The Pale Horse (2020)

It’s a potent image from the Book of Revelation: Death on a Pale Horse. It is the stuff of nightmares, one of which we’re living in at the moment. But I digress…

The Pale Horse is a TV mini-series from the BBC which I watched on the CBC last night, all three episodes, back-to-back-to-back. It was adapted from an Agatha Christie novel of the same name. Here’s a preview:

The use of flashbacks and double-flashbacks can be a bit disconcerting at times, but considering that the story is told in three parts, and would have been aired at the same time each week, it might be a blessing for those that may have missed an episode.

Agatha Christie has this thing for people being killed in surreptitious ways. Rat poison? She added the three witches to titillate the readers into thinking that superstition and magic were involved. And the portrayal of said witches was spooky in the show.

Right up to the end, when you think you have it all worked out, the show throws a curve ball and you strike out, yet again. The second Mrs Easterbrook was always the one I thought ‘did them in’, especially as she showed some very violent (but imaginary) tendencies. But, to be fair, living with Mark couldn’t have been easy, as you’ll see.

And Mark Easterbrook seems to be the Teflon man. Nothing sticks to him in the end.

The ending is ambiguous, as it should be, and his reward will be an ongoing nightmare.