Foyles War, Season 6, #3 The Hide (Grade B)

Masterpiece Mystery Presentation
 Cast: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell

sez says -- we really enjoyed the early seasons of Foyles Wart and were glad to see that they continued itm in this 6th Season of 'After the War' stories.  This one revolves around POW Brits who joined the Nazi to fight the Russians (anti-communists) --and it has a good mystery (what won't the accused young man talk?) that is solved in the course of the story, without introducing a deus ex machina to wrap everything up ( i hate when they do that). There are some extra unnecessary shenanigans thrown into the story (bad guy, greedy developers, and bad dads) But they didn't hurt the story.
This is either the final time we will see  this crew -- or maybe it will continue with Foyle in America--where he is headed --for some mysterious purpose--at the end of this show.  Great production values, great acting. Kitchen is really a great actor but he sure hit his sweet-spot in this show.  (Grade B)

Foyles War, Season 6, #2 Killing Time (Grade C+)

 Director David Richards III
Writer:  David Kane
Cast:
Michael Kitchen  .. DCS Christopher Foyle
Honeysuckle Weeks Samantha Stewart

 summary -- racial prejudice at the nearby American base is echoed in the local community, In the meantime wealthy local men are targeted by a pair of thieves.

sez says: I am always interested to see how racism will be dealt with in fiction--it needs to be dealt with much more than it is.  This is a British version of what American racism looks like --and it looks bad.  But the blacks are idealized and the British hardly have any issue with race at all--except to cooperate with the Americans (which is suggested they shouldn't do--but they do not initiate the behavior---the American's are to blame here--and that is fiction. The Brits are every bit as racist as Americans.). An attempt is made to explore how Blacks cooped-with racism--but it was tepid and didn't ring true. For instance: The primary black character is asked way he would fight for a country that denies him rights at home. He responds that he believes in democracy.  Well--sure--but many Blacks were systematically denied the vote in the US at the time --soooo, if you are going to ask the character that question --then you ought to work a little harder at giving the guy a real answer.  Anyway these are petty complaints. The 'mystery' here is not much--and it solved by telling us the answers --not by any process of discover that makes sense. So the mystery part of this story does not much recommend itself--but on the whole the story still works as an entertainment, and it does try to take on a bigger issue than just a mystery  --so kudos for that.  (Grade C+)

Foyles War, Season 6, #1 - RUSSIAN HOUSE

BBC - TV Mystery Series
starring: Michael Kitchen; Anthony Howell; Honeysuckle Weeks; Julian Wadman; Ellie Haddington; Jay Simpson; Polly Maberly; Caroline Martin; Jay Benedict

sez says: this is not the best of "Foyle's War"-- the earlier seasons were excellent for the genre--and Michael Kitchen does an extraordinary job of creating this character--so it was with delight that we anticipated seeing him back --one more time-- on the job--now, after the war.  But this story about White Russians (who fought with the Germans in WW2) being mistreated after the war was not as good as most of the previous in the series. They even had to throw in a gun chase to try and spice it up--and it just didn't work. The characters are all in tact --but the story is really weak--better they didn't ring-dry a good thing--they should have let Foyle fade away with dignity. (Grade D+)