Welcome to Acorn TV’s Agatha Raisin. The hit cozy television show adaptation of M.C. Beaton’s best-selling cozy mystery series. If you are a cozy lover, you are probably already familiar with Agatha. But you don’t have to be a cozy reader to enjoy this cozy show.
The first episode, Quiche of Death, opens with our protagonist, Agatha Raisin, talking to her psychiatrist via webcam as she relays her idilic childhood memories. She and her family visited the Cotswolds when she was a child. “It was magical. Just being in the country. And at night we would sit around the campfire and I’d tell them which of the beautiful cottages I was gonna live in one day.” After being a big time Public Relations Executive in London, Agatha is ready to retire and move to her dream home.
After this episode, the audience never sees Agatha’s psychiatrist again. Her therapist acts as a method to introduce the viewers to Agatha. By speaking with him, Agatha tells him, and by default the viewers, her hopes and dreams. The psychiatrist offers insight into Agatha’s personality, asking probing questions and making comments about her habits (such as nervous eating, defining herself through work, and feelings of inadequacy).
Meanwhile, as Agatha prepares to leave for the Cotswolds, Roy (her executive assistant, whom I LOVE) interrupts her webcam therapy session. He is standing in front of a group of cheering fans (for what we don’t know yet) and informs Agatha about a potential PR nightmare. This scene is super important and shows the viewers that Agatha truly is good at her job. It is one thing to hear a character refer to themselves as something (smart, confident, capable, etc), but it is another thing to see it in action. Agatha goes right into PR mode and tackles the problem head on. The boy band her company represents, Boyhood (yep, I double checked and that is the name of the fictional band in the show) was about to have a new album launch. However, one of their singers was caught having an affair (or, in the very least, a one night stand/sexual encounter) with his wife’s best friend as she went into labor. The details of this don’t matter much. Once the problem is handled, the boyband’s storyline is over.
FYI, the boy band singer’s wife is apparently still in the hospital (in labor) as Agatha goes to the pre-album launch to fix the PR disaster. I don’t know anything about this woman, but I feel terribly for her. Her boyband husband cheats on her (while she’s pregnant) with her (supposed) best friend; then Agatha is so awesome at her job that the cheating husband ends up looking sympathetic to the public, who forgives him in a matter minutes. The singer’s name is Danny, but I’m too annoyed with his character to refer to him by his name, so I’m going to call him Mr. Cheater. Agatha spun the cheating singer’s affair into a moment of weakness. The PR company spins it so that Mr. Cheater was scared about becoming a father and made a terrible decision.
When Agatha and Roy walk into the room where the boy band singers are hanging out (all looking annoyed and tired), Roy instantly goes to Mr. Cheater and attempts to fix his hair and shirt to “freshen him up.” Agatha stops Roy and thrusts her purse at him.
I love this screenshot of Roy looking at Agatha. He’s like, “What are you doing?” His face is priceless. I also love the fact she literally just shoves her purse at him and he doesn’t even respond. It is as if she has done that to him a hundred times before.
When Mr. Cheater tells Agatha that his wife is going to kill him, she is less than sympathetic. She says, “And you deserve it you little twit,” before giving him a slap on the cheek. Clearly, I am not Mr. Cheater’s biggest fan and knowing that Agatha doesn’t condone his actions and calls him out on them (even though it is her job to make Mr. Cheater look good to the media) makes me feel better about her team representing him.
Her advice to Mr. Cheater is to “start looking sad and sorry…It is impossible to feel bad about someone who looks like they are suffering.” This line comes back around later in the episode making this scene important for several reasons. In addition to demonstrating Agatha’s abilities, the writers are planting little thought seeds in the viewer’s mind. Well, done. That is good writing.
Can we just acknowledge that even the fictional magazine couldn’t give Mr. Cheater’s wife’s name attention. Aggggghhh. This woman needs her own cozy mystery series - life after leaving her cheating boyband husband to open her own bakery with her daughter at her side. <- I’d buy that book.
Agatha’s PR company throws her a goodbye party. Hugs. Cheers. All that jazz. Characters raise champaign glasses to her, but it just shows that she can be surrounded by people and still feel all alone, with the exception of Roy. I’ve already seen every episode of this series multiple times. I can flat out tell you, the viewer never sees any of those random company employees again. Bye. Bye.
Meanwhile, in the Cotswolds, the townspeople are at the market. Viewers get a snapshot of them and it is perfect. A woman and her daughter (who is later revealed to be Gemma and Kyra) are purchasing something. The seller handing them back their change looks to Gemma’s daughter and asks, “Are you mother’s little helper?” Without missing a beat, the little girl says, “No, that’s prozac.” The next customer is an older woman (we later learn is Mrs. Josephs) holding up a pair of underwear asking how large is a large. THIS IS OUR FIRST INTRO to these people. 😂😂😂😂 Man. Talk about first impressions. The following scenes show various characters living their lives as a local man has affair after affair.
When Agatha arrives in the Cotswolds, she seems happy. Her new cottage has been professionally decorated and it is filled with food. That is her first stop, opening the fridge. She sees the refrigerator is full and smiles. #relatable
The first person to approach Agatha’s cottage to welcome her to the Cotswolds is Bill Wong. It was no meet cute. Poor Bill.
Bill is one of my all time favorite characters in the show. He is an adorable bright ray of sunshine that needs to be protected at all costs. He is too cute. He goes to welcome Agatha and she blares her security system. Sirens. Lights. The works. In this screenshot, Bill looks like he is about to be abducted by aliens. He’s also flat on his back as the lights try to blind him. I’ll write it again, poor Bill. The scene cuts to Bill in Agatha’s kitchen eating cookies with her. They bond. Sort of. Agatha still has her city girl mindset, while Bill is being Mr. Friendly next door neighbor police man.
Bill shows off his detective skills when he notices Agatha’s to do list:
Booze. Cleaner. Meet People. Can we just appreciate that “booze” was at the top of her list above “cleaner” and “meet people.” If that isn’t a character insight, I don’t know what is.
As they chat, Bill notices that Agatha’s home resembles a “show home.” He’s not wrong. Also, Agatha has a picture of herself on the table. I had to circle that for everyone.
As Bill greets Agatha, the local middle aged playboy is at it again with a different woman, only to be caught by his other mistress who threatens to tell the second mistress’s husband about their affair. The fact she is more mad that he is cheating on her with another woman versus that he is marries is baffling. The cozy viewer knows this guy won’t last much longer. Plus, the super creepy first mistress just oozes suspicion - you can tell she will either be the killer or get her self killed in this cozy mystery. If cozies teach us anything, it is that characters who act that mean and rude do not last long. Also, never hurt the pets.
After a relatable workout session (in which Agatha tries and has issues with her new machines before weighing herself as she stands on one foot) Agatha decides to explore her town and pick up the booze on her to do list. Her entire basket is filled with bottles of wine. While Agatha is shopping, she overhears another customer discussing the upcoming quiche competition. Agatha immediately thinks that this her chance to get in good with the townspeople. Rather than look into recipes, she goes to introduce herself to the judge. Low and behold, the judge is our local middle aged playboy, Andy. The married man with not one, but two mistresses.
Walking back to her cottage, Agatha meets creepy mistress number one, Sheila. As cozy mystery law dictates, she’s Agatha’s next door neighbor. It became apparent very quickly that these two women were not meant to get along. Agatha’s second to do list item “cleaner" inspired her to ask Shiela about which woman cleans her cottage. Rather than be polite (like most humans) Shiela snaps at Agatha and refused to give her information about her cleaner. She told Agatha the woman wouldn’t have time to do both of their cottages then slammed her gate door. The viewer quickly learns that Agatha is not one to be trifled with. What does she do? She finds out who Shiela’s cleaner is (the lovely Gemma, the woman from earlier whose little helper is prozac). Agatha offers her double the amount of money, an included lunch, and hires her away from Shiela. As all cozy mystery readers know, going against crazy doesn’t end well. We can see the drama and tension starting to take root here.
After getting her basket full of booze and cleaner, Agatha moves onto her third to do list item, meeting Andy, Mr. Cotswolds-Hugh-Hefner-Wanna-Be, and his wife for dinner. Agatha wants to know about the quiche competition and how to win, thinking this is her way to make friends and become a true member of the town. She learns two things: One, Andy likes spinach quiches. Two, Andy is not a good guy. He hits on Agatha the moment his wife excuses herself to use the restroom. Literally. The moment she wasn’t in the shot, he made a pass at Agatha.
Arriving home, Andy is met with lipstick on a mirror, from presumably creepy mistress number one, Shiela.
The problem with needing to make a quiche is that Agatha doesn’t cook. At all. She can’t. At this point, viewers have seen her eat several microwaveable meals and was even given one as a gift from Roy. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that she has no intention of making a quiche. She visits a local shop and buys a spinach quiche to enter in the competition. Gemma warns her that the towns people won’t be happy with her if they find out she’s cheating. With a shrug, Agatha brushes this off, thinking they will never know. All cozy mystery fans know the moment someone says, “never,” that something is not just likely to actually happen, but that the thing will of course happen.
Poor Agatha. The next day wasn’t easier. While she slept, her cottage was burglarized. Enter Bill and DCI Wilkes. No one. I repeat, no one is as dumb as Wilkes’s character. Granted, he gets dumber as the series goes on, but he was never presented as particularly intelligent.
Agatha’s day gets even worse. She then loses the quiche competition. The one bright spot is that while she is at the competition (before the disappointing announcement from the one and only quiche competition judge, Andy, that Ella Cartwright won again) Agatha got to meet Sarah. Sarah is the sweetest character, aside from Bill. Sarah walks right up to Agatha with a smile on her face and compliments her quiche. Every cozy mystery needs a sweetie pie like Sarah.
Then there is Bill. What a thoughtful, adorable, man. He goes to Agatha’s cottage and gives her a kitten. A KITTEN!
Look how happy he is after giving Agatha the kitten. He is that GIF of Sam from Supernatural going, “You’re too precious for this world.” Bill turned the show into an animal cozy. Another reason to love him. Can I keep him? He is seriously adorable.
Not long after Gemma goes to work, she finds Andy…DEAD. Dun. Dun! DUN!
Andy died of poison…from a quiche…a spinach quiche…Agatha’s spinach quiche…the plot thickens!
Naturally DCI Wilkes and Bill question Agatha. After all, it was her quiche that did Andy in. Bill realizes within moments that she did not make the quiche. When asked what was in it, Agatha answered, “eggy thing and bread.” She then held up two potatoes to add to the pastry. I’m sure people know this, but Agatha Raisin is not a baking cozy. Microwaveable meals for one.
The entire town learns that Agatha didn’t bake her own quiche. It becomes a matter of public record. Then, they start to blame her for Andy’s death. Dirty looks. Passive Aggressive. Ouch. Now, Agatha not only provided the murdering quiche, she is also the town pariah. Needing to see a friendly face, she invites Roy to stay with her.
Every sleuther needs their sidekick. Sherlock had Watson. Agatha has Roy. He arrives in town with his latest boyfriend, Steve, and attempts to help Agatha unravel the mystery. Bill is precious, but so is Roy. He is hysterical. I don’t know who did the casting, but whoever decided on Roy was spot on.
Agatha decides to investigate the murder due to Roy’s prompting. “This is redemption, Agatha. You prove there is a murderer in the village and people will stop blaming you. You will be respected. You might even be liked.” I like that Roy inspired her. Agatha didn’t instinctively become a local gossip or nosey neighbor. She has a reputation to restore and a town to protect.
As a cozy mystery reader and viewer, this is important to me. I am not a fan of sleuthers who are just busy bodies, wanting to know the local gossip just because. I need my sleuthers to have a reason to investigate. Agatha had several reasons to care about Andy’s death (even though she was new in town) and only decided to undertake the task of detecting after someone else recommended she look into the matter. Another reason to appreciate Roy.
Agatha, Roy, and Steve then create the first murder mood-board of the series.
When looking at Andy’s widow, Agatha said, “If I were doing PR for a murder, that is exactly what I advise. I would get the normally prime and proper Mrs. Cummings Brown to look all disheveled, to look like she’s suffering because it is impossible to think badly about someone when they look like they’re suffering.”
Years ago, I took a Zumba certification course. I was nineteen or twenty years old and thought I might want to teach in the evenings. It didn’t happen, but I got certified:) The instructor recommended that we include potentially difficult/tricky dance steps in warm up exercises so that our students would feel comfortable with them later on during the class. This is exactly what the writers did in this moment in the episode. The writers introduced the idea of representing someone as mournful or as Agatha says, “suffering” with Danny, Mr. Cheating boy band singer, then brought it around to the murder victim’s widow.
Meanwhile, Gemma, realizes that Bill is developing a crush on Agatha. After changing his online dating profile and agreeing to what he believes is a pub date with Agatha, Bill’s feelings become clear. Gemma wants Bill to finally look at her in a romantic way after pinning (what the viewer assumes is years) for him.
Another love story develops. Creepy mistress number one, Sheila, has an attractive brother…enter James. Agatha’s future long-term love interest. He doesn’t get a lot of attention in the premiere episode. The viewer watches him drive into town in a nice (expensive looking) red sports car. Other than presumably having money in the bank, viewers don’t know much about him. Gemma mentions James to Agatha at a town event, wanting Agatha to go after James so that Bill wouldn’t have a chance with her. Mischievous. Yet, practical. Gemma’s conversation with Agatha offers even more character insights. Agatha’s hesitation and reluctance alludes to a sad dating history. Her usually upbeat/energetic demeanor softens and her confidence wanes. Romantic relationships are an area in which Agatha is uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, James and Agatha’s first one-on-one interaction isn’t the best. Agatha is awkward (commenting on his weight, attractiveness, and how his desire to write military history is boring) and James is a little rude. He opens the door with a book in his hand, having been at work. My best guess is that she interrupted him and he was annoyed? I’d like to there was some reason he wasn’t super nice to Agatha. It could have been her awkwardness, but, hey, I find that endearing. When Agatha offers him baked goods. His first response is, “Your the woman who poisons people.”
At least Agatha has the kitten Bill gave her!
In the upper left hand corner, you can see Agatha’s to do list crossed off. I love the details.
Rather than dwell in her post-James interaction, Agatha picks up the cute fluff ball, pours herself a glass of wine from the bottle she was going to give James, and gets sleuthing. She apparently bought one of each lipstick women in town wear to test the different shades, looking for the one that matches the color/shade that someone used to write messages on Andy’s mirrors. Since Gemma was Andy’s housekeeper and saw a couple of the messages, Agatha has something to go off of.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Agatha matches her nail polish color to her shirt and her lipstick!?! When she goes pink, she goes pink!
As Agatha sleuths and goes to the local ladies meeting. Gemma tricks Bill into going out with her. He thinks he is meeting up with Agatha until Gemma’s daughter, Kyra, approaches him and tells him otherwise. The two just don’t hit it off. Bill leaves with a sad little look on his face…as I inwardly yell at the screen, “Don’t worry. Someday you will find love!”
The next clue in the mystery was provided by Roy. Another check in the reasons Roy is awesome column. After visiting Agatha, he went through the photos from the fair and came across a woman starring daggers at Agatha. This woman looks SO CREEPY!!! If someone sent that photo to me, I’d want to get ride of my entire phone. Emma Cartwright told Agatha that the woman in the photo wasn’t from around town. Maybe Agatha should be grateful for that. Mrs. Boggle identifies the woman as Maria. When Agatha confronts her, Maria didn’t come across as normal saying things like, “The trees were telling me” and telling Agatha she would “die a horrible, lonely death witnessed only by the trees.” She also had, dozens of wind-chimes. The amount made me think of John Mulaney’s Comeback Kid monologue when he discussed a former co-worker of his, “This woman named Mischa sat in the other cubicle. I want to get the number right. I think Mischa had… about 900,000 photos of her daughter up in her cubicle. Almost like she was trying to solve a conspiracy about her daughter, A Beautiful Mind-style.” THAT is the number of wind-chimes this lady had.
The one thing I liked about this lady was that she apparently had a pet lama. As she was doing her oddly flexible yoga posses, a lama was just sort of chilling nearby. Lamas might be considered an odd pet, but, I think lamas are cool.
Maria told Agatha that she and Andy were engaged, making her mistress number three. THREE! Sarah, the vicar’s wife, was almost mistress number four. Andy wanted to have an affair with her, but Sarah refused. HOW did so many women fall for Andy? This guy was awful!!!
Agatha’s murder mood-board continued to grow. With an unsolved case, the clues and details continued to add up.
Gemma also represents most women. After her debacle of a date with Bill, she added a new book to her “to be read list.” I might need to Google if this is a real book...
Our favorite sleuther, Agatha, eventually got attacked for her snooping; except it wasn’t by anyone viewers would have suspected. At least not this viewer. Emma Cartwright’s husband, who was in what? Two scenes? One of which was just him making a sour face when his wife won the quiche off. Ran some sort of wire across the road forcing Agatha to fall off her bike. Hard. Then, to be even more of a (fill the blank here) he came after her with a baseball bat. What?!? This guy is terrible. How is he allowed to walk the streets? If he gets this mad about a woman talking to his wife, how is he not the killer. Spoiler, he’s not Andy’s killer. Although, as far as I’m concerned, he’s clearly capable of killing. He had to be stopped by four of the local teenage boys who were out for a nighttime ride on their (I am going to guess some sort of) dirt bikes.
These kids saved Agatha. There wouldn’t be more episodes, let alone a series, if it weren’t for them. James’s sister lives right next door to Agatha, so after the boys chase the bad guy away, they help James get Agatha inside. I love how they are looking at her murder mood-board as Agatha chats with James in the background. How cute is it that both of the kids point to something? I find them adorable.
Naturally, Agatha’s attack made her question things. What woman wouldn’t need at least a day to get her head on after crashing into the pavement only to have a scary guy stand over her with a baseball bat intending to do serious damage? She took her cozy companion with her to talk with Roy. Everyone needs a friend who can just cut through everything else to help them focus. Roy asked who Agatha originally suspected and she suspected Andy’s wife! Agatha goes back to investigating with renewed vigor. Yay sleuthing!
Turns out that the baker who Agatha bought the spinach quiche from didn’t make the quiche. Dun. Dun. Dun! He didn’t tell the police because one of his workers is undocumented. This changes EVERYTHING! The theory that cowbane accidentally made its way into the spinach no longer held water. There was no cowbane near the cousin’s bakery. The wife did it! THE WIFE DID IT! It is always the spouse.
I have to admit that the spouse, the cheated on wife, felt a little too obvious. Personally, I would have enjoyed the mystery being a little more complex. There were three mistresses (THREE!), a fourth woman being pursued, a jealous husband with a temper, the pursued woman’s husband (who happens to be the town’s vicar), and all the women he cheated out of the best quiche award. There were a lot of other characters in the story who could have done it. Andy’s wife finally had it when he was going to leave her for someone richer. That was the final straw. The affairs? No. Leaving her for someone with more money? Yes.
Agatha was endangered a second time when she confronted the murderer of a wife. Because we all know the first thing you do when you know the truth is to confront the bad guy without the cops or witnesses by your side. Technically, since this is her first big case, I’m giving her a little wiggle room. But that was a stupid move. For someone so intelligent, not the best idea… Luckily for her, Bill took her suspicions seriously and went to confront the “grieving” widow. Bill to the rescue!
Also, if you know the woman poisoned her husband via food…Maybe don’t accept a cup of tea from her. Side note, how did this woman just happen to have horse tranquilizers on hand? Is that in the cupboard of all crazies? The lady never excused herself, so I’m assuming she had them on hand. I have multiple questions about this. After drugging Agatha, our least favorite widow, sets fire to her own house with Agatha inside. Another side note observation, why burn down your own house? The husband died and I’m guessing there was insurance money involved with that; although we never hear about his life insurance policy and what she received from his death other than the satisfaction of not getting cheated on anymore. Did she really need the insurance money from burning down her house, too? Even for crazies, that seems a little much.
Agatha then awakens in a hospital room after her attempted murder. Roy is right by her side, waiting for her to regain consciousness. #bestfriend and #bestsidekick
Bill Wong, being the adorable Bill Wong, filled Agatha’s hospital room with flowers. Such a sweetheart. Roy referred to Bill as having a “cougar crush” on Agatha. Still. Even for a crush, that was super generous and thoughtful.
Having solved the murder, Agatha feels better. She feels as if she is at home. She is at peace. Fade to black, end of episode.
I have seen this episode multiple times and I am open to watching it again…and again. Enjoy the cozy awesomeness that is Agatha Raisin.