I did not mean to intentionally skip the three Foyle’s War episodes of Masterpiece Mystery. I just got busy with life. And by life I mean work, errands and the Lost series finale.
So Miss Marple. With her and Hercule Poirot and all the other classic sleuths, I cannot help but think of the brilliant movie Murder By Death. (This and What’s Up, Doc? are two of my all-time favorite comedies. They will both forever make me laugh.) If you love Agatha Christie, check it out. Bonus! Truman Capote as Lionel Twain.
OK. Back to Miss Marple. I don’t see how anyone cannot enjoy a good old-fashioned Agatha Christie mystery. They are just so “That’s curious”, “Something struck me as odd” and “Inspector, you are over looking the obvious!” And of course, I always try to work out the mystery along with Miss Marple. I’m usually wrong. Probably because I don’t have the advantage of constantly coming across murders wherever I go like the Miss. There was a great exchange in The Mirror Crack’d… when the Inspector tells Miss Marple that it was quite the coincidence that the woman who helped her with her ankle is now dead. And all Miss Marple says is “Yep.” (Paraphrase.)
Perhaps once I watch more of the Marple, I’ll be able to catch on better. Although, I was overdoing it last night: I was convinced that the movie star’s much younger husband was actually her adopted son. Why? I don’t listen to Miss Marple when she says “Don’t overlook the obvious.” Well, in my defense, she had the script and I didn’t.
Quick recap of Mirror Crack’d: Movie star Marina Gregg buys Marple’s pal estate. Neighbor dies at garden party at estate. And then it goes from there. (Want to know who did it? Spoiler below!)
Miss Marple is played by Julia McKenzie…from Cranford! Weird that I saw her as Marple last year and did not make the connection when Cranford rolled around. But when I watched Mirror Crack’d, I thought, “The lady with Bessie the cow!” That’s yet another thing I love so much about the Masterpiece Theatre shows: you see a lot of the same actors and since they are not famous in America, you feel like they are your own personal discovery. (Although Mirror Crack’d did have Joanna Lumley as Marple’s nosy friend Dolly and Lindsay Duncan as the murderer…sorry, I meant to say the movie star, Marina Gregg. I would say that between AbFab and HBO’s Rome, respectively, they are fairly known in the US.) But is Hugh Bonneville a household name? In my household, yes. He might be recognized from Notting Hill but he was also in Lost in Austen, the Mansfield Park movie and here he plays the Inspector with a bum arm. Which is never explained. Maybe he shows up again to explain it! *hopeful clap clap*
To further express my Masterpiece Actor Nerdom, I should confess that I always go to IMDB and look up the cast. So that I can say to myself, “I knew I recognized the girl who played the photographer! She was on Foyle’s War two weeks ago!”
What did I learn from Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side? I see these actors more than my relatives.
