5.23 - Murdersville

[mousemeat]

I will probably be shot down in flames here, as several people on this forum hate this episode, but I have to say that I LOVE it Some people are not comfortable with the sadistic elements of the story, but it is really quite tame compared to the nastiness seen on TV today. In Murdersville, there is a reason for the willing participation of the villagers silence providing a cover for the murderers, albeit the oldest reason in the book, greed and the taste for money. I like the idea of a beautiful sunny village hiding a sinister secret. The only scene that makes me squirm is where the lance pierces one of the villains in the library, but even this is done in the best Avengers tradition. Theatrically, and with no bloodshed.
Emma's running into the middle of the field is, as has often been pointed out, an uncharacteristically mindless action on Emma's part, but I think we have to suspend our disbelief every now and then for the story's sake. And of course, artistically, they wanted that shot with the helicopter closing down on Emma!
The very best season 5 episode. 10/10 Rich.

exactly, probably my favorite episode in series 5. dark, edgy, and more..and the dialogue was snappy..

[Frankymole]

I agree; anyway, Take-Over is much more sadistic, as are some of the videotaped era episodes like The Wringer.

[MaxRebo120]

A fun episode with nice location shooting (something the second half of color Peel episodes excel in) and a cool, twisted villain plot. But some of the characters act like total idiots throughout it. Why exactly did the villagers think to keep the few dissidents and Mrs. Peel alive? Shouldn't Steed have know something was wrong with Mrs. Peel right away when she called him like that?

Also, I wonder if there was a little something "extra" going on between Croft and his "butler"? Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! I'm sure Emma's very accepting.

8/10

[Frankymole]

Gawd knows. The whole episode never made much sense to me.

Nice to see a young Gareth Thomas though.

[dissolute]

Steed did realise pretty much straight away something was up. I was going to say that Croft treated Forbes badly, he rants and raves about him being drunk and blames him for the whole mess without evidence but now I think about it, it could be disappointment that his lover has apparently taken to the bottle again. Even so, he's not someone who would be nice to a partner as far as I can tell.