“The Seven Dials of Agatha Christie” Season 1 Episode 2 Recap

When the action shifts to Wyvern Monastery, the episode creates even more productive tension between comedy and international politics. Photo: Simon Ridgway/Netflix/B) 2024 Netflix, Inc.

Poor Ronnie Devereux. The young man in the India office has barely cooled down in his grave when the story progresses and the investigation heats up. Once Jimmy accompanies Bundle to the memorial, they are preparing their next steps to find out who killed Jerry and Ronnie and how their deaths are connected (or not!) to the Seven Dials. It seems likely that there is a significant connection between these two men and this mysterious phrase.

All this means that the conspiracy is rapidly thickening before our eyes. Jimmy doesn’t understand why Ronnie would ask Bundle to teach him “The Seven Dials” and has no idea what it means, beyond the obvious choice of the London area and the club of the same name. Still, he suggests setting up a meeting at his home to introduce Bundle to Jerry’s sister Lorraine and share knowledge about facts that might be helpful. How kind! How shrewd! Jimmy felt like he really hit it off with Lorraine when he went to tell the family about Jerry’s death, so this is really a hit-or-miss situation for him.

Mr. Bundle could only roll his eyes slightly upon hearing this fact. Because she has other things to do, and they all fall under the category of “don’t underestimate the bundle.” Don’t worry, no one will heed this reasonable warning, and it works for us, the viewers, because she only grows more and more unyielding in fear with each admonition about her safety and surprised exclamations about her perceptive powers.

No situation or person can match Bundle’s moxie, from a mid-speed car chase with a mysterious man trying to catch up to him following Jerry’s checkpoint, to manipulating Bill into taking him to the Seven Dials Club, to manipulating George Lomax into offering him an invitation to a secret summit on Dr. Matip’s steel-strengthening formula. We know this mystery man is Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Battle, but it’s fun to see Martin Freeman once again playing the straight man against a talented and eccentric investigator. I think Freeman could do more as Battle than he could as Watson, as Bundle is much less infuriating than Holmes. He conveys a caring warmth beneath the irritation he feels for this small, furious whirlwind who will never follow his advice to leave the investigation to the experts.

Battle has the slightest chance of influencing Bundle’s choice, but Bill’s determination to keep her out of the free-spirited and seedy atmosphere of the Seven Dials Club crumbles before her firm insistence. This is for Jerry and Ronnie! We are doing this so there are no delays or excuses! The club is full of surprises that defy expectations. First, the two are greeted at the door by Alfred, a former Chimneys subordinate. Alfred claims he quit over a pay dispute. The club was then found to be jumping and was not at all the dead sight Bill had described. It turned out that she was completely unfazed by the aspects of the club that Bundle was so worried would shock, especially the queer and gender nonconforming clientele. This club reminded the Dutchman of the first season of Babylon Berlin. It was packed, sweaty, jazzy, excited, and filled with probably the best sources of information on the city’s underworld.

Bundle’s real purpose is to continue the investigation, so it doesn’t take long for her to sneak upstairs and take a peek. She inadvertently spies into a secret meeting of cloaked figures wearing clock-face masks and sitting around the clock-face table. They express relief that Ronnie’s death will not be investigated further and assign Number Seven the responsibility of obtaining Dr. Matip’s mysterious formula. In the flashback cold open, the characters we see Dr. Matip and his sister Dera rush to rendezvous with Bundle’s father in 1920, only to discover that he has been misdirected to a bullring. Della is shot by a dastardly flapper, who in turn is shot by Dr. Matip. This raises some new questions about Bundle’s late father. Why was Lord Caterham, who was supposed to be on holiday when he faced death by the bull’s horns, planning to meet Dr Matip to discuss his life’s work? There is no mention of him working for the Foreign Office, but perhaps he worked for the then-newly established Secret Intelligence Service (now colloquially known as MI-6)?

Bundle learns new knowledge about Dr. Matip, his formula, and the potential dangers she may face at the Wyvern Monastery at the hands of the Seven Dials, and she decides to go there as well. After helping Bundle and Lorraine meet, Jimmy buys an invitation for himself through Bill and sends a servant to buy him a gun (preferably one with a stylish handle!). Thanks to a chance comment on a phone call from someone at Lloyds Bank, we get the feeling that his bank balance may not be in such good shape, despite the idea that, as Jimmy puts it, “The Sesiger name is impeccable”. Time will tell. Jimmy and Bundle advise Lorraine not to participate in the summit for her safety. But she seems passionate and grateful that Jimmy and Bundle are trying to get justice for her half-brother, who she recently befriended while growing up in Italy.

Bundle’s ploy to obtain an invitation to Wyvern Abbey provides the episode’s funniest scene, when she pits George Lomax’s general incompetence against him. She generously offered her mother’s expertise on the intricate etiquette of such a big event, perfectly catering to Lomax’s anxious need to ensure everything went smoothly. Dr. Matip just has to agree to sell his steel-strengthening formula to England, but Lomax doesn’t know that, so I’ll let him speak for himself here about how his bachelor life has made him “less confident in the splendor and luxury of hosting” than the occasion calls for.

I looked at the online versions of both Merriam-Webster and Oxford Learners’ Dictionary to see what they say about “curiosities,” and it seems as if this was a Lomax feature and was invented (or perhaps came up with by chance) on the spur of the moment. He quickly emerges as a highly entertaining cross between Austen’s haughty buffoons, such as Mr. Collins and Mr. Elton, and Cecil Weiss from A Room with a View.

As the conversation progresses, Lomax’s surprise grows that such a very young woman, who appeared to be of noble birth and no special education, would be interested in national politics. I wish more young women would do the same! Mr. Bundle’s sunny retort — “Extend the vote to us, and we can!” — would have warned any smart man that he was being treated, but Lomax is no smart man, and Alex McQueen absolutely takes advantage of that.

When the action shifts to Wyvern Monastery, the episode creates even more productive tension between comedy and international politics. From an altitude of 10,000 feet, Dr. Matip’s prescription loses all significance other than ultimate British ownership. Mr. Lomax and Sir Oswald Coote want to revolutionize British steel manufacturing for domestic and military purposes, something they both consider self-evident. Dr Matip, who had already lost his sister and had to resort to murder in self-defense while fleeing Ronda for his life in 1920, is skeptical of potential buyers. He hopes his formula will fulfill the idea of ​​“the war to end all wars” and not allow one country to subjugate all others.

Back on the ground, the assembled British hosts suddenly developed a complex understanding of Dr. Matip when he revealed, quite plainly, that he was the son of a Cameroonian village leader who had been sent to university in Germany and then fought for the Germans. Cameroon came under French control after the Treaty of Versailles, but his region was a German protectorate until 1918, and he was one of the thousands of Africans who fought against other Africans on orders from white Europeans across West Africa. He is sensitive to the fact that he is dining with people who have lost friends and family to German bullets, but they must understand that their country is just one of many that have suffered terrible casualties.

If they were to have a one-on-one conversation, Dr. Matip might be pleasantly surprised to find that of everyone at the table, Mr. Bundle’s motives were the most consistent with his own. She is primarily concerned with the prescriptions related to Jerry Wade’s death, and is the only person who witnessed how the Seven Dials casually assigned one of its members to extract the prescriptions from Dr. Matip. She understands the stakes better than anyone.

However, there is no time for any conversation about mutual empathy as bedtime quickly arrives and Bundle plans to watch Dr. Matip’s room with Jimmy and Bill. He keeps all materials related to his prescriptions in a safe in his room, so as long as no one enters while he sleeps, he and his work should be safe. The boys agree to take turns guarding the door, and Bundle, defying Bill’s recent exhortations to stay out of harm’s way, returns to his room, puts on an all-black Cat Thief-style ensemble, and attempts to climb down the vines from his bedroom to the front of the house.

The emphasis here is on “trying.” Just because you had the foresight to pack something like an Irma Vep homage costume doesn’t mean you’ll have the skills of an actual cat burglar. Sure enough, Bundle found herself falling directly into the shrubbery and into Superintendent Battle’s path, who ordered her back to bed, “climb up what’s left (of the ivy) if you can.” Of all the men trying to run her life, or at least provide some kind of commentary on how she’s been living these days, Battle is the only one who assumes Bundle will always do more than a teacup-sized 20-something aristocrat initially seems capable of.

Unfortunately, Bundle can’t be in two places at once, so he misses what happened before Dr. Matip’s door was left unguarded. She took her eyes off Jimmy Thesiger for two minutes, causing the whole plan to turn into a calf flow. Any frustration she’s feeling is pushed aside as Bundle and Battle rush toward the locked door, and the sounds of screaming and scuffles ring out, followed by gunshots. When they open the door, they are confronted by Jimmy, who has been shot and is sprawled on a cushion next to a window facing the lawn. oh dear.

I had speculated that Jimmy might be involved in this conspiracy, but him getting shot might ruin that idea. And I may have given up on Sir Oswald too hastily. His ambidexterity and accuracy in shooting Dr. Matip’s enhanced pocket watch was impressive. Tell us your evolving theories about the incident in the comments!

• Fun fact: When I was double-checking the location of Ronda (I thought it might be Spain, Italy, despite the bullring), I learned that it was also the name of the Italian company that produced it. What else? – Stainless steel. Chris Chibnall, your card!

• Following the battle, Bundle passes through a place that looks a lot like Bath. Maybe even a visit to Great Pulteney Street? — disguised as London thanks to extensive CGI.