Ellery Queen

FAVORITE ELLERY QUEEN EPISODES


(in order of release)


The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne
While no one would claim this episode has all that great of a puzzle plot (the dying clue, while clever, is patently ridiculous, and it's the only clue), the atmosphere is superb, feeling exactly like '40s New Year's Eve parties that movies from the era have recorded. There is great fun in the countdown to midnight, when Insp. Queen will be forced to let the suspects go, and as Ellery is stuck in exceedingly silly situations to arrive at the party, solve the mystery, and make up with his girlfriend. (The first instance of a perpetual whim of the writers, giving Ellery different girlfriends as the series progresses.) The suspects are continually at each other's throats, building cases against each other, as in a Christianna Brand story, and the actors playing them, among whom Joan Collins is the most recognizable, are having tons of fun it with it. Guy Lombardo also cameos as himself; seeing all these famous faces is always a delight with this series. David Wayne is also having a good time as the principal investigator, as Ellery is continually trying and failing to get there until the very end.


The Adventure of the Lover's Leap
Notable for the first series appearance of John Hillerman's hilarious Simon Brimmer, a conceited radio detective who always thinks he can beat Ellery, and for one of the best, most complicated plots of the series, with the ingenious clue of a shard of glass. The solution must be taken with a grain of salt, but the writers' ingenuity is superb, with Brimmer's solution quite good but not good enough, as Ellery builds on it to find the real murderer and method (just as in one of Queen's own novels!).


The Adventure of the Chinese Dog
Not only is the appearance of Wrightsville a joy for the EQ fan, and not only is the episode quite hilarious (e.g., Insp. Queen's repeated attempts to go fishing, hindered by the murder investigation!), but there is exceptionally clever plotting. The murderer's identity is not too difficult to figure out, but this person's motive is absolutely brilliant--and very possibly sui generis, for I've never seen it in any other detective story before or since. Also, the writers have apparently been reading Queen's novels closely, for we not only incorporate Wrightsville but also utilize the "Ellery interrupts a marriage ceremony" scenario (what this website calls "the showdown at the wedding bit"), which Queen-the-author used in There Was an Old Woman and Face to Face.


The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader
Like "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne," the plot isn't all that great--the dying clue is particularly unbelievable--but this episode is very funny, and the comic book atmosphere is superb. This is probably the least odious interpretation of Ken Swofford's Frank Flanagan character, who is so annoying and boorish that I was deeply hoping that the writers would make him the murderer in one of these episodes! Oh, and note the obvious similarities to (Writing the title without spoilers would give it away!)


The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Final Performance
Interesting cast--Eve Arden and Betty White both star--but an even more interesting plot, seemingly combining elements of Agatha Christie's After the Funeral and The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. The murderer is not too difficult to spot, but the other plotting elements are first-class.


The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party
Most people's favorite episode, but the characters felt a little off in this one to me, with Ellery being a little less friendly and funny than in all the other episodes. Could that be because this episode was based on an EQ story from Period I, when the Ellery character was a little more Philo Vance-ish? Either way, this was indeed the only time that the writers directly adapted an EQ story for their script, though some are close calls ("The Adventure of the Wary Witness," for example, is very close to EQ's "The Case Against Carroll," and "The Adventure of the Judas Tree" has some key similarities with EQ's The Door Between). There's also some good comedy on the train, and the atmospheric storm, while cliched, is effective. It's one of EQ's best plots, though interesting in the sense that Anyway, good episode, just not the best.


The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario
Wonderful Hollywood atmosphere--very "meta"!--and a fun cast, including Vincent Price (!) as the director of an Ellery Queen movie. There's some interesting plotting about who-was-where-when--curiously similar to the solution with the Death in Paradise episode "Wicked Wedding Night"--
and the central victim, inviting comparisons to such Christie works as The Body in the Library, Towards Zero, and After the Funeral. But the atmosphere and comedy are rightfully emphasized here.


The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman
One of the very best episodes, with some great clues and a grand unravelling of the tricky situation. Not particularly difficult to spot the murderer, but there's enough clever business--and a good false solution from Simon Brimmer!--to make this one a plotting gem.


The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep
Also excellent plotting--and a hilarious self-critique of the show's premise, as the Commissioner feels that Insp. Queen relies too much on Ellery! While the solution is by no means original, I neatly fell into a brilliant red-herring trap that is proposed and exploded, brilliantly, halfway through the episode. The identity of the murderer, too, is fairly clever.


So, those are some brief comments! Anyone agree, disagree, have some favorites?