User Reviews

Poirot is again, a brilliant show. There isn't any mysteries in this episode, but great meaning. The settings, the dialogues, the guest actors and things were great.

It was a really sad episode. Not your normal Poirot's episode where he finds out the killer of a gruesome murder. Not for Wasp's nest. Poirot met one of his old friend where Poirot noticed something horrible and tried to prevent a murder occurring. The start took a bit longer than usual, the friendly meeting between Poirot and his friend and all that, Japp getting surgery. Even so it was great, a sad ending, full of regrets and melancholy. Yet even so, the way this episode was set up was great. 9 for the plot, 9 for the setting.

This one is a little different. Poirot, Hastings, and Japp are waiting at the station for Japp's wife. (Japp's wife!) But she doesn't show, and Japp has an attack of cramps from the crab-mayonnaise sandwich he had for lunch. I don't recall that the Brits ever put enough filling into a sandwich to make anyone ill, but okay. Poirot and Hastings leave in a cab and Hastings spots a young woman, whose face he recognizes from the cover of Vogue Magazine, driving by in a new MG, accompanied by an impudent jazzy little riff on a soprano saxophone. Like everything else in these stories, the automobile is a spotless ivory. Not a speck of mud on it anywhere, not even the underside of the fenders or rather the wings.

The budgets for each of these stories must be high enough to keep a Roman Emperor in swallow's tongues for a year. This one features a lavish display of women's garments circa 1935. Poirot is in the audience but doesn't show much interest in décolleté necklines, while Hastings is no more than politely attentive. It must be said, though, that the elegant lady in the MG makes a splendid runway model. It ought to lift the spirit of women everywhere to know that female models are paid roughly double what the most famous male models are paid. I'd guess, though, that regardless of gender the career is liable to be a short one.

I'm sort of skipping the plot, I know, but they all contain familiar elements, twisted around and replaced like a Rubik's cube, so that it seems pointless to outline each of them. There's greed, jealousy, and Poirot's fulgurating intuition. What more needs to be said about the elements the plots have in common? A mythologist or folklorist could probably do an academic number on the isomorphisms, but there are so few qualified to handle the job. Where is Claude Levi-Strauss when you need him? Much is made of an apparently indestructible wasps' nest in the garden, and for good reason, as it turns out. It's more than a symbol. Poirot is stung on the neck by one of the little varmits.

They aren't exactly the things that Americans call "wasps." Here, they'd be called "yellowjackets", particularly vicious-looking animals. At rest, their black-and-yellow banded abdomens pulsating like accordians, as if just waiting for you to try something. I don't care much for them myself. I don't mind honey bees, not just because of their utilitarian function, but because of their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. They sting, they die. Also, the very existence of bees seems to be in peril. But wasps can pump you full of formic acid until your eyes pop out and then go about their business as usual. They don't care. They're like humans in that respect. That's why the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket -- nobody cares anymore.

That's what comes of channeling Schopenhauer, but if you think that's sad, wait until you watch the end of this episode.

Let's see. Did I cover the plot? Yes, I think so. And -- let me check -- yes, I put a fine polish on the description of the cast.

Hercule Poirot is hired by John Harrison (played by Martin Turner) who tells him that his girlfriend, the glamorous model Molly Deane (played by Melanie Jessop), has had the brakes on her car tampered with. There is a bitter rivalry between Harrison and a sculptor called Claude Langton (played by Peter Capaldi) since the latter was once engaged to Molly who then left him for the former. At a fashion show, Poirot and Captain Hastings (played by Hugh Fraser) see Molly hastily board a taxi with a sinister looking man, but thankfully Hastings has a camera on hand and manages to take a picture of him. Poirot shows it to Chief Inspector Japp (played by Philip Jackson), who is in hospital recovering from appendicitis, but he doesn't recognise this mysterious man. Poirot solves the mystery and two lipstick stains of different shades in a tea cup, petrol mysteriously poured into a water butt and potassium cyanide bought supposedly to destroy a wasps' nest in Harrison's garden provide the astute detective with the important clues. In the process he prevents a suicide and attempted murder...

All in all, Wasps' Nest is another worthwhile entry in this series. Acting wise, Martin Turner, Peter Capaldi and Melanie Jessop shine as three people caught up in a triangle of love and deceit. Their performances are strong enough to give it the emotional tug necessary to move the audience. David Suchet remains the definitive Poirot and there is a funny scene where his secretary, Miss Lemon (once again played by Pauline Moran), tries to encourage him to take up keep fit classes. She hands him a leaflet reading "Use your vigour to keep your figure." "Absurd!" Poirot exclaims, "There is nothing wrong with the body of Poirot; it is in the peak of condition." Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson and Moran all provide their usual dependable support to complement Suchet's fine performance. Brian Farnham's direction is spot on using clever visual touches to highlight the clues and various red herrings. All the other technical aspects of the production are fine and there is a great scene set at a 1930's fashion show. The attention to detail that has gone into the design of the retro costumes is amazing.