Poirot receives a visit from Lord Pearson, the head of the London and Shanghai Bank. He and the Board were expecting a visit from a man named Wu Ling who was to sell the bank a map to a silver mine in China. But Wu Ling never made it to the meeting and Lord Pearson is concerned. His concern is justified when, shortly, Wu Ling's dead body is discovered.
As I usually do, after watching The Lost Mine, I came to IMDb to read the other reviews. I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm shocked at all the positive things I'v read. Sure, The Lost Mine is visually one of the better Poirot episodes I've seen. The scenes in London's Chinatown are just amazing. But it looks as if I have problems with the episode that most didn't. I'll limit this to only two of the things that bothered me.
#1 - While I enjoyed the Monopoly scenes, the stock market discussions, and the Scotland Yard bits, much of these scenes felt like filler to me. None of it really had any bearing on the case. At about 50 minutes in length, this is a huge chunk of time devoted to things not directly related to the investigation.
#2 (and more importantly) - How did Poirot arrive at some of his conclusions? For example, at what point did Poirot discover Lord Pearson's gambling habit? I don't remember it ever being discussed until Poirot brought it up. Either the episode cheated and Poirot knew information unavailable to the viewer, or (and more likely) Poirot was making wild guesses. Either way, it's not good for the episode.
As I usually do, after watching The Lost Mine, I came to IMDb to read the other reviews. I'm not exaggerating when I say I'm shocked at all the positive things I'v read. Sure, The Lost Mine is visually one of the better Poirot episodes I've seen. The scenes in London's Chinatown are just amazing. But it looks as if I have problems with the episode that most didn't. I'll limit this to only two of the things that bothered me.
#1 - While I enjoyed the Monopoly scenes, the stock market discussions, and the Scotland Yard bits, much of these scenes felt like filler to me. None of it really had any bearing on the case. At about 50 minutes in length, this is a huge chunk of time devoted to things not directly related to the investigation.
#2 (and more importantly) - How did Poirot arrive at some of his conclusions? For example, at what point did Poirot discover Lord Pearson's gambling habit? I don't remember it ever being discussed until Poirot brought it up. Either the episode cheated and Poirot knew information unavailable to the viewer, or (and more likely) Poirot was making wild guesses. Either way, it's not good for the episode.