Send in the Clowns

"Send in the Clowns" is an episode where the circus is in town and mayhem follows. The first murder is a VERY tough to believe one. When the two clowns are clowning around in front of the audience, the one clown is supposed to shoot the other with a prop gun. But when the gun is fired, it appears to have killed the other clown. Now here's the tough part...it turns out the prop gun DIDN'T kill anyone...it was someone else hiding in the grassy knoll. To time the shot EXACTLY with the prop gun...that was tough to believe. But like any episode of "Midsomer Murders", there will be more killings as well as a variety of other crimes...including the illegal selling of pig blood and theft! Clearly these clowns aren't all that funny.

This is a decent episode which takes advantage of the high prevalence of Coulrophobia (the fear of clowns). It also has a pretty interesting plot and is worth seeing. A great episode? Nah...but one that is still worth your time.

The Circus comes to Town, Midsomer true to form, it's not long before we get murder.

It wasn't the best I would say, a slightly disappointing end to what has actually been a very good series, now we've actually gotten to see it.

Your belief needs to be suspended permanently here, after one murder you think the Circus might have ended, but they keep on going.

I wonder if a wet midweek night in January was the right time to put this out, would Halloween not have been better? If so they could have played on the kitsch, clown horror element.

The cast do a good job, Neil Stuke and Jason Watkins in particular, but let's face it they are up against it with the material they've got to with here.

The major plus side I thought being the regular cast, very assured performances from all, with some great humour from Fleur.

Better than some, but one of the weaker entries in this series. 6/10

Keep that remote in your hand for whenever 'fleur' shows up so youj can skiop or mute it. The woman is insufferable. Both the actor and the character. Only a few such anomalies exist similar to this...courtenay cox being one of the most odius of all time...bea arthur another (the woman could light a plate of spaghetti on fire with that stare)...albert dekker, one of the all time weirdo's of hollywood...willem defoe: so incredibly freaky any footage of him on a dvd will automatically destroy your hard drive...and fleur and the nasty-ass broad who plays her not only exceeds all these but also establishes New Standards for Odiousness...

Few things about the circus were curious. Don't circus's travel as opposed to this stationary one? How could a stationary circus survive? Yet alone produce somewhat well paying jobs to bright, articulate people who are satisfied to live in meager trailers for years, and years? The dedication to the circus by the loyal oddballs made me think of some Monty Python skits. Once you get past the circus thing it was a very well written episode. I enjoyed the work of the stunning Joni Kamen as Sophia Bellini, and Lorraine Burroughs as Freya Ferabbee. The ending worked well, but got a little too sappy. Neil Dudgeon's fear of clowns comforted by Paddy the dog was a funny subplot.

Am somebody who has always gotten a lot of enjoyment out of 'Midsomer Murders' and there are a lot of good to outstanding episodes throughout. More the Tom Barnaby era than the John Barnaby era (where the show in general has not quite felt the same), but there are some surprisingly good later episodes about. Really liked the idea for "Send in the Clown" and the cicus setting has much nostalgic value, so a large part of me was really looking forward to the episode.

Only to be met with disappointment. As has been the case too often with the John Barnaby era 'Midsomer Murders' episodes. Does that mean that "Send in the Clown" is a bad episode? No, not at all. Considering the premise and the setting, this had potential to be one of 'Midsomer Murders' best episodes. The sadly quite average execution here sadly only makes it as far as the show goes a middling episode. Not one of the best later episodes, or episodes in general, at the same time also not one of the worst (nowhere near in both cases).

"Send in the Clown" is certainly watchable and has things good about it. It looks great, the scenery is both picturesque and atmospheric and the circus has a nostalgic and even unsettling look. All beautifully photographed, Even in the worst episodes, and the show was hardly immune ftom weak episodes, the music never disappinted and was continually one of the good things. That is the case here with "Send in the Clown", the main theme is still immortal.

The episode does well in evoking the excitement and danger of the circus setting, doing better at that than with the mystery, and the murders themselves are cleverly staged. Especially the last one overall, which had the most suspenseful build up, though the second was the most elaborate. There is some nice humour here and there, the clown sightings were genuinely creepy and the cast are fine, Jason Watkins and Neil Stuke do a particularly nice job of the guest stars (Lorraine Ashbourne also does very well but her character felt underdeveloped) and Annette Badland continues to be a hit as Fleur, proving to still a worthy addition. Neil Dudgeon isn't taking it as overly-seriously as he did when he took over from John Nettles. Not hard to relate either to Barnaby's uneasiness with clowns, being somebody who was scared of mascots when younger.

However, the mystery could have been a lot more engaging outside of the murders. It tends to be pretty mundane and quite padded, as well as a little too overshadowed by everything to do with the circus. Which caused some of the episode to drag, quite badly in places. The subplots intrigue initially, but too many of them felt under-explored (the clown sightings could have been better explained) and the same can be said for too many of the supporting characters in general, Curtis being by far the most interesting.

Like too many 'Midsomer Murders' episodes nowadays, the denouement felt rushed and almost last-minute, the identity of the murderer was a surprise but the motivation for the killings felt too came out of nowhere and extreme. Also felt rather cheated by that for the last murder, you have such a suspenseful build up and cleverly staged scene and you go and give it the weakest and almost cop-out-like motive. While the dialogue is not necessarily awful, it doesn't stand out either.

In summary, watchable but disappointing. 5/10