Elephants Can Remember
- Episode aired Aug 11, 2014
- TV-PG
- 1h 29m
Ariadne Oliver becomes an amateur sleuth when her goddaughter tasks her to find out the truth behind her parents' mysterious deaths.Ariadne Oliver becomes an amateur sleuth when her goddaughter tasks her to find out the truth behind her parents' mysterious deaths.Ariadne Oliver becomes an amateur sleuth when her goddaughter tasks her to find out the truth behind her parents' mysterious deaths.
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Did you know
- TriviaThe novel "Elephants Can Remember" has a subplot in the fading memories of its aged characters. By the time Agatha Christie wrote the novel, Christie herself was suffering from memory problems. A 2009 study suggested that Christie had actually lost much of the vocabulary which she had used in earlier novels, and concluded that she was likely suffering from some form of late-onset dementia, perhaps Alzheimer's disease.
- GoofsWhen the police drain the bathtub where the doctor is, you can see the actor involuntarily wiggle his mouth to keep the cloth inside it.
- Quotes
Hercule Poirot: You say they lived near to Eastbourne? You have acquaintance there? Well, then go. Allez-y, allez-y. Drive about, ask the questions, be the puzzler with the nose.
Ariadne Oliver: Oh, I see, and someone will remember something.
Hercule Poirot: Always someone remembers something.
Ariadne Oliver: You mean elephants. Sorry, I was thinking of elephants at that dinner last night.
Hercule Poirot: With hesitation, I ask why.
Ariadne Oliver: Because the meringue got stuck in my teeth.
Hercule Poirot: I see. Well, the pathway of logic, it is there somewhere, but...
Ariadne Oliver: Meringue, dentures, ivory, elephants. I must find the elephants. Elephants can remember.
Poirot is called upon to investigate the death of a semi-retired psychiatrist who was murdered in a hydrotherapy bathtub in his institute.
Ariadne comes to him for help in the midst of his investigation. She has been asked to have a look at the death of her goddaughter Celia's parents 13 years ago. It was a big scandal at the time, and it seemed to have been a murder/suicide on a lonely cliff. No one could understand it, as the couple was a happy one. The woman asking, Mrs. Burton-Cox, has a son who wants to marry Celia. Mrs. B-C is concerned.
Poirot can't help due to his commitment. He advises her to interview anyone around at the time to jar their memories.
In time, Poirot's case and Ariadne's case intersects, and Poirot founds out a critical piece of information. The minute he learns this, he's on his way to figuring out the case.
Well, I figured it out before he did because of another piece of information, but I don't think Poirot got that one, either, until later. Also, even though I read the book probably 50 years ago, perhaps I subconsciously remembered it. But I don't think so.
Anyway, someone on the board was very critical of this episode, saying that they have cut Poirot's screen time, Suchet looks awful and doesn't want to be there, and it was a bad episode.
Well, David Suchet being the incredible actor he is may -- I say may - - have had another commitment, or in staying true to the book, they threw a lot to Oliver. When I saw Suchet interviewed, he seemed very committed to Poirot, though I admit he looked tired in this episode. He was about 67 during the last season and it's possible he couldn't keep up the schedule. However, I saw him in The Importance of Being Earnest this summer on stage and he was amazing.
I actually thought the episode was quite good. When you have seen a lot of Christie stories, or read them, you realize that she used some plot devices more than once and yes, some stories are better than others. Her best book was The Murder of Roger Acroyd, which was an awful episode. So there you go. You can't win them all, but I think the producers and writers succeeded here.
- blanche-2
- Jan 4, 2016
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- Sheraton Grand London Park Lane Hotel, London, England, UK(Ariadne Oliver is declared Crime writer of the year)
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