The Wax Conspiracy

The Art(s) [of Cut and Paste]

Composition of various made for television detective dramas.

Show: Foyle’s War
Cast:
Michael Kitchen – Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle
Honeysuckle Weeks – Samantha Stewart
Anthony Howell – Sergeant Paul Milner
Julian Ovenden – Andrew Foyle
Format: The name, Foyle’s War, alludes to both the attempts by Christopher Foyle to solve crimes that take place in Hastings, a town on the coast of East Sussex, and, of course, the show’s context, the second world war. It is because of the war, in fact, that the majority of the crimes are allowed to occur; the black-market, racial prejudice, illegal distilleries, profiteering from rationed goods, etc, provide the background for the anticipated murder. Of interest is the attention to historical accuracy that the show presents.
Dénouement: The resolution of these cases is always quite sprawling. There are usually two or more crimes or incidents that are thought to be unconnected. Though Paul Milner, Foyle’s second in command, helps investigate it is Foyle who finally solves the overarching mystery. The trick to watching this show is to look for the connections between both crimes. Clues are, however, suggested very briefly – a lingering camera, perhaps, or a stray comment – and it is often quite difficult, though not impossible, to have solved the crime by the end of the show.

Show:Cold Case
Cast:
Kathryn Morris – Lilly Rush
Danny Pino – Scotty Valens
John Fish – Lt. John Stillman
Thom Barry – Will Jeffries
Jeremy Ratchford – Nick Vera
Tracie Thoms – Kat Miller
Format: Set in the Philadelphia Police Department’s cold case division Cold Case follows a series of detectives as they attempt to close out crimes that have, for one reason or another, remained unsolved. Here the police are made aware of a new piece of information that allows them to re-open the eponymous cold case. This first clue directs them to a suspect or a witness who, by the use of flashback, is able to propel the once-stale investigation forward.
Dénouement: The climax or resolution in a Cold Case episode is very similar show to show. The episode progresses as each flashback directs the police to a new witness – initially a suspect, as the flashbacks are normally incriminating. The second last witness/suspect’s flashback reveals to the police that a person they had previously interviewed has lied and had, in fact, committed the murder. More often than not the crime is revealed to be either an accident or a crime of passion.

Show: Poirot
Cast:
David Suchet – Hercule Poirot
Hugh Fraser – Captain Arthur Hastings
Philip Jackson – Chief Inspector James Japp
Pauline Moran – Miss Felicity Lemon
Format: Created by mystery writer Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective who was made a refugee during the first world war. Poirot works as a detective in his own right though he is helped – more accurately, hampered – by his good friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, and Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector James Japp. Poirot focuses on the psychology of a crime, less interested in the physical clues than what they say about the murderer and their victims. For Poirot solving crime is about exercising his ‘little grey cells’ to get to the heart of the mystery, and he has previously, for a bet, solved a crime without leaving his office relying on deductive reasoning. The show is an exploration of the darker parts of the human psyche.
Dénouement: The red herring is an absolute cornerstone of not only Poirot but Agatha Christie mysteries. A sleight-of-hand takes place in Poirot episodes, but once one knows the formula it can be quite easy to reason out who the murderer will be. For example, both Hastings and Japp are more akin to hangnails so dubious are their powers of detection such that if they suspect someone of having committed the crime you can automatically rule that person out; or, if a person is shown doing something suspicious or withholding a piece of information you can assume that they too are innocent; or, even, if a person is caught standing over the body with the murder weapon in their hands, you can eliminate that person as a suspect. It is by this process of elimination that you can successfully determine who the killer is and why.

Show: Columbo
Cast:
Peter Falk – Lieutenant Columbo
Format: Set in Los Angeles, Columbo inverts the detective format by presenting the killer at the start of the show including the motive and the method by which the murder is committed. The crimes are committed by well-to-do, often rich, people, who are also sometimes shown to be sympathetic. Columbo generally shows up quite late into the show, sometimes 30-minutes can have passed before the detective is seen. By a process of badgering and picking holes in his suspect’s story Columbo is able to solve the crime.
Dénouement: As the audience knows the identity of the murderer and as Columbo only ever has one suspect, the mystery of the show lies not in who committed the crime but rather how and when Lieutenant Columbo will unravel the mystery. There are, as a result, a few things to look for in an episode of Columbo for which a checklist can be handy: 1) as the murders are often made to look like an accident, look for the clue that suggests to Columbo that a murder has taken place; 2) look for the moment that Columbo realises exactly who the killer is; 3) look for the moment that the killer realises that Columbo is onto him/her; and, 4) try to guess exactly which clue Columbo will use to trip the killer up.

Show: CSI franchise {CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; CSI: Miami; CSI:NY}
Cast: Numerous
Format: This show follows the investigations of forensic scientists as they investigate the scene of the crime. Part mystery, mostly sham science, this show is an inverse of a show like Poirot, for example, in that evidence discovered at the scene of the crime is what eventually solves the crime.
Dénouement: This show is very similar to Cold Case. However, instead of a flashback or a recollection propelling the investigations forward it is a clue scientifically gleaned and scientifically interpreted that allows the forensic scientists a new direction for the case. Like Cold Case a clue discovered towards the end of the show points them to a suspect that they had previously considered. It is very difficult to develop a technique for unraveling the crimes presented in these show because that would mean having to watch quite a lot of what is unquestionably very bad television. These three shows are running a perpetual repêchage, but one in which there is no final, no one advances and in which we, the viewer, always lose.

windswept
someone may have died here

Belvedere Jehosophat

Written on Sunday, 28 February 2010

The Wax Conspiracy

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