As
Inspector Wexford delves further into Dawn’s life and death, he pulls at
divergent threads that may or may not prove to be tied to her murder. Of course, this includes a sit-down with
Zeno, sussing out the exact nature of his relationship with Dawn.
This
means a proper look at Zeno away from the stage. Questioned in his extravagant hotel room, his
cold, blasé attitude proves to be a put-on.
Instead, he’s an eternally-bemused prankster with a knowing grin; he
smirks at the idea of suspicions being cast on him and has no qualms about
giving the inspector less than his full attention.
While
generally, he doesn’t seem to take life very seriously, he does have a rather high opinion of himself, and he’s clearly used
to getting his way: taking things when
he wants them. PC plays him with just
enough bite that he could potentially be the murderer.
I
forgot to mention yesterday, Gemma Jones is also featured in this story as a
jittery witness who seems to know more than she’s telling – much like Vera in Prime Suspect, but with more mental
instability and fewer scornful remarks about her gender. Anyway, Gemma Jones enjoyed a brief turn as
Madame Pomfrey in the Harry Potter
series, but I’m fondest of her excellent Mrs. Dashwood in the Emma Thompson
version of Sense and Sensibility.
Accent Watch
London
– not bad, although PC’s London accents tend to wander towards Australian on
occasion. But this is interesting: when he’s being questioned, there’s a moment
where he’s talking about Dawn, and his accent takes a hard left turn to West
Country. No idea at first where it came
from. Then I remembered that Zeno is
Dawn’s childhood sweetheart, and Dawn’s family has more West Country accents. Could it be that Zeno has consciously adopted
a London accent for wider appeal, eschewing his roots? And memories of someone from his youth brings
his old voice to the surface?
Please
don’t discount the possibility that I’m reading far too much into this. But if it’s true, then good on PC – I’ve not
always been too impressed with his accent work, but this would be a great
character note.
Warnings
Some
dark thematic elements.
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