User Reviews

When I read the description of this episode in the TV guide I was expecting the usual lighthearted silliness with the requisite number of neatly arranged dead bodies. This being Midsomer there was of course a degree of silliness as somebody starts killing the people of Great Worthy and leaving wedding related comments written at the scenes; the bodies weren't neat though with one being dismembered and another two clearly beaten with a heavy object. There was the usual large variety of suspects including a voyeuristic landlord, a disenchanted registrar and a man whose advances had been rejected by at least one victim. As is often the case in this series there are interesting activities happening in the village; in this case a donkey sanctuary and a preserved railway although as it turns out neither prove motive for murder this time.

I really enjoyed this grislier than usual episode; the regular cast were on form and guest stars who included Ron Cook as the suspicious landlord and Sarah Smart who played Jo; finder of the first victim, put in fine performances. While most episodes of Midsomer are suitable for all but the youngest of viewers there are several scenes here that children, and some adults, might find a little disturbing.

This is the description by a reviewer of the wife of the new DCI, John Barnaby. And it makes me wonder just what century some of the watchers of this show are living in psychological speaking? The character, Joyce, the wife of the original Barnaby (Tom), was portrayed as an outdated stereotypical housewife, bored, slightly petulant, and always joining different groups to fill up her time, and always being either humoured or quietly mocked over her cooking experimentation by her husband and daughter. Neither of which seemed to respect her enough to tell her the truth, so she could improve. Yes, she came up with some solutions to some of the crimes, but was never really appreciated for it, nor credited. I often wondered why she didn't have a job! I often thought she made women in general look like hanger-ons - it wasn't like she had dependent children to take care of, or any health problems that would interfere with her working outside of the home. But I guess that is the "safe" way to portray women so they're not competition to the masculinity around them. Sad, really. I like the new Mrs. Barnaby (Fiona Dolman). She's clearly with her husband because she wants to be, not because she's desperate emotionally or financially. She's funny, smart, independent and caring and interesting to watch.

The other thing reviewers are complaining about the new DCI Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon), is how he treats Jones. Were none of these people actually watching the earlier episodes with Tom Barnaby? He blatantly treated Jones and all of his previous assistant detectives like lowly servants. He even made one put their coat down over a puddle so he could step on it. Anything physical or potentially difficult or dangerous, Tom would send the poor detective in to do it first. He was quite smug about it. It was pretty obvious, so much so that I started to think it must be a running gag.

I also don't see the new Barnaby lauding over Jones with his degree in psychology -- he himself has never brought it up, except to finally address it toward the end of this episode when Jones yet again throws it at him like it's somehow a bad thing that he did the extra work to be better at his job. It is Jones who constantly refers to it, probably because it makes him feel inferior as he thought that he should have gotten the promotion instead of an outsider. But that is something he is projecting upon himself, it is not coming from the new DCI Barnaby. I do have a problem with how they have written Jones's (and earlier detectives) character, it's like he's never learned a thing from working with the first DCI Barnaby who like his cousin looks at the whole picture and thinks outside of the box while processing the evidence. Neither of them jump at the first and most obvious solution. The writers still have Jones looking and acting somewhat duhhhh, which is unfair to the character(s). I know they have to create a difference in their skill sets to justify their respective positions, but... Jones hasn't been overly welcoming to his new supervisor either -- he's been quite resentful overall. Oh, and the earlier Barnaby never encouraged his detectives to hang out and be chummy neither. Pay attention, people. I guess fond memories are causing some serious loss of facts here. People don't seem to want to let the new DCI find his own way of fitting into this new clique of old coworkers who are also missing Tom Barnaby. He's not supposed to be a direct copy. Watching him maneuver through it all, mistakes and all, is what makes it fun for me.

I enjoyed this episode (despite some serious plot holes, as discussed by others here). I also liked the first two episodes with the new DCI and company. This series desperately needed a shot in it's arm, they were running out of places to go with the first Barnaby, or maybe running out of "how" to go to to those places. The series is feeling refreshed now, with new possibilities opening from within the same oldness that is human kind itself.

The opening scene is both quaint countryside and village murder. Intriguing (and the reason many of us watch the show). Wonderfully acted and directed. And of course the killer is demented and his motive insane, but the atmosphere is just like the original few episodes of Season 1, echoes of the past, indeed. The murders are definitely gruesome, and that I can't justify as entertainment, but, nevertheless, I watch to see the bad guy get caught and the victims get some earthly justice. And that's what our detectives do--solve the mystery and capture the evil one! Hell was created for demons like him. WARNING: Do not look directly at any dead bodies ever on this show, especially the 2nd one here (it was the absolute WORST of the series)! And references to deviant sexual toys will slap the innocence out of anyone, (why did Jones have to say it, though? Well, better than Barnaby saying it). Poor George, these terrible murders are getting to him. He may want to retire soon. Some brief nudity in this one. The ending had my full attention, very gripping, and nice gesture at the end with an obviously upset Barnaby taking some time to wipe away a bit of the horror. ANYWAY, the exterior of the Barnaby's home is so lovely, just like all of the Barnaby homes have been, and watching the couple discuss historical killings over dinner remind me of Tom and Joyce.

This episode is nearly a total failure. The murderer is obvious the moment we see him; he has otherwise no place in the story whatsoever. His motivations are ridiculous-- unconvincing and almost silly. When the two women closest to the main female character have been murdered, wouldn't the police have at least offered her some protection? But noooo.".. Not only are there no clues planted fairly to allow a sharp- eyed viewer at least the possibility of deducing whodunit, but NOBODY solves the mystery. The killer is caught because of an improbably civic-minded peeping Tom. Barnaby and Jones might as well have stayed home. These problems are not the fault of the cast, but of the writers and the producers.

This has to be in the bottom five Brian True-May era episodes. Even though there have been many duffers since he departed it could still be one of the worst ever.

Others have mentioned the killer's ridiculous motivation. Suffice it to say it is one of the worst ever. But it's not something that could have been guessed at. The explanations given for the choice of the second and third/fourth victims weren't even hinted at and only come out in the interview with the apprehended culprit.

And how come at the end the culprit was interviewed in his own house and not down the station? One suspects that it was to give Barnaby the chance to root through his belongings and so come up with an explanation for his crimes.

I dislike how the new Barnaby and Jones seem unnecessarily antagonistic towards each other, bearing in mind that Jones saved his superiors life in each of the previous two episodes. It smacks of poor writing.

And (it's not just a fault of this episode but of the season as a whole), there's no chemistry between Barnaby and his supposed wife. Zero. Zilch.

MAJOR SPOILER

For me, serial killer plots are, by far, my least favorite murder mystery episodes.

The "alleged motive" is usually some form of sexual frustration as in this episode. This means that the serial killer is almost always male, and the victims are almost always female, usually young women or girls.

Not only does this make things tiresomely predictable, but presumably to make things more suspenseful, the producers often make the murders especially grisly--as if preying on the most vulnerable of society is not disturbing enough.

While I don't have much use for people who constantly complain about "political correctness", I have to agree that Midsomer Murders producers can't seem to find a noble or honorable Christian, "to save their soul". Here the practicing Christian actually turns out to be the serial killer.

Finally, as with most shows with a serial killer theme, this episode is virtually devoid of all humor. As we watch an episode where there is no motive to figure out, all we can do is to wait for the next body to drop.

The most recent episode I've watched. Some sloppy police work here, especially with the mirror in the bathroom with the writing on it. Now that mirror happens to be evidence. Evidence that should be removed to the police evidence locker. But no, that mirror stays on the wall. And the final scene of this episode shows John Barnaby, for some reason in the dead of night no less, with flashlight in hand, entering the house where the first victim was found. He makes his way to the bathroom, where she was found, and there is that mirror, still on the wall. And what does our detective do? Why he wipes the message off that mirror. Oh my, destroying evidence no less.

Earlier on, we are tipped who the guilty person is. How? Well. throughout the history of MSM the Christian religion has received quite a bit of bad treatment by the writers/producers. And here, early on, shortly after the first victim is discovered, the man that is the murderer is sitting at the local pub. Where he tells those near him that they ought to go to the local church and pray for the victim's soul Their reactions to this tells it all. Had I been more alert I would have known that he was the murderer, it is all so obvious.

The denouement is silly as well, we really cannot believe this man would do these killings for the reason given. Farce, really. And John Barnaby gets really upset at one murder only. Yep, the female who wanted to have a same-sex marriage sets him off.

The treatment that this Barnaby gives Jones is bad. At one point he refers to Jones as a donkey. And this Barnaby loves to laud his degree in psychology over Jones. Boorish at the least. His (Barnaby's) air of superiority is a big fail, one wonders if future episodes will tone this boorish behavior down. It is a real drag.

The clubby chumminess that existed throughout the Tom Barnaby era is sorely missing, and sorely needed. But this Barnaby has already sternly warned Ben off of coming over to the house. Ouch.

As longtime fans of "Midsomer Murders" my wife and I were horrified by what has been done to this wonderful series. First off, Neil Dudgeon is a wooden actor: he plays John Barnaby with grim determination. He seems angry, angry at the killer (whoever he is), angry at Jones and angry at his wife, who by the way is some sort of career woman with whom John has little chemistry. A cute dog enters the picture, a cheap and obvious trick to lighten the mood at the Barnaby house. John Nettles played Barnaby with irony and humor, there's none of that with Dudgeon. "Midsomer Murders" is supposed to be a send-up of the English mystery, but that atmosphere of dark humor is missing in this episode, not only as the result of the acting but the writing too. John Barnaby delights in insulting Jones gratuitously, for no good reason. This is really ugly.

The writing is thin and the plot unconvincing. The killer's motive is contrived and preposterous, and by the way, insulting to people of faith. The murders are elaborately staged for no other reason to fill in for what is missing in plot and character development. John Barnaby sort of happens on the solution rather than solving it with his supposed detective skills.

There is no excuse for ruining a good detective series. The resources are there and surely a better actor could have been found to play the lead role. Of course with the retirement of Nettles you would suppose that the next 'Barnaby' would be a different sort of character, but why make him so unlikable? Our only consolation is that we have have about a decade's worth of really good "Midsomers" to go back over. No TV series can last forever.

I guess it refers to the fact that the murders here are alleged copies of past killings, but as an analogy it's awkward, since it's not the dead that are "echoing" but rather the methods by which they were killed. "Echoes of Murder" would be more on point. The whole copycat crime scenario is a tired trope, anyway, which has been used on SO many mystery series and which is handled in an unimaginative and uncompelling way here. As far as I recall we don't even really get to find out much about the earlier murders, other than that Barnaby likes to read about them, to "learn" from them. Ironic that with all that reading he never learns the solution to this case.

Having watched the first three Neil Dudgeon episodes in season 14, I have to say I find him annoyingly off-putting as the new DCI. The John Barnaby character appears to suffer from Multiple Personality Syndrome: with his wife he essays a light upbeat "sexy" chemistry which never really comes off as authentic; with his partner Jones he's overly hostile and dismissive for no apparent reason that I can fathom (it seems like the writers expect us to find this funny, but it's not); and confronting the murderers he goes all outraged and self-righteous, reminiscent of the Law And Order: SVU detectives who TAKE. EVERY. CASE. PERSONALLY. Dudgeon, whom I liked as the impassive chauffeur in the Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, doesn't succeed here in integrating all these character aspects convincingly, and the result is an extremely unlikable series lead. Which is a big problem.

In this particular episode, the main writing weaknesses have already been pointed out by other reviewers - the shoddy police procedures (lack of protection for someone who clearly should have had it), the killer being caught through sheer outside luck rather than through any detecting the police did, and especially, the fairly blatant telegraphing of the killer's identity to the viewers - I pegged the culprit early on, about twenty minutes or so into the story, and at no subsequent point was I ever swayed into thinking it might be someone else.

That being said, there are some nice directorial touches. A murder which occurs midway through takes a page from Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy - the camera slowly backs away from the exterior of a house where a woman has just gone back inside after checking in her garden for an intruder she thought she heard. We don't see or hear anything happen, but it's a creepy moment, especially in light of what we later learn. Also strong is the chilling finale sequence where the discovery of a new pair of murder victims is intercut with the killer stalking yet another intended victim while unknowingly being observed. It actually shows some imagination on the writer's part and is directed superbly, with a very eerie and disturbing atmosphere, and skillful camera work and editing which provide an excellent buildup of suspense. The crimes on Midsomer are usually not exactly "scary" to watch - they feel expected, to a degree, and are handled in a semi-detached way that could be described as "discreet". Sometimes there is even an element of black humor to them. This particular scene, though, is genuinely terrifying - it's the scariest thing I have seen on MM. Unfortunately, we then have to listen to Barnaby blather on at length to wrap things up, because he doesn't figure anything out about the current crimes until AFTER the murderer is in police custody.

Pros: Sykes the dog (of course)

Good performances by the guest actors, even in some underwritten roles.

Very good direction, especially on that nail-biter of a climax.

Cons: The character of John Barnaby (a huge one that cannot be overlooked)

Haphazard writing which is either not thought out enough (as in the lame police work), or else guilty of - excuse the pun - overkill (giving the murderer THREE separate motive elements: a quasi-religious angle, a desire to recreate past crimes, and a crushing personal-life event, when just one of those would have sufficed).

Overall score: 5.

Ok, I am going to get to the point of this particular episode. There's spoilers in this so, let's get to it.

In Greater Worthy, we have a male virgin, David, fixing his home and waiting for his fiance to come back from South Africa from a teaching assignment. And you have the regular folks there, pub owner/former cooper and his once madame wife, whatever, the mean spirited couple who owns the car lot/petrol station whose son (who is slow and shy) who runs it (or the sorry, good for nothing bastard they call the poor lad), the grocery lady and her peeping Tom husband, the lady who owns the Donkey Sanctuary and her angry son and the the rest.

Well, someone killed a lovely woman and dressed her as a "bride" to be and had her naked in a tub with a bathroom curtain. Who would kill her and why? Well, it's David, the pent up virgin, that's who! And why? Because his fiance left, 3yrs ago mind you, found someone new and then, a year later, writes a letter to said fiance David and tells him that, "Hi, honey, yea, well, I didn't write in a while because I found someone new and we got married! Hope you are ok, find someone new. Good luck!" And he snaps, crackles, and pops. So, kills the first victim because she was living in sin with a man and fornicating with him...without being married!! How DARE she. Then, he goes and kills a beautiful woman, who was a lesbian, btw, and wanted to be married with a woman and, that's a No-No. So, what does this nutter do? Well, kill her, strip her nude, chop her up, put her in a basket and takes her to the train station! Because she needed to go...literally.

Now we have the older couple. They are too into their telly to care about anything or anyone (including son). How they die? Sledgehammer to the heads!! Reminds me of that great Peter Gabriel song. Why? Because the man lets it slip that their "bastard" "good for nothing" son was just that....a bastard. They never got around to marrying each other. Oh, and they laugh and laugh. And so, BAM, right in the head. Did they move? Nope. Too into the telly. New meaning to the phrase how watching too much telly can rot your brain. And last was the young lady who was roomies with the first victim. Why was she about to get her "due"? Because she was seeing a married man. So, yea, she had to go. But who saves the day? The peeping Tom! He saved the day. All in the name of David's "God". David, the pent up virgin who was a teacher who taught about history and how people died....yea!

I don't understand why they would let the young lady go and live in said crime scene. But, whatever.

This episode is creepy to the sense that the murderer murdered people who were sinning and they needed to go. All because his lovely fiance, Louise is her name, left, stopped writing after a couple of years, got her rocks off while his was going deep sea blue balls, and married someone else. And thus, death and destruction. If he was in Badger's Drift, he would be a busy killer!

And there you have this episode.

Like other post on here written, you have the uneasiness of John and Jones...like, why is their still bitterness? Why is John soo mean to Jones? I know that Tom had his ways with Troy/Scott/Jones but was NEVER so up his bum bitter than John is. Towards Jones.

And you have Sarah Barnaby, a teacher and wife of John but, there seems to be no chemistry between these two. And to comment about why Joyce was not a "career woman"...who cares? At least Joyce and Tom HAVE chemistry and you can see the love they have for each other! Here? Sarah and John? Not soo much chemistry.

The scene at the end, where John was shaking, was a decent touch because you can see someone "breaking" his pompous self. This killer (imho) got to him.

And there you have it. The good parts: Sykes, the dog. I like Sarah. Jones always gets a plus for me.

Bad parts: the sense of the murders... that's mess up. The bitterness and hostility of John towards Jones. Still miss Tom and Joyce.

3 stars is way too generous. I've not watched any of the episodes since Dudgeon took over, wanting to rest with John Nettles portrayals. I'll still give him another chance or two, but after that, if it still doesn't catch my interest, I'm off to discover some other murder stories. As other people have wondered, why in the world didn't Barnaby guard the poor girl so she needn't have been pestered by the maniac? The suspects were of no interest and barely suspected and poor Pam Ferris, whom I always like, had nothing to do but screech and look loathsome. Dudgeon may be okay but his character's personality is not anywhere near as inviting as John Nettles' Barnaby. And give something to Hughes to do as his cohort; have their interplay more playful and not so mean-spirited (on the part of Barnaby). All in all, towards the end, it was more of a speed forward affair. Disappointed greatly. Was hoping for the continuation of some class.

This episode made no sense whatsoever. First, we have a series of improbable murders committed by a man for an asinine reason. Second, we have a red herring -- the strange son of a donkey farm owner which goes absolutely nowhere. But worst of all, we have John Barnabay banging on about historical murders. He went on, and on, and on to the point that one is hoping Sgt. Jones will turn around, punch him in his ugly face and say, "Take this job and shove it!" But it gets worse. Once they figure out the identity of the killer, we are expected to believe that in this digital age of emails and mobile phones, John Barnaby finds a stack of "love letters" which confirms the killer's bride had dumped him and it was this that, apparently, drove him over the edge. Preopsterous!

Spoiler Alert: Reading this critique may affect your enjoyment of this episode if you have not seen this episode.

That said, there were two serious plot line stumbles that make this a problematic episode. 1. Surely DCI Barnaby would have had someone from the Causton Police watching the house Fran Starling is now living alone in, after the second murder of a close friend of hers? This seems like sloppy police work that cousin Tom might not have made. This omission gives the conclusion of the story believability issues. It was not as though Barnaby and Jones had actually succeeded in narrowing down who the killer was, and were tracking the culprit down. No, it seemed like they were still miles away from figuring this all out, even if they were geographically just around the corner. This seems as though an originally-longer story line (offing a few more of the characters comes to mind), might have been abridged in order to end the bloodshed and the program on time. Secondly,

2. Why, given the amount of blood and the locations for key murders and body placements, were no footprints found? A quick study of even partial prints would immediately have ruled out some of the suspects.

Might I also suggest an improvement in the chemistry between Barnaby and Jones for future episodes? At this point in the new story line, Jones has saved Barnaby's life twice and they are still sniping at each other. As already suggested elsewhere, Jones is "half the franchise." It is not necessary to write Jones as either somewhat naive or as dull-witted in order to make John Barnaby shine...

Oh, and I do like Sykes - the most adorable of the new characters!

Thanks, and any improvements will be most welcomed!

"Midsomer Murders" has had its fair share of bad episodes. "Echoes of the Dead" is definitely one of the lesser quality episodes of the 14th season and one of the worst entries to this wonderful series.

It's not all bad though.

. The production values of the episode are great as usual. The direction is decent and the music fits the scenery. Adrian Rawlins is not bad in the episode, neither is Pam Ferris, but out of the guest stars Sarah Smart gives the most compelling performance.

. There are some eerie moments here and there (agreed, that the scene, where the killer whistles "Bridal Chorus", was effective) and there are some interesting ideas about trying to examine why people commit murders.

But...

. The script is a mess with weak dialogue and characters, who are not very interesting to be honest. Neil Dudgeon gives his worst performance as John Barnaby, he is not into the story and comes off arrogant towards his partner. Most of the subplots go nowhere and the violence in the story is quite to take at times. The solution (Mr. Orchard is the murderer) is very obvious and the motives for the murders are laughable at best. John Barnaby does not even figure out the killer's identity!

Overall, a terrible episode.

3/10 HK.

I certainly agree with the reviewer, mar9tin, from July of 2012. All the episodes I have watched since John Barnaby replaced Tom have been a sore disappointment to me. Some of the things spoken and implied are quite disgusting to me, and the plotting is atrocious. Perhaps my interest in Midsomer Murders has run its course. It was the last hold out against the modern trend away from cozy mysteries into the dark world of hard-boiled police procedurals. Poirot, Marple, Wimsey, Holmes, Morse, Frost, Dalgliesh, Campion, Lynley and Foyle and maybe Dangerous Davies, have all been good entertainment for the most, but we've run out of the special kind of inspiration that seems to have created and perpetuated those stories with their interesting characters.

Normally I do a recap of the plot of the Midsomer Murders episode, but in the case of "Echoes of the Dead," I'm not going to. As far as the story, it was just okay. And also, may I point out, they didn't solve the case.

Instead I'm going to concentrate on how this series has been depleted by the loss of John Nettles and the Barnaby family.

This series is filmed in England, a country known for turning out some of the greatest actors in history. And you're telling me that the producers couldn't find someone who could at least approximate an acceptable lead? They didn't need a Nettles clone, just someone who could bring something special, if different, to the role.

But no. We have Neil Dudgeon as John Barnaby, deadly serious, nasty to Jones, no chemistry with Jones, with a cute dog who as far as I'm concerned is the star of the show. I am unable to warm up to his wife or to him. He has no charm, no humor, no lightness.

When you have a show with such dastardly crimes that are often bloody, deal with dark secrets, etc., you have to have characters that can add attractiveness, some levity, some camaraderie, some warmth to the proceedings.

So far I haven't seen any of the above. And poor Jones is dangling in the wind. I'd have applied for an immediate transfer.

As another reviewer said, this one has been the most contrived and prepostous so far.

They are many shots of the school through out the episode for no reason except maybe hinting who the killer is. Lesbian lovers seem to be a popular selling point in this show, here again, but come on, how many lesbians out there. They are often discreet and invisible.

Why the hell so many characters in detective shows turn on the lights while feeling there is a stranger in the house at night? Shouldn't that be the last thing you want to do? Why does any girl whats to turns on the light and go to the window to expose herselft? Still no curtain? Your friend was just murdered in the same house.

Used to think UK TV shows were wittier than American ones but I guess it is all about the market. After all, crime genre was invented in the UK for selling newspapers?