In this episode ,the Christie's fan (I'm part of them , I read all her books)is on home ground again ."I'm the code" says Poirot who has discovered that the murders will take place according to a plan ;it shows how Dame Christie was ahead of her time ;in the nineties ,such great thrillers such as "seven " followed suit:the deadly sins replacing the alphabetical order ,but it does not make a big difference ;countless followers tackled the serial killer who follows a certain rule which the English writer had more or less invented (even more brillantly in " and then there were none" ,the plot of which has been so often imitated in screenplays .)
Miss Phelps tried to integrate a contemporary feel in her screenplay ;so she included many scenes which display hatred against those immigrants "who breed like rabbits" ; in "the mysterious affair of Stiles " ,Poirot was a refugee ,but he became quickly the toast of the country and was proud to be Belgian : Mrs Christie's use of French was delightful and far superior to,say, that of Mrs Rendell .
Directing is nervy and effective : there's a good use of these steam train -the train fascinated the writer ,which spawned many great works such as "murder on the orient express"- and of those dark parts of town where you 're not supposed to venture after dark.
The B and the C affairs are a little muddled ,and viewers not familiar with the novel may sometimes get lost among these characters ;besides Poirot's past ,which seems to haunt him like a curse , shows up from time to time as confusing flashbacks.