The shift in this series from the early, fun but insubstantial trifles, to the more serious psychological explorations was not a bad idea. But while this is better than the atrocious Alfred Molina version, it is still completely uneven. The script is a scattershot affair that can never focus long enough to coherently run two scenes together. No motivation is developed,; all of that is jettisoned in favor of overt explanations. As with the Lumet version, the director loses interest in the middle bunch of the 12 interviews. The structure is just poor. Three or more characters just up and volunteer associations with the victim. The casting of a dwarfish, disfigured Ratchett is irritating and facile. At the 11th hour, Poirot improbably transforms into Jaggers; the truth-at-all-costs gadfly of Les Miserables. It's completely absurd. The positively asinine screed that Dragomiroff delivers bedside to her victim is a preposterous low-brow finger-wagging. I was embarrassed for the whole production at that point.
Poirot himself is NEVER interesting at any point in the series; in fact he's a barely developed irritant. His trademark ("little grey cells") are never actually seen being utilized (in either the books or the films), despite his endorsement of said. It's an undeveloped gimmick; and once again, a viewer can in no way solve this along with Poirot. So one watches the shows to wait around for the solutions. Suchet offering the best impersonation of the character is a mixed bag. There's not much to him. He is signified by at most 5 personality quirks. The character makes Dickens shallow pawns look like Hamlet. Among other bewildering decisions is having Poirot be OK with the killing of a woman in Istanbul over adultery. But Poirot is (outrageously) Catholic in this episode. Figure that combo out! At a certain point his morality is so poorly scripted, loud, and out of character that you just tune him out. Throughout the story, we are obviously not looking at Poirot's faith, but the faith of some resentfully pious director or writer, or both. It's an out of place hard-sell.
The appropriation of Patton's Oscar-nominated theme (an echoing, then fading fan fare) is likewise ill-advised.
Poirot himself is NEVER interesting at any point in the series; in fact he's a barely developed irritant. His trademark ("little grey cells") are never actually seen being utilized (in either the books or the films), despite his endorsement of said. It's an undeveloped gimmick; and once again, a viewer can in no way solve this along with Poirot. So one watches the shows to wait around for the solutions. Suchet offering the best impersonation of the character is a mixed bag. There's not much to him. He is signified by at most 5 personality quirks. The character makes Dickens shallow pawns look like Hamlet. Among other bewildering decisions is having Poirot be OK with the killing of a woman in Istanbul over adultery. But Poirot is (outrageously) Catholic in this episode. Figure that combo out! At a certain point his morality is so poorly scripted, loud, and out of character that you just tune him out. Throughout the story, we are obviously not looking at Poirot's faith, but the faith of some resentfully pious director or writer, or both. It's an out of place hard-sell.
The appropriation of Patton's Oscar-nominated theme (an echoing, then fading fan fare) is likewise ill-advised.