After watching three seasons of "Furuhata Ninzaburô", I have come to realize that clever, devious killers are far more interesting to watch than blundering incompetents. I have moaned previously about episodes such as "The Laughing Corpse" or "Furuhata Goes to the Dentist" in which the killer's plan is so full of holes and mistakes that Furuhata barely has to do any work to crack the case. It appears I'm not the only person who made this criticism as the entirety of "Death in the Clouds" seems to be a clever writer's repost.
The episode begins and ends with Furuhata reading letters from the viewers complaining about weak plots and the fact that Furuhata and his friends tend to stumble over corpses wherever they go. The plot then proceeds to revolve around Furuhata and his friends stumbling over a corpse on an aeroplane as the world's most incompetent killer tangles himself up in knots by pretending to be the plane's co-pilot. You can absolutely feel Mitani's seething sarcasm bleed through every glorious moment of this satire.
"Death in the Clouds" is very similar to such episodes as "The Contradictory Corpse" and "The Wrong Man" in which the killer has to continually overcome obstacles put in his path by his own lies and misfortune. This kind of episode is probably my favourite and "Death in the Clouds" is every bit as entertaining as either of those masterpieces. Where it differs, however, is that Mitani's approach to comedy here is far broader and consequently the "thriller aspects" suffer. There's never a feeling that the killer might get away. It's quite obvious from the very beginning that his plan is completely idiotic and is bound to be revealed sooner than later. Where the suspense comes in, however, is when and how. Is he going to be discovered by one of the stewards? Is the little boy who saw him leaving the crime scene going to rat on him? Yûichi Satô directs the suspense scenes surprisingly well and the ways the killer finds of getting out of these impossible situations are quite entertaining in and of themselves.
Another unusual aspect of "Death in the Clouds" is that, for the first time, Furuhata himself does no sleuthing. Apparently, Masakazu Tamura was busy at the time working on a different show so Furuhata spends the entire episode asleep in first class. Instead, it is his trusty junior Saionji who leads the investigation and Masanori Ishii more than rises to the challenge of filling Tamura's boots. Shintaro, meanwhile, convinces himself there's a gremlin on the wing of the plane and spends the entire episode worrying about that instead of solving the murder (I told you the humour in this episode is broader than usual!). Assisting Saionji are the two stewards, one of whom is none other than the twin brother of Hamada, the annoying waiter from some of the previous episodes. Thankfully, he's not annoying here and actor Tomohito Yashima puts in a more subdued and engaging performance.
In conclusion, "Death in the Clouds" is somewhat hoakier and more comedic than "The Contradictory Corpse" and "The Wrong Man", but if you accept its plot holes and broader comedic stylings at face value you'll find it is every bit as entertaining. I laughed all the way through especially at the not-so-subtle jabs at overly critical viewers.
The episode begins and ends with Furuhata reading letters from the viewers complaining about weak plots and the fact that Furuhata and his friends tend to stumble over corpses wherever they go. The plot then proceeds to revolve around Furuhata and his friends stumbling over a corpse on an aeroplane as the world's most incompetent killer tangles himself up in knots by pretending to be the plane's co-pilot. You can absolutely feel Mitani's seething sarcasm bleed through every glorious moment of this satire.
"Death in the Clouds" is very similar to such episodes as "The Contradictory Corpse" and "The Wrong Man" in which the killer has to continually overcome obstacles put in his path by his own lies and misfortune. This kind of episode is probably my favourite and "Death in the Clouds" is every bit as entertaining as either of those masterpieces. Where it differs, however, is that Mitani's approach to comedy here is far broader and consequently the "thriller aspects" suffer. There's never a feeling that the killer might get away. It's quite obvious from the very beginning that his plan is completely idiotic and is bound to be revealed sooner than later. Where the suspense comes in, however, is when and how. Is he going to be discovered by one of the stewards? Is the little boy who saw him leaving the crime scene going to rat on him? Yûichi Satô directs the suspense scenes surprisingly well and the ways the killer finds of getting out of these impossible situations are quite entertaining in and of themselves.
Another unusual aspect of "Death in the Clouds" is that, for the first time, Furuhata himself does no sleuthing. Apparently, Masakazu Tamura was busy at the time working on a different show so Furuhata spends the entire episode asleep in first class. Instead, it is his trusty junior Saionji who leads the investigation and Masanori Ishii more than rises to the challenge of filling Tamura's boots. Shintaro, meanwhile, convinces himself there's a gremlin on the wing of the plane and spends the entire episode worrying about that instead of solving the murder (I told you the humour in this episode is broader than usual!). Assisting Saionji are the two stewards, one of whom is none other than the twin brother of Hamada, the annoying waiter from some of the previous episodes. Thankfully, he's not annoying here and actor Tomohito Yashima puts in a more subdued and engaging performance.
In conclusion, "Death in the Clouds" is somewhat hoakier and more comedic than "The Contradictory Corpse" and "The Wrong Man", but if you accept its plot holes and broader comedic stylings at face value you'll find it is every bit as entertaining. I laughed all the way through especially at the not-so-subtle jabs at overly critical viewers.