Torrefaction

(spoilers for Kings Crystal. Also Hamlet)
1. Show, dear show, if you are going to have a murder mystery plot arranged so that every single thing parallels the action in Hamlet, it will not be mysterious to anyone who is familiar with Hamlet. The conclusion, in fact, will feel strangely familiar to many viewers. "Ok, Hamlet-guy turns out to be the one who killed Polonius-guy, after acting all crazy in a conversation with Polonius-guy's daughter. Couldn't see that one coming. Everybody used poison for something or other, huh, that's reminding me of some play or other. What about the uncle guy who married the widowed mom?  He did, in fact, kill his brother, father of Hamlet-guy, whose last name was, incidentally, King? Ok, well, that certainly wasn't predictable. Good thing the B story in this episode was about Cully being in a production of Hamlet and we managed to see them rehearsing all the relevant parts, or I would never have gotten any of those subtle allusions.

2. Tom Barnaby is the WORST detective ever!  His method is pretty much this: show up after murder, wander around asking questions and picking up twigs and having a pint.  Then talk to Joyce (wife), who will say something in passing that is the key to solving the murder. Ignore Joyce's info because of distraction and workaholism; go to work and hang about until someone else gets murderd.  Pick up more twigs.  Happen to find an object of significance among the twigs, preferably an object emblazoned with the killer's initials or some other pointer to who owns it.  Take Cully (daughter) to lunch or something. Have a brainstorm in the middle of lunch, call Joyce, and say "what was that vital clue I ignored you saying earlier?" Once Joyce explains slowly and carefully, figure out who the murderer is and run off, leaving Cully in the middle of lunch. Make sure not to say "Cully, I have to go catch a murderer who's getting ready to kill some guy in the cow byre right this second" because then she might not be mad at you for leaving her at lunch, and then she would not be able to do her exasperated sigh.  Anyway, run off to cow byre or whatever location your intuition and Joyce's actual useful info have directed you to; save next victim from murderer just in the nick of time.  When interrogating murderer, show them object you found among the twigs in order to elicit a confession.   Which will totally work. 

I mean, seriously, if I lived in one of those villages and someone got murdered, I would hie me up to London to be safe from all the murdering until Barnaby was well out of the area.

3. How many goddamn villaiges can there be in one county? 

Those aside, I do adore the show and wish it was on a channel near me.  Right now I'm watching series 10 that I bought on Amazon, so that will keep me happy for now, as long as they don't do another Shakespeare episode.