Father Brown (TV Series) The House of God (2019) User Reviews

Such a different episode, I really enjoyed it.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 28 March 2019]

The House of God certainly stands out as a very unique episode. There has been a degree of quality about this seventh series, I'm not sure what it is, perhaps the writing, it perhaps the slightly more serious, less frivolous tone, that's certainly clear in this episode.

Mrs McCarthy truly is centre stage in this episode as she's romantically entangled with the charming Patrick O'Leary. Cusack is very good indeed, great to see her take up the role of amateur detective.

I particularly liked Amy Robbins, Angelica was a great, tragic character.

Different in tone, but very watchable indeed. 8/10

The House of God

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 26 February 2019]

Mrs McCarthy might have found a suitor in Patrick O'Leary. She has been helping out with his garden since his gardener ran off somewhere.

O'Leary is a retired bible salesman who suffers from ill health. He is a god fearing man.

When a drunken woman barges in threatening to expose him. Mrs McCarthy is shocked to find out that she was his gardener. Worse he is also married to her. She then dies, reputedly poisoned.

Inspector Mallory arrests a local who drank with the dead woman a lot. Father Brown believes the O'Leary household hides more secrets. Mrs McCarthy is heartbroken.

Another enjoyable mystery, the focus is more on Mrs McCarthy in this one. As ever Father Brown has been beavering away in the sidelines and arrived to his own solution.

Brief Encounter and Bob Hope

[safenoe · 8/10 · 2 June 2023]

I liked the references to Brief Encounter and Bob Hope in this bigamy special episode of Father Brown, called The House of God. Anyway, this episode was screened just a year before the pandemic, and deals with the controversial matter of bigamy even though there are no references to Utah.

Anyway, Inspector Mallory's reaction to the bigamist was hilarious, as he was pondering whether the husband "had a rota" which says it all. Selin Hizli, who is half-Irish and half-Turkish, guest stars as one of the wives in this thought provoking episode with rainfall to set the scene of an English countryside.

The show's Catholic advisor?

[emmetlang-42622 · 20 June 2022]

This is an interesting episode based on a righteous man being able to interpret the Bible in such a wildly different manner than is usual. And then Father Brown openly admitting that the man's interpretation is not specifically prohibited in the Bible, while obviously not endorsing or tolerating the man's idea. I think it works very well as a plot design. Good episode.

One small note though about Father's biblical quotations: At the time of this series (early 1950s) the church would have been using the Knox translation as its standard. The quotes offered up by Father Brown are not from this translation--I've recognized enough of them that are very different than what I am familiar with, so I looked up a few. And as I thought, Father's quotes never come from Knox. Neither do they come from the Douay-Rheims translation that would have been the official Catholic version when Chesterton was actually writing the stories, the early 20th century. They may be using a translation that isn't Catholic at all. Just a curious if anyone knows the version they are using.

Fine at best!

[harrykivi · 6/10 · 22 February 2021]

The seventh season of "Father Brown" has been an enjoyable one so far with only "The Demise of the Debutante" being very disappointing. "The House of God" continues this season on a decent note. It's an episode, which is entertaining, but could have been much better.

Let's start with the good aspects, shall we?

. The production values of "The House of God" are great as usual for the series. The music's marvellous and it's well-directed. The acting is mostly good too. Sorcha Cusack is on top-form and out of the guest stars Sean Campion fares the best.

. The story is at times investing. There is some quirky humor on the way and really liked how Father Brown manages to apprehend the killers George and Maria.

But...

. After a very nice set- up, the mystery loses most of its intrigue and becomes quite bizarre with a bigamist story-line, which was sadly not very compelling and melodramatic at best. The murder mystery definitely needed few more twists to make it more interesting.

Overall, a decent episode.

6/10 HK

Unbelievable

[evans-15475 · 7/10 · 12 January 2021]

An entertaining episode but probably the most unbelievable plotting ever in father brown,would have been more believable if they tried to date father brown

Average episode...weak unrealistic Father Brown theology

[knutsenfam · 4/10 · 23 May 2019]

Father Brown seems unbelievably foggy on his church's teachings on monogamous marriage. Not a believable stance for an early 1950s priest... indeed for most Christian clergy in early 1950s.

Yes a bigamist appears...and murder etc. happens. Moderately entertaining plot.

However, I notice a pattern in this series.. Every now and then in this usually good...sometimes great..series. It's as if...the writers cant bear to fully present the actual theology of GK Chesterton's priest.

Remember again..a fellow great mystery writer, the great Dorothy L Sayers spoke of the underestimated power of actual Christian theology. "The Dogma IS the Drama"

Plot is ok...but not sparkling with the twists seen in their best episodes.

Tedious episode

[coltras35 · 3/10 · 26 July 2022]

Suspicions are aroused when the holiest house in Kembleford is linked to the death of a wanton woman. Bigamy and murder is what you get in this rather tedious episode. Started out well but it became tedious with Father Brown coming across judgmental. On a positive note, inspector Mallory's face expression when he meets the bigamist is hilarious. Seline Hizli is cutie.