David Jonsson crept onto my radar after catching him in Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk, two films where his character was the most interesting, largely due to what he brought to the roles. And in my humble opinion, his performance in the latter was damn near Oscar-worthy. From what I’ve seen, the guy’s one of those actors able to convey more with an expression than a mouthful of dialogue.
He brings that same skill to Murder is Easy, a British mini-series (being two episodes, maybe a mini-miniseries) that was produced before he started making waves on this side of the pond. Adapted from Agatha Christie’s novel, Jonsson plays Luke Fitzwilliam, a Nigerian on his way to a new job in England. Onboard the train, he befriends Lavinia Pinkerton, a kindly old woman who informs him of multiple murders in her hometown of Wychwood, all of which have been officially deemed accidents, and claims to know who’s committing them. Then she’s struck and killed by a car shortly after they arrive.
When you reach the drive-thru menu and are still undecided.
His suspicions raised, Luke takes it upon himself to visit Wychwood and do a little investigating of his own. Posing as a writer conducting research, he finds an ally/love interest in Bridget Conway (Morfydd Clark), who’s engaged to Lord Whitfield (Tom Riley), a wealthy, arrogant profiteer who basically owns the town and is a chief reason for the bad blood between the upper and lower classes. Since most of the victims have been the former (and critical of Whitfield), he’s the primary suspect, especially after the murders continue. Unfortunately, Whitfield is so heavy-handedly established as a total bastard that even casual mystery fans can confirm with utter certainty that he’s not the killer.
Still, Murder is Easy is fairly entertaining, largely thanks to Jonsson, whose character exudes cool confidence among the locals suspicious of his presence. We’ve seen this kind of story and structure many times before, including previous adaptations of the same novel. The plot dutifully throws numerous suspects our way before revealing the killer in a climax that’s a little too talky for its own good. Until then though, it’s a decent little mystery.
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