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+)