"Midsomer Murders" Small Mercies (2009)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Peter Smith

Writers:

Peter Hammond (screenplay)
Caroline Graham (characters)

TV Series:

"Midsomer Murders" (1997)

Original Air Date:

20 September 2009 (Season 12, Episode 5)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Suspect | Police | Sergeant | Detective

Cast

John Nettles	...	DCI Tom Barnaby
Jason Hughes	...	DS Ben Jones
Jane Wymark	...	Joyce Barnaby
Barry Jackson	...	Dr Bullard
Kirsty Dillon	...	DC Gail Stephens
David Ryall	...	Bob Moss
Margaret Tyzack	...	Harriet Compton
Caroline Blakiston	...	Hilary Compton
Paul Bentall	...	Edward Palfrey
Olivia Colman	...	Bernice
Matilda Sturridge	...	Christa Palfrey
Sanchia McCormack	...	Jackie Tanner
Emma Stansfield	...	Rebecca Rix
Abigail Thaw	...	Annabel Johnson
Jesse Birdsall	...	Mike Johnson

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Company:

Bentley Productions

Not a bad episode.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Midsomer Murders: Small Mercies is set in the small Midsomer village of Little Worthy where just after 9 O'Clock one morning model village maintenance man Bob Moss (David Ryall) makes a shocking discovery, Bob finds the dead body of local resident Richard Tanner (Jamie Treacher) in the middle of the scale model village tied down & surrounded by model villagers just like a macabre scene from Gulliver's Travel's. DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) are called in & lead the investigation, they find out that Richard wasn't well liked in Little Worthy & Barnaby feels there is more to the case than first appears. Then Richard's lover Christa (Matilda Sturridge) is also murdered, this time with a metal trident. With two murders to solve & plenty of suspects Barnaby once again has to work out the clues & solve the puzzle to unmask a killer before they strike again...

Episode 5 from season 12 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Peter Smith is a pretty decent episode that almost reaches the height of greatness but not quite due to a slightly slow pace & a somewhat unsatisfying climax. Small Mercies starts off rather well with an intriguing mystery as a dead man is found in a scale model village tied down & surrounded by model people in a somewhat macabre set-up but then next to nothing happens for the next fifty minutes before the next murder & then the episode peters out with a somewhat limp ending that tries to go for emotion & tries to invoke some sympathy for the killer. Another aspect about Small Mercies that I thought needed more work was that no-one is really given enough motivation to kill Richard & we never really find out anything about him either & he almost seem inconsequential to the plot by the end. At almost two hours there's plenty of exposition so you need to pay attention & there's a certain eccentricity & likability to Small mercies with it's quaint model village & crazy fancy dress pond race but the meat & bones of the story just isn't that good or that satisfying although if you do like the series than Small mercies is still more than watchable & a decent enough entry.

This episode looks nice enough & the model village is a cool setting to use, it's very impressive looking & I wouldn't mind a visit myself although it's quite far from where I live as it's the real life Bekonscot Model Village in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. The murders happen off-screen although one is seen during a flashback & there's a couple of swear words in here too. The acting is as good as usual & the regulars were solid.

Small Mercies is decent enough Midsomer Murders episode that I wouldn't call a classic but is in the upper echelon of later season episodes. Good but not great.