tvsitcoms I feel so disappointed with Poirot being a murderer that I cannot aprove this episode. Jamais, mes amis, would Poirot take justice into his hands. I do not find this to be according to his character. And he commits suicide after? But then I realized it was Agatha Christie's decision. And has the story sinks in - I just saw it for the 1st time - I start to gradually be more acceptable towards it all. A killer that never actually kills but is most deadly effective... Police could not legally have done a thing to stop him.Yet, Poirot's little gray cells should have provide him with much better ways to have the evil man rightfully punished without resourcing himself to murder! A DUEL OF MINDS... Poirot could have led the other into an act his true character would be exposed or play with him until he harms no one but himself. That way the death would be by the killer's won hands, not by Poirot's! But that was not Agatha's choice. Being able to write this much adventures for one character must have been very challenging. It was time to Poirot to retire... in a big Bang.I guess that is exactly what happen.Production wise, this episode is as perfect has every previous one. This is one of the most agreeable detective period series ever being made. Lovable scenery, wardrobe, locations, colors, traditions reconstitution... There's a delightful parallel were the audience finds a very old Poirot in a wheelchair, not able to walk and very sick. But the mansion he gets in is has bad has he is. The settings are according to the end of it all. Winter time, rain, huge old mansion, greyish, empty, decrepit... Beauty has seen better days around there. Yet somehow that place still has the ability to take your breath away. You start to wonder what to be that old must be like. To the little gray cells...And that is why I conclude Poirot becoming a murderer just maybe justifiable. That much older and sick I do not know what it feels like. Maybe its plausible. A big part of me still finds it out of character and I'm guessing a religious person has he was would not enjoy opening the way to the «other side» with a fresh murder followed by his own suicide.Plot wise, Agatha's story feels less real because it seems to me people would not be so naive towards such manipulation of their minds, since some where quite suspicious. The way old Poirot ends up drugging a person is also very easy. I was enjoying watching Poirot again.

frankwarren As a reader of Dame AC for 76 years I always found HP difficult. For me, Suchet's triumph - genius - is in constructing a reality from an impossibility. As for Curtain, it is no surprise that the author delayed publication for 30 years, almost until after her death. Poirot and Hastings have aged beyond recognition and several devices in the novel would appear to be stolen from other stories except that it is actually the other way round. Chandler would probably have called it a reverse cannibalization. The author appears to have taken a strong dislike for her creation and takes her revenge not only on him but on Hastings too who is treated with contempt by both the detective and the daughter. I suspected what my impression would be and should have avoided seeing the production but my curiosity as to how Alice Orr-Ewing would portray Judith was too strong. Curiosity killed the cat.

kckidjoseph-1 "Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" is so dark that its star, David Suchet, insisted it be shot out of sequence so that it would not be the last image of the role that he and fellow cast members would have. Yes, it's that dark and sometimes, disturbing. The great irony is that, in reality, it was shot just before Christmas. But you won't find any bright tinsel or warm carols or peace on earth here. The old-fashioned bright Technicolor colors and tongue-in-cheek humor of the central character, especially with his loyal friend and helpmate, Hastings (Hugh Fraser), so often on display in Suchet's "Poirot" films over the last quarter-century, are nowhere to be found. It soon becomes apparent, as it was in another installment of this last season, "Murder on the Orient Express," that Suchet himself is on a mission to set the record straight for his beloved character, and especially for Christie herself. In "Curtain," nearly all color has been drained from the pictures. It is a kind of "noir" in which shadows are far more important than splashes of color. And so it is with Suchet's "Poirot" here, and the plot that steals him away for all time. The plot finds an older, infirm Poirot wasting away at a dank old estate, Styles, where Poirot and Hastings have solved their first murder many years before. Hastings, recently widowed, has come to look in on his old friend, Poirot, who by now has a bad ticker and is wheelchair-bound. In the mix is Hastings' daughter (Alice Orr-Ewing), a headstrong and sometimes disrespectful lass who may also be in danger, and perhaps even a suspect, when three people die, apparently by suicide. To say much more would ruin the surprise, but it's clear from the get-go that Poirot will have to rely more than ever before on those "little gray cells" _ and on Hastings. To be sure, Fraser has never been better in the latter role, and again, one senses a deliberate decision to make him an extension of Poirot more than ever before. He has to do the leg work, literally. The finale might upset and even shock faithful "Poirot" fans who have become accustomed to the splashy, whimsical productions of past years. But it's a fascination to watch Suchet, who has read every shred of Christie's "Poirot" writings and become a sort of self-made scholar on the subject, use his full classically trained might in doing what he considers righting the ship before he lets the role go. That alone is worth the price of admission. American viewers will have to do some leg work of their own to see this episode. Masterpiece won't be carrying this finale, at least for now, for whatever reason _ it's to be found instead on the Acorn subscription service that features British dramas. Viewers who take that step also will be treated to a 45-minute question-and-answer featurette from when Suchet appeared in Beverly Hills to promote the series' last season, itself a wonderful tool in understanding and enjoying the entire Suchet-Poirot experience and the perfect companion to the PBS "making of" short about the series. Hats off to Suchet for making a brave decision about a role that took up a good portion of his career, and truth be told, his life.

scholey *possible spoiler-not the murderer though* Firstly I am a huge fan, I have all the box sets and I often re-watch the episodes, I watched Curtain: Poirot's last case and I was not immediately taken by it, I thought it was good, quite a departure from the standard format but the more I reflected on it, the more I was drawn to well, the nostalgia of it, Poirot's last case, or more appropriately last act. Here we have an ailing Poirot, sometimes quite nasty and even unpleasant, mostly towards his closest ally Hastings, constantly in pain and in his final act he gives all he has left in his failing body to protect Hastings and his daughter from harm, not to mention many others. Where one is lead to believe he is treating Hastings badly he is really solidly behind his old friend. I was really not expecting this type of ending from Christie for Poirot but the more I reflect the more I think it was perfect.