"Miss Lemon says he makes pies.", 20 July 2015
Poirot receives a strange request for a meeting from a successful businessman named Benedict Farley. At the meeting, Mr. Farley tells Poirot of a reoccurring dream where at a precise time, he takes a gun from his desk drawer and shoots himself in the head. Mr. Farley is concerned that someone may be manipulating his mind and he may actually kill himself in real life. The next day, Mr. Farley is found dead under the circumstances outlined in his dream. Inspector Japp asks Poirot to help with the case.
There are a couple of points in The Dream that really bother me and keep me from rating it higher, but I'll get to those in just a minute. Overall, The Dream is a wonderful episode. The acting is as good as you'll find in one of the Poirot episodes. The four regular cast members are fantastic. In addition, I was especially impressed with Alan Howard and the infectious Joely Richardson. Nice job. Period details in this episode are quite good. I enjoyed the factory tour. It all looked authentic to me. Sets, costumes, and cinematography were spot on. The direction is more than capable. The episode has a very nice flow to it. And, The Dream has the kind of reveal I love in a Poirot episode - Poirot gathers everyone together, goes through the crime step-by-step, and only then, names the killer. Good stuff.
BIG SPOILER ALERT. But, as I've indicated, there are a couple points that bother me. The first is similar to one I've already written about in another episode involving someone playing a double. In this episode, Alan Howard plays both the real Mr. Farley and Hugo Cornworthy impersonating Mr. Farley. It's the same actor. It's hardly fair to the viewer. Second, the wound left by a bullet fired from several feet away would not look like the wound of a bullet fired from a couple of inches away. We've been told that numerous times in other Poirot episodes and movies (see Death on the Nile for example). If nothing else, Japp would have recognized right away that it wasn't suicide because there couldn't have been powder burns. Don't misunderstand, these are not deal breakers. The episode is still a lot of fun. END BIG SPOILER ALERT.
There are a couple of points in The Dream that really bother me and keep me from rating it higher, but I'll get to those in just a minute. Overall, The Dream is a wonderful episode. The acting is as good as you'll find in one of the Poirot episodes. The four regular cast members are fantastic. In addition, I was especially impressed with Alan Howard and the infectious Joely Richardson. Nice job. Period details in this episode are quite good. I enjoyed the factory tour. It all looked authentic to me. Sets, costumes, and cinematography were spot on. The direction is more than capable. The episode has a very nice flow to it. And, The Dream has the kind of reveal I love in a Poirot episode - Poirot gathers everyone together, goes through the crime step-by-step, and only then, names the killer. Good stuff.
BIG SPOILER ALERT. But, as I've indicated, there are a couple points that bother me. The first is similar to one I've already written about in another episode involving someone playing a double. In this episode, Alan Howard plays both the real Mr. Farley and Hugo Cornworthy impersonating Mr. Farley. It's the same actor. It's hardly fair to the viewer. Second, the wound left by a bullet fired from several feet away would not look like the wound of a bullet fired from a couple of inches away. We've been told that numerous times in other Poirot episodes and movies (see Death on the Nile for example). If nothing else, Japp would have recognized right away that it wasn't suicide because there couldn't have been powder burns. Don't misunderstand, these are not deal breakers. The episode is still a lot of fun. END BIG SPOILER ALERT.
7/10
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