LITTLE ROCK — What is it? Foyle’s War, Set 6, three 90-minute episodes on three discs from Acorn Media.
How much? $49.99
When? Now
What’s the story? When we last saw Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (played by Michael Kitchen), he had resigned his post with the Hastings Police Department and all of England was celebrating the end of the European war in June 1945. Rejoining him a short time later, we see that things didn’t go as planned. Apparently, he was called back to work after his successor’s untimely death. And he’s getting more than a little impatient with his superiors’ inability to find a replacement.
Foyle’s former assistant, Paul Milner (Anthony Howell) is now an inspector in nearby Brighton. The chief superintendent’s former driver, Samantha Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), has taken a job as housekeeper/secretary/ cook for a wealthy artist. A murder brings the three back together.
The war in Europe may be over, but the issues it raised continue: rationing, shortages, bureaucracy, social tensions, politics.
As with the earlier seasons of Foyle’s War, the mysteries shed light on some of those war-related problems or littleknown aspects of the global conflict, like the British Free Corps or the fate of Cossack prisoners of war.
Set 6 contains three new mysteries:
“The Russian House”: An old acquaintance asks Foyle to track down an escaped Russian prisoner of war who fought on the German side. Naturally, it ends up being a bit more complicated.
“Killing Time”: The romantic relationship between a local girl and a black American soldier ignites racial tensions.
“The Hide”: Foyle’s replacement has finally arrived, but Foyle is drawn into one last case: the trial of an accused traitor.
Kitchen is as wonderful as ever as the doggedly determined Foyle (who’s a little testier now). And Foyle’s fatherly relationship with the enthusiastic Sam still provides the series with a solid heart, although they don’t interact as much as they used to. His relationship with Milner has cooled in the intervening period, as the younger man tries to make a name for himself away from his mentor.
These new mysteries contain the same strong acting and attention to detail. It’s obvious that even with the ceasefire, there are still stories to be told.
That being said, I wasn’tquite as enchanted with these new episodes as I was with the originals. It takes some adjustment to get used to the new status quo, and some characters just seemed grumpier than they used to (which, to be fair, probably fits in with the postwar attitude). Also, the second mystery, while telling an interesting story, was more ham-fisted than usual when delivering its message.
Overall, though, Foyle’s War is still excellent entertainment.
Any extras? Nope.
New this week: 21 Jump Street, Season 3; The Agatha Christie Hour, Set 1; Crash, Season 2; Heroes, Season 4; Hunter, series; The Phil Silvers Show, Season 1; Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Season 7.
Next week: Hawaii Five-O, Season 9; Mercy, series.
Style, Pages 52 on 07/25/2010