Review of Front Seat

Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Front Seat (1997)
Season 10, Episode 7
6/10
Not A Murder Mystery
18 January 2015
This story reminds me a bit of Jack London's Moonface where he explains why he utterly hates the man he plans to murder.

Edward Hardwicke plays a seriously-hen pecked husband of a revolting rude chain-smoking bully of a woman played by Janet Suzman. She sells their home and buys a tumble down holiday home all without even mentioning it to him.

Her old boyfriend, played by Richard Johnson comes to visit. He is unbelievably rude, ordering a feast, then imposes upon her husband to pay for it. He openly flirts with her and sticks his hand between her legs. He keeps belittling the husband. The poor husband is constrained by the rules of politeness. He can't bring himself to throw the crude, rude, disgusting man out, who has not even the sense to keep his mouth closed when eating.

The question is, will he finally get up the nerve to kill the pair of them, and if so how? I was very eager to see them both come to a sticky end. I had to look away I found Johnson so revolting. He did this with all kinds of subtle actions. He was just infuriating. It may be brilliant acting, but it was by no means pleasant to watch.

There is a secondary distracting plot that makes almost no sense about a commemorative seaside bench that was burned and replaced. The wife is obsessed with this and wants to get revenge against the party honoured in the replacement. There is a dotty old lady who sits on the bench and hallucinates every day about a beach party long ago.

The ending makes no sense and gives no sense of closure.
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