Original Airdate: 7 January 1990 Written by: Clive Exton Directed by: Renny Rye Recurring cast: Captain Hastings, Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon Based on:Peril at End House
Tropes
Adaptational Jerkass: Implied; the killer's reaction to being unmasked is to sneer nastily and insult everyone, suggesting that this person is Faux Affably Evil, in contrast to their Affably Evil counterpart from the original novel who simply closes by saying "And now I suppose we must go through with this perfectly ridiculous comedy".
As You Know: At the beginning of part 2, Poirot recaps the events of part 1 for Hastings.
Cacophony Cover Up: Maggie's death by gunshot is masked by the sound of fireworks.
"Eureka!" Moment: Hastings and Miss Lemon bantering over nicknames provides Poirot with the exact bit of information he needed to uncover the true killer.
Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Inverted. The murder of Maggie Buckley and the attempts on Nick Buckley's life reveal that the Crofts forged Nick's will to make them the beneficiaries.
Never One Murder: Subverted; the second victim turns out to have faked her death (and, indeed, is the killer).
Phony Psychic: Invoked. This time, it's Miss Lemon who pretends to be the medium for the séance, rather than Hastings as in the book.
Previously on…: Parodied at the beginning of Part II, in which Hastings grabs the golf clubs, expectant to play a game of golf, but Poirot stops him and by word of mouth recaps what happened in the previous part before concluding that there is more work to be done. Of course, there are no clips from the previous part, but Poirot himself has made a great explanation on what happened.
Self-Deprecation: Hastings lampshades his relative lack of intelligence compared to Poirot at the end.
Miss Lemon: None for Mr. Poirot, because I read an article on the train about how ice cream is extremely bad for the little grey cells.
Hastings:[holding two ice creams] And two for me because mine are dead already.
Shock-and-Switch Ending: Poirot's attempts to protect Nick Buckley from the murderer appear to be all for naught when she overdoses on cocaine-laced chocolates. It's all part of the plan, however.
To Be Continued: Occurs at the very end of Part I, followed by the end credits.
