Midsomer Murders: Small Mercies is set in the small Midsomer village of Little Worthy where just after 9 O'Clock one morning model village maintenance man Bob Moss (David Ryall) makes a shocking discovery, Bob finds the dead body of local resident Richard Tanner (Jamie Treacher) in the middle of the scale model village tied down & surrounded by model villagers just like a macabre scene from Gulliver's Travel's. DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) & DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) are called in & lead the investigation, they find out that Richard wasn't well liked in Little Worthy & Barnaby feels there is more to the case than first appears. Then Richard's lover Christa (Matilda Sturridge) is also murdered, this time with a metal trident. With two murders to solve & plenty of suspects Barnaby once again has to work out the clues & solve the puzzle to unmask a killer before they strike again...
Episode 5 from season 12 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Peter Smith is a pretty decent episode that almost reaches the height of greatness but not quite due to a slightly slow pace & a somewhat unsatisfying climax. Small Mercies starts off rather well with an intriguing mystery as a dead man is found in a scale model village tied down & surrounded by model people in a somewhat macabre set-up but then next to nothing happens for the next fifty minutes before the next murder & then the episode peters out with a somewhat limp ending that tries to go for emotion & tries to invoke some sympathy for the killer. Another aspect about Small Mercies that I thought needed more work was that no-one is really given enough motivation to kill Richard & we never really find out anything about him either & he almost seem inconsequential to the plot by the end. At almost two hours there's plenty of exposition so you need to pay attention & there's a certain eccentricity & likability to Small mercies with it's quaint model village & crazy fancy dress pond race but the meat & bones of the story just isn't that good or that satisfying although if you do like the series than Small mercies is still more than watchable & a decent enough entry.
This episode looks nice enough & the model village is a cool setting to use, it's very impressive looking & I wouldn't mind a visit myself although it's quite far from where I live as it's the real life Bekonscot Model Village in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. The murders happen off-screen although one is seen during a flashback & there's a couple of swear words in here too. The acting is as good as usual & the regulars were solid.
Small Mercies is decent enough Midsomer Murders episode that I wouldn't call a classic but is in the upper echelon of later season episodes. Good but not great.
Episode 5 from season 12 this Midsomer Murders mystery was directed by Peter Smith is a pretty decent episode that almost reaches the height of greatness but not quite due to a slightly slow pace & a somewhat unsatisfying climax. Small Mercies starts off rather well with an intriguing mystery as a dead man is found in a scale model village tied down & surrounded by model people in a somewhat macabre set-up but then next to nothing happens for the next fifty minutes before the next murder & then the episode peters out with a somewhat limp ending that tries to go for emotion & tries to invoke some sympathy for the killer. Another aspect about Small Mercies that I thought needed more work was that no-one is really given enough motivation to kill Richard & we never really find out anything about him either & he almost seem inconsequential to the plot by the end. At almost two hours there's plenty of exposition so you need to pay attention & there's a certain eccentricity & likability to Small mercies with it's quaint model village & crazy fancy dress pond race but the meat & bones of the story just isn't that good or that satisfying although if you do like the series than Small mercies is still more than watchable & a decent enough entry.
This episode looks nice enough & the model village is a cool setting to use, it's very impressive looking & I wouldn't mind a visit myself although it's quite far from where I live as it's the real life Bekonscot Model Village in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. The murders happen off-screen although one is seen during a flashback & there's a couple of swear words in here too. The acting is as good as usual & the regulars were solid.
Small Mercies is decent enough Midsomer Murders episode that I wouldn't call a classic but is in the upper echelon of later season episodes. Good but not great.