Although the recent adaptations of Agatha Christie’s novels have tasks of many freedoms with the stories of the musical author, they still tend to tend a traditional structure: we measure players, a murder is committed, perhaps more outside of what it is. Towards zero It is a bit different. But it’s a bit also Different?
Opening shot: A close -up of a man in a tuxedo. He says: “I like a good detective story, but you know, they start in the wrong place. They start with the murder. No, no … the murder is the end. The story begins much earlier, years before, when the murder is sown,” zero point. “
The yeast: The man who makes that speech is Frederick Treves (Clarke Peters), and among the people of the dinner table with him is his client Neville Strange (Oliver Jackson-Coen), one of the best professional players in England. Treves was the lawyer of the Neville divorce of his childhood girlfriend Audrey (she Lily Hyland). The test was the owner of the tabloids and it was he History of 1936 in the United Kingdom. Audrey accused Neville of having an adventure with Kay Elliot (Mimi Keene), which at first denied. But then decides to express his love for Kay in court, even if he means that he loses the case. Neville and Kay possible marry.
Meanwhile, in the quiet coastal city of Saltcrek, Devon, Lady Tresslian (Anjelica Huston) is in his bed, with stories about the divorce of his nephew Neville read by Hered “friend”, Mary Aldin (Anjana Vasan). Mary has secretly written letters to Thomas Royde (Jack Farthing), another nephew of Lady Tresslian, who has been exiled to the family plantation in the Malay Peninsula. He desperately wants to return home, but Lady Tresslian will not speak to him under any circumstances.
Since Audrey grew up in Tresslian’s property, having been orphan when she was a child, she still wants to visit despite the divorce. She decides to come in August, thinking that Neville will be on tour. But, in an effort to let the past pass, Neville decides that Hey and Kay should also come in August. Treves, a family friend, is also invited, along with his 14 -year -old Ward Sylvia (Grace Doherty). Mary is responsible for inviting Thomas, despite the vehement of the lady. It is also attending Mac (Adam Hugill), who congratulated Neville doing the divorce trace; Now is security for Neville and Kay.
They also introduce us to Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), a police detective in Saltcreek who has to form constants from Lady Tresslian about the debauchery that goes to the hotel through her bay. It is a regular at the hotel bar, where it is proposed by a sex worker, Louis Morel (Khalil Ben Gharbia). For the most part, thought, Leach burns and suicide.
What programs will you remember? We can compare Towards zero With any number of recent adaptations of Agatha Christie, such as The murder is easy.
Our Toma: written by Rachel Bennette and directed by Sam Yates, Agatha Christie’s to Zero It has been reconfigured and reinvented a bit, with the changed location, as well as some of the characters: Inspector Leach, for example, is not part of the book. While the general theme of the story is the same, Cenning around the awkward visit to the Lady Tresslian de Neville estate, his new wife and his ex -wife, feels more as if the story is written to be less than Chartrigy and more stallowed and more or more prestige.
What is a good indication of this? The first full hour of the three -hour miniseries passes and the only body that appears is in an incidental scene where an ambitious swimmer from the bay is taken, tasks under the current. Lady Tresslian, confined to the bedroom due to paralyzing anxiety, decreases how many people are in the water. It seems that this will be a significant factor in the future, but in the first episode, it is still mainly a detail that feels incidental instead of instruments for the plot.
Call us outdated, but not seeing a murder victim in the first hour of a series of Christie de Agatha feels bad. There is a reason why the structure of the story that Christie used most of the time has been imitated for decades and why his novels have been adapted for television and movies, although he has left for almost 50 years.
For those who could take into account, “But that is the point of the book!”, We would like to have bone very well to have the murder right at the end of the first episode, just to feed the desire in a little mystery.
It makes it a slow and draggy first hour, where we see a lot of background history but without a key or anything or anything. The performance of the cast are convincing, especially Huston as the Lady Tresslian and Rhys officer as Sad-Sack’s leaching (who plays sad better than Matthew Rhys?), But the performances really are not in Wee We Burght Experiment.
Sex and skin: None.
Separation shot: After being expelled from the hotel bar, Leach stops on the edge of a cliff. He is about to return when he sees Sylvia, which leads him to return and make him about to jump.
Star Star: Basically, someone in the cast that is not the star of the best peak that shows a great promise.
The majority of the pilot line: The María de Anjana Vasan has to take the most verbal abuse of Lady Tresslian, but we like the hope she has been in her unusual relationship with Thomas.
Our call: Omit it. While performances in Agatha Christie’s to Zero They are looking at Heerth, we have the feeling that most spectators who are not fans of Christie Hardcore will be bored for the entire 3 -hour race.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) Write about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he is not necessary: he is a television addict. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Salon, Rollingstone.com” Vanityfair.comFast Company and other places.