Cadfael: The Pilgrim of Hate

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.

Cadfael: The Potter's Field

The Set-up: A farmer plows a field for the first time, as the monks led by Prior Robert (Michael Culver) and including Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) follow behind praying for a good yield from the Potter's field. The plowing stops when the farmer hits a snag that stops the plow from continuing, upon which digging it up they discover the body of a dark haired woman.
There is some speculation that the woman is their former potter's wife - the potter who became a monk just one year earlier. The story flashes back to a year earlier and we see the potter at work and his wife who is extremely unhappy with his choice to enter the monastery - angry not only for losing an income, but for losing her man by which she implies over and over again is to say that he is taking sex away from her.
After the potter has entered the monastery and the wife tried one last time to talk him out of it, even as they are shaving the circle on the top of his head, the lord who owns the land the potter's field and hut are on, stops by with food or money and tells the wife he understands for his wife has been sick for years and denied him a woman. This of course leads them to the bedroom.

The Rest: The lord's son who has professed great disdain for the monastery and the monks who inhabit it has suddenly had a change of heart and went to join the monastery at Cambridge. This is revealed days after the wife has disappeared and just as the lord is off to fight for the king, which he said he wouldn't do under any circumstances.
The body in the field is thought by all to be the potter's wife and by all, except Cadfael, to have been murdered by the potter turned monk. But then the lord's son turns up in need of the monks help and produces the wife's ring and said that he got it from just two days earlier. The body is then believed to be that of a woman with a snake oil peddler, until he proves to Cadfael that she is still alive.
Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) is ready to accuse whomever seems most likely, first the potter, then the lord's son. But we learn, as always, that he is wrong, that as always, he has misjudged the clues and signs.

Commentary: What is up with Hugh Beringar (Anthony Green)? Long gone are his first season days of being Cadfael's equal in the search for justice. Now he is the local cop that doubts everything the good brother says, right up until the truth is revealed at the end. In series I through III, he had a sergeant to do that, but with two of the three episodes, i.e. both I've seen so far, are lacking our long-haired, ill-humored sergeant. Beringar's gaol cells have been featured in both of these episodes as well as the grunting, van dyke wearing gaoler.
The show has gone from being a medieval police procedural, er, monk procedural to being a medieval drama. There is no longer a focus on how Cadfael solves the crime, but how he interacts with the people who admit what he suspects.

The Proof: a vial of hemlock

Cadfael: The Holy Thief

The Set-up: It is the year 1144 and the civil war between those supporting King Stephen and those supporting the Empress Maude still wages. Shrewesbury Abbey seems to be caught up right in the middle of it, but mostly it is King Stephen's men riding around in the pouring rain accusing local men of treason and then having sport with them before killing them.
Into this comes the Prior from Ramsey Abbey with bad news and a brother that has had a vision. The bad news is that Maude's forces have burned the Abbey to the ground, and the vision is that the remains of St. Winifred should return with them to rebuild the Abbey.
The Prior and Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) butt heads right from the beginning. When things don't go the Prior's way, he leaves in the night and the next morning the remains of St. Winifred as well as a young female singer have both been taken.

The Rest: Father Radolfus (Terrence Hudman) sends Cadfael along with the Deputy Sheriff, Hugh Beringar (Anthony Green) to find the Prior and recover the stolen relic, but they must contend with the civil war and a river at flood stage on their journey. They recover the girl who is accused of being a runaway slave, and they recover the remains, but it turns out that valuable jewels were also taken, and those they do not recover.
The brother is accused of the cart driver's murder, his guilt assured after his previous admission to stealing the relic. But he knew nothing of the slave girl, and it's her eventual change of ownership, paid for with the missing jewels that shows it be the devious, cutthroat lord where the cart was found.

Commentary: New Hugh! New Hugh! The poofy-haired chap has been replaced by a younger man with a caesar do. Further more, this Hugh is the dumbest of the lot, choosing to believe "trial by water" over simple, logical proof. Holy shit! Trial by water! I can't stop using exclamation points!
Trial by water, if you sink you're innocent, if you float you're guilty. Very convenient thing this - for capital crimes it always results in the accused's death.
By why stop with trial by water, let's have...wait for it...wait for it...Trial by Bible! Sorry, I'm getting carried away again. Whereas I am familiar with the justice meted out by water, I had never heard of the justice meted out by scripture. Each of the claimants, while blind-folded, let's the bible fall open to a seemingly random page, and then they place their finger on a random spot and the passage they are touching becomes their verdict. In this case, three are seeking the relics, so whichever verse is most about keeping things or being together or choosing wisely, etc is the winner.
Speaking of bibles, I am sure an Abbey would certainly have had one, perhaps even more than one, but would it have been in English? The year was 1144, ant it seems to me that the Abbey may not have had an English version. <<>>
And then there are the prayer books, which looked very much mass produced. That may very well have been a props error. Now those were portrayed as being in Latin, which is what got me thinking about the language of the bible at that time.
My "dealer" said this was the worst yet of the Cadfael Chronicles. I'm not so sure. Not counting that there are still two episodes to go and one of them may be worse than this one; I think the previous two, "St Peter's Fair" and "The Raven in the Foregate" were both worse. She did warn me at the outset that these various episodes were a good way to relax - turn off your brain and just sit back and enjoy some classic BBC drama/mystery/comedy/period shows.

The Proof: Hemlock, sheep's fat and a red thread with gold running through it.

Cadfael: The Raven in the Foregate

The Set-up: Father Radolfus (Terrence Hudman) is riding with another, a priest by the name of Father Ailnoff who has come to replace Father Adam. As they ride by the body of a traitor to King Stephen being feasted upon by crows, Radolfus stops to bless the departed man, while Ailnoff comments that it is a waste of time as the man was clearly a traitor to Stephen, to which Radolfus responds, that during a civil war all men are traitors.
While Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) talks with a pair of sisters who are saddened at the passing of Father Adam and arguing with one another, Radolfus and Ailnoff continue to ride to the Abbey, when a hunt breaks out of the woods. Radolfus thinks they are hunting game and puts himself in their path. He discovers they are hunting a man who has been mauled by some of the dogs. When Radolfus tries to tend to the man, the lord puts a quarrel through the man's eye. Father Ailnoff assures Radolfus that this lord is a loyal servant of King Stephen, to which Radolfus responds that they will all be damned. When the lord mentions an accomplice, Ailnoff's man-servant sends the party off in the wrong direction.

The Rest: Ailnoff sets the tone for his time as priest of Shrewsbury by kicking the peasants off of church lands that they have just finished plowing, caring not if they will starve to death. Cadfael is there tending an injured man and tries to convince Ailnoff to allow them the land, but is denied. When Cadfael tells Father Radolfus, the Abbott along with Prior Robert (Michael Culver) and Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) all take Ailnoff's side, Radolfus because he knows Ailnoff is the King's man and that he should be given a chance to show himself, but Robert and Jerome agree with Ailnoff, and Robert even says that the peasants starving to death will "serve them right".
One of the sisters turns up dead, floating in the mill pond. She had gone to Ailnoff for confession, admitting to him that she was pregnant out of wedlock, but when she would not name the father of the child, he cast her out of the church as a whore. He and many others believe that she committed suicide out of shame, but Cadfael notes that she had been handled roughly, and since he saw her right before she went to the church, he knows that she did not have the marks then. The townsfolk nearly rioted, driving Ailnoff before them to the Abbey, chanting his name. The next day, Ailnoff is found dead in the water wheel at the mill pond.
Ailnoff's man servant turns out to be a spy for Maude, and the lord who had hunted down the man at the start of the show, stays to "oversee" Beringar's (Eoin McCarthy) search for him.
There is lots of misdirection, but in the end, it turns out exactly as it was set-up at the beginning - the girl committed suicide and the spy, while not exactly killing the priest, beat him bad enough that when Ailnoff finally fell in the water, he was too weak to get out and drowned.

Commentary: And speaking of drowning, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. This priest had been pre-referred to as Father Evil. And quite the bald bastard he turned out to be. That's the last of the nicknames I've been given so perhaps I am caught up at the end of season three - with Brother Jack-ass, Prior Jack-ass, Brother Dumb-ass, Sheriff Hugh the True, Hugh the False and Hugh the third, and now Father Evil.
Beringar really didn't do much this episode, but neither did Cadfael. This whole episode seemed amiss. We have been so long since the whole political intrigue card has been played, that when it is here in episode 10, there is too much going on to explore anything in the proper depth.

The Proof: no proof; it's just one person's word against another's as Cadfael has to deal with really happened versus what he wished happened.

Cadfael: St. Peter's Fair

The Set-up: Traveling merchants have come to the grounds of the Abbey at Shrewesbury to set up for the annual three day St. Peter's Fair. They must pay a fee to the Abbey to attend. Also during this time the local merchant's shops must be closed - only those on the Abbey's grounds may do business. The local men are none too happy about this situation and band together to confront Father Radolfus (Terrence Hudman) and demand part of the tribute, one merchant's son even going so far as to threaten the Father. Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) tries to persuade Radolfus that the Abbey could do without all the funds, but is shouted down by Prior Robert (Michael Culver) and Brother Jerome (Julian Firth),
The unhappy merchants leave the Abbey and go to the traveling merchants to demand payment from them. When they decline to pay, the hot-headed young man who threatened the Father starts slitting open bags of wine and a brawl breaks out, which is later joined by a well-to-do gentleman and his men-at-arms. It is not broken up until Cadfael arrives, very closely followed by Hugh Beringar (Eoin McCarthy) and his men.

The Rest: The wine merchant is murdered and the next day the strong box from his booth is stolen and later his caravan was burgled. But it turns out that nothing was taken from the caravan, but that a glove was left, letting the niece know that she must seek out the glover for some mysterious reason that Cadfael cannot at first figure out. Eventually Cadfael reasons out after the glover's death that there were multiple murderer's, both serving the same goal. The murderer's are discovered as the men serving the nobleman who has come to the fair, but in a twist they're king's men seeking a letter from the Empress Maude to be delivered to the Baron of Chester - a list of all the English lords loyal to Maude.
Beringar is forced to choose between his duty to the king and his friendship with Cadfael and because of this finally empathizes with the girl who was carrying the letter out of a love for her uncle and never knew it's contents.

Commentary: By far the best bit of this episode is when Cadfael and Hugh and his men are in route to save the girl and come up Brother Jerome bung upside-down by his feet from a tree branch, his robes hanging down around his face. I doubt that the monks of that period really wore all the undergarments he was wearing, but alas I can think of anyone in this series more fitting of this entrapment than Brother Jackass.
Deputy Poofy-hair was a little less poofy in this episode than in the last one, and was quite a bit more cranky - thus proving the law Medieval English Deputy Sheriffs - the poofier the hair, the happier the man.
This si the first episode since the first episode where Hugh and Cadfael have been so at odds. The Hugh of the first season, the one who serves justice first and king second has been replaced by a man that is more concerned with pleasing the king, and in this episode more than any other is ready to condemn a man to hanging based on first glimpses, rather than on carefully gathered proof.
Oh, and lest I forget - I don't know what the rules are for the shaving of the circle of hair for Benedictine monks, but for some reason in this episode, Oswin doesn't have one - he has a full head of hair.

The Proof: a mis-sized glove, and a spilled elixir that makes Cadfael realize that a drunk man was only pretending to be drunk.

Cadfael: The Rose Rent

The Set-up: A man, Edward, lays in his bed writhing in agony, crying out in pain as his wife, Judith, holds his hand. Tears rolling down her face she asks where the healer is. Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) walks in at that moment, with a special concoction to ease the man's horrible pain - milk of the poppy with the addition of hemlock. One thimble full will deaden the man's pain, Cadfael advises, and two thimbles full will deaden the pain forever.
The next scene is the funeral procession for Edward who has succumbed to his disease. The body is carried by Benedictine monks to be buried at the Abbey for Edward was a generous patron of the church, the Abbey in particular. It appears that a fair number of business owners in Shrewesbury have turned out for the funeral, and two stand and discuss which one of them will be man to marry the beautiful, wealthy dowager.
When next we see Brother Cadfael, he is comforting Judith and assuring her that she did the right thing by ending her husband's pain.

The Rest: Judith gives her home to the Abbey so that they may rent it out, but charges them the rent of one white rose per year from her favorite rose bush for the rest of her life, along with the brothers praying for her deceased husband's soul until judgement day arrives.  The young monk Eloric who cares for the rose and is responsible for delivering the yearly rent asks to be relieved of his job after the first delivery, for he has lust in his art for the widow; but he does not mention that after delivering the rose he was confronted by one of the business owners who wants to see Judith so he can start wooing her. Eloric sneaks out of the Abbey to go to the rose bush to pay for forgiveness and is murdered there.
After Eloric's murder, Judith considers going to a convent, but is kidnapped. We learn the kidnapper is one of her would-be suitors, but not the murder, for one of her man-servants discovers her location and is forced to flee only to fall in the river and be drowned by the killer, while the kidnapper is still with Judith.
Cadfael and the Sheriff (Eoin McCarthy) are mislead by a boot print at the scene of the first death, and by a witness after the second to think that the killer is the new bronzesmith, which of course it is not.

Commentary: I know that Ellis Peters did a lot of research for the books, which this and the other episodes of the series are based on, so I'm going to give the BBC the benefit of the doubt and say that they either did their own research or accepted hers in their portrayal of medieval life - in particular the life of the Benedictine monks. During the wedding processional, there is one fellow, a monk of course, who's job is to carry a mask in front of his face and every few steps turn to someone along the route, shove the mask at them and say "boo" - which I'm presuming is to keep evil spirits away. But, what I'm really thinking about is, will there be a new actor portraying Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar? And will he have even poofier hair? It took a while for him to appear, but yes! No wait... Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Hugh the second and a half! He has more hair and all of it's poofy, so I declare Hugh the second and a half the poofiest! (Yay poofy haired guy! Yay. Right?) I don't know how often folks changed their hairstyles in the Middle Ages. I presume it's not too different from now, so I guess he could have just gone for a more "natural" look, but the series 3 incarnation of Hugh Beringar has allowed the shaved sides and back to grow in to their full poofdom. I seriously thought it was a different actor until I got a good look at that mug of his.
Brother is Oswin is doing his best to follow in Cadfael's shoes and learn the ways of a detective, perhaps some day Peters will write the Chronicles of Brother Oswin.

The Proof: a bootprint which Cadfael makes a wax cast of.

Cadfael: A Morbid Taste for Bones

The Set-up: Young Brother Oswin (Mark Charnock) is having his first blood letting, when Brother Columbarnus has a seizure and then reports a vision of the "Virgin lady" when he is brought to and given the milk of the poppy to ease his pain. Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) is left to watch over the ailing brother and asks him if the vision was of Winifred, a Welsh Saint. Brother Columbarnus does not say, so Brother Jerome continues to ask him until finally Columbarnus shouts out "Saint Winifred!" Brother Jerome hurries off at this point to tell Father Radolfus (Terrence Hudman) of the miracle. Prior Robert (Michael Culver) shows up straight away and Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is not far behind. Through some discussion, the Abbott grants Robert's desire to seek permission from the Welsh Prince and the Welsh Bishop to bring the body of Wiinifred back to the Abbey at Shrewesbury.

The Rest: The brothers, led by Prior Robert are sent to Wales to retrieve the bones of the Virgin Saint. Brother Cadfael is sent to hold the purse strings and keep the Prior honest (more or less). The local lord is opposed to this undertaking, and after Prior Robert tries to bribe him, forcing Cadfael to be the witness, the lord denounces their cause and states the saint will only leave if he is dead. Of course he is killed and it is made to look like the boyfriend of the lord's daughter, for her boyfriend is not her betrothed. Columbarnus has another vision that the Saint wishes to leave to the Abbey in Shrewesbury and that the dead lord can be buried in her spot.
The Saint's body is recovered, the lord is buried and then Cadfael notices that much of the poppy juice is missing after needing it to calm the betrothed of the dead lord's daughter, who had placed her boyfriend's arrow in an already existing knife wound. It is not long before Cadfael has devised a plan to get Columbarnus to confess to the crime. There is a struggle between the murderous monk and the boyfriend and the monk falls, hitting his head on a giant rock and snapping his own neck. Cadfael makes it look as if Columbarnus has been called home to God, but really he engineers the return of Winifred to her grave and places the body of Columbarnus in the reliquary.

Commentary: The book that this episode was based on was the first Cadfael novel that Ellis Peters published, presumably the first she wrote. It would have been interesting to start the television show with this one. I think it would have framed Brother Jerome in a slightly different light - sure he is still Brother Jack-ass, but it's as much out of ignorance and superstition as it is out of spite and hate and other un-monkly things.
Hey - where was the new Hugh? Wait, if this is the first book's story and the actual first episode was the based on the second book, which it was, then there is no Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar at this point, he's still just some minor noble. Um, okay. I guess it's bets that they didn't fare to far from the source material. The story didn't really need him, or his hair, this time anyway.

The Proof: The juice of the poppy. Or rather the lack thereof, for what should be a full bottle is almost nearly empty.

Cadfael: The Devil's Novice

The Set-up: A lone rider resplendent in green velvet travels along a well worn path through an Autumn wood. The horse is adorned in green velvet to match the finery of it's master. This is juxtaposed with a most foul scene of a man cleaning a small animal he has just killed, but who stops to slurp the blood and animal bits off of his hands and forearms. The savage man hears a noise - horse coming. He grabs his kill and jumps behind a clump of pushes as our richly dressed rider comes into view. We see the rider from the perspective of the wild man - his large ring with a very large stone set in it, the green velvet is outlined in silver, and there is a large broach holding the rich velvet cloak around the man's neck.
The rider finally arrives, unmolested, at his destination, the house of his second cousin and the cousin's children, and that the velveted man is a cleric in the service of the Bishop on his way to Chester to bring one of the lords there some help in declaring his fealty to King Stephen. The cleric belittles the cousin and puts down his lifestyle even as he taking the relatives freely given hospitality.

The Rest: The cousin arrives at the Abbey after the cleric has left with his youngest son in tow. The young man has suddenly decided to join the monastic Order of Benedict. The cleric never reaches his destination and is presumed dead even though no body has been found. Th boy has nightmares and is suspected of murder even before he is accused. The eldest son, Tristan, is about to be married to the very pretty maiden-next-door. Her brother is the eldest brother's best friend. The cousin also has a ward, Isabel, whom is part tomboy, part spitfire and part unrequited lover. Isabel loathes Tristan's bride to be for the youngest brother has a crush on the maiden.
There is not quite enough proof to hold the boy on the murder until the wild-man, named Harold and dubbed King Harold by the locals of Shrewesbury, is captured and due to be hanged for the cleric's murder. The boy's conscience gets the better of him and he confesses to Cadfael (Derek Jacobi), but he cannot confess to his confessor, Brother Jerome (Julian Firth), for that would be lying to God.
After Tristan and his maiden are married at the Abbey, the truth is finally revealed. The younger brother did not commit the murder, but came upon his brother standing over the dead cleric and when their father followed shortly thereafter, he bid Tristan to run and took the blame himself.

Commentary:  But the kid says that he wishes Cadfael were a father so that he could have a good son to love and love him. Then ol' Cadfael turns to look wistfully towards the camera as the kid and his girlfriend (you know the surprisingly hot tomboy ward that he somehow never noticed until he went off to an Abbey) ride off home. Will we be seeing Olivier again?

The Proof: There is no proof in this episode. Well, no plant or horse hair proof. There was Cadfael's gut feeling and longing stares. That's proof right?

Cadfael: The Virgin in the Ice

The Set-up: The story opens with Brother Oswin (Mark Charnock), Cadfael's young assistant, running in the snow with a nun. When she stumbles and tells him that she cannot go on, he assures her that she can and guides her safely to a nearby hut where they can take shelter from the storm. They huddle together for warmth, but Oswin distrusts the carnal urges which he has had and leaves her, fleeing into the night, where he is set upon by so-called bandits who beat him, stab him and leave him for dead.
Meanwhile, back at the Abbey Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is worried over Oswin not returning and we learn soon enough that an orphaned boy and girl are missing, when Hugh Beringar is called to the Abbey to be asked by the Abbott if he would consider allowing the lost children's uncle to search for them - said uncle being a supporter of the Empress Maude. The Deputy Sheriff, Hugh Beringar (Sean Pertwee), most assuredly will not allow them onto Stephen's lands, but he will search for the children in the uncle's stead.

The Rest: Eventually the children are individually found and one of them lost again. Oswin is found, as is the nun he was with, but she is dead and has clearly been raped. The so-called bandits turn out to be some of the uncle's men who have decided to find the kids and then ransom them back to the uncle. Oswin is blamed for the nun's rape and murder, accused first by Brother Jerome (Julian Firth), but later supported by the Prior, Sheriff Beringar and for a while even by Cadfael. There is also a mysterious woodsman who helps the daughter make her way to the Abbey, and later turns out to be one of the uncle's men, but noble and true.

Commentary: Excuse me big-haired dude, but what have you done with the real Hugh Beringar? Are you perhaps hiding him under your wavy locks that are so bouncy atop your head? Seriously, I want the other actor back - the one who only smirked if it was appropriate, not every time he was on camera. My theory - at the end of the first series when Hugh gets stabbed by the Welshman, they slipped up and accidentally 'really' stabbed the actor, and he said, "Screw this! I'm outta he-ere!" Fortunately, everyone else appears to be the same. Phew.
Brother Oswin, whom I've come to think of as Brother Doofus, is really front and center in this story, for which the actor got a nice hair cut. Good for him. Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) (thanks to my "dealer", I always think of him as Brother Jack-ass) also got a hair cut, but his hair wasn't so big before. But, his hair cut has made him unhappy, and he is positively whiny in this episode. He's so whiny that Prior Jack-ass, I mean Prior Robert (Michael Culver) has to tell him to take it down a notch.
So, the woodsman turns out to be a crusader in service to the missing kids uncle. Okay, I'll buy that. He is a "half-breed", of a Syrian (that might say "Persian", but he is definitely from Syria) mother and an English father. Okay, I will also buy that, as I am sure that there were plenty of such children during the crusades. But, this self-named half-breed only comes West after his mother's death and never knew his father, only that his mother spoke highly of him, and yet some how this kid, who is actually called Olivier de Briton (or de Britaigne - hey I'm only listening not seeing these things written down so cut me some slack for Christ's sake), speaks with a perfect British accent while using perfect English. Not buying that so much. Right before he rides off into the night to deliver his two charges to their uncle, Olivier tells Cadfael about his mother and father, and through Cadfael's careful questioning, Cadfael realizes that Olivier is actually his son. What? I'll allow that Cadfael could very well have had a child with a Syrian woman, but that said child would grow up, survive storming Jerusalem as a crusader in his own right, travel West under service of his former captain, and then end up going on a secret mission to find a lost pair of children only to meet at an Abbey the one man in the whole of existence who is his father? Remember what I thought about Cadfael's before?

The Proof: There are no plants or herbs or tinctures that Brother Cadfael uses to solve this one - it's all his intuition.

Cadfael: Monk's Hood

The Set-up: Abbott Heribert (Peter Copley) is called a way to a council to account for the Abbey of Shrewesbury. While he's gone, Prior Robert (Michael Culver) is the acting Abbott, with Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) as his right hand. Prior fully expects that the Father will be removed from his position and he will be named the new Abbott.
Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is preparing a very dangerous concoction should someone ingest it - Monk's Hood oil - which is a great linement but fatal if even a few drops are swallowed. It is to be applied to the aching back and shoulders of one of his brothers.

The Rest: The lord gets poisoned, the wrong squire gets blamed. It turns out that one of the other squires is really the lord's son. By Welsh law, a bastard may inherit the father's land so that is why he killed his father and blamed the other squire. He stabs Hugh Beringar trying (Sean Pertwee) to make his escape.

Commentary: What a surprise to learn that Shrewesbury is but half a day's ride from Wales. And that is half a day on the back of a donkey. I guess that kind of makes it Hugh's own fault that he got stabbed - the Deputy Sheriff of Shropshire probably shouldn't go off looking for blokes in Wales.
Speaking of the Shire - I'll share a little bit of what I think about in every episode (both those already reviewed and those upcoming), wouldn't this story be so much better with hobbits? And maybe a ranger now and then? And you could just have stories of elves and dwarves, they wouldn't need to be in any of the episodes. Cadfael could have travelled to Gondor to fight in the last great war against Mordor - Minas Tirith stands in fir Jerusalem. The show is so much better when I'm 'Tolkeinizing' it.

Proof: monk's hood oil staining a purse.

Cadfael: The Leper of Saint Giles

The Set-up: A young lady is accompanied to the Abbey by her aunt and uncle, also of the gentry, to await her imminent marriage to a baron many years her senior. The baron is a cruel and ill-liked man, while the maiden, an orphan, is beautiful and liked by all. The three squires for the baron, including his nephew, all believe the maiden to be most fair and pity her for being forced to marry the baron.
Before he is married, the baron has one last task that he must do, and he must do it alone. He is last seen by his squires as he rides off into the afternoon.

The Rest: The baron is found dead, and the wedding seems off. But the girl's aunt and uncle are greedy and make a deal with the baron's nephew who has now become baron to marry the girl. Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) discovers that the baron's meeting was a rendezvous with his long-time mistress; furthermore that the only one who know he was going to this meeting would be the only one that could seek him out and kill him and that this must be the nephew who had most to gain from the baron's death.
The girl's horrible uncle is slain, but his murderer never brought to justice for Cadfael convinces Hugh that it had been a duel. He tells as much to the leper who killed him and is revealed to be the girl's grandfather home from the crusades all of these years later. He came back to check on her and seeing how her uncle treated her, slew the man.

Commentary: Rule number one when watching this type of show is to pay attention to any type of incongruous dialogue at the beginning of an episode, for it certainly pertains to the twist that comes at the end. "Gosh, why is talking about some commander of his in the crusades? He doesn't usually like to talk about the crusades." Hmm, I wonder who will pop up later in the episode?

Proof: straw, clover, the baron's hat which has a particular flower in it and Cadfael's hunch

Cadfael: The Sanctuary Sparrow

The Set-up: Daniel, son of Walter the Goldsmith, is getting married to Margery, but doesn't seem to interested for later we find out he is very much having an affair with a married lady of some renown. At the banquet he pushes the minstrel into the table causing a favored pitcher to be broken. The Matriarch of the house sends the minstrel away without pay as much for his naming her grandson on his wedding day as for breaking the pitcher.
The eldest daughter of Walter, Susanna runs the household, which gives her one of the few pleasures in her life. Ever mindful of the state of things, she notices that her father has left the celebration before it has ended.

The Rest: Walter is robbed of the family fortune and the minstrel is blamed. But the town locksmith knows better and attempts to blackmail the real criminal and ends up dead for his attempted extortion. The locksmith is killed in the river and is floated down it after his death to disguise the place of his murder. Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) finds three different plants on the body, and spends days with the help of another brother scouring the riverbank to find the place where all 3 grow.

Commentary: Cadfael was lucky - if his 3 plants grew all along both sides of the river then he never would have solved his murder. Cadfael seems a bit bumbling in this episode. I guess this comes from still trying to find the character. Right? Good ol' Sheriff Hugh took no time at all in putting Cadfael to use. Perhaps it is because I am unfamiliar with my Medieval history, but everyone seems so shocked that a woman can be a murderer. Could it really have been that uncommon? Murder didn't seem to be unheard of...

Proof: 3 common plants that only grow together in one spot along the river, which is conveniently where the murder took place.

Cadfael: One Corpse Too Many

The Set-up: The year is 1138. King Stephen is at odds with the Empress Maude. Many of the gentry fully support Stephen, but some support Maude who sits far off in France.
Thus is the background set for this, the first episode of the Cadfael Chronicles, a BBC produced series based on the popular Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters. She has written 20 Cadfael novels and 3 short stories to date. This episode, while the first of the series is based on the second novel. Now, I haven't read the novels, but this seemed a good place to start - laying out the political background for a story of intrigue that drop a certain Benedictine Monk into the case of a murder and a wrongly accused man.
Cadfael, played brilliantly by Sir Derek Jacobi, is an uncommon monk, having come to the order after many years as a soldier who fought in the crusades. Cadfael's main concerns are his herb garden and helping the sick in the nearby area to the Abbey. It is at the Abbey where a woman brings her young charge to join the monks while the fighting between Stephen's and Maude's men is going on. It is discovered in no time that the young "man" is really a teen-aged girl, who is fleeing capture by Stephen's men because they want to hold her as ransom to get what they want by her nobleman uncle who has sworn allegiance to Maude. None will recognize her, save for the man that she is betrothed to, against her will of course, a man by the name of Hugh Beringar (Sean Pertwee).

The Rest: All of the series regulars are introduced in this episode, Brother Jerome (Julian Firth) and Prior Robert (Michael Culver) who are out to thwart Cadfael, not as he attempts to solve crimes but to show that he should not be a monk. Hugh Beringar, who at first is made to look a cad until at the end all is resolved that he's actually quite shrewd and a good man, and is in fact made the Deputy Sheriff by none less than the King Stephen (Michael Grandage) himself. There is Brother Oswin (Mark Charnock), the likable and very clumsy young assistant to Cadfael.
Through what seems an unusual amount of access to the King, Cadfael is able to convince his superiors at the Abbey to allow him to stick to solving the case. Cadfael finds himself working with Beringar, while thinking that Beringar might have been the one to commit the murder. Nearly getting himself killed, Beringar is able to prove that he is innocent of the crime, and even let's the girl escape to Maude's lands at the end of the story.

Commentary: Is it kad-fell? Kad-feel? Kad-file? They can't quite make up their minds, but he always refers to himself as kad-file, and you would think that he would know. Actually, according to Ellis Peters, they're all wrong. It's a Welsh name and should be pronounce kad-vile. So there.
The action was pretty good, but the sword fighting was lame, especially for a BBC production. They may like to keep the costs down, but they employ well-trained stage actors (who in Britain has acted on television but not on stage?), whom I expect better sword fighting from.
In this pre-CSI world - both in the fact the story takes place some 875 years ago, and that it's first episdoe pre-dates the first episode of CSI by about six years, there are an awful lot of CSI-type devices, such as trace evidence that definitively ties the murderer to the murder. Cool.

The Proof: lack of bruising on the dead mans wrists.