Agatha Christie's Poirot: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

February 2, 2022 9:43 AM - Season 4, Episode 3

Hercule Poirot dislikes his dentist, but one of his patients likes Mr Morley even less - and shoots him minutes after Poirot leaves his surgery. Was it the unpleasant Greek, the wild young American who looked like a murderer, or the former actress with the buckle on her shoe?
posted by Carillon (4 comments total)

I always love Poirot's distrust or distaste of dentists. This is one that really drives home the cruelty of the upper class British system. It's also quite the clever plan. Sometimes I feel that the answer is more obvious, or at least I have a hint. This one was a puzzle the whole way through.
posted by Carillon at 9:46 AM on February 2, 2022

The beginning was so confusing that I watched the first 30 minutes twice. The novels are so much better than the filmed short stories (so far). I could see the basic puzzle but the motive eluded me throughout. It was a good bit of misdirection right from the start…that the real Miss S-S says to her actress friend, “and with your background…” I immediately thought the latter woman was the heiress just having a bit of fun before settling down and getting married. Of course I forgot about the rest of the conversation. Then the “Mrs Blunt the heiress died after four years of marriage”, well clearly she didn’t but I wasn’t paying attention to what her first name was, if it was ever mentioned. So I couldn’t figure out why Gerda was running around in disguises but was sure it had something to do with Mr Blunt embezzling from the bank. Or not.

I wonder what proportion of Christie’s mysteries had one character assuming the identity of another? 90%?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:06 AM on February 3, 2022

They generally have so much ground to cover, in always impressed that they're able to tell such coherent stories as is. I've only read a few of the works, so can't comment on how strong they are in comparison to the written stories, but I generally leave the episodes enjoying Suchet's acting, the generally strong supporting cast, and thinking to myself oh want that mystery clever. It's not quite Big Sleep level of not caring about the plot, but sometimes can't be close.
posted by Carillon at 11:39 AM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Young Christopher Ecclestone is very good in this! I also like the director's chutzpah in showing us the real Mabelle Sainsbury Seale at the start of the episode and then the false Mabelle getting out the taxi just a few minutes later, relying on the clothes, wig and hat to distract the audience from the two actresses' different faces.
posted by cyanistes at 2:45 PM on February 9, 2022