grantss Hercule Poirot is ailing, and close to death. He travels to the estate Styles to convalesce and invites his old friend Hastings to join him. Styles has a nostalgic significance to Poirot as it was the location for the first case that Poirot and Hastings solved together. Poirot's reasons for calling Hastings down are not all about nostalgia or farewells - he believes a murder is going to be committed and, being unable to walk, he needs Hastings to be his eyes and ears. Hastings has another interest in being there - his daughter, Judith works there, as an assistant to chemist Dr Franklin. Sure enough, within a few days, Dr Franklin's wife dies, poisoned. The inquest calls it suicide, but to Hastings and Poirot it looks like murder. Problem is, the prime suspect is Hastings' daughter...The final Poirot, and probably the worst of all the Poirots, plot- wise. Poirot is completely out of character here. Always the one for high-mindedness, idealism, obeying Christian values and justice through the courts, here he becomes a vigilante and murderer. Even worse, his target is not a murderer, but merely a master-manipulator. The other issue with this is the notion that you're not responsible for your own actions. If you murder someone but someone subtly manipulated you into doing it, it's their fault, not yours. What nonsense! (Though consistent with the sort of bs the media and many Facebook warriors trundle out regularly).The only thing keeping this from being a very unsatisfactory end to the series is the emotional value. Quite sad to see Poirot in the state he's in. Nostalgic to see him reunited with Hastings, especially in the same place they first worked together. The introduction of Hastings' daughter also adds an element of generational change and the passing of time.Overall: Not terrible but Poirot deserves a better send-off than this.

tvsitcoms I feel so disappointed with Poirot being a murderer that I cannot aprove this episode. Jamais, mes amis, would Poirot take justice into his hands. I do not find this to be according to his character. And he commits suicide after? But then I realized it was Agatha Christie's decision. And has the story sinks in - I just saw it for the 1st time - I start to gradually be more acceptable towards it all. A killer that never actually kills but is most deadly effective... Police could not legally have done a thing to stop him.Yet, Poirot's little gray cells should have provide him with much better ways to have the evil man rightfully punished without resourcing himself to murder! A DUEL OF MINDS... Poirot could have led the other into an act his true character would be exposed or play with him until he harms no one but himself. That way the death would be by the killer's won hands, not by Poirot's! But that was not Agatha's choice. Being able to write this much adventures for one character must have been very challenging. It was time to Poirot to retire... in a big Bang.I guess that is exactly what happen.Production wise, this episode is as perfect has every previous one. This is one of the most agreeable detective period series ever being made. Lovable scenery, wardrobe, locations, colors, traditions reconstitution... There's a delightful parallel were the audience finds a very old Poirot in a wheelchair, not able to walk and very sick. But the mansion he gets in is has bad has he is. The settings are according to the end of it all. Winter time, rain, huge old mansion, greyish, empty, decrepit... Beauty has seen better days around there. Yet somehow that place still has the ability to take your breath away. You start to wonder what to be that old must be like. To the little gray cells...And that is why I conclude Poirot becoming a murderer just maybe justifiable. That much older and sick I do not know what it feels like. Maybe its plausible. A big part of me still finds it out of character and I'm guessing a religious person has he was would not enjoy opening the way to the «other side» with a fresh murder followed by his own suicide.Plot wise, Agatha's story feels less real because it seems to me people would not be so naive towards such manipulation of their minds, since some where quite suspicious. The way old Poirot ends up drugging a person is also very easy. I was enjoying watching Poirot again.

surangaf One has to be a brainless fan of Cristie and Poirot(in either the books or series who are somewhat different) to enjoy this episode.Episode is a faithful adaptation of the book in main story points, skillfully fitted to character of Poirot, with his blinkered morality, as developed in later 'darker' episodes of the series.From moral point of view, lousy logic used by Poirot to justify his murdering, and absolving of other murderers who have freely chosen to commit crimes, testify to either severe deterioration of his much referenced 'little grey cells', or Cristie's ironic revenge after developing a strong dislike for her character's smug pseudo rationality. Adapters did point to rather hypocritical moral compass of Poirot in several of the later episodes, such as 'The Clocks'. However they never seem to have the courage to carry it through to the end in any of them, and always dropped the ball before exposing the absurdity of Poirot's moral pontificating. They succeeded better when there is a distance between Poirot and characters going through a murder induced moral crisis, as in 'The Murder on the Orient Express'.Here too adapters fail to challenge Poirot's irrational murder. Nor do they leave the story at the superficial moral level Cristie displays in books. Unlike her, they raise the moral issues explicitly and seriously, but instead of confronting them in their complexity, they let Poirot getaway with absurdity.By the way, adapters in later part of series tried to imply that Poirot's blinkered morality is due to his pious Catholicism. However some of his moral positions do not fit with the Catholic teachings. If he is confused it due to his brain being confused.Actors were good in the episode, but unlike in almost all episodes in series, up to but not including final season, production design was bad.

Franklie Where is the fun of the early Suchet Poirot? This episode was boring to look at and boring to listen to. The best thing about it, besides Hastings (yay!), is that they finally stayed fairly true to Agatha Christie's book. Otherwise, we didn't think much of it.Poirot was portrayed as being ornery and we had to listen to him wheeze, not pleasant. In her book, Christie uses words like "twinkling" and "affectionate" and "quiet" and only "faintly scornful" when describing Poirot, but he was so demeaning in the film that by the end, we didn't like him much at all.The cinematography was washed out, which in a film industry that creates such eye-catching TV as Inspector Lewis, Midsomer Murders, and Sherlock is a huge shame and a waste. It's possible to be bleak and picturesque at the same time.Usually we try not to be too critical, but Masterpiece knows how to create fabulous shows, so when they fall below the mark, we speak our mind in hopes that they'll always go for creating characters that we care about and put them in scenery that fascinates. There are many Masterpiece and BBC shows that we watch again and again. These later Poirots aren't in that group. Major bummer.