I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Midsomer Murders episode so much. This has so many of the things that has made this series a lasting pleasure.
For starters there's the unusual, for an American, setting. It takes place in a town during Regatta week, i.e. a lot of guys rowing boats up and down a river in which a body just happens to be found. More than the usual unusual background for the story, the regatta is a crucial part of the plot and the characters' motivations.
Another thing is that most of the actors in this episode are unfamiliar to me, American again. They don't carry the baggage/expectations that more familiar actors would. I don't know what to expect when a character enters the story - is he going to be a major or minor character, is she normally a bad un' or a good one. It makes for pleasant uncertainty in the story which is packed with red herrings anyway. Hint: nobody tells whole truth.
There is even, unusually enough, a B-plot in the story, seeming to run alongside the A-plot of the murder mystery, but never fear everything will come together at the end.
Finally, there's the sly humor between Barnaby, his wife Joyce, their daughter, Callie, and even Barnaby's sergeant. It's sidesplitting at times.
So all in all, a grand time.
For starters there's the unusual, for an American, setting. It takes place in a town during Regatta week, i.e. a lot of guys rowing boats up and down a river in which a body just happens to be found. More than the usual unusual background for the story, the regatta is a crucial part of the plot and the characters' motivations.
Another thing is that most of the actors in this episode are unfamiliar to me, American again. They don't carry the baggage/expectations that more familiar actors would. I don't know what to expect when a character enters the story - is he going to be a major or minor character, is she normally a bad un' or a good one. It makes for pleasant uncertainty in the story which is packed with red herrings anyway. Hint: nobody tells whole truth.
There is even, unusually enough, a B-plot in the story, seeming to run alongside the A-plot of the murder mystery, but never fear everything will come together at the end.
Finally, there's the sly humor between Barnaby, his wife Joyce, their daughter, Callie, and even Barnaby's sergeant. It's sidesplitting at times.
So all in all, a grand time.