by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
Netflix has premiered the three-episode miniseries Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, which follows Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, investigating a murder at her family’s home, setting her on a trail of an intricate and deadly plot. Proving that the murder mystery renaissance is thriving considering that we’re now mining some lesser-known Agatha Christie works for adaptation.
Though the murder mystery/Agatha Christie angle was the main reason the show sparked my interest, getting to see something else from McKenna-Bruce, who gave a breakout performance in How to Have Sex a couple of years back, was a non-zero factor. She’s quite charming as the plucky rich girl, underestimated by pretty much everyone as just another privileged member of high society whose family is falling fast.
The performance works better in certain aspects than others. When it’s at its best, she’s on the case and pursuing leads in the course of her amateur detective work. Perhaps because I’m someone whose diminutive stature often means he’s looking up at people, I found the way that she was shot made her height, or lack thereof, really come across on screen. It also helps sell her underdog status, as she’s quite often dwarfed in various halls of power as she tries to get to the truth of events. It’s when the script is getting more melodramatic and personal that it doesn’t work quite as well.
Though Brent is our main character, the novel it’s based on is technically a part of Christie’s Superintendent Battle series. Once Superintendent Battle (which is the character’s name, a fact that this editor just learned, -NF) joins the proceedings the show really gets going. We already know that Martin Freeman knows how to play the often-beleaguered sidekick to a detective, and he works well again here as the official investigator of the case who’s often exasperated, if not impressed, at our persistent young sleuth. He gets a lovely send up of the big explainer moment that I quite enjoyed, but most of all I just enjoyed the repartee between Battle and Brent. When the show is singing, it’s when those two are together and the pair of them have more scene chemistry than any romantic angle the script tries to play up (for laughs or otherwise).
Though they were certainly the highlights, they weren’t the only performances I enjoyed. Edward Bluemel I found to be an absolute delight as an acquaintance of Brent’s as he gets some of the more fun moments of the show. Helena Bonham Carter is once again playing a mother to our young amateur female sleuth. Much more reserved than in her Enola Holmesrole, she nonetheless has some standout moments—like an advisory session on hosting.
Based on the Christie novel, the series is created by Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch, Dr. Who) and directed by Chris Sweeney, who started as a music director, before transitioning to various television projects I admittedly have not been fortunate enough to partake. Though I largely enjoyed this show, I found the experience to be a bit uneven. Though I found the show largely well shot, the narrative takes a while to get going. In true Netflix fashion, it does manage to get its hooks into me by the time the credits roll on episode one. I also don’t think that the answer to the mystery totally works for me. Thankfully, the strength of the middle is enough to carry me through.
Though, from what I can tell, Brent only appeared in two Battle novels (this being the last of them), the series itself teases the possibility of more to come. With the Battle-Brent working chemistry being the true highlight of the show, I certainly wouldn’t complain. To sum up my feelings on Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials as it exists, it’s simple: when it’s having fun, I’m having fun, and there’s enough fun here to make me happy to let three hours tick by with this on my screen.
Rating: Liked It
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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