The Pale Horse: The Rational Twist

Good to see the versatile Rufus Sewell in The Pale Horse, a two-episode mini-series adaption of Agatha Christie's 1961 novel of the same name.

Agatha Christie is of course known for her cosy British detective stories, and The Pale Horse at first and even continuing glance seems something else.  Mark Easterbrook (played by Sewell) finds himself on a list of people who died, and who, apparently are due to die, after he wakes up next to a dead redhead he slept with.   It seems, at first, that a witches coven is responsible for this lethal mischief.

But, have no fear, Christie is a rational being, just as Easterbrook professes to be, and provides a perfectly logical, non-supernatural explanation for what happened and what is going on, at the end.  Sewell provides a great performance of Easterbrook's tormented evolution along the way, and the end, like conclusions of all excellent mysteries, provides culprits and villains who were hiding in plain sight but seem perfectly plausible in retrospect.

I do wonder, though, why this Pale Horse was presented as a two-part mini-series?  Why not just a one-part movie, or stretch out the story to make it a three- or four-part little series?  But, hey, those kinds of divisional choices have no impact on the plot and performances (also good to see Kaya Scodelario, from the unfortunately not renewed Spinning Out, as Easterbrook's second wife Hermia) and The Pale Horse, especially with its twist that it's all-too-natural murder not supernatural witchcraft that moves the pieces, is wholeheartedly welcome viewing.

Spinning Out: Draws You In

Hey, a series about ice skaters is probably close to the last thing you'd expect to find me reviewing here.  But ice skating is the favorite and often the only part of the Winter Olympics my wife and I watch, and we wanted to see how January Jones, last seen (I think) by us in Mad Men, was doing on the screen, so we gave it a shot.   And I liked it, sometimes a lot.

More than my wife did, but that's ok.  A lot more than the dyspeptic, myopic critics did, but who cares what they think.  I thought the series, which focuses on a mother (Carol, played by January Jones) and her two daughters (Kat, in her early twenties, played by Kaya Scodelario, and Serena, 16, played by Willow Shields) who in one way or another all have a life on the ice, and two of whom (Carol and Kat) suffer from bi-polar disorders, was often pretty good and occasionally really excellent. The plot had some surprises and the acting off the ice always sufficed.   The skating was great (some of it was done by doubles), and though there were a couple of annoyances (which I'll get to below) - SPOILERS AHEAD - they were no big deal.

Here's what I most liked: the sheer difficulty of succeeding in skating competition, even if you have ample talent.  (That is, I liked the way that difficulty was portrayed.)  The ephemerality of success, and the vulnerability that even the winners can't avoid.   And when you add to this the burden of the bi-polar disorder, and the medication that keeps you in balance in everyday life but can dull your senses just enough to make you sometimes lose your edge in the rink, you get an especially interesting, even riveting, story.

Kaya Scodelario gave a sensitive and compelling performance.  January Jones seemed like another version of Betty on Mad Men, and that was fine.  Willow Shields was good as Serena.  In some ways the best performance was Evan Roderick as Kat's partner Justin in more than one way - we've this character many times before, but Roderick gave him a surprisingly fresh and authentic presentation.

My main annoyance was too many rabbits out of the hat, like the abusive doctor who suddenly became a villain in the final episode or two.  For that matter, there were too many subplots.  I could have done without what Justin's father and stepmother went through, or without the coach's true love story, or without some of Marcus the bartender's story, or at least one fewer of those.  And some of the life-and-death crises, like the coach's eye surgery, were way too quickly resolved.

But, as I said, those problems were relatively minor compared to the soaring high points of the series, on and off the rink.  I'm up for a second, more streamlined season next year, and my wife will probably watch it, too, so I hope it's renewed.


It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...