History YMMV / Poirot

* HarsherInHindsight: This series' adaptation of ''Literature/TheBigFour'' bears little resemblance to the source material, but features its villain [[spoiler: Claude Darrell]] concocting a vast scheme of murders, societal destabilization, and false tips to journalist Lawrence Tysoe that essentially amount to "fake news" to whip up public fear of another war, all to distract from his obsessive pursuit of [[spoiler: Flossie Monroe, a woman he feels entitled to have despite her having clearly rejected him]]. This episode aired in 2013, but audiences can be forgiven for thinking it was made even a couple years later, as (save for the murders) [[spoiler: Darrell]] now comes off as a perfect representation of the worst of the post-2016 Trump era: entitled, controlling views of women fitting for an incel, sowing public distrust through false information and slandering the reputations of more progressive figures, and being more than willing to attack anyone else who gets in their way. As a result, Poirot's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech could qualify as ValuesResonance as well.

** Miss Blanche and Adam Goodman from ''Cat Among the Pigeons'' are played by Creator/MirandaRaison and Creator/AdamCroasdell respectively, who may be better known to gamers as the voices of [[Characters/DragonAgeCassandraPentaghast Cassandra Pentaghast]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Ignis Scientia]], respectively.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Many actors began their careers playing supporting roles, including: Creator/SeanPertwee, Creator/ChristopherEccleston, Creator/DamianLewis, Creator/JamieBamber, Creator/RussellTovey, Creator/EmilyBlunt, Creator/AliceEve, Creator/MichaelFassbender, and Creator/JessicaChastain.

** ''Literature/HalloweenParty'': [[spoiler:[[BitchInSheepsClothing Michael Garfield]] is the [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly friendly]] garden caretaker for Rowena Drake but is in fact a narcissistic sociopath trying to [[InheritanceMurder obtain her family's inheritance]]. Seducing her and manipulating her to help him with his crimes, Michael killed Rowena's husband and helped her poison her aunt to help gain the inheritance. Michael then forced Leslie Ferrie to forge a fake will before [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing him once he has it]]. When caught by Poirot, Michael tries to kill everyone present, including [[OffingTheOffspring his and Rowena's daughter]]. Despite Rowena genuinely loving Michael, Michael reveals he only used her for his own desires and planned to abandon her as a scapegoat for the crimes.]]
** ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'': [[spoiler:[[AssholeVictim Lanfranco Cassetti]] is a ruthless gangster out to escape justice. A {{blackmail}}er who kidnaps people, murdering them when the authorities close in but still collecting the ransoms, [[WouldHurtAChild Cassetti]] was the murderer of a little girl named Daisy, having continued to exploit her family days or even weeks after he had already killed the girl. Uncaring of how this killed four innocent people, from Daisy's mother dying from grief in premature labor with her new baby, to her father's [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and an innocent maid killing herself when she was falsely accused of complicity, Cassetti cares only for escaping justice and was so evil that even the heroic Poirot feels obliged to [[LetOffByTheDetective cover for his killers]].]]

** Miss Blanche and Adam Goodman are played by Creator/MirandaRaison and Creator/AdamCroasdell respectively, who may be better known to gamers as the voices of [[Characters/DragonAgeCassandraPentaghast Cassandra Pentaghast]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV Ignis Scientia]], respectively.

** ''Literature/TakenAtTheFlood'': [[spoiler:David Hunter is initially thought to be just a {{Jerkass}} at worst and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at best. that is, until the truth is revealed. His AdaptationalVillainy turns him from a simple opportunist to someone who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] simple farm-girl Eileen Corrigan until she was pregant and forced her to abort the baby so as to convince her that she was BeyondRedemption and put her under his control. He then detonates a bomb that kills dozens of totally innocent people, just so that he can murder his own sister and make Eileen take her place so that she could inherit a vast fortune. He forbids her from giving any of the money to anyone else, causing her to be unfairly hated by everyone involved, and drives her into morphine dependency, which almost results in her deliberately overdosing (just as he had planned). By the end of Poirot's explanation, he is so horrified and furious at what David has done and is capable of doing, he is almost reduced to spluttering. What is more, he never expresses a shred of genuine remorse for his actions and generally [[EvilFeelsGood relishes]] [[HateSink making others hate and fear him]]]].

* HollywoodHomely: Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon.

* CantUnHearIt: Creator/DavidSuchet is the definitive version of Hercule Poirot.

** ''Literature/TakenAtTheFlood'': [[spoiler:David Hunter is initially thought to be just a {{Jerkass}} at worst and a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at best. that is, until the truth is revealed. His AdaptationalVillainy turns him from a simple opportunist to someone who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] simple farm-girl Eileen Corrigan until she was pregant and forced her to abort the baby so as to convince her that she was BeyondRedemption and put her under his control. He then detonates a bomb that kills dozens of totally innocent people, just so that he can murder his own sister and make Eileen take her place so that she could inherit a vast fortune. He forbids her from giving any of the money to anyone else, causing her to be unfairly hated by everyone involved, and drives her into morphine dependency, which almost results in her deliberately overdosing (just as he had planned). By the end of Poirot's explanation, he is so horrified and furious at what David has done and is capable of doing, he is almost reduced to spluttering. What is more, he never expresses a shred of genuine remorse for his actions and generally [[EvilFeelsGood relishes]] [[HateSink making others hate and fear him]]]].

** "Hallowe'en Party": [[spoiler:[[BitchInSheepsClothing Michael Garfield]] is the [[FauxAffablyEvil seemingly friendly]] garden caretaker for Rowena Drake but is in fact a narcissistic sociopath trying to [[InheritanceMurder obtain her family's inheritance]]. Seducing her and manipulating her to help him with his crimes, Michael killed Rowena's husband and helped her poison her aunt to help gain the inheritance. Michael then forced Leslie Ferrie to forge a fake will before [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing him once he has it]]. When caught by Poirot, Michael tries to kill everyone present, including [[OffingTheOffspring his and Rowena's daughter]]. Despite Rowena genuinely loving Michael, Michael reveals he only used her for his own desires and planned to abandon her as a scapegoat for the crimes.]]

** Mrs Lorrimer from ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable'' is SparedByTheAdaptation, relieved of her terminal condition from the novel, and is treated more sympathetically by the narrative than her crime deserves. In the novel she does not reveal her motive for murdering her husband, but in the adaptation, she did it solely so that she could marry another man. (Why not just get divorced?) Poirot has no qualms about letting her go free, and she is EasilyForgiven by her daughter whose father she murdered. Shielding Anne worked well as a RedemptionEqualsDeath in the novel, but falls ''far'' short of justifying RedemptionEarnsLife here.

** Mrs Lorrimer from ''Literature/CardsOnTheTable'' is SparedByTheAdaptation and is treated more sympathetically than her crime deserves. In the original novel she does not reveal her motive for murdering her husband, but in the adaptation, she did it solely so that she could marry another man. (Why not just get divorced?) Poirot has no qualms about letting her go free, and she is EasilyForgiven by her daughter.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Downplayed in ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'' with the murderer, [[spoiler:Sir Charles Cartwright]]. While the episode doesn't whitewash him for his crime, it really tries to elicit him some sympathy in a HowTheMightyHaveFallen / AlasPoorVillain / LoveMakesYouEvil kind of way. The problem is that [[spoiler:Sir Charles Cartwright]] may be one of the worst murderers of the Poirot stories, up there with the culprits of ''The ABC Murders'' or ''Evil Under the Sun''. Indeed, [[spoiler:his first murder was simply done because he wanted to do a rehearsal. Yes, a '''rehearsal''', in order to execute flawlessly the crime he wanted to do.]] He didn't do this with random people either; [[spoiler:he knew that the victim of this "rehearsal" was going to be one of his friends or acquaintances.]] He then proceeded to [[spoiler:[[MurderIsTheBestSolution murder]] his childhood friend in order to cover the fact that he had a crazy wife with whom he couldn't divorce, so he could marry the woman he loved.]] Finally, he [[spoiler:murders a stranger, a female patient at Strange's sanatorium, simply to create a false lead.]] And, after all this, the guy has the nerves to try to lie to his so-called true love and to blame Poirot for exposing him?

* HarsherInHindsight: This series’ adaptation of ''Literature/TheBigFour'' bears little resemblance to the source material, but features its villain [[spoiler: Claude Darrell]] concocting a vast scheme of murders, political destabilization, and false tips to journalist Lawrence Tysoe that essentially amount to “fake news” to whip up public fear of another war, all to distract from his obsessive pursuit of [[spoiler: Flossie Monroe, a woman he feels entitled to have despite her having clearly rejected him]]. This episode aired in 2013, but audiences can be forgiven for thinking it was made even a couple years later, as (save for the murders) [[spoiler: Darrell]] now comes off as a perfect representation of the worst of the post-2016 Trump era: entitled, controlling views of women fitting for an {{Incel}}, sowing public distrust through false information and slandering the reputations of more progressive figures, and being more than willing to attack anyone else who gets in their way. YMMV if Poirot’s resulting TheReasonYouSuckSpeech qualifies as ValuesResonance as well.