Episode 184 - Father Brown - "The Wrong Shape" - Smokey The Valentine
E184

Episode 184 - Father Brown - "The Wrong Shape" - Smokey The Valentine

Hey maniacs, just a quick listeners
note about this episode,

the episode we're going to talk about this
week, Father Brown.

Season one Episode

three The Wrong Shape deals
with themes of suicide and infant death.

We are not going to dwell on these topics,
but if you're especially sensitive,

you might want to take care
while listening.

And now on with the show.

Farmers like to tick, tick,
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

He says jump and jump in.

Jump in.

Hey, maniac.

Hey, maniacs.

It's Mystery Maniac.

Mystery Maniacs is a comedy recap podcast
dedicated to mystery TV.

Every week
we dig into an episode of the show,

including the murders, the mayhem,
the loonies, and everything else we love.

This week, Father Brown The Wrong Shape.

Season one Episode three I Am Mark.

I'm Sarah Woo.

This is a heavy episode.

We're going to do our very best
not to dwell on any of the darker themes.

You know how we do.

We choose the stuff
that is okay to make fun of,

and then we make a whole hell
of a lot of fun of it.

And I'm just going to do.

And this is the spoiler podcast,
and if you let your kids watch the show,

boy, there would be a lot of questions
if a young kid watch the show

and then listen. To this episode.

Yeah, and. Listen to the podcast.
Yeah, Yeah.

How are you. Doing? I'm I'm doing great.

It's November the time where we
start to slow down a little.

Oh, just like last week.

I'm looking outside.

The leaves are orange and red
and yellow and beautiful.

Halloween is put away.

I'm ready to start baking cookies
and thinking about Christmas present.

I have my new favorite hoodie on that
I don't take off.

And it's like your ruby, honey.

It's my will. Be like, here.

It's security, honey.

Oh. I like. That.

I've never known you to have a piece
of clothing that you are that often It's.

It's wonderful.

I've got my around the house
cardigan that I have on right now.

Yeah.

That I like because it's got pockets,
but it's got big holes in the elbows.

I can't wear it to work.

This is also my favorite kind of weather
because I'm

crazy Canadian
because I can wear shorts and a sweater.

Because you're weird. Awesome.

Sophie, are you ready to talk about
the wrong shape? Yes.

Original Air Date the 16th of January.

So 2013.

So all five of the first episodes
were shown in a week

like they showed them Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday night.

So this was Wednesday night.

This was Wednesday.

The midweek, Wolf.

That was the tough one. Yep.

Directed by Dominic Heavey
and written by Nicola Wilson.

This is once again
one of the stories, but I.

Write based based on an original story
from Father the Father Brown series.

Yeah. I read the first page of it
and I was like,

This is nothing to do with this story.

I do not envy the

writers having to try to pick and choose
bits and pieces

from one of those original stories
and shoehorn them into this series.

Get this in the Campbell third
and get Lady Felicia and Mrs.

Anderson in there. Yeah.

And this one, I think
was probably especially challenging.

The themes in it are important,
but they're just not our kind of themes.

Yeah, but there's enough Looney Tunes
bits and pieces in here

that we're going to have some fun
with this.

This is definitely them
trying to figure out a theme.

Yeah, well, tone. Yeah, tone. Sorry.

This is not the show that it is now
in season 11.

No, but if you're a midsummer fan,
which if you're not.

Hello. You should be. Yeah.

You probably saw some.

Some familiar faces.

Yeah.

So, Ramon T Ram,
who plays Umesh Rana in this?

Yes, He was in season 18, episode
four of midsummer.

A dying Art. Yes.

Where he played a very fancy artist. Yes.

And then Ruth Gemmell or Gemma.

He gets killed in that, doesn't he?

He's the one who gets hung up
on the wires, I think.

I don't remember. Okay.

All I know is he's

having an affair with somebody,
and he's rather cold hearted about it.

Yeah, and he wears scarf.

Great actor
Ruth Gammel or Gemma, who plays Martha.

And this episode was in two Midsummer's
one in season

nine, The House in the Woods,
and then again in season 17.

A vintage. Murder.

Is she one of the people who gets killed
at the first of season in the woods?

No house in the woods? No.

Okay. She's actually in the episode.

She's not just a cameo person
at the beginning.

Okay. Lately she's been in Bridgerton.

So if people watch Bridgerton,
they probably have seen a lot of her.

I tried Bridgerton
I could not get into it.

I know people really love it,
but and then Robert can.

On a problem with it.

I just don't like she shows up.

You don't like period dramas
like that. Yeah.

And the whole like

some people are like it's period
but they play crazy music and stuff.

I'm like, I've seen it.

Baz Luhrmann. Joynt
I don't mind it at all.

No, that's not it.

That's not it.

It's just that
the plots are not my kind of plots.

And then Robert Cavanagh, who plays
Leonard, was in a midsummer in season 23.

He was in the black tree's prophecy.

Oh, okay.

So some familiar faces. Yes.

As soon as I saw Umesh Varma
at the very beginning, I'm like Midsummer

Plus, who pruned trees wearing white?

I don't.

He he he sits.

He sits in the grass wearing one.

He even gets wet, wearing white,
and he still stays clean and tidy

the whole episode.

I don't know how he does. It
when he's making the little altar thing.

Yeah, I'm like,
You're sitting on grass, dude.

In those white pants.

Grass stains galore. Yeah. And.

And this is when bleach was bleach.

This is what this is what we think about
when watching these episodes.

You kind of ruin your clothes, dude.

So this is and this is the typical cold
opening.

Run, run, run, run. Sir. Leonard.

Mr. Leonard, Sir.

Mr. Leonard, Sir,
I said something terrible.

What did you see?

We think it's going to be a body.

No, no, You're going to die.

You're going to die later today.

Oh, okay.

Then it goes into the beginning.

So Father Brown is auditioning
new organist for the church.

That's got to be painful.

So I did want to say that
this part reminded me

a lot of what my mother
sounds like when she sings in church.

I think there's just a certain age of lady
who sounds just like that.

Yes, singing.

It's a.

Certain age
now. Loud and proud and out of.

Key. Yep.

And that that hymn,
I didn't look up the number

because that melody is used
in at least two or three different hymn.

That's the great Anglican church
tradition of

we got this hymn that we liked the sound
of, let's.

Put some words to it, five.

Different sets of music, words to it.

The organist only has to learn one song.

Yes, it's Andy. It's efficient.

It is. It is.

And I know he's Catholic, but I was raised
in the Anglican Church, Catholic Lite.

It's very much Catholic life.

Well, as soon as Lady Felicity shows up
and says,

I want to go to a poetry reading,
he's like. Yep, yep.

I'm out of here.

Any excuse with what's her name, Mrs.

Pettiford or.

Something like that?

The little old lady. Yeah.

I'm like, She won a contest.

They asked for a local organist
because she can clearly play.

Yeah, but she's playing off of rhythm

on purpose and singing

her little hat and everything.

So the Leonard wants

Father Brown to come
because he has a secret.

No, he just wants him to hear his horrible
poetry.

And his wife,
who is listed as a sudden here.

They say she's a shut in.
And that she never leaves the. House.

So then there's a strange mention
of Lady Felicia's finishing school.

Yeah, because Violet, the mistress.

Okay, says
I almost went to your finishing school,

but my dad said I didn't
have anything to learn.

Clapper.

Clapper? Right there.

Okay, so.

He needs to be slapped. So many times.

Our principals arrive.

Stripper knocker over.

I don't care. Rip off or Bindi.

You don't wear a bindi dot and a 50 skirt
with a big petticoat underneath.

And no, dad is not a cultural mash up
that you should be sporting lady. Yes.

With Madonna gloves.

Yeah, that's true.

But she does have like a virgin gloves on

our principles.

Father Brown. Mrs. M, this. Is him.

Lady Felicia. A Lady Felicia.

But we have an important thing
before we get there.

They're going to the house
and they're riding in the car.

But who is driving the car?

Not said no.

So she has to have chauffeurs.

Or she has said and then she has the said
fill in when she's not around.

I guess where said. I don't know.

That's what I said in my notes, too.

Like, oh, where should.

I have it highlighted in green here?

Where is said.

There in the car. Said she'd be driving.

Yes I do though
like I know that this first season

they're really struggling with talent
and trying to shoehorn in the two stories.

But I love what they do
right away with the the competitive nature

of their relationship
between Lady Felicia and Mrs.

M, because Mrs.

M wants to be Father Brown's favorite.

And she's so judge.

Judge and then Lady Felicia
can just sweep in with her grace and style

and upper class ness
and take his attention away.

And so they're constantly, like,
snapping at each other.

So to Mrs.

M says, Oh, I'm
sure it's one of your highfalutin cronies.

Yeah.

And then when Felicia says who it is, Mrs.

N's like, Oh, can I come to. Yeah.

So I thought it was a highfalutin crony.

I thought you wouldn't want to go.

So Jude told us that Mrs.

M is the voice of the fifties.

Dude is if you don't remember.

She's one of the writers of the series
that we interviewed a while back.

And then Lady Felicia is like,
they're both listener viewer analog.

Yeah, which is great because you get the,

the dichotomy of the viewer
and the listener.

Mm hmm.

In, in at the same time, because that's
all they're there for in this episode.

Yeah.

Because they are bigger,
they don't contribute it.

They're there for facial reactions

in this, this episode I notice,
especially there are a lot of Mrs.

M and Lady Felicia.

Move side by side, scowling. Mm.

Oh. Give the person a line for guys.

And like,

all I could think of was okay,
so these situations,

television
and film is not done in real time, right?

You know,
where do they shoot the scenes in order?

They don't keep the scenes in order.

So. So she Kuszczak
That's her name, right?

Sorcha? Cusack Yeah.

Source of Cusack has to sit in that room
and look at the camera and go.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Until the director goes, That's the one.

That's the one.

That's the judge scowl.

I want. That's what I was looking for.

No more snobby.

No, no, no more persnickety

puckering face. There we go. Yes, yes.

And that's that's not a funny bit
that we're doing here.

That goes on.

That's what she's doing.

That's what they filmed. Yeah.

There's a reference to Christian Dior
here. Yeah.

Yeah. The fashion designer.

He was actually alive,
I think at this point.

I didn't even know that was Lagerfeld,
who lived for such a long time.

Yeah,
They meet Mr. Harris, the lawyer? Yes.

And he hands Lady Felicia his card.

Did you see the date on the card?

That's his address.

No. Do you think it's his address?

I thought it was the date
of the founding of the firm.

1942.

1490. Seven.

Oh, it's got to be a street address. Okay.

That would be like crotchet or something
going way back.

Monty's a client. Yeah.

So the answer is card.

And, you know, we know Lady
Felicia is always ogling the fancier men.

He's fancy,
but then he turns her off completely

with one phrase about Monty's

wealth
and how it's better to enjoy the spoils.

I'm sure you've earned it.

And she hands the card back. Yeah.

Like to keep it, Jerk.

Yeah. So at the house, there's the lawyer.

Mr. Harris.

And then there's the mistress.

Yeah, Violet.

And then the Mr. and Mrs..

And Varma. Environment.

There's Martha and Leonard and Varma.

This is an episode
that suffers from too few people.

It's very, very small.

Like five people.

Valentine doesn't have to go through
many people before he gets the right one.

No, You know, it starts out with five
people who are not regular characters.

And one of them dies.

So then it's down to four, really
pretty cut and dried, like Valentine's.

In an afternoon, you.

Could see Valentine thinking
he's like, Wow.

And Father Brown's the lead of the show.

So he didn't do well.

Mrs. M isn't a killer, and Lady
Felicia has of hurt ankles.

Those are her.

Okay. So as to be one of these other four.

Yeah.

They've been invited
to the most traumatic,

painful poetry reading ever.

But yet there is a variety
of methods of trauma, and

it's not even like one flavor of awful.

And they are alone because the train
from Paddington was canceled.

How many more people do

you think we're supposed to be there
to hear this awful doggerel.

And like there are more train trouble?

Oh, you know what?

Those people, they lied.

They set up the train canceled.

Sorry. Can't come

because they knew what they were in for,
wouldn't you?

Okay, so, Violet,
I just flat check our sticker.

Okay.

Have you ever read poetry out loud? Yes.

Before? Yes. Yes, we both have.

I took a poetry writing class. Yeah.

That I barely passed

my poetry was better than violence.

I can say that.

I read one poem in front of class

and was told by the teacher
that maybe I should stick to prose.

I was much better at.

How in front of. Everybody.

Oh, she was. She was.

She was a great mentor
and said, You did what

I asked you to do and you said you weren't
going to be very good and.

And you're not should. Go back.

You know yourself very Rose.

Is much better.

From, you know, remember,
all my poetry was real angry.

Yeah. Like I wrote the.

The one about the.

The devil
with the fanny pack and stuff. Yes.

Yeah.

It's always
just trying to lash out at people

with my poetry violence poem.

Does it
have any semblance of structure? No.

The rhyme is loosey goosey.

I don't know if it's supposed to be
couplets or not.

It's all about her having sex

with Leonard by the stream,
which is offensive enough.

But then it's so trite
when she says that I can't help

but fidget as I spy the band of gold
are wrapped around his digit.

I you use your rhyming to see.

Before that she goes Alas.

Oh gosh,

I cannot take it back.

I have to tell you.

And compares them to otters frolicking
in the sand like a ball on fire.

Yeah, but I have to say,
tell you the moment that she said. But

I. Immediately
thought of Forest Gump three.

Oh buttocks.

And it becomes much more.

If he wrote it, it would be okay.

It would be funny.

But she's shaking herself
really seriously.

But like,
what point is she trying to make?

Yeah, she can't rub it in Martha's face
any more that she's

sleeping with her husband and wishes
they would get divorced.

So I went to a poetry.

Poetry reading in my undergrad.

I just remember this.

And it was done
by a guy who was a couple of years

ahead of me in the English department,
and everyone called a Moose

is a very nice guy, a super nice guy.

He wrote these list poems
that were really interesting, like three

things of this and four things of this.

Like he wrote these structured poems
around numbers and lists and things

like that.

He had a to do poem too, but I remember
there was a poetry reading that

at least two
and I think three women got up and left.

Because.

Moose said out things about,
oh, in the book.

He he was kissing
and telling in his poetry.

Well, you know, it
kind of gives the game away.

If you get up and leave,
your hands will go, That one's about me.

I'm out.

There's no denying it
then, is there? Yeah.

So, violence poem is lascivious at best.

That's a flattering way to describe her
poem.

It's. It's just schlock is what it is.

But then Leonard's poem, I'm
not going to say it's bad,

but it's visceral and painful because
it's about the death of their child,

about he and Martha's child.

All this poetry, even though.

And and wait a minute.

I got to ask you, when you heard the poem
the first time,

do you remember
how you reacted to his poem?

Did you know what it was about
when they heard it?

They did a very good job of making
it sound sexual at first and then dark.

Yeah. And that that worked perfectly well.

There's something about some kind of hot
white.

Yes. Shoot. With just like.

Whoa, whoa, Yeah.

Oh, and then you're like,
Wait a minute, this just took a turn. Why?

Brown Oh, well, he knows what sex is that.

Oh, that's right, That's right.

Yeah, he knows.

But it's whoever wrote it, whoever wrote
both these poems did a great job

because violence is
is wonderfully bad. Yes.

And very well done is a bad poem.

Well, it it it upsets.

Maybe they got some high school
students to write hers. Like

it upsets

Varma enough that he's like,
I must go build a raft.

Yeah. Now that I've heard him read the.

The very painful, hurtful poem,
I he's certainly going to die.

And Leonard pulls
Father Brown aside and says.

Take care of my wife.
Take care of my wife.

She's one of yours.

If something happens to me. Okay?

He doesn't say it
like he's in the Wild West.

No, she's. One of yours.

Take care.

My wife is.

Some varmint takes me out.

That's right.

Yeah, I did.

And we also learn
that he used to be a doctor on

Harley Street,
which means he was a successful doctor.

He wasn't just any old GP.

He was a high class doctor.

Well, we also learned that
if you're a man, you're a hypochondriac.

Naturally, Phillips says.

That's weird.

But it was so weird to say yes,
because the stereotype is

that all man will be like,
Oh, I don't go to the doctor.

I know my arm is dragging behind me

on a thin thing of skin,
but I don't need to go see the doctor.

I'd say it says more about her experience.

Yeah, the specific men she's been around.

Do you
think. Monty is a bit of a hypochondriac?

I wouldn't know. He's never around.

Ever, Ever around? No, He shows up.

I know. Eventually.

But now Barrow Leonard is so concerned

that Martha is so unhappy. Yes.

And yet he doesn't do.

The first thing he could do
that would immediately improve her chances

of being happy, which is to get that moron
out of their house.

Yeah, like, how can he be that stupid?

I just don't know why she's so upset.

Well, they're going to create
a copulation center.

I mean, a levitation letter.

I mean, a meditation center.

It's like, dude, all you have to do to get
the ball rolling is get Violet out.

Yeah,
that's going to help. Right off the bat.

But she'll pout or pass out.

I don't care what she does,
as long as she does it somewhere else.

She does know her stuff
about the yoga, though.

What she says
here, that about the sutures, that's all.

Does she really die or does she just know
what Leonard's told her lately?

Yeah.

She probably just knows.

I don't know what he sees in her.

I don't understand what that relationship
is supposed to be about,

because he seems.

Well,
we know he's educated, he's intelligent.

He's not the best person.

Okay, we'll get into that.
We'll get into. That.

But it's silly.

She's vapid and. Horrible.

Yeah, And not his wife, I suppose.

But there's a lot of women who would fit
that category that aren't her.

Oh, I know, I know.

I might have a little bit of class.

I think maybe he's run into problems
because he got hooked up with her.

I was just the first time I saw this.

I was waiting for the moment.

And thank God this moment never came
where she says, I'm pregnant.

Yeah, that would have added a whole
nother level of complication.

It would have absolutely done that.

Okay, I have a question.

I have a question for you. You first.

Go ahead.

My question is, can you draw a
can you grow tropical plants in England?

Yes. How you'd be surprised
what they can grow there

because it's actually very maritime.

Oh, okay.

There's not that much fluctuation
in their temperature.

Okay. That's why. Q Is there. Okay.

I mean, they do have high houses and.

Stuff like that on palm trees.

No, but you can grow quite a bit.

Can you, can you grow a pineapple there.

What about coconuts? Probably.

No, not not without a greenhouse.

Okay, but, but you can,
you can grow things like rhododendron

that would die in the frost here.

That's true.

And Parsons pink, which is a rose.

But I have a better question for you.

I'm sorry. Sorry.

Mine's controversial.

Okay, but. Related. Oh. Okay.

They go for a walk? Yes.

To give Leonard and Martha some space.

Yes. And Mrs.

M takes a cutting from a plant? Yes.

Is that that? Yes.

Y you need to think about it. Yeah.

It doesn't kill the plant.

No, but it's still theft. It's theft.

If you want to be a persnickety
bastard about it.

And certainly if she came on the property
with that intent.

She brought her snips with her.

She did. Do that.

Because they use them later
to cut Leonard down.

She's got her pruning snips with her.

Oh, I hate. In her bag.

That part.

If only she had, you know,
like a little dish of potting soil

in there or rooting hormone
to right around the base of the gut. Do I

do recognize this is in state, though?

We don't know where he gets his money,
but like, how do they get lost?

I would have been like,
the house is right there.

I think. I think Mr.

Harris kind of leads them around purposely
trying to.

And, you know, no, they might have amazed.

Who knows.

But old ladies purses are kind of amazing.

Yes, Mrs.

M definitely comes
prepared to take some some trimmings.

Yes, she does some cuttings.

I have a note here that says found crazy.

Does your your mom's older
does she carry strange things in her bag

or did your grandmother carry
strange things in her mouth?

They were very, very, very regular ladies.

My grandmother's purse was amazing.

We called it the McDowell Tea bag.

Do you remember the big deal? Yes.

There was one side called One side?

Yeah, it was a hamburger from McDonald's

that came in a container that had Ted
two separate compartments. Yes.

So that the, like lettuce, tomato
and onion

were kept separate from the
the hot hamburger and the cheese.

And you put them together to eat it,
right? Yes.

Back when they were in Styrofoam.

If people don't remember that,
I have to explain it, my grandmother's

purse had two big too
big sections in it. Yes.

And we call it the milk DLT,
because every time we went out to dinner,

she would fill it with leftovers
from the meal.

You see, that's that's the problem.

My mother and my grandmother
never went out for dinner.

So she would take every condiment packet
on the

on the table,
salt, pepper, sugar, everything.

She said.

If it's here, they intended
for us to use it so I can take it.

So she had every sweetener
and seasoning you can imagine in her bag.

So if you needed them in another location.

You never know when you might need it.

Some sweeten low or whatever.

But she also had zip locks,
little sheets of foil

mean everything she needed,
and if it was warm food,

she would pack it away
and put it in one side of her purse.

And if it was cold, she would put it
in the other class for free.

It's fantastic.

She also carried sweetener packets
in her bra too.

So, you know, she was.

Yeah, she was different.

She was awesome.

So I'm not really surprised that Mrs.

M has her printing shares in her purse.

The poor kitty cat.

You mean the tripping hazard? Yes,

because they only find it because Lady

Felicia goes over, go tripping on it.

Got white stuff around his nose.
Okay, Cat.

Can you two?

I couldn't even tell what part of it
that was. No.

Father Brown
just pokes it with his umbrella, like.

But there's that.

He at least has a prayer for this.

That cat was just inside. Yeah.

Hissing at people, and now it's stiff.

Yeah.

So we're supposed to believe
that Leonard snuck away in that time

and poisoned it
to see what the dosage would be for a cat?

Did you do any research on that plant?

No. Okay.

Nor did
I do any research on poisoning Cat.

First of all,
if you're intending to kill yourself,

does it matter
how much poison you intake? Yes.

Okay.

Because you don't want to take
an inadequate amount.

Okay.

There is nearly a no amount of this
poison that is inadequate.

If you look at it, you drop dead

very close. Mm.

So the whole cat thing
is some jiggery pokery.

Unnecessary?
Yeah. It's just a tripping hazard.

Yeah, I know that.

At one point in my yard,
I grew castor plants

because I thought they were beautiful,
and my next door neighbors

tried to force me to cut them down
because of the castor beans.

Yeah,
and that's what Kestrels made out of.

But it's also what ricin is made out of.

Yes, I was like,

but do you know how much you have
to refine it to get it to that point?

I'm not doing that.

And if you eat the bean,
you're not going to die.

Yeah, it's it's more like
if you eat the bean of this plant.

If you look at your good, you're dead.

Yeah.

Like cause
they have a whole plus poison garden.

How can he.

Okay, how can he know they're all.

It's enough to kill the cat.

It could kill me.

Like, are you a cat?

Well, you weigh the same as a cat.

No, he probably said the cat weighs £10.

I weigh £200.

So I must take 20 times
the dose that I gave the cat quickly.

He is a doctor, okay?

He's also the worst human
being on the planet.

Well, yeah. For another number of reasons.

My one I want to talk about right now
is if I ask you to model

for a picture for me naked for days, you.

Better be painting. Me.

I better be you.

Not my wife.

How much she. Be?

Violet covers that painting,
and it's just Martha's big face.

Looking back at her.

I'm like, What? What could be worse?

It could be.

It could be worse if it was violence.

Naked body with Martha's face.

No, Martha's.

Body with violet face with the cat

or Martha's body with violet.

Body with hair.

Yes. So it could be worse,
but I think I'd be pretty mad.

Oh, we like waiting.

Well, that she has a right to be.

I wish I been there cold all that time.

Uncovered. Yeah.

When you were just painting something
Mouse.

It is a nice painting of Martha
and all of her anguish, though it.

Is a nice painting, but the like.

There is a the weirdness of them
finding Leonard's hanging.

And we'll get through this
as quickly as possible.

They all I don't know
if this is intentional, but they all show

no emotion
while Violet shows over emotion. Yes.

And I don't know if that's intentional,
but it sure feels.

I think it is, because it shows the impact
he had on everybody around him.

Vernon Varma expected him to die.

Yeah. Saw it coming.

Martha is so heartbroken
that she has no emotional reaction.

Harris hated him anyway.

Yeah, and Violet falls apart.

Well, you know what this episode needs?

Smokey the Bear.

Otherwise known as Valentine.

Smokey
the Valentine. For Valentine's. Day.

They're clearly like, there's a meeting.

How can we get Valentine?

More character development?

We'll make him smoke. Yeah.

Yeah, I bet you this is the only episode
in which he smokes.

Probably.

And he smokes,
like, in every scene, almost.

And then it's just done
because, like, stuff like that in 2013,

I bet you had to be approved by BBC
head office.

Probably, but they probably have clearance
for things that are set a different time

periods where it's more acceptable.

Maybe like the undercurrent of racist.

Episode,

they probably had rules.

Like as long as it's

not a child, it's okay to smoke
and things set in the fifties.

However, if you go back to like Dickens
era, even kids can smoke.

It's okay
because that's that's how it was.

I love I do love how Valentine quotes
the Bible back at Father.

Back at Father Brown here.

Gee, Well, I hear Brown's always
telling them how to do his job, and there.

Are far more collegial here.

Yeah, he's like, he softens. He's like,

You're involved in this.

I can't really tell you to leave.
Yeah, Like.

You were here when it happened. Here.
When they. Literally.

And this is.

The second time somebody has died while
Father Brown was basically in the house.

Yeah. He's the killer.

And enjoy it and figure it out.

So then I'm off and my one of my wild
goose chase is because there's a scene

in which Valentine tells a sergeant
to tell the doctor that he can leave.

Yeah, There's that weird
hand on his shoulder.

On Valentine. Shoulder on Valentine?

No, on the sergeant's soldiers.

Oh, that. We've decided. Is Father Brown.

I don't know.

Maybe some.

I think it's either
Father Brown or the duck door. No.

Why would he tell him that
he was right there?

Why would he tell the where?

There's somebody puts their hand
on the sergeant's shoulder.

But it's not Valentine sand.

No, he's looking at Valentine.

Could his arm be like,

out of a scene in back in.

Valentine is now Mr. Plastic? Yes.

You've got to stretch your arm. Right.

And that's what happens when you smoke,
too many Cigarets.

Your arms get scratchy.
Maybe you want to. Maybe one of.

Our this is marketing depression
with Super

20 are.

Big, long, loopy arms like tied

the knot above her head.

So it's like, is this Goodfellow?

No, Goodfellow is not in these episodes.

I know you like him. He's a sergeant.

I like him. He's a sergeant later.

But I.

You see one hand and you're like, no.

Fellow surgeon.

We see all of him.
He's an older gentleman.

Okay, Okay.

It's not Sid's hand either.

It's not

in the credits.

Sid And played by. Sid.

A mannequin Hand? Yeah.

The cat gets no credit.

So, Felicia, Mrs.

M and Father Brown go to the study.

And Father Brown starts
looking at Leonard's writing desk.

Figures out that he's left handed.

Figures out that he could not have tied
the noose and starts to put things

together and says to the other two,
Gavin tells Mrs.

M, Gather everybody together.
I want to talk to them.

No one must be left alone.

Then he and Mrs.

M stormed out of the room, leading,
leaving Felicia alone

with a twisted ankle.

Now don't leave anybody alone. This is.

And then they just leave her alone.

This is the best written scene

of the episode to me,
because it takes advantage of the medium.

Because you can show Father Brown
figuring this out while Mrs.

M and Lady
Felicia are bickering back and forth. Yes.

So you have two things going on at once
and you're keeping in your head,

oh, they're bickering
and you're listening to that over.

The T, but you're. Watching Father Brown.

And crumple paint. And crumpled paper.

Now It's more filmic
than it is television,

because in television, usually in writing,

you say what you're doing
or do what you or say what you did.

Almost right away,

they would say, Because you're
looking through Leonard's writing desk.

Yeah. Are you trying to?

Because people don't watch television
as closely as they do movies.

Yeah,

but it's a piece of filmic things here
that I, I actually enjoyed quite a bit.

So we find out that
Leonard could not have hung himself

because of the way
the knot is tied right over left. Yes.

Which to me means if that's all it takes
to throw suspicion on to somebody else.

If you are going to take your own life
and you want somebody else to get blamed.

Tie the knot with your hand.

Now. Tie it upside down
and then flip it around.

We later learned
the person who hung Leonard,

though Leonard was already dead
because he had committed suicide.

He was the lawyer. Yes.

And he did this.

Well, he says I murdered
Leonard. And Violet says, Are you sure?

Because I really want it to be Martha.

Yeah. So you might.

So he does it because he thinks
Martha will eventually do it.

He's afraid Martha will do it.

He's a lawyer.

He works for a big firm
that may have been created

in the 15th century.

He look like a detail or person.

He's so human. Yeah.

Even if he has been practicing
law for 500 years, I.

Would have thought that he would have got
a few more of the details.

Correct.

I think in the heat of the moment,
I think he wasn't thinking. Yes.

And just tried to do it as quick.

I mean, he used a what?

A curtain rope.

Yeah, a tie back for the drapes. Yeah.

And I think it's
because he sees how distraught Martha is.

Maybe he doesn't know that.

Martha has just been told by her husband
that the medicine

he prescribed her while she was pregnant
caused the death of their child. Yes.

Like she's just learned
some really traumatic information.

Yeah.
Would that have pushed her to kill him?

I don't think so.

That's not the kind of person she is.

I don't think if she wanted to kill him,

she would have killed them
the moment he brought Violet home.

Because I certainly would have.

And if I was a lawyer representing her,
I would say maybe

the police should not have interviewed
everyone together in the same room,

because they do and everyone contributed.

To the interview.

Yeah.

I'm like,
You need to separate these people.

Find out where they. Were. One is
separated.

Now, but.

If you separate everybody, the principals
be there to comment on your testimony.

Right?

So Leonard left the house to Martha, but
everything else goes to Varma and he says

he's going to donate it to a charity,
which we later find out is true.

Yeah.

And Harris Kills thinks he kills

Leonard because, like you said, he's
afraid Martha is going to do it.

Yeah, He loves Martha,
and I think he thinks Leonard deserves it.

And then we have a scene that is Academy
Award worthy.

Oh, yeah.

The conversation between Father
Brown and Martha in her room is.

It's tragic and heartbreaking,
but it is so well done.

So well done.

Completely wrong for this show. Mm hmm.

I think they probably looked at that and
went, That's not the way we want to go.

I dare somebody to watch that scene,
especially when Father Brown says Olivia.

Yeah.

And she says,
I never hear anybody say her name.

Yeah.

And he says it again.

I dare somebody to watch that scene
and not tear up.

Yeah, it is extremely effective.

It's just But it's not the Father
Brown show that we know and love.

It's a bit heavy for this show,
but it is very well done

If you're going to do this storyline.

Given that.

We have also learned an important plot
and character detail, Mrs.

M sucks at. Checkers.

Farmers like to get to cook.

It's just jump and jumping
jumping quadruple killing me.

Think beginners.

Beginners like.

Yeah you mean
that's the tone for the rest of the.

Show playing against the morons. Yeah.

We also learn that Lady Felicia
has a level of patience and toleration

that we have not seen before
because she voluntarily offers

Violet to stay with her
until she can reach her parent.

Yeah, and I don't care how big your house

is, Violet is going to eat the scenery
in their house.

Yeah, I wouldn't
want her in my house for 5 minutes.

So just to clean off
the rest of the slate,

Leonard commits suicide,
and then the lawyer tries to kill him,

not knowing he's dead already. Right.

That's what we're fairly sure that's
what happened.

Yeah, They say that
they have to have a toxicology report

to prove that's what happened,

and that if that is what happened, Harris
will probably get away with nothing.

They'll have to release them.

Because you can't be in prison for killing
somebody who's already dead. Yes.

And the wife is going to kill herself.

But why the brown stuff, sir? Yes.

And then Father Brown has a nice

quick conversation with Varma
where he says, I misjudged you and.

The environment, clearly willing
to take care of Martha and help her. Yes.

He turns out to be a wonderful person

who's going to give the money
that he inherited to charity.

Lepers.

And cares
about the people who Leonard left behind.

Yeah, I think he's a wonderful person.

And I love when Mrs.

M mentions the book The Girl Guides

immediately.

Felicia.

I was more interested in public.

And more interested in Boy Scout.

And violence, letting her true character
show by blowing her nose on her.

Madonna gloves.

Yeah, she's so tacky.

And they have a little funeral.
So best corpse.

We all we have is Leonard.

Yeah, Not very impressive,
but we don't have any other options.

No Let's talk about after the credits,

because I think there's
some interesting things here.

Some interesting things.

We know
that Varma is going to help Martha.

So there's a little funeral that happens,
and Olivia gets her

name on the gravestone,
which is what should happen.

You think she spreads?

I thought it was
where they buried their last.

Yes, the first time I saw it.

Until,
you know, you understand what happened.

Did at those Lenny's ashes? Yes.

Okay. Yeah.

Okay And.

And I think it's, again, double world's
most liberal Catholic priest

because he speaks in Latin
and Varna speaks in Sanskrit,

Hindu And I think that was a
nice way to end things.

I do, too.

And I do think that it's it's believable

that Varma and will get along.

So he Lenny leaves her the house
and the grounds, I'm assuming.

So that's a fair amount of money.

Or just a great big expense.

But I also think Varma would be like.

We need more outside enough money
to take care of this place.

Would you like me to stay on
as the gardener?

Yeah.

You know, I don't know how
he knows about this leprosy charity

since he came from India with Leonard,
but that's okay.

I think that instead
of giving all the money to charity,

that they'll maybe
set up an orphanage or something.

I think they'll probably do something
with children.

So will Violet's parents want her back?

Well,

I don't know if I would.

They are probably happy to get rid of her.

I had a question also about.

Okay, so Violet goes back
with their parents and maybe goes

to a finishing school

or finishes a year of college or something
and meets another young nice

man and has to explain to him her
what she's been doing for the last year.

Well, I lived in an estate.

Mm hmm.

And a man there was painting me

naked, and I had an affair with him
and wrote really bad poetry.

And then. While
his wife was in the house. And then.

But then he killed himself.
Then he killed him.

But another guy tried to kill, and you're.

Like, No one is going to last
through that first. Day.

No, no, no.

Nobody's going to make it to that story.

Q Do her parents take her back?

Yes, of course,
because that's a parent's job.

Is. It? Yes.

Maybe they send her away to a school.
Maybe.

Will Harris go to jail? I think I think.

Harris Could they charge him
with interfering with a dead body? Yes.

But have to know that it was dead.

I think
because he's a member of the court,

he's going to get a suspended sentence
because the judge would know him probably.

Yeah. And say or his firm.

But that might hurt his.

They've been around since 1066,

so I think it would hurt

is like
I don't think he might be a lawyer anymore

that goes to court
but I think he's definitely.

He'd be a specialist.
On how to kill a dead body. Now, what.

You have any clients like.

That going to happen is he's not
going to get together with Martha.

Oh, gosh, no.

She wants to.

And she will have nothing.

To do with Gosh, no. Yes.

No. Because whether he knew it or not,
I mean, he was trying to murder husband.

Yes. And she did love Leonard. Yes.

I don't know why.

I don't know. He's he's broken scum.

But I realize you've had a baby.

Even if you had the most wonderful,
gorgeous baby.

Oh, I'm going to India for three months.

I'm like. Wow. No.

Before she's even home from the hospital.

He's right. Out bad.

Dude, I'm not good.

Well, he's just weak.

Yeah, he's very weak.

Oh, I'm that happy.

No, that's the end of the wrong shape.

I'm kind of glad it's over. The title.

It's bad. Is title.

I'm glad we're getting through these ones
that are original.

Father brown stories
because they're kooky and bonkers.

Hmm. Next we have season

one, Episode four The Man in the Tree.

Is it more fun than this one? I think so.

Wouldn't anything.

Be? I think so. More fun.

So on the 20th, we have season one,
Episode four The Man in the Tree.

Mm hmm.

And then on the 27th of November,
we have our second remix episode,

and we got some ideas

about how to remix the episodes
a little better from the Reddit folks.

And thank you.

B Season
one Episode five The Eye of Apollo. Hmm.

The cultic.

Cult called. Sekhukhune.

It's not as good as the Midsummer Cult.

No, the oblong side?

No, the first one. The first. One.

And they have the pyramids on their heads
and everything.

Which is

the medium is channeling the Roman.

Yeah,

right.

Leviticus, Rick Rictus or whatever
its name, it's.

Well, I mean there's the bureau,
the mirror one where the wife is also.

That's the one with

the dog.

What's his name. Roberts. No, no, no.

It's, it's not the one with the dog, it's
the one with the the mirror

that he gets outbid at the first time
that's go to his house.

That's a. Different one.

Yeah, that's.

This is what happens.

People. People.

You watch too many murder shows
and they all get muddled up in your head.

You can find mystery maniacs on Facebook,
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And we have a subreddit and YouTube.

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helps. More people find that.

And so then by maniacs.

By maniacs,

it's.

She went to Lady Phyllis.

She Lady Felicity's finishing school.

Was it her. Stop?

Yeah. Back up, Felicia.

Her name's Felicia, and no.

Okay, then there's.

So do you want to
start that over again? Yes.

Creators and Guests

Sarah Smith-Robbins
Host
Sarah Smith-Robbins
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs