Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
- Episode aired Aug 25, 2014
- TV-PG
- 1h 29m
An ailing Poirot returns to Styles with Hastings nearly three decades after solving their first mystery there in order to prevent a serial killer from claiming more victims.An ailing Poirot returns to Styles with Hastings nearly three decades after solving their first mystery there in order to prevent a serial killer from claiming more victims.An ailing Poirot returns to Styles with Hastings nearly three decades after solving their first mystery there in order to prevent a serial killer from claiming more victims.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" by Dame Agatha Christie was actually written during World War II but knowing it would he the last book involving the beloved Belgian detective, Ms. Christie had it sealed in a vault along with the novel "Sleeping Murder" (the last "Miss Marple" novel) with plans to have them published at or near the end of her life when she would no longer be able to write. Four months after "Curtain" was published Dame Agatha Christie died but since the novel was generally well-received critically, she gave permission for "Sleeping Murder" to be published the following year in 1976 which she would never see.
- GoofsHastings states that he first met Poirot at Styles. In The Mysterious affair at Styles he says that he first met with Poirot in Belgium and he is in fact acquainted with Poirot before he arrives at Styles.
- Quotes
Hercule Poirot: [voice-over] It was quite immaterial. I take the sleeping tablets and have acquired a certain tolerance. The dose that would send Norton to sleep would have little effect on me. With the greatest of difficulty, I put him in my wheelchair, then, when the coast was clear, I wheeled him to his room. You will not have realized, Hastings, that recently I have taken to wearing a false moustache. Even George does not know that.
Hercule Poirot: [flashback, showing Poirot in Norton's room, removing his false moustache] I put on the dressing gown of Norton, tapped on your door, then went into his bathroom. Presently, I heard you open your door. I left the bathroom and returned into the room of Norton, locking the door behind me.
Hercule Poirot: [struggling to lay Norton on his bed] I put the dressing gown on Norton, and lay him on his bed. I had a pistol, which on two occasions I had placed ostentatiously on the dressing table of Norton when he was out, so that the maid would have seen it.
Hercule Poirot: [puts the pistol to Norton's head as he awakens, smiling... then fires] I put the key into the pocket of his dressing gown and locked the door from the outside with a duplicate I had made, then returned to my room and began writing this. I played the game, as you English say. I gave to you the clues and every chance to discover the truth, pointing you towards Iago, the original Stephen Norton. My only weakness was to shoot him in the center of his forehead and not in his temple, but I could not bring myself to produce an effect so lopsided. That, mon ami, is my nature, and should have told to you the truth.
Hercule Poirot: [voice-over as Hastings speaks with Miss Cole] Take my advice for the last time. Tell to Mademoiselle Cole all that I have said, that you also might have done what her sister did, had there been no watchful Poirot to stop you. Take the nightmare away, and show how Norton, not her sister, was responsible for the death of her father.
Hercule Poirot: [flashback to Styles, as Hastings discovers Poirot dead in his room] I have no more to say. Am I justified in what I have done? I do not know. I do not believe that a man should take the law into his own hands... but by taking the life of Norton, have I not saved others? I have always been so sure, but now...
Hercule Poirot: [flashback, Poirot writing the confession, kissing his rosary] When the moment comes, I will not try to save myself, but humbly offer my soul to God and pray for His mercy. It is for Him to decide. Ah, Hastings, my dear friend. They were good days. Yes... they have been good days.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Gogglebox: Episode #2.9 (2013)
Hastings, who has just lost his wife, is asked by Poirot to meet him at Styles, the site of a previous case thirty years earlier - their first.
Styles is now a guest house. Poirot's health is failing, and he is confined to a wheelchair, due to his arthritis and bad heart. But he still has all his marbles. He tells Hastings that there is a murderer on the premises, and he needs Hastings to be his eyes and ears. The people there include the owners, Daisy and Colonel Toby Luttrell, a spinster, Elizabeth Cole, an aristocrat, Sir William Boyd Carrington, a birdwatcher Stephen Norton, a womanizer, Major Allerton, a chemist Dr John Franklin and his wife Barbara, her nurse, Nurse Craven, and Dr. Franklin's lab assistant, who just happens to be Hastings' estranged daughter Judith. One of these people is a killer. But can Hastings take his attention off his daughter long enough to help Poirot find him or her?
Then the murders start. What does Poirot know? Can he solve his final case before his final curtain?
A dark mystery, but a good one, with Poirot's illness permeating the entire episode. The murder in the end is actually the McGuffin - the big story is that this is Poirot's last case. My big complaint is that Miss Lemon and Superintendent Japp were not brought back for the episode.
I know some people didn't like the turn this series took, and it's true, the seasons with Miss Lemon and Hastings were the best -- they had humor and lightness as well as mystery. But throughout all the seasons, there were always good episodes.
Will be missed.
Details
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- Filming locations
- Shirburn Castle, Watlington, Oxfordshire, England, UK(Styles Court)
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- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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