continues to be an awesome character though. He's so polite, yet does an amazing job when he yells at people also. He seems so innocent at times. You might think he is an asperger-hero like Sherlock, but he really isn't. He has a genius-level understanding of emotions and relationships, and although he may appear like Sherlock at times, he feels emotions deeply too. His politeness is genuine.
     This season was very enjoyable. Poirot is such a great character. Alan Cumming summed him up really well in the intro to the season, "There are detectives who have badges, police cars, bosses who don't appreciate them, partners who keep them on their toes. They've come up through the ranks, some have a university education. They're devoted to their work, but also enjoy, friends, family, outside interests. They have good days and bad days, like the rest of us. There are detectives, and then, there is Hercule Poirot."

     I really have to read the books sometime. I hear that The Big Four is a much more involved book with lots of other stuff going on than in the TV adaptation. I think next season is the final season! Can't wait! Season 12 is a Great Show, Tier 3.

 

Endeavour Series 2 Review

    I was super happy to see that the first series after The Escape Artist on the schedule of Masterpiece Mystery! this season is the excellent Endeavour, the show that chronicles the exploits of a young Endeavour Morse (made famous in the Inspector Morse series). It also shares DNA, obviously, with the sequel series, Lewis, which is also coming up soon on the Masterpiece agenda.
     I was pleased because the first season on Endeavour was really great. And fortunately, this season followed suit.

SPOILERS FROM SERIES 1 ARE INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW!

    At the beginning of season 2, Morse is just returning to full duty after getting shot in season 1. Season 2 is 4 episodes covering 4 separate cases. Morse jumps right back in to his normal investigative techniques. He's a bit haunted by the shooting, but doesn't let that stop him.

     In the first episode, Morse is back on the job and investigate several cases at once. He is convinced they are related, and finds links in the clues that may or may not be there as a concerned Thursday looks on. Morse is having some PTSD like symptoms after being shot and Thursday's not sure the logic is there on all Morse's deductions. They involve a suicide, a missing girl, and the theft of some ancient artifacts. Not all episodes of Endeavour give you clear hints as to who is responsible, and neither should they. But this episode has a great clue or two staring you right in the face if you are really, really paying attention. If you're like me, you'll miss it, but then kick yourself after all is revealed. This episode also introduces Endeavour's neighbor, a nurse who Thursday enlists to take care of him a bit when he is injured (which is convenient, since, like season 1, season 2 is not kind to Morse's body. To quote Alan Cumming, "Maybe that's all in a day's work for a man called Endeavour (creepy eyebrow raise).").
     The second episode sees Morse questioning a bunch of school girls who were the only people in a museum during a murder that seems to have connections to murder that occurred 100 years ago on the school grounds. There seems to be a haunting there related to the old murder as well. And if you're paying attention, a clue as to the perpetrator of the killing. Some interesting touches about race come up in the case even as Morse begins to pursue an inter-racial relationship with his neighbor, the nurse Monica Hicks, who once again has more wounds to tend to...
     The third episode, and maybe the season's strongest, involves a series of murders of women who are having affairs. The list of suspects in this episode is very, very long and interesting. There are a lot of people working at a department store where the murder weapons (some fine panty-hose) seem to be coming from, and others characters are suspicious as well. There are also some great shots and camera work that I really enjoyed. We also learn a lot about Thursday's time in the war in this episode when someone he used to know from that time becomes part of the investigation.
    The final episode brings together a few threads that have been running through the season. It involves some mysterious happenings at a juvy-school for boys that is scheduled to be renovated into a new police station. Some interesting revelations come to light about the old school. This episode has the standard mystery to solve, but also has the same kind of end of a season nature as last year's Endeavour, leaving you with a lot of questions for next season.
     There are also a lot of themes that are touched on throughout all four episodes, like a secret society that Strange is interested in joining, Endeavour's new girlfriend, his logical process of trying to link every clue together whether there's a connection or not, and the physical toll of police work, as he is having quite the run of injuries. The flow of each show also more or less has a common thread of logical advancement. The characters are often ahead of the audience in figuring things out and making connections. I was often barely following along until the end when all is revealed and then I could could pick up the pieces. I often have to talk out what happened in order to make sense of it all, but if I can do that at the end, it means I usually just watched a great detective show.
     I hope I didn't spoil too much, I was trying to walk a fine line between giving a good feel for the show and the episodes and also leaving a lot to be discovered on your own if you haven't yet watched the show.
      I was thinking I might give Endeavour a slightly lowered score, but thinking back on the season, man, it was really good! So much going on! Plus it still gets points for having one of the best show names around. Endeavour is just one word, but it says a lot about the show and the theming to me. Endeavour is one of my favorite shows right now. I think Lewis might be my favorite show on tv, so I guess I'm really into Morse stories although I haven't seen the original Morse. I'm pretty sure I would like it though. Maybe I'll track it down sometime. Endeavour season 2 is a great show, tier 2.

24: Live Another Day Review

     24 is one of my favorite shows ever. Famous for its unstoppable, mayhemic hero Jack Bauer, its brutal twists and turns, it's topical politics and issues, and it's real-time presentation, 24 ran for eight seasons before its finale in 2010.
     Fortunately, about 4 years later 24 is back for a 12 episode half season known as 24: Live Another Day. Minor spoilers about 24's earlier seasons may be included in this review!
     Live Another Day starts with the re-surfacing of Jack Bauer in London. Jack has gotten wind of a terrorism threat that targets London and US President James Heller, who is in London on a visit to negotiate a treaty with England that focuses on the use of military bases in England. Of course Jack is still an exiled fugitive after what he did to the Russians in season 8, so coming out of hiding is very dangerous for him. As he tells a member of Heller's staff, in a few hours, he'll either be "dead or in prison."
     After re-uniting with Chloe (the hard way), Jack is soon working on the developing crisis in London both on his own and officially. Margot Al-Harazi, a high-level Al Qaeda operative, launches the attack by high-jacking the US drone system and remote controlling them. This is the initial set-up, but like all good 24 seasons, it starts there and goes all over. Some involved elements include the Russians trying to get revenge on Jack, trouble in the ranks with Margot's crew, trouble in the ranks at the CIA field office in London (which functions much like CTU normally does in a normal season of 24), conflicting interests in the US President's entourage, and a wiki-leaks type operation run by a Julian Assange- type character, and the fact that Chloe O'Brien, Jack's most trusted friend, is working with him despite the somewhat-shadiness of their outfit.
     We get a lot of returning characters, such as James Heller, who is now president, and his daughter Audrey, Jack's soul mate, who he hasn't seen in years. I believe last time we saw her, she was tortured and brainwashed, but she is back in her right mind, and married to Mark Boudreau, her father's chief of staff. She also works as a member of the President's staff. A few new characters are introduced, such as Mark, who is very worried about the the effect Jack's emergence will have on his wife, Margot Al-Harazi's daugher Simone, who has some conflicting and sympathetic loyalties despite being on-board with her mother's plot. She also is one of only a handful of people to give Jack a run for his money in a great chase scene early in the season. There's also straight-laced CIA station head Steve Navarro and Kate Morgan, a CIA agent who is disgraced after her husband's conviction for selling government information. Kate becomes Jack's main sidekick this season. I thought Kate and Simone are especially good characters. Simone has some interesting subtly to the way her mind works that make her quite interesting. Kate is not Jack Jr. like Renee Walker was in Seasons 7 and 8, and that's fine, she's not characterized that way like Renee was. Kate is a really great character. She's the one who believes Jack and helps him when others won't, which you need in 24 so you don't scream in frustration. She's also game on all of Jack's ideas, no matter how crazy they are.
     Like all 24 outings, this half-season is full of twists and turns, betrayals and main character deaths, and all kinds of trickery. Lots of interesting stuff, all of which can't be mentioned without spoilers, obviously.
     Watching this mini-series, it's clear that after four years of absence, there still isn't anything on TV that can match 24's pacing and intensity. The real-time format is something special, and it's something no one else is really trying that I know of. Despite being in real time, many episodes pack in a huge amount of content.
     Some seasons of 24 (the first especially) would receive a perfect score if I were to review them. All seasons of 24, even certain ones that I don't think had a very good story, have amazing perfect moments, like when Jack is forced to kill his friend Curtis to stop him from killing a terrorist they need to work with... and then a nuclear bomb explodes in the distance at the same time. Or the time when Jack puts on full body armor and attacks a presidential convoy (this might be my favorite 24 moment. It's terrifying). Live another day is better than the handful of 24 seasons that weren't all that great, and it also has a smattering of great moments. It also has a handful of new characters that are really great, and that adds a lot to the formula. And of course it's great to see what Jack, Chloe, and Audrey are up to. Great mini-series, and here's hoping we haven't seen the end of 24. A movie would be great. Great Show, Tier 2.

The Escape Artist Review

     Time to start Robotic Attack Periscope, in which I will review TV shows and movies!
     The 2014 Masterpiece Mystery! season kicked off with a one-shot story in two parts, The Escape Artist, starring David Tennant.
     Tennant plays Will Burton, an up-and-coming defense barrister who has never lost a case. He gets Liam Foyle, who is accused of a brutal murder, off on a technicality, but seems to have some doubt in his mind as to Foyle's innocence. The creepy and aggressive Foyle is offended when Will won't shake his hand after the trial and starts to stalk Will's family.
     From there, everything that happens includes major, major spoilers, but I'll give you a hint of a few elements. There is an element of tension between Will and his rival, the 2nd best barrister in the land Maggie, especially when she becomes Foyle's counsel on another case. There's lots of justified paranoia. And there's a big focus on the morality of people getting away with crimes by manipulating the legal system through legal means (such as technicalities and rules).
     All the main characters give a good performance. Will Burton is a genius and a genuine family man until he is forced into crisis mode. Foyle is super-crazy, feeding his tons of pet birds while saying "Everybody's hungry!" and manipulating his adoring neighbor. Maggie is a mirror image of Will before he became personally involved in a crime.
     This was a nice little mini-series leading into all my upcoming favorites like Endeavor, Poirot, and Lewis. Makes me wish Silk was coming back so I could get some more courtroom action! It's fun to watch, but ultimately not some great show I'll always remember. It does make me interested in Tennant's next crime mini-series, Gracepoint, which will be on Fox this fall. The escape artist is a great show, Tier 3.