Épisode #1.3

After the second death Inspector Leach finally comes out of his rut and begins to uncover one mystery after another. In fact he might work things out just in time to realise that he is being played and prevent another murder.

The third and final instalment turns into a full on police procedural. The stubbled, solemn Inspector Leach has been a more interesting character than most throughout and is now finally allowed to shine as he pieces things together, only to tear them apart again and start over and over until finally reaching the right conclusion. Unfortunately the intended third victim is not as sympathetic as in other versions of this story and their angry outburst at their would be murderer left me rather cold. As half the motive has been done away with the solution feels a little empty.

In the end all remaining characters leave Gull's Point in pairs, some more well suited than others and I finish it with a little disappointment. This is one of my favourite Christie stories and I am not convinced the extra runtime was really used to the advantage of the adaptation. Maybe instead of working in a sex scene on the stairs and an illegitimate offspring we could've stuck with the actual motive? Just a thought. Nevertheless this is a solid, beautifully shot adaptation of a very good book.