Let's face it, it doesn't matter what the author intended when you encounter these BBC produced projects. That's try with the classics, as we've seen. But its true as well of the so-called mystery series, whose only common thread is that there be a murderer.
George was a quite different sort of writer than the old fashioned mystery writers who were used as the original template. She and few of her peers used the device of detection, and the engagement of the reader as detective to do some detecting into the nature of the human soul. The mystery was not so much about tracking down the killer because we KNEW that would happen and if we didn't figure it out, someone would.
So she hijacked the fold, the position we held in the story as well as out, and gave us characters for us to question the way they were questioning the world around them. The whole point was the nature of these people, foremost the detective and his assistant.
Its a different world than Wimsey and Poirot. Now I don't care if George's frumpy, self-destructive woman is turned into cute, sexy gal. But I do care that the whole notion of detecting the psyche is tossed because it doesn't fit a rigid format.
I don't care that they hosed the story all around so long as it is better than what George wrote, or at least preserves some of the intriguing dynamics. Or if not, at least I expect it to be minimally engaging as these procedurals can be.
But it isn't. The story is horridly dull in this episode. And the characters too.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
George was a quite different sort of writer than the old fashioned mystery writers who were used as the original template. She and few of her peers used the device of detection, and the engagement of the reader as detective to do some detecting into the nature of the human soul. The mystery was not so much about tracking down the killer because we KNEW that would happen and if we didn't figure it out, someone would.
So she hijacked the fold, the position we held in the story as well as out, and gave us characters for us to question the way they were questioning the world around them. The whole point was the nature of these people, foremost the detective and his assistant.
Its a different world than Wimsey and Poirot. Now I don't care if George's frumpy, self-destructive woman is turned into cute, sexy gal. But I do care that the whole notion of detecting the psyche is tossed because it doesn't fit a rigid format.
I don't care that they hosed the story all around so long as it is better than what George wrote, or at least preserves some of the intriguing dynamics. Or if not, at least I expect it to be minimally engaging as these procedurals can be.
But it isn't. The story is horridly dull in this episode. And the characters too.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.