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Father Brown (2013)
May. 13th, 2014 11:42 pmVery loosely based on the G.K. Chesterton short stories (which i have not read, nor have I seen the 1974 series, though they both lurk somewhere on my "get to eventually" list) but with a drastically altered setting (1950s Cotswold).
Father Brown is a middle-aged Roman Catholic priest who runs around solving crime, relying mostly on intuition. When people ask what a priest knows about criminals, he politely points out that he's spent a significant chunk of the last few decades sitting in a box while people tell him all about the bad things they've done. (Not his exact wording, but the general idea of it.)
His chief sidekicks are Mrs. McCarthy, the gossipy parish secretary who goes everywhere except the bathroom with Father Brown (Partly because that's where the gossip is, but also partly because the man cannot take care of himself for 10 minutes if left to his own devices), Lady Felicia Montague, a bored socialite who has a husband who doesn't seem to mind that she has a steady stream of lovers, and Sid, a semi-reformed petty crook who is Lady Felicia's chauffeur and a general odd-job man (Common scene "Sid, I cannot do this illegal thing and do not approve of you doing illegal things but if I just happen to be looking the other way and you do this illegal thing for THE GREATER GOOD, I promise not to notice that the information was acquired in this illegal way."). In season 1, there's also Inspector Valentine, a police officer who's worked with Father brown (mostly against his will) off and on for years, and Susie a Polish refugee who is Father's Brown's housekeeper. In series 2, Inspector Valentine is promoted and transferred, and Susie, annoyingly, simply...disappears. I'm less annoyed about Susie being written out (for all I know, Kasia Koleczek left for another show, just like Hugo Speer) than I am that Valentine gets an episode to explain where he went and why, while Susie is simply...never mentioned in series 2, not even a vague reference. Valentine is replaced by Inspector Sullivan, a younger, more by-the-books officer who lacks Valentine's semi-affectionate semi-tolerance for Father Brown.
While the creators are male, a number of the writers are female, and it shows in the writing of the female characters, particularly Lady Felicia, who is never judged by Father Brown or the narrative, though she is sometimes judged by other characters. On the flipside, it...is not particularly enlightened, at times, when it comes to ableism. Far from the worst and probably the writers trying to be semi-true to the attitudes of the times, but there are bits that made me cringe. It also reminds me a bit of a number of 90s period dramas and mysteries where the various guest actors are "average person on the street" attractive, but not as perfect and brushed up as those in a lot of more modern dramas, and a bit more varied in shapes and sizes.
It pretty clearly wants to appeal to the Poirot/Marple/Foyle crowd, and it's not as good as those series (though better written than some of the Marples) but has a good vibe. (Side note: Father Brown's church is called St. Mary's and Miss Marple lives in St. Mary's Mead, which is certainly not the same name, but got me thinking about how the two would get on famously and possibly bond over annoying inspectors.) It isn't revolutionary or particularly unique, but it's very solid and enjoyable.
Father Brown is a middle-aged Roman Catholic priest who runs around solving crime, relying mostly on intuition. When people ask what a priest knows about criminals, he politely points out that he's spent a significant chunk of the last few decades sitting in a box while people tell him all about the bad things they've done. (Not his exact wording, but the general idea of it.)
His chief sidekicks are Mrs. McCarthy, the gossipy parish secretary who goes everywhere except the bathroom with Father Brown (Partly because that's where the gossip is, but also partly because the man cannot take care of himself for 10 minutes if left to his own devices), Lady Felicia Montague, a bored socialite who has a husband who doesn't seem to mind that she has a steady stream of lovers, and Sid, a semi-reformed petty crook who is Lady Felicia's chauffeur and a general odd-job man (Common scene "Sid, I cannot do this illegal thing and do not approve of you doing illegal things but if I just happen to be looking the other way and you do this illegal thing for THE GREATER GOOD, I promise not to notice that the information was acquired in this illegal way."). In season 1, there's also Inspector Valentine, a police officer who's worked with Father brown (mostly against his will) off and on for years, and Susie a Polish refugee who is Father's Brown's housekeeper. In series 2, Inspector Valentine is promoted and transferred, and Susie, annoyingly, simply...disappears. I'm less annoyed about Susie being written out (for all I know, Kasia Koleczek left for another show, just like Hugo Speer) than I am that Valentine gets an episode to explain where he went and why, while Susie is simply...never mentioned in series 2, not even a vague reference. Valentine is replaced by Inspector Sullivan, a younger, more by-the-books officer who lacks Valentine's semi-affectionate semi-tolerance for Father Brown.
While the creators are male, a number of the writers are female, and it shows in the writing of the female characters, particularly Lady Felicia, who is never judged by Father Brown or the narrative, though she is sometimes judged by other characters. On the flipside, it...is not particularly enlightened, at times, when it comes to ableism. Far from the worst and probably the writers trying to be semi-true to the attitudes of the times, but there are bits that made me cringe. It also reminds me a bit of a number of 90s period dramas and mysteries where the various guest actors are "average person on the street" attractive, but not as perfect and brushed up as those in a lot of more modern dramas, and a bit more varied in shapes and sizes.
It pretty clearly wants to appeal to the Poirot/Marple/Foyle crowd, and it's not as good as those series (though better written than some of the Marples) but has a good vibe. (Side note: Father Brown's church is called St. Mary's and Miss Marple lives in St. Mary's Mead, which is certainly not the same name, but got me thinking about how the two would get on famously and possibly bond over annoying inspectors.) It isn't revolutionary or particularly unique, but it's very solid and enjoyable.