User Reviews

For me this is one of the top five episodes in the history of the series. Midsomer, especially in its early years, was known for its casting coups, and this episode features exceptional performances by Annette Crosbie and Geraldine Alexander. Since her twenties, Ms. Crosbie possessed the remarkable ability to portray much older characters without resorting to affectation. Here, Amelia Plummer is at least a decade older than Ms. Crosbie was at the time and is desperately trying to maintain her dignity and sanity despite a concerted effort to drive her mad, and being forced to remember a decades-old tragedy. Her final scene, in which she appears to succumb to dementia after overhearing her family's self-destruction is heartbreaking.

And while Amelia Plummer is struggling with her memories and her demons, her daughter-in-law, Helen, is desperately trying to plug all the holes in the very leaky boat that is the Plummer family business. The casting of Geraldine Alexander as Helen was brilliant, not just because she delivered a superb performance, but because of her resemblance to a slightly younger Joyce Barnaby. Two of the recurring themes in the Tom/Joyce Barnaby years are Joyce's innumerable friends and acquaintances throughout the County and Tom's susceptibility to flattery. We are never told how Helen comes very quickly to the conclusion that Tom can be honey trapped and that she is perfectly suited to the task, but from her first encounter with the Chief Inspector she sets that as her goal. Did Helen and Joyce meet in the course of one of Joyce's many community projects? Joyce seems to know what Helen looks like, and I doubt it's just from the way Tom describes her. And, but for Dan Scott's cynicism and adherence to the investigative trinity of motive, opportunity and means, Helen's stratagem might have succeeded. The pub scene, in which the camera focuses on Tom fingering the material of Helen's coat, shows just how much Tom has become infatuated by Joyce's doppelganger. This is one of the premier moments in the history of Midsomer Murders.

By the way, this episode provides one of John Nettles' finest performances as Tom Barnaby. Occasionally, we get to see Barnaby's few human weaknesses, and when the script gives Nettles the opportunity, he takes full advantage.

The supporting cast of Plummer family members, employees, acquaintances and enemies is also outstanding. Particularly impressive was Karl Johnson as both the son and father of Plummer family victims.

With every viewing of this episode, I catch a difference nuance and grow in my appreciation of its performance and production values. It exemplifies the series at its best.

Midsomer Murders: Sauce for the Goose is set in the small Midsomer village of Little Upton where the Plummer & Sons factory make world famous food relish. Owned by Amelia Plummer (Annette Crosbie) & her three children Ralph (James Fleet), Anselm (Jasper Britton) & Caroline (Lizzy McInnery) the business is deep financial trouble, an offer from rival company Fieldway Foods is on the table but Amelia & Ralph refuse to sell. Then the naked body of Fieldway Foods executive Dexter Lockwood (Rod Hellett) is found in the factory plants bottle sterilizer & DCI Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) is called in to start a murder investigation. As Barnaby investigates he discovers the Plummer's are at war with each other, someone is trying to frighten Amelia & a tragic event from the village's past may hold the motive & ultimately the key to the killers identity...

Episode 7 from season 8 this Midsomer Murders whodunit was directed by Renny Rye one has to say Sauce for the Goose is a good solid murder mystery that feels a little empty at times. The script by Andrew Payne has most of the usual Midsomer Murder ingredients like the dark & sinister past events, a murder, plenty of suspects, affairs, bad business dealings, intrigue, misguided love & is one of those episodes where the first twenty odd minutes or so is all exposition that sets up the character's, the location & the events surrounding the crime. Unlike some episodes of Midsomer Murders most if not all of the exposition is actually relevant rather than just padding, it does actually set the scene & situation very nicely. Then when the body is found there's a double mystery since not only is there a murder but no-one know's who the victim was which is a nice angle, unfortunately it doesn't last too long & once Barnaby discovers the identity of the corpse Sauce for the Goose really loses some direction, it almost grinds to a halt & the murder is seemingly forgotten about while there are endless scenes of the Plummer family arguing with each other which does get a little tedious & repetitive. Then Barnaby has one of those moments which everything suddenly becomes clear & the killer is revealed, I must admit the motives are quite good & aren't too predictable either. The plot is sensible & reasonably plausible & there's some entertainingly eccentric character's in here too. The ending is surprisingly sombre & downbeat, from the revelation that a dotty but nice old lady has Alzheimer's to the money grabbing couple who end up with everything. Sauce for the Goose is also one of the very few Midsomer Murders episode in which there is only one murder (although it's quite imaginative, I can't think of another person murdered by being crushed between two pallets of jars of food relish), at almost 100 odd minutes I am not sure there is enough going on to sustain ones interest & it does lose it's way a bit although overall it's still a good episode.

Unusually Sauce for the Goose there's a very modern contemporary location with the relish factory, in fact the real location was the Tiptree Jam factory in Essex. I quite liked the change of scenery & the clean modern automated interior of the factory contrasted well with the more familiar traditional English countryside locations. With only one murder there's not much violence, there's a nude corpse & that's about as graphic as it gets. The cinematography is great as is the acting.

Sauce for the Goose is a good Midsomer Murders episode, the lack of murders & a plot that stagnates during the middle third ultimately prevent it from being considered a classic but it's still a mighty fine whodunit, fans of the show should like it.

Another good episode. As usual with an interesting setting. And acting that is above average even for an above average series. HOWEVER, it seems there was a 2nd murder after all: the security guard was locked in the freezer near the end before Barnaby and Scott came to find the glasses - and since no one seems to have bothered to let the guard out of the freezer, I'm guessing he died.

Wondering whether Tom and Joyce end up divorced before this is over? Either because he can't ever finish a meal with his family or he falls for a beautiful and charming suspect.

I'm getting used to DI Scott. But can he play spoons?

After "Hidden Depths" was my favorite of this season, I was pumped to see what the eighth season has to offer. "Sauce for the Goose" is a solid, but not a great entry in this wonderful series for me.

Let's start with good, shall we?

. The production values are great as always. The direction is gorgeous, really nice work is done with the factory setting. Music's also fantastic. The cast's mostly good too. Annette Crosbie is wonderful, easy to feel empathy for and Geraldine Alexander's captivating.

. The story does mostly engage in "Sauce for the Goose". There are some clever twists and turns here. Humor works like a charm and the characters are colorful enough. The solution's fine too. The motive for the murder is believable and so is the identity of the killer. The subplots are fun. Especially enjoyed the bird watching theme. My uncle's very keen on that subject.

But...

. Because there is only one murder in this mystery, sometimes the pacing does unfortunately suffer and the story is not always as interesting as it should be.

. I also feel the idea of how our sleuths don't know the victim's identity was thrown away way too quickly and the episode becomes yet another typical "Midsomer Murders".

Overall, a good one, but not great.

7/10 HK

MAJOR SPOILERS

I found this to be one of the weaker Midsomer Murder mysteries, for two reasons.

1. From a general "who-done-it point" of view, it felt like there were too few suspects. The Plummer family were the primary suspects, and that meant 4 suspects, since it was unlikely that the elderly mother was the killer (although I suppose she could have been the mastermind).

I am not one of those viewers who believe that you need multiple murders to make an episode interesting. But I do think you need multiple suspects, with various possible motives.

2. It seems to me that no matter how you look at it, killing Dexter Lockwood made no sense from the murderer's point of view.

Dexter Lockwood was the only one who could get the murderer a large chunk of money, after the sale of the factory and property. (Presumably Dexter had some sort of an agreement--written?--with the murderer). What possible benefit was there for the murderer in killing him?

The rationale given by Barnaby is that the murderer was afraid that Dexter was revealing something, a valuation report on the property. But that assumes that Dexter is about to betray the murderer.

But nothing that Dexter could have revealed, would have been to the detriment of the murderer, since, given the circumstances, anything revealed would have also jeopardized the sale for Dexter.

Th only possibility that makes sense, I suppose, is that the murder was a "spur of the moment" panic reaction. But that's weak, given who the murderer ended up being.

The episode still had fun characters. I particularly enjoyed the elderly mother, played by Annette Crosbie.