The friend I went to see Cloud Atlas with the second time got on the James D'Arcy bandwagon soon afterwards and went ahead and Netflixed everything he'd ever done that was available on DVD. She sat through a lot of terrible films (sorry, James D'Arcy but that Exorcist prequel was HORRENDOUS) but joyfully dug into this Marple episode which I rewatched with her.
I love how this show and Poirot can always be counted on for putting together a marvelous cast.
So, The Moving Finger starring Geraldine McEwan, James D'Arcy, Emilia Fox, and Tallulah Riley
Siblings Jerry (James D'Arcy) and Joanna Burton (Emilia Fox) rent a cottage in a small English village so that Jerry can recover from injuries sustained in a motorbike accident that was quite possibly a halfhearted suicide attempt. The Burtons settle in for a few months of quiet village life but since this is an Agatha Christie there is mayhem and murder. Apparently, someone in the village has been sending around "poisoned penned" letters, accusing various villagers of rather appalling behavior. One of these recipients, Mrs. Symmington (Imogen Stubbs) commits suicide soon after her letter arrives. Or was it suicide?
This is an episode that's helped largely due to the fine acting by one and all. The pacing of it and the general storyline for me always starts to drag somewhere in the middle but you manage to pull through via the sheer talent of the cast, acting their hearts out.
The first time I watched this episode, like most people I fell for the developing relationship between Jerry and Mrs. Symmington's daughter, Megan (Tallulah Riley). The adaptation did your classic Tomboyish Girl Grows Into Lovely Womanhood trope, complete with a makeover sequence for Megan whose mix of candor and innocence jostles Jerry out of the depression he's clearly in. In rewatching the episode, I still found their pairing to be fun to watch but this time they lost their OTP throne to the other couple I'd sort of forgotten about: Joanna and Dr. Owen Griffiths (Sean Pertwee).
I'd practically forgotten that while the story set the Megan and Jerry relationship more or less front and center as this burgeoning, romantic, sweet love, Joanna was busy capturing the eye of Owen. They enact their own classic trope of the Sassy Sophisticated City Girl Bowls Over Awkward Befuddled Guy but hey, it's a classic for a reason. I liked that through their quiet background courtship you saw that Joanna wasn't as superficial and careless as she might seem and Owen wasn't as hopeless in the wooing department as he might seem. Hell, he captured her heart by showing her a photo of a diseased spleen. And it worked. They were clearly made for each other. And during this viewing I realized Owen had success a lot faster than Jerry did the first time he made his feelings toward Megan be known.
Next on my friend's queue is Poirot's The Mystery of the Blue Train where she gets to watch James D'Arcy be drunk and insolvent. I told her it'll be much better than having to sit through Rise. Sorry again, James D'Arcy and Lucy Liu but it's one of the worst vampire movies ever made.
I love how this show and Poirot can always be counted on for putting together a marvelous cast.
So, The Moving Finger starring Geraldine McEwan, James D'Arcy, Emilia Fox, and Tallulah Riley
Siblings Jerry (James D'Arcy) and Joanna Burton (Emilia Fox) rent a cottage in a small English village so that Jerry can recover from injuries sustained in a motorbike accident that was quite possibly a halfhearted suicide attempt. The Burtons settle in for a few months of quiet village life but since this is an Agatha Christie there is mayhem and murder. Apparently, someone in the village has been sending around "poisoned penned" letters, accusing various villagers of rather appalling behavior. One of these recipients, Mrs. Symmington (Imogen Stubbs) commits suicide soon after her letter arrives. Or was it suicide?
This is an episode that's helped largely due to the fine acting by one and all. The pacing of it and the general storyline for me always starts to drag somewhere in the middle but you manage to pull through via the sheer talent of the cast, acting their hearts out.
The first time I watched this episode, like most people I fell for the developing relationship between Jerry and Mrs. Symmington's daughter, Megan (Tallulah Riley). The adaptation did your classic Tomboyish Girl Grows Into Lovely Womanhood trope, complete with a makeover sequence for Megan whose mix of candor and innocence jostles Jerry out of the depression he's clearly in. In rewatching the episode, I still found their pairing to be fun to watch but this time they lost their OTP throne to the other couple I'd sort of forgotten about: Joanna and Dr. Owen Griffiths (Sean Pertwee).
I'd practically forgotten that while the story set the Megan and Jerry relationship more or less front and center as this burgeoning, romantic, sweet love, Joanna was busy capturing the eye of Owen. They enact their own classic trope of the Sassy Sophisticated City Girl Bowls Over Awkward Befuddled Guy but hey, it's a classic for a reason. I liked that through their quiet background courtship you saw that Joanna wasn't as superficial and careless as she might seem and Owen wasn't as hopeless in the wooing department as he might seem. Hell, he captured her heart by showing her a photo of a diseased spleen. And it worked. They were clearly made for each other. And during this viewing I realized Owen had success a lot faster than Jerry did the first time he made his feelings toward Megan be known.
Next on my friend's queue is Poirot's The Mystery of the Blue Train where she gets to watch James D'Arcy be drunk and insolvent. I told her it'll be much better than having to sit through Rise. Sorry again, James D'Arcy and Lucy Liu but it's one of the worst vampire movies ever made.
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