The Missing Man is the seventh episode of the fourth season of Father Brown.
A military pilot, missing for years and presumed dead, returns to disrupt his wife's remarriage to his brother, and upsets his whole household. The next morning, he is found dead in his room. The trail to the killer bounces from family member to family member, and a well-hidden bar that leads to a family secret.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Millie shot and killed the "strange woman" breaking into her father's room — which was, in fact, her father.
- Accidental Pun: Geoffrey says he will have to give Father Brown a "crash course in landing." Mrs. McCarthy and Lady Felicia rebuke him for it.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: The family dog barks viciously at all strangers. Mallory insists it should be locked up.
- Buzzing the Deck: When Ned and Millie take the old plane for a spin, they buzz the family and Father Brown's retinue, watching in fear.
- Happens again, but unintentionally, when Father Brown has to be talked through a landing.
- Chekhov's Gun: Zigzagged. Arthur ostentatiously decides to clean "the gun" the night Ned returns from the dead. Later, he walks up the stairs with the gun, pointed forward. But then, he puts it in the gun cupboard and goes to bed. However, it does end up being used to kill the victim.
- Crash Course Landing: Geoffrey must do this for Father Brown.
- Cross Dresser: Jackie, at the secret bar, is this. It then turns out that Ned was as well, and he was the "strange woman" that broke into Ned's room that the dog didn't bark at.
- Disappeared Dad: Ned.
- Disposable Pilot: Played with, when Millie, while piloting, mentally shuts down after realizing what she has done. Father Brown is forced to take over
- Emergency Stash: Ned has a go-kit hidden under the floorboards, with cash and passport, and the card for the bar that Father Brown and Mrs. McCarthy investigate.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Inverted. The dog does not bark at the strange woman Millie sees breaking into the house. After Mallory points this out, Millie can't figure out why. It's because the "strange woman" is actually her crossdressing father, whom the dog knows.
- Fall Guy: Father Brown and Arthur (with Millie's help) invent a fake suspect to lead Mallory off the case and not uncover the truth, which would be too traumatic for Millie.
- Gay Bar Reveal: Played with. Father Brown and Mrs. McCarthy go to the secret bar, and meet Jackie, who is a crossdresser note . Father Brown seems to figure this out, but Mrs. McCarthy is clueless. Later, Jackie is seen lying flowers on a grave outside St. Mary's, and Mrs. M. compliments Jackie's hat. When she explains to Lady Felicia that Jackie is "the woman from the bar," Felicia smirks and whispers the truth in Mrs. M's ear, which puts her in shock.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Part of Geoffrey's anger towards Ned is that he accuses him of cheating on Meg while in the military, as "a woman" was seen leaving Ned's quarters on base. That "woman" was Ned.
- Secret Word: Father Brown and Mrs. McCarthy go to the address of the hidden bar, but can't find the entrance. They use a payphone to call the number, and they are asked for the password. The person on the phone ends up giving them a hint, which Father Brown deduces as it is (somewhat ironically) a biblical quote.
- The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: Meg is accused of Ned's murder because bloody womens' clothes with her name on them are found stashed near the house. Father Brown, after figuring out the truth, but not wanting to reveal it to Mallory, challenges Mallory to have Meg put on the clothes. They are far too big for her and not cut to her form. Mallory has no choice but to release her. The clothes were in fact Ned's drag clothes, in which he was shot, and which had his last name in them — same as hers.
