Grey Haired Cobra

[meganbmoore]

This week I've been rewatching the Joan Hickson adaptations of "Miss Marple."  They're kinda...freakishly faithful to the books in a way? (Like, there are things that you'd think would normally be changed more in an adaptation, but they aren't.) This is my first time watching them both since reading the books and since watching the newer versions.  The new ones took a while to grow on me but I've become rather fond of them over time.  Some of the changes make me cringe and/or scowl, but some I like.  (It's the only time I can almost deal with the ending of At Bertram's Hotel.)
 

But Joan Hickson, despite looking like she'll keel over at any moment, really is amazing at being so "bled into the wallpaper" while also being kind of scary and coldly calculating, even when it's simulataneous with her really being the sweet little old lady knitting in the corner, concerned and the scapes and dramas of the young folk around her.  (There are times when she deliberately endangers someone to get proof againt the killer, since she knows who did it but doesn't have evidence, and...yeah.  She's kinda a scary lady.)
 

But my favorite aspect is how, at least 5 times a mystery, someone's face (usually a long-suffering inspector) is all "OMG WOMAN FINISH YOUR SENTENCE!" due to her tendency to voice half a thought out loud but not the more pertinent half, or to let her sentence trail off and go "well, you had to be there."  And she usually isn't really being coy so much as forgetting we aren't all telepaths, and don't think like her.  (Which would be annoying in a younger character, but isn't with her.)

Also, I forgot how the long suffering inspector in one of the earlier mysteries showed up again later as Miss Marple's nephew.  (A slightly-less long suffering inspector.)