The Night of the Stag

It's a very nice episode, of the good old kind like the early episodes. The villains are suitably villanous, at least one of the murders is very creative, the seemingly unrelated subplots converge nicely, and there is a very satisfying confrontation at the end. Bonus points for village fete and bucolic countryside. I liked the beekeeper with his bees, and the way they symbolically tied the episode together. I LOVED the over-the-top temperance preacher, he was hilarious and spot-on. And notice: the only potential rapists in the story are the villain-in-chief and his ridiculous buddy-buddy, neither of which succeeds in raping anybody. If people paid attention they would notice that the women of the opposite village open their doors for the men when they arrive on the stag night, and literally and rather enthusiastically jump into their arms. Is it adultery? Possibly. Do their husbands approve? Probably. Do we care? Not in the slightest.

First 3/4 was mildly interesting. But, the end went "Bullwinkle". So utterly ridiculous. The actors had to be embarrassed taking part in this rubbish. Worst MM by far. This is an insult to the John Nettles era.

In all the years of Midsomer Murders, they've made many good episodes and a few poor ones that disappointed. But this is the first episode that I can truly say was absolutely dreadful to the point that it left both my wife and myself with really bad tastes in both our mouths and that we both felt deeply offended by it. Angry and embarrassed for the actors who had to take part in it, in fact. I hope the producers in the U.K. received numerous letters and emails of complaint after it aired thereabout the content and the story-line as it was so awful. What were Dudgeon and Clarke thinking in agreeing to take part in this drivel? It was beyond belief.

I won't say more as it may be viewed as a spoiler but I'll close by saying that I can think of better ways to pass an hour and a half: like resting on a bed of nails while someone piles weights on your chest.

Sorry, but rating it a 1/10 really is giving it too much credit.

Barnaby and Jones investigate the murder of a local revenue agent where the phrase "shake him like a British nanny" is somewhat apropos. As far as a murder mystery it was rather run-of-the-mill but the second act really stank.

So, a bunch of fat, ugly, drunken neanderthals dress up with antlers and go "a courting" to the neighboring village. Though apparently in the one village some of the local sluts actually welcome the attention there were also a couple attempts at outright rape (including the leading "stag" offering up his own daughter). If that is what passes for local culture I say evacuate the few decent folks and just napalm the rest. Who scripts this crap?

This seemed like a story from a different TV series. Starting with everyone puking at the beginning of the episode due to the beer having gone bad thanks to a dead body in the vat. I have to think most people would notice sour beer when they taste it, not several pints later. I know I would.

That was the first hint, seeing everyone throwing up. Not a typical beginning to a Midsomer Murders episode. Then it just got weird, as some of the married women were clearly looking for extra love from other married men, and it was leading up to the town elders calling for a Stag Night.

It was obvious to me that the dirty fat old guys wanted to attack the young women, but the old fat girls were thinking they were the objects of attention. Maybe that point was intended as humour, but it came across as nasty and gross that everyone was willing to participate, no matter the consequences.

The ending and revealment of the murderers was anti-climactic. The villagers and their life priorities were pretty disappointing and low class, from Stag Night to killing tax men. The final scene was way over the top, and really over-acted by everyone. It seemed like they were trying to turn a really awful bit of fiction into MacBeth, and everyone worked extra hard to seem a lot more terrified, passionate, sincere, and excited than they needed to be. Seemed like a train-wreck.

When John Nettles was on as Barnaby, this kind of thing would never happen.