Spoiler Alert: Reading this critique may affect your enjoyment of this episode if you have not seen this episode.
That said, there were two serious plot line stumbles that make this a problematic episode. 1. Surely DCI Barnaby would have had someone from the Causton Police watching the house Fran Starling is now living alone in, after the second murder of a close friend of hers? This seems like sloppy police work that cousin Tom might not have made. This omission gives the conclusion of the story believability issues. It was not as though Barnaby and Jones had actually succeeded in narrowing down who the killer was, and were tracking the culprit down. No, it seemed like they were still miles away from figuring this all out, even if they were geographically just around the corner. This seems as though an originally-longer story line (offing a few more of the characters comes to mind), might have been abridged in order to end the bloodshed and the program on time. Secondly,
2. Why, given the amount of blood and the locations for key murders and body placements, were no footprints found? A quick study of even partial prints would immediately have ruled out some of the suspects.
Might I also suggest an improvement in the chemistry between Barnaby and Jones for future episodes? At this point in the new story line, Jones has saved Barnaby's life twice and they are still sniping at each other. As already suggested elsewhere, Jones is "half the franchise." It is not necessary to write Jones as either somewhat naive or as dull-witted in order to make John Barnaby shine...
Oh, and I do like Sykes - the most adorable of the new characters!
Thanks, and any improvements will be most welcomed!
That said, there were two serious plot line stumbles that make this a problematic episode. 1. Surely DCI Barnaby would have had someone from the Causton Police watching the house Fran Starling is now living alone in, after the second murder of a close friend of hers? This seems like sloppy police work that cousin Tom might not have made. This omission gives the conclusion of the story believability issues. It was not as though Barnaby and Jones had actually succeeded in narrowing down who the killer was, and were tracking the culprit down. No, it seemed like they were still miles away from figuring this all out, even if they were geographically just around the corner. This seems as though an originally-longer story line (offing a few more of the characters comes to mind), might have been abridged in order to end the bloodshed and the program on time. Secondly,
2. Why, given the amount of blood and the locations for key murders and body placements, were no footprints found? A quick study of even partial prints would immediately have ruled out some of the suspects.
Might I also suggest an improvement in the chemistry between Barnaby and Jones for future episodes? At this point in the new story line, Jones has saved Barnaby's life twice and they are still sniping at each other. As already suggested elsewhere, Jones is "half the franchise." It is not necessary to write Jones as either somewhat naive or as dull-witted in order to make John Barnaby shine...
Oh, and I do like Sykes - the most adorable of the new characters!
Thanks, and any improvements will be most welcomed!