Midsomer Murders is one of my favorite detective shows, the first 8 seasons of which were almost flawless, and which is great now.
After John Nettles left the show for Neil Dudgeon, I was seriously concerned that the new actor and the new Barnaby would not be as good as the previous ones. Skepticism quickly evaporated, and the first two episodes of the show with a new actor / main character were great and surpassed even the previous five episodes with Tom Barnaby. "Death in the Slow Lane "was a solid, solid and generally brilliant start, and "Dark Secrets " was even better, with a great atmosphere and an interesting story. "Echoes of the Dead" isn't as good as the previous two episodes, but it's still a very solid episode and done just as well as its predecessors.
Here I must say that in this episode, Midsomer Murders departs from its usual fun and somewhat parodic style, giving way to a dark and disturbing style, as previously in "The Straw Woman", "Left for Dead" and "Small Mersies", so those who expected to see a light Midsomer plot can leave the screens.
"Echoes of the Dead", as already mentioned, is quite a disturbing and dark episode, as well as one of the most intense, I really felt an incredible tension and some fear when you are concerned about just one question: "Who's next?" It should be noted that the episode is too brutal and cruel for a cozy series.
My main complaint about the episode is actually its predictability, the killer is solved almost immediately, and despite the fact that I had other versions, I was not at all surprised by the ending, and this ending is one of the most predictable in the series.
The rest of the episode has a lot to praise. John Barnaby here shows emotion and his disgust for the killer, which is unusual for him, and the last seconds are quite strong, and the theme music is well changed. The finale is the most intense in the entire show, and it kept me incredibly tense and anxious. The plot is quite interesting, and the beginning is one of the most creepy and promising in the show. The atmosphere is also great.
Overall, a solid, albeit flawed, episode. 9/10