The Smallest Of Things is the seventh episode of the fifth season of Father Brown.
A crime scene artist invites Father Brown to help her dig into her mother's death. But the deaths in her family stem from a dark secret that may lead to more deaths if it isn't put to rest.
Tropes:
- A Hero to His Hometown: Agnes specifically invited Father Brown because of his local reputation for solving murders, especially ones that police don't solve.
- Amnesiac Protagonist Catalyst: Agnes.
- Answer Cut: Mrs. McCarthy wonders aloud "what kind of a sick mind" would make dioramas of murder scenes.Superintendent Wilber Lesser: My daughter.
- Attention Whore: Downplayed. Lucy catches Mallory peering at her through her window, and begins to do an innocent strip show for him, before cut off by the screams in the house.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Father Brown prods Agnes about her relationship with Daniel, but she demurs, saying she didn't invite him to investigate her personal life. He points out that yes, she did, by asking him to investigate her mother's death, he must also look into her family's secrets.Father Brown: Murder does not exist in a vacuum.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Agnes.
- Creepy Doll: The doll of Violet, which first appears suddenly, and then keeps popping up and moving around mysteriously.
- Creepy Dollhouse: Agnes' art.
- Crossword Puzzle: The diorama includes a miniature of that day's newspaper, which had a crossword puzzle on the front. This ends up being critical to the uncovering of the mysteries.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mallory after being released, when Lesser insists he'll still get him for being a peeping tom (of Lucy), replies with a dig:Mallory: In my defense, she made it very difficult not to look, sir.
- Destroy the Evidence: Superintendent Lesser takes the miniature paper and hides it. He realizes it is a critical clue to a truth he is trying to keep secret.
- Distracted by the Sexy:
- Wilber is caught leering at the maid when she bends over.
- Mallory happens to catch a view of Lucy in the window.
- Evil Me Scares Me: Agnes.
- Fanboy: Mrs. McCarthy notices Father Brown seems a bit "giddy" at meeting Agnes Lesser, as he's an admirer of her work.
- Foreshadowing:
- Mrs. McCarthy wonders what kind of a "sick mind" could make the dioramas.
- When Agnes insists that she got every detail right, Father Brown points out "we all have our blind spots". Agnes has some major ones.
- The height marks on the wall of the diorama (and the actual house).
- The mysteriously appearing doll of Violet.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason why DCI Webb is killed.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Name-checked, when Father Brown finds the miniature newspaper, in full view in a different diorama.
- Hospital Epilogue: Agnes.
- Humble Hero: Father Brown prefers to think of himself as an agent of salvation, not of law enforcement, though this trope is inverted when it comes to police.Superintendent Lesser: Father, I don't know how many officers have told you to keep your nose out in your time...
Father Brown: [resignedly] Words to that effect have been spoken before. - In Vino Veritas: When Agnes declares to the room that she believes her mother's death was not an accident, DCI Webb assures her that he investigated it thoroughly. A fairly sauced Mallory taunts him that maybe he screwed up.
- The Killer in Me: Agnes.
- Knight Templar Big Sister: Agnes to Violet, although this is subverted.
- Lawman Gone Bad:
- Invoked, but averted; Inspector Mallory is arrested and charged with DCI Webb's murder.
- Played straight, more or less, with Superintendent Lesser.
- Living Memory: Violet — or Agnes' subconscious version of her.
- Mean Boss: Mallory runs into his former boss, DCI Webb, from Durham. Webb wastes no time in dressing Mallory down publicly.
- Nepotism: Invoked, but denied. Agnes initially thanks her father, a police superintendent, for her getting her award, but he insists it was not his (sole) doing.
- Never the Obvious Suspect: When DCI Webb is killed, Mallory is arrested, seeing as Webb was his former boss and conspicuously hated him. (There's also blood on Mallory's coat, which he insists was planted.)
- Not on the List: Inverted. Goodfellow warns Father Brown he probably won't make it into what is a police-only party; but he produces a personal invitation from the honoree herself.
- Notably Quick Deliberation: Father Brown backhandedly compliments Superintendent Lesser for managing to charge a suspect in DCI Webb's death so quickly, implying it was suspiciously too quick.Father Brown: I imagine that the evidence against Inspector Mallory must be quite overwhelming for you to have charged him so quickly.
Superintendent Lesser: [chuckles] I've heard about you. The sleuthing priest. Quite endearing, really. - Old Shame: Lucy was a nude photo model in the past. She feels past her prime and that her husband no longer finds her attractive (his leering at other younger women doesn't help).
- Reality-Changing Miniature: Subverted. Changes occur in the diorama of Agnes' mother's death that also appear in the real world, but it has a non-supernatural cause.
- Self-Disposing Villain: (subverted) The killer, once they realize what they have done, will try to kill themselves. Father Brown prevents it.
- So Much for Stealth: Father Brown peeks up above the hedgerow to spy on Agnes' and Daniel's argument. She spots him and later critiques his surveillance skills. It's the hat, it's always the hat.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: When Mallory is describing his old boss (DCI Webb), he calls him something nasty, that gets masked by the sound of a champagne cork popping.Mallory: ...Pardon my French.
- Split Personality: Agnes — name-checked by Wilber.
- Spooky Painting: Agnes Lesser is being commended for her work making detailed dioramas of crime scenes — mostly grisly murders.
- Unfinished Business: Played with. Lucy insists that the only logical explanation for the appearance of Violet's doll and the markings on the woodwork is Violet's ghost haunting them, a lost soul. Even Father Brown, albeit conciliatorily, suggests putting aside that theory.
- You Killed My Mother: Agnes refuses to believe that her mother's death was an accident; she makes the diorama of the scene in order to help investigate it for clues.
