Last Year's Model

This is an unusual episode. We are presented with a murder that happened 10 months ago, with the supposed culprit arrested then. She (supposedly) murdered her best friend because both were in love with the friend's husband. She has been in jail and the trial is about to start. Barnaby had arrested her.

There are flashbacks to tell us a lot of the story. We meet the families of the accused and the victim. There is an elderly "Miss Marple"-like character who is a key witness. Slowly a second plot develops with a real estate agent and the local news reporters.

Compared to many episodes, it is not exceptionally complicated -- and that is good! We see Barnaby begin to have doubts about the arrest he made. We meet a potential love interest for Barnaby!

The ending is very satisfying. Definitely worth a watch!

Have to say I found this a quite absorbing "Midsomer Murder" in spite of some of the criticisms I read on this board.

After Barnaby arrests Annie Woodrow for the murder of her friend, Frances Trevelyan, it's time for her trial. Barnaby and Jones attend. To Barnaby's surprise, Annie pleads not guilty, although he thought she would change her plea to avoid a trial. After all, the evidence against her was solid.

But was it?

Annie's motive for murdering her old friend seems to have been her complete obsession with Frances' husband, whom Annie had been in love with in the past. She's now married to a music executive who is a real jerk, and she's not happy. But she has always insisted she had nothing to do with Frances' murder.

Something is bothering Barnaby, but he's not sure what. He was confident of his evidence, and now he wonders. An old friend, Pru Plunkett, a psychiatrist and also a friend of Annie, tells him that before the murder, Annie was planning to move out of the area. It's time to look at the evidence again.

This was, as has been pointed out, a different structure from the usual MM. I thought it was good, particularly the intimation that Pru Plunkett may have been more than an old friend of Barnaby's. I also liked the elderly female witness who wants to help with the case.

The plot was absorbing, and though Joyce Barnaby was away, we saw her during a phone call with Cully, who visited home. I loved Cully looking at Pru with suspicion.

Very good.

Great episode! The mystery is complex and straightforward at the same time. I enjoyed the look into UK courtroom procedures.

The little old lady is a standout. Not quite Miss Marple, who would have remembered the fishmonger's boy and known the truth immediately, but very well-written and played. Also a standout is Lance, the defendent's soon-to-to-be ex. Made my skin crawl. And the little girl Ed was very good.

As usual, the scenery is lovely, if a bit sparse this time. Excellent production values.

There are some funny moments (the dripping secretary). And Jones is now a DS! He and Barnaby work well together.

It seems that the nature of many of us humans is to continue forever in the same path. Change is to be resisted. I've seen all the Midsomer Murders episodes from the get go. For the first time, we get to be involved in a trial. Just this once, there isn't a murder committed which leads to an investigation of several characters. This time an arrest is made in the first two minutes and Barnaby takes it upon himself to look at what appears an open and shut case, to try to find a reason for the murder. In the process, we find things are not as simple as they appear. In many mysteries, once we have in our heads what we believe to be the right answer, we then fill in the blanks with the evidence (often hearsay) to bolster our theories. The woman here has already been convicted by the press. She has been caught in a couple lies (or careless answers to investigators' questions) and so she must have done the deed. But the motive is sketchy. The relationship with the victim's husband tenuous. And the forensics are rather shady. The eyewitness testimony of an elderly woman with bad eyesight is almost enough to set things right in the first place. I welcomed the plot here and would imagine that for one episode a bit of difference is a good thing.

I consider this to be the best of Midsomer Murders, due to the psychological depth of the characters and to the excellent acting. The story was great, and there's only one murder!(unusual for Midsomer Murders). Consequently, there was no need for those preposterous explanations as to why a lovely old lady had to kill 3 or 4 times in order to protect her son or some such nonsense. Lately, I've been watching MM for the love of beautiful images only. But this episode is believable and dramatic - the way Midsomer Murders used to be.

Also, I enjoyed the great chemistry (and relationship of trust) between John Nettles and Siobhan Redmond(Dr. Plunkett), and the intimation of something that "might have been". Great insight into Barnaby's soul.A devoted husband, a doting father...but not only.