Hickory Dickory Dock (1995)

There is a great sense of style to this episode, and I particularly enjoyed the use of the nursery rhyme as incidental music (even if it is a bit heavy at times). Likewise the use of the mouse is quite good, although again it could have been used more sparingly for better effect (did he really need to be at the scene of every murder and in the 'reveal' sequence as well?). So these fun little add-ons I quite liked. One could extend that too, to include the throwaway comedy material about Japp being home alone and with rather simple tastes in food, décor and heating. All of these things I quite liked, but at the same time have to consider if they are not also part of the weakness with this episode too.The thing is, so far I have not really mentioned the actual story and that is probably because it is not particularly strong. It starts well, with the return of Miss Lemon and a link to a very odd series of minor thefts which is curious and had my interest from the start. Unfortunately the development of the mystery is not particularly well done; partly I think because the episode is so often the episode is more interested in the asides or the manner of delivery rather than the meat and potatoes business of delivering a good narrative in an effective manner (another irony since the joke is made of Japp's much, much simpler tastes – which include said foods). The mystery has enough force in the delivery to make it just about work in terms of the structure and style we are used to, but it didn't really hold me as it should have done, and I did think it rush to make up lost ground at the end, mainly so it could tie everything together in the usual final scene.The cast play with this the best they can, but again the best work seems to be reserved for Suchet and Jackson having comedic moments together. I liked this (despite the knock-on effects) although like the previous episode it did make me miss Hastings, where such interplay complimented the episode rather than distracting from it. Moran's return was nice and seemed more than just a plot device to link to the mystery, while the support cast are mostly interesting and well played (including a young Damien Lewis (although depressing to think of him looking almost as young 20 years later hanging around in Homeland).There are good aspects to this episode, but it must be said that they do tend to be on the sides and in the main body the narrative/mystery is not well delivered, with too much focus on the style and the supporting comedic material, rather than getting the mystery right and then building off and around this foundation. I enjoyed it for what I liked, but there was a lot here that really wasn't as well done as it needed to be.

The annoying mouse and lullaby really got to me and really had nothing to do with the story...It's something I would have done my 1st year in film school. Very sad. Additionally, the story just seemed to drag on for no apparent reason...there were too many things just thrown in there that had nothing to do with the story, which makes me feel that the creative team didn't really know what they were doing, or just that it should have been shorter...which would have been a blessing, not a crime. As I have just watched all of the episodes up to this point over the past week...I'd have to say that this was by far the worst, and I just wanted to warn others not to start with this one.

It all begins with a series of thefts of seemingly unrelated objects in a hostel for students on Hickory Road, London. Concerned for her sister, who is the housekeeper there, Miss Lemon asks Hercule Poirot to look into the matter. He agrees, but soon the stakes get higher when a girl, who had admitted that she was responsible for most (not all) of the thefts, is found murdered."Hickory Dickory Dock" is a solid brain exercise, without being as mind-numbingly complicated as "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe". Murder, theft and diamond smuggling are the crimes involved, and the final twist that ties everything together is revealed only in the last 2 minutes! The characters are interesting, particularly the psychology student Colin McNabb and the mysterious American girl Sally Finch, Inspector Japp has his funny moments (in perhaps the closest this series has come to "toilet humor"), and Miss Lemon gets a more integral part to the story than usual. (***)

These Suchet-led adaptations of Poirot are frustratingly uneven because the producers brought in a different creative team for each one. Sometimes they understand the strength of the source material, and other times they go off on some unrelated direction that they graft onto the plot.They already start with a disadvantage. Suchet produces an entertaining character for sure. But the foibles of Christie's detective were all found to be assets in how he approached a problem. It was almost as if he were from some alien world where people thought differently and so could "see" things we could not.In this case, he's just a comic man who incidentally solves mysteries as if that were another eccentricity. So instead of the puzzle and his attempts to unwind it, we get:-- a bunch of buffoonery about Poirot's and Japp's eating habits-- some excessive cinematic nonsense about a mouse who appears through the story-- in an unrelated insertion, we have the chanting of a nursery rhyme every time something bad is happeningThis is the worst of a bad lot. Please avoid it.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.