The Set-up: A young monk does penance by whipping himself in front of Prior Robert (Michael Culver) and Brother Jerome (Julian Firth), when he is done, Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) takes him back to his herbalist hut to treat the wounds. While there, Jerome informs him that the Father Abbott (Terrence Hudman) requires his services, but is still a half day out from the Abbey.
Cadfael takes the young monk, Brother Adam (Shane Hickmon), with him to see to the Abbott's request. They walk through first arriving pilgrms all of which are crippled in some way, for the first day of the holy days is Cripple's Day'. Adam cannot help himself and stares at some of the pilgrims until Cadfael chastises him.
When the meet up with Father Radolfus, they discover that it is not for himself which he has called them out, but for a pilgrim, a young man walking bare foot to the Isle of Innes where he was born, so that he may die there. He has uncurable disease, or so he claims; but when Cadfael questions him he does not have a name for it, nor has it been diagnosed by a doctor or healer.
The Rest: The body of an old man is found in a satchel left by one of the pilgrims in the warming room, but thanks to Prior Robert chasing them all out (Cadfael had sent them in), the owner of the bag is unknown and noone will claim it. Hugh Beringar (Anthony Green) is called in, as Cadfael is sure a murder has been committed.
Cadfael does his best to find clues from the body and discovers what may have been a fatal blow ot the head, as well as a silver cross with the bones that he cannot explain until much later when he realizes that it had been swallowed, or at least in the throat of the body.
The merchant who was with the pilgrims is revealed to be a thief and suspected of the murder for a while. But it turns out to be the young man that Cadfael helped at the beginning who believes he has killed the man, which was his father. But, it is revealed that his zealot brother actually killed their father by stuffing the cross down his throat.
Commentary: Ah, you've got to love a scene of self-flagellation. Now that's a proper way to start an episode. This one just kept getting better - Robert and Jerome had their first fight, and for once it was Robert coming down on the wrong side and Jerome not...can they remain besties after this?
Beringar doesn't even bother to argue with Cadfael in this episode, or do much of anything other than act as Cadfael's enforcer. What a shame. I thought part of the alure of this show in series I was the interaction between Cadfael and Beringar - the two men intellectually challenging each other, each willing to bend the rules of Abbey and King to see that real justice was done.
This whole series (this and the two previous episodes) suffered by the absence of the taciturn Sergeant Warden and the clumsy Brother Oswin. Warden provided the example of a king's man who only did exactly what he was told and never thought about true justice for Beringar to be contrasted with. Oswin provided Cadfael with not only a willing pupil, but also someone who could be the target of Robert or Jerome's dissatisfaction with his own action - Cadfael had to consider those around him before acting rashly, for they may suffer the consequences of his action.
This was the last episode of the show. There are still 7 novels left that have yet to be adapted, I am surprised that there were not another two series of the show. Ah well, it had a good run and then a bunch of episodes after that.
The Proof: a silver cross, I guess, though the relevance is never guessed at by Cadfael - it's not until the final scenes where the killer confesses it was his.
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