Casualties of War

Foyle has his work cut out in this episode. He has Milner investigating illegal gambling, a new superior officer who is visiting from London and he is another petty, mean minded bureaucrat.

Trouble rears its head when his goddaughter visits who he has not seen for some years, she brings her young son who has not talked since his school was bombed and his fellow pupils and teachers died.

A traumatic child and a disturbed goddaughter is the last thing Foyle needs but he realises that they need somewhere to stay.

There is a sinister Spaniard who has forced two youths to do some tasks for him. The same youths who helped Milner when he was attacked by two goons from a gambling den.

The main plot is Foyle has to find the murderer of a local teacher who had run up gambling debts. His wife works as a secretary in a military research centre. The head of the facility is an old acquaintance of Foyle and he wants the investigation cleared up quickly due to the important nature of their military work, developing a special kind of bomb.

I do wonder why Anthony Horowitz needed to use the development of the real life bouncing bomb as an aspect of the story. More controversial as bombing dams is now regarded as a war crime since the Geneva Convention was updated in the 1970s.

I did like how Foyle's moral compass was offended as the military and police bosses would rather compromise in the murder investigation for the war effort.

There were nice little touches in this episode. Despite his goddaughter's son suffering from shock, other school kids found war to be fun. Playing in bombed out sites. This was mentioned several times by the late film critic Barry Norman as he grew up during the war.

The story begins with a couple brothers trying to burglarize a big, beautiful house. The house is filled with treasures. However, they have no idea what they are walking into. A man is waiting for them and he begins to extort them, having them do treasonous things. At the same time we are introduced to a facility where secret work on a special kind of bomb is being done. Also, there are men involved in illegal gambling. The efforts to put a stop to this (because they act like organized criminals) brings all the stories together. The other significant story is the appearance of Foyle's niece and her shell-shocked son. He is a survivor 9f the bombing of a school where most of his classmates perished. He doesn't speak a work and has turned totally inward. The mother is a mess, but in Foyle's eyes, has always been one. She asks to stay with him and his efforts to help are turned away. Sam tries hard to assist, but the boy remains stoic. The theme of this episode is that during war, many of the rules we play by don't apply. There is a stunning announcement at the conclusion.

Every British crime/detective series seems to have a supervisor that is ignorant and annoying...usually more interested in the politics of police work rather than fighting crime. They don't appreciate the efforts of the main characters or take credit for their accomplishments. This episode is an example. Pie In The Sky and Endeavour are also series that you want to fast foward on DVD when these characters appear.

This is an episode that really does tug at the heart strings, I found the most striking aspect being the story of young James, of course the gambling, sabotage and murder as all fascinating, but the trauma that little lad had gone through, and the subsequent act of his mother, it's captivating.

It's great, it's a very, very good, imaginative episode. A cracking story, magnitude production values, terrific acting as always, Kate Fleetwood arguably steals the show, over even the velvet voiced Stanley Townsend who I am a massive fan of.

Two scenes I loved in particular, Kitchen facing of with Michael Jayston, wonderful, and my favourite of the lot, Sam explaining her trauma to Foyle, such a wonderful scene.

I love how this show always made you think about aspects of the war that often went unnoticed, here they make us wonder what happened to the younger generation, with so many teachers on the front line, it's an interesting point.

Hand on heart, this is a wonderful, moving episode. 9/10.

Loved 'Foyle's War' and was immediately hooked when first getting into it. Love it even more now, on re-watches things that didn't quite make sense at first are clearer and things that were not noticed or appreciated before are and much admired. Everything that came over as brilliant on first viewings still are brilliant on re-watches.

"Casualties of War" has divided viewers and that's understandable. To me it's a good episode but one of the weakest generally of the series, which says a lot actually about how brilliant the best episodes are. There are parts of the story that could have had much more detail and clarity, other episodes feel more consistently logical and explore elements better. Also can understand the criticisms regarding everything inspired by the Bouncing Bomb story, it's just too harrowing, that still hits people hard, and historically significant for it to be misappropriated in as misjudged a way as here.

'Foyle's War' is a series usually very good, even more than that actually, in its very accurate and evocative representation of the period and attention to detail. While there is evidence of all that here, it was a bit of a shock however that the attention to detail wasn't as consistently careful, there are inaccuracies here that are uncharacteristically sloppy and takes one out of the period.

With all this being said, a lot of me cannot possibly hate "Casualties of War" because it also does a lot right despite these misgivings. Have always admired the visual detail that went into 'Foyle's War' and how high quality the production values are, with beautiful costumes, the evocative way the characters are made up, the look of the houses and cars, pretty locations and authentic-looking scenery. The music is in keeping with the mood and doesn't overpower the drama while still making an impact.

The writing is intelligent, sophisticated and thought-provoking, establishing Foyle's personality with so much depth already and providing some tense and heart-tugging moments. The story has its issues, but is still compelling and never dull. It does require full attention as ever, and is mostly very clever and intriguing, pacing itself deliberately but as ever with a lot happening things don't feel dull and there are some nice twists and turns. Foyle's personal life subplot is dealt with with a lot of heart, the main mystery is very clever and compelling and the ending is one of the most shocking of the series.

As ever there is a real sense that war is a central character and the themes are handled tastefully.

One thing that wasn't picked up by me but now is and admired hugely is the tackling of what was seen as truths but some really misconceptions and seeing British during the war in a new light. This was a bold move and dealt with a lot of honesty and tact.

The character tensions were also handled very well and added a lot of intrigue.

Michael Kitchen is truly superb as Foyle, subtle, intensely determined, commanding and above all human. One of the most interesting television detectives there's ever been and Kitchen has rarely been better. Honeysuckle Weeks is charming and loyal and Anthony Howell is very good.

Supporting cast likewise, especially Michael Jayston, Kate Fleetwood and a heart-breakingly nuanced turn from Joshua Lewis.

In summary, disappointing but still well worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox