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*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Midsomer Murders: The Magician's Nephew is set during the lead up to Halloween & DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) has to investigate the Midsomer Magic Circle when one of their number Jean Wildacre (Kate Crutchley) drops down dead while performing the 'Cabinet of Death' magic trick in front of some local children. Forensics prove that the spikes inside the cabinet that were meant to be retractable were deliberately jammed & coated in the deadly poison from the Central & South American Poison Dart Frog. Tales of witchcraft, Satanic rituals & cults are rife throughout the village & Barnaby has to sort through the tales of magic & curses to find a very real flesh & blood killer before they strike again...Episode 5 from season 11 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Richard Holthouse I was actually a bit disappointed with The Magician's Nephew after a relatively strong start to the eleventh season. The script by Michael Russell starts out promisingly enough with some sinister religious ritual set in the English countryside late at night that looks like it could have come straight out of a Hammer Horror film (where's Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee when you need them?) but then settles down soon after into a fairly mundane & forgettable episode that was far too talky for me & had a pretty weak central plot. I thought the episode as a whole lacked focus, there aren't any red herrings & the only subplot is about Mrs. Barnaby organising a Halloween party for the local kids. Not enough people could have done it, there weren't enough motives for murder flying around & I never felt like any of the character's could have done it because there's never any reason given for them to have done it. Like a lot of Midsomer Murders episodes the twist ending reveals that sinister past events were responsible for present day murder but I must admit it's pretty hard to swallow & take seriously when the twist finally comes. I just didn't think any part of The Magician's Nephew worked that well, no motives, no suspects, little plot, lots of silly detours which amount to zero & a rather absurd twist.There are three murders in The Magician's Nephew although all are committed the same way with poison from an exotic Poison Dart Frog, of course this isn't the first time Barnaby has had to deal with exotic rare poisons as he has already had to catch a killer who was using rare poisons in Orchis Fatalis (2005) from season eight. The ending also features a poetic justice type just desserts send off for the killer too. As usual the production values are excellent & the locations used include Buckinghamshire & Englefield House in Berkshire. The acting is very good while TV presenter Angela Rippon has a small cameo as a TV presenter! The end of The Magician's Nephew sees Barnaby dressed up as Count Dracula complete with fangs & cape for a Halloween party while Joyce is the Bride of Frankenstein & Cully looks cute as a Witch.The Magician's Nephew is a somewhat disappointing Midsomer Murders episode, I think the plot is unfocused & thin & there's not enough mystery or intrigue here to maintain ones interest for nearly two hours.
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