Partners in Crime forgoes the friendship between the Beresfords and instead presents a dynamic where Tommy has accidentally married a woman who despises him. While Tuppence’s exasperation at Tommy’s bumbling ineptitude may be a familiar dynamic for fans of the toxic marriages in Modern Family, it’s not a dynamic Christie enjoyed.Īs Tommy is bullied in and out of a series of black cabs by the shrewish Tuppence, the viewer is left wondering when he’s going to start slipping arsenic into her tea. It’s possible that the writers are setting up a dynamic where the Beresfords’ struggling marriage is saved by their mutual love of crime-fighting but, if that’s the case, solving a couple of murders probably won’t be enough. The Tommy and Tuppence of Partners in Crime are not friends they can barely hold a conversation and the scenes of detection have the air of a couple taking up Salsa dancing in a bid to keep from divorcing before the kids leave home. Their adventures in The Secret Adversary were of two friends reunited and having fun, then when they fell in love they kept that spirit of friendship throughout their marriage. By signing up you agree to our terms of use Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. It’s a formula that has blighted many a Christmas schedule and is now impinging on the Beresfords’ dynamic. For non-UK readers: the BBC has a longstanding attachment to sitcoms where the slightly older grumpy male is constantly beleaguered by his more intelligent, shrew of a wife.
The actors playing them have very little chemistry (although with a better foil Jessica Raine could have been a superb Tuppence) and the characters themselves have been filtered through a BBC sitcom generator. Partners in Crime is pitch-perfect on period detail, costumes, and music but all of that fails to distract from the fact that Tommy and Tuppence just don’t like each other. They were happy to risk financial instability in pursuit of a juicy conspiracy, they were accidental blackmailers and diligent detectives, they were best friends, they fell in love, they had a jolly good time. Unfortunately it appears that the creative team behind Partners in Crime missed just why this fun-loving duo were so beloved.
Although they were frequently overshadowed by Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, it was the Beresfords’ fun loving nature that endeared them to fans.
0 kommentar(er)
