Ordeal By Innocence

The three-episode period drama deviates from the book’s narrative yet still manages to weave an equally intriguing whodunit.

It’s a smart, attractive, and well-acted version.

Every part is well-performed, but the most-acclaimed veterans--Nighy, Goode, Treadaway--do somewhat steal the show. All three are, as they almost always are, reason enough to watch on their own. And you get a crackling mystery too.

It’s not subtle--and occasionally outright dumb--but it’s a gorgeous, beautifully acted bit of squalor, nevertheless.

The sense of dread and guilt that permeates each interaction, combined with the flashback structure that makes this more ghost story than murder mystery, almost makes each of the Argylls at fault in their own way.

It’s lovely but overstylized, amping up the arthouse melodrama to the point where the plot often feels like an afterthought.

Ordeal by Innocence will fill your whodunit needs. And it’ll be lovely to look at in the process, because it is a gorgeous mini-series. But those lovely surfaces aren’t anchored to a propulsive enough story, so when it tries to polish, complicate, and heighten the usual Christie tropes--the flashbacks, the looping story structure, and the fascination with beautiful images of dripping blood and foreshortened statuary--the whole thing feels overwrought.