"The Star Of Jacob" is the Christmas 2016 episode of Father Brown. It is often listed retroactively as the first episode of the fifth season.
Tropes:
- Apron Matron: Nanny Langton is so forceful, stern, and assured that she is able to not only snap Lady Felicia (who grew up with her) into obedience, but even manages to successfully snip down Inspector Mallory.
- Christmas Episode
- Distinguishing Mark: Hannah knows that David is really Jacob, because she clearly remembers the birthmark he was born with.
- Distracted by the Cute: George is frequently coming onto Amy, the young maid, but it turns out to be a ploy to get close to Jacob/David and to be able to spike Nanny Langton's drink.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Nanny Langton repeatedly (and cruelly) remarks to Amy that she can't fathom why a man like him would be interested in a girl like Amy.
- Guilt Complex: Hannah returns Jacob/David by secretly placing him in the manger of the nativity, out of fear of George being hanged for his kidnapping.
- Hates Their Parent: Mrs. Langton notes that David doesn't seem to like her at all. This causes her a lot of grief and depression, thinking she is a horrible mother, unnatural, lacking in maternal instinct. She puts on a good face, but is secretly distraught and ill over it. Justified because "David" isn't her baby at all.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Basil, Langton's cousin, is the ostensible heir to the Langton dukeship. However, he's a no-good gambler and drunk. This plays into Nanny Langton's strategy of switching the babies, because Basil (even by his own admission) would be a terrible duke, and they need an alternative heir.
- Karma Houdini: Nanny Langton never has to atone for her machination of switching the babies. She's an all-round cruel woman to boot, and never gets any comeuppance.
- George technically still did commit child kidnapping, even if the child is actually his. Jacob/David was legally given to the Langtons as their ward. In the end, though, everyone agrees his actions were probably justified.
- The Kindness of Strangers: Against Mrs. McCarthy's puritan wishes, Father Brown eagerly invites Michael to stay in the presbytery rather than have to sleep rough.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Mrs. Langton is told, after her disastrous pregnancy with (the real) David, that she can never carry a child again. At the end of the episode, she has discovered that she is, in fact, pregnant again.
- Must Make Amends: Langton, after realizing George is the father of the child he took from the clinic in lieu of his own, sickly one, realizes this is his chance to atone for that sin by giving the child back to George and Hannah.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Averted. John Langton is frantic that his decision to do the right thing by surrendering Jacob to George and Hannah will drive his wife away. It turns out that she is relieved to find out the child wasn't hers, because she was severely depressed at her lack of maternal bond with the child.
- Prefers Rocks to Pillows: Despite being invited to live in the presbytery, Michael is found again sleeping in the church's confessional. He argues that it's quieter and less stuffy there.
- Public Secret Message: Subverted in that she didn't necessarily intend for it to be public, but Hannah's Christmas card to George contains a secret message, just in case anyone else read it. It results in some awkward prose, which is lampshaded by Inspector Mallory, and later also by Father Brown after he realizes why.
- Sacred Hospitality: Father Brown reminds Mrs. M. that the Bible says that we should be kind to strangers, in case they are angels in disguise. It turns out exactly like that.
- Secret Relationship: George and Hannah. When discovered, George points out that he kept his marriage a secret from the Langtons because their opening for a valet required a bachelor. Lord Langton has some Christmas spirit and offers to set them up in a cottage on the manor.
- Succession Crisis: Of a sort. Basil would make a terrible duke, so the Langtons need a child. Unfortunately, Mrs. Langton has a difficult pregnancy, and the resulting child is too sickly to survive. She is also deemed unable to ever carry a child again.
- Switched at Birth: David and Jacob. It's Nanny Langton's idea, as Mrs. Langton's child was too sickly and wouldn't (didn't) live through the night. She tries to justify it by arguing that Langton needed a "proper" heir.
Characters:
Michael satisfies the tropes:
- Angel Unaware
- Angels in Overcoats: because it's cold sleeping on the street at night in December.
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Fridge Brilliance: At different points, Michael says he "apprenticed to a master carpenter" and later that he was in "the finest choir in the world." The carpenter is Jesus, and the choir is the choir of angels. - Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Michael ends up finding both a donkey and a sheep for the nativity procession, and ultimately, cleans up and takes over as lead chorister.
- Meaningful Name: While only shown in the credits, Michael's full name is Michael Nagle; "Nagle" is an anagram for "angel."
- Our Angels Are Different: Michael shows up as a bum and drunk sleeping rough in the church's confessional.
