The reason for my complaint isn't because of the quality of the episodes, or even really in the length of the collection - the issue I have is the fact that the releases' price doesn't change when you compare it to previous series releases that clock in at 600 or so minutes. Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 4 only has 319 minutes worth of content and it costs the same amount as Series 3. Thankfully, for those that keep an eye on how far their dollar is stretching, there is nothing about the Agatha Christie's Poirot series that means you have to watch them in a particular order, or even watch them all for that matter.
The three mysteries in Series 4 are "The ABC Murders," "Death in the Clouds," and "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe." Each one has its own particularly nice and twisted plot to keep you entertained, it's just a shame that they comprise the entirety of the series.
In "The ABC Murders," Poirot is sent letters signed by the self-titled ABC Killer proclaiming imminent murders. Before the first death, the letter seems like the standard wild goose chase sent to Scotland Yard on a regular basis, but as soon as the first body falls, Poirot (David Suchet) and Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) join up with Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) to figure out who the next victim will be before the second letter's prediction comes true.
"Death in the Clouds" finds the nervous flyer that is Poirot being one of only a handful of people on a plane when a murder occurs. A woman is killed, apparently by a poisonous dart, while the plane is in the air, and by the time it touches ground, Poirot is hot on the case trying to figure out which one of his fellow flyers is also a murderer.
The third film follows the death of Hercule's dentist. This particular episode features an interesting, though oddly connected, collection of characters - all of whom appear to be the dentist's patients. One such fellow is a rich banker who is practically a household name. Another patient is a lady that he met briefly many years ago. In this particular case, the lady was in an acting troupe in India with a woman that banker was about to marry, but when the female patient runs into the banker, he seems to not know what she is talking about. The final patient in the mix is a person the actress met on her way back from India and also one of the other murder victims in this case.
While these are three great episodes, those viewers who are looking to own this collection might want to wait for some kind of price drop or something similar, because paying full price for half the content just doesn't seem to sit well with me. I would say that you could always pick up the DVD copy for a cheaper price (after all, while the Blu-ray version looks good, there isn't too much difference between the two media types when it comes to this particular show), but there isn't much of a price break their either.
