Partners in Crime

Okay, I admit I'm suffering. But it has to be taken with a grain of salt. If it weren't for Agatha's 125th birthday, no one would probably have picked up a new adaptation of Partners in Crime. But what do you do when you love a subject matter that's all about the 1920s? And they're going to move it to the New Look period of the 1950s? The characters and their settings are authentically linked to the moods and fashions of post-war London, and moreover, Agatha was still living out her ideal version of her first marriage to Archibald in the early turbulent 1920s through the Beresfords. But as time went on, she became more involved with Poirot and Marple. In the 1930s she completely neglected her darlings and only prepared a new novel for them during the war, only to leave them again in the 1950s and finally return to them again in the 1960s and 1970s. So what has the BBC come up with for us this year? They reworked the stew of her first two novels into the realities of 1952. From a balanced duo, they made it more of a marriage based on the almost maternal care of the dominant Tuppence for the distinctly passive and awkward Tommy. This! It's clear that it suits the actors better this way, but too much is too much. So why the relatively good reviews for Partners in Crime? The energy I’m using to grind my teeth is worth it. It’s acceptable as a spy novel, and as a Sunday theme, but it could have been much better. But I was actually more curious about "N or M?", because no one had tackled this novel so far. Here it works as a follow-up to the 1952 adventure, and the finale makes it seem as if the years of "Partners in Crime" are yet to come. It’s an interesting perspective, but so very different. The double play of agents in disguise as Tommy and Tuppence always worked. But it lacked humor. Anyway, I'm glad to have this summer's event behind me, and I'll obviously be returning to the 1980s series more often, but of course, I appreciate that Tommy and Tuppence have been shown to today's generation. Goodbye, darlings. #BBC (07/28/2015)