Poison

Precious is approached to deal with a number of suspicious deaths at the local hospital, the victims all die at the same time. At the same time, she's asked to investigate a potential poisoner in a wealthy family.

This was another excellent episode, I totally disagree with the negative review of this one, hugely entertaining, good fun, and not lacking in intrigue either.

How different did Jill Scott look when she went undercover, she looked like a completely different person.

Loved the sequences with the snake, being set in Botswana, there was always going to be snake involvement at some time.

Great to see the wonderful Ma Makutsi playing a bigger part, she's just terrific, she's so entertaining to watch, she's funny, but cooky in equal measure. She got to solve a case too.

9/10.

When do exploitative stereotypes become offensive and when endearing? When they are generated outside of the target community for profit? What about when they reinforce what is seen by the target community as deeply intrinsic to the culture?

Supposing that you do not know this...

It is a cheaply produced set of artificially simple "African" fables. The chief character is a bossy, obese black woman with what is proudly called "a traditional shape." Her assistant is obsessively dedicated and daft, clearly a number two. All the men are nitwits, pompous or self-effacing. The "mysteries" are simply an excuse for our number one lady to poke around and to "explain" at the end to the collected characters, Agatha Christy-style.

This is where the manufactured wisdom comes from. Where the standard mystery would have the guilty revealed and reviled, our wise woman spends most of her time explaining why the bad events happened. Culpability is diminished and wisdom about how to repair lives is doled out.

I found it not only trite, but offensive. I imagine that few others will until a few years have passed and the idea of "ethnic identity" matures past this sort of fable.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

My husband and I have just watched Episode1, The Pilot. We are very impressed with the cast and the direction. We have read the first 11 books in A.M. Smith's series. So we've become acquainted with the goodness, kindness, and wisdom of the main characters. It is not too much to say that we have come to love them as dear friends.

With such a background, we are delighted to see our dear friends brought to life and to see their country of Botswana. We do not know how the film would strike someone who has not read the books. It is beautiful filming of a life & a place that are very different from our own. And yet the kindness, tenderness, & courtesy of the main characters (each in his own unique way) is universally attractive & heart-warming. Watching the films of these stories with our children, leads to discussions of these values with them. They understand & appreciate the good behaviors they see, even though the culture is very different.

We recommend that if you have not read the books, you do so. It will be well worth your time. There are delightful treasures to be found there, that are difficult to communicate in film.