Anonymous Letter Haunts Entire Town, Anyone Receiving It Dies Instantly
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hi, Mystery Recapped here. Today, I'm going to explain a mystery drama show called Marple,
00:07The Moving Finger. Spoilers ahead. Watch out and take care.
00:13The episode revolves around Jerry Burton, a World War II veteran who finds it difficult to cope with
00:19his life outside the military. He was badly injured in a motorbike accident and has been
00:24bedridden for several months. For the last stage of recovery, he and his sister Joanna moved from
00:29London to the quiet village of Limstock. Unfortunately, they arrive just as the local
00:35community is shaken by a terrible incident. A beloved and greatly respected resident,
00:40Colonel Appleton, unalived himself just a few days ago. He had received a poison pen letter
00:46accusing him of cheating on his late wife. The colonel was an extremely devout man who loved
00:51his wife more than anything. So, when the rumors started to swirl around, he thought it would be
00:56best to end his life. Nonetheless, the siblings arrive in Limstock and take up residence in a
01:01farmhouse owned by Miss Emily. She even leaves her maid, a middle-aged woman named Partridge,
01:07to serve the guests. Initially, things appear to be simple and calm in the village. Everyone is
01:12friendly and several people invite the siblings to their houses. They first head to the residence of
01:17Mrs. Maude Calthrop, the wife of the village priest. Maude's close friend, Miss Jane Marple,
01:23is also present, and all of them sit down for tea. Shortly afterwards, Maude tells the newcomers about
01:29a series of poison pen letters making the rounds about the village. She informs them about the
01:34rumors that caused the death of Colonel Appleton. Maude seems to believe these rumors, while her friend
01:39is more skeptical. Following this, the siblings head to the home of Mr. Pie, an old but single man.
01:45He is an oddball character who seems to love scandals and is very effeminate. Pie has strong
01:51and usually scathing opinions on everyone in the community. However, he becomes visibly
01:56uncomfortable when Jerry asks about the poison pen letters. He also refuses to comment on Colonel
02:02Appleton's death, making Jerry suspicious. Later, while the siblings are returning home, they run into
02:08Mona Symington and her 20-year-old daughter Helen. It turns out the youngster is quite awkward by nature
02:14and has very few friends. She also has two stepbrothers from her mother's second marriage.
02:19It is obvious that this complicated family situation makes Helen feel unwanted in her own
02:25home. Unless those stepbrothers have access to the internet, in which case she might feel a little
02:30too wanted. A few hours later, Jerry goes to a law firm and has a chance to meet Helen's stepdad,
02:36Mr. Richard Symington. He is a solicitor and seems rather unbothered by the whole poison pen letter
02:42scandal. Jerry also notices his two sons, who are being looked after by a nanny, Elsie. She is a
02:48beautiful young woman, and Jerry doesn't hide that he is attracted to her. Finally, that evening,
02:53the siblings visit the local clinic run by Dr. Owen. He is a nervous man who stutters while speaking.
02:59He does a routine checkup on Jerry and suggests the latter try walking without a cane. Rather
03:04surprisingly, Joanna seems to have great interest in the doctor. Later down the week, the Symingtons
03:10organize a dinner to welcome the newcomers to their village. Everyone is present at the event,
03:15and obviously, gossip begins to flow. It is then revealed that according to some rumors,
03:20Colonel Appleton had fathered a child with a mentally challenged girl. That is why he decided
03:25to end his life, as he couldn't bear to stand the indignation. However, Jane, who is also present at
03:31the dinner, still doesn't believe these theories. She is an incredibly observant woman who seems to think
03:36that things are not as straightforward as they appear. The following morning, three new letters
03:41arrive at the Symington household. Elsie puts them on the table before heading to the park with the two
03:46young boys. They return home after a few hours, and Richard also arrives from his work. He heads
03:51straight to the bedroom upstairs, only to discover a shocking sight. His wife, Mona, is dead. Soon enough,
03:59this news spreads around the village like wildfire through a haystack. That's not a phrase, but I like it.
04:05A detective arrives at the scene and starts looking around Mona's bedroom. He finds several
04:09medicine bottles on the bedside desk, and takes a glass for further examination. The detective also
04:15discovers a sheet of paper in the fireplace, which turns out to be yet another poison pen letter. It
04:21accuses Mona of cheating on her husband with multiple men. Sometime later, Jerry makes his way to the
04:27Symington household. The mood there is understandably grim, but no one seems to be as affected as Helen.
04:33Her biological father left her when she was just a kid, and now her mother is also dead. Seeing this
04:39miserable state, Jerry offers Helen a temporary relief. He asks her to come stay with him and his
04:45sister at the big farmhouse. The youngster, who is desperate to get out of this house, immediately
04:50accepts the offer. In the meantime, the village council holds a meeting regarding the death of Mona.
04:55The detective then tells the district judge about his findings. Her husband was at work. Their
05:00children were playing in the park with the nanny. Waldo was nowhere to be seen, and the maid was on a
05:06holiday. Mona had received a letter that afternoon and was so disturbed by its contents that she gulped
05:12down a cyanide solution. Following this, Dr. Owen is also called forth to testify about her medical
05:18records. He reaffirms the detective's findings and says that Mona was indeed suffering from neurosis.
05:24Thus, the district judge rules out any possibility of murder, and declares this case a self-kill.
05:31As days pass by, Helen begins to feel comfortable living alongside the Burton siblings. She especially
05:37forms a close bond with Jerry, and they regularly talk about their lives. One such night, Jerry and
05:42Helen are chatting about her career. In the farmhouse's garden, they talk for a good while until she asks
05:48Jerry to fetch water for her. He obliges, but upon entering the house, Jerry sees Dr. Owen lurking
05:54around the shelf. He has a book about classic Russian stories in his hand, and seems to be
05:58startled by Jerry's sudden appearance. However, the doctor hastily clarifies that he was here to take
06:04Joanna out for dinner. The next morning, Dr. Owen's widowed sister Amy visits the farmhouse. She has a
06:10chat with Jerry about the latest death in their village. She seems to believe that the poison pen letter
06:15that Mona received was actually telling the truth. Rather surprisingly, she sounds quite defensive
06:21about Mona's husband. As soon as the guest leaves, Jerry gets a poison pen letter addressed to his
06:26sister. It accuses her of having a child without marriage, and threatens them to go back to London.
06:32Worried, Jerry immediately takes the letter to the detective, who has been investigating the recent
06:37deaths. The latter gives it a proper check, and discovers that there are no fingerprints on the
06:42letter. However, he has managed to get some interesting leads in the case. It turns out that
06:47the address on all the poison pen envelopes have a misaligned T and A. Hmm, tits and ass, murmurs the
06:54detective to himself. This would mean that these were printed by a Wilson typewriter, which has these
07:00exact flaws, and there is only one such typewriter in the whole village. It was gifted by the Symington
07:06family to the Women's Community Center. The detective concludes that the letter writer is a middle-aged
07:12woman who regularly visits the center. The following afternoon, Jerry is strolling around in the garden.
07:17When the farmhouse's caretaker, Partridge, interrupts him, she wants to take a day off,
07:22as she had earlier received a call from Agnes, the maid who works for the Symingtons. Agnes seems to be
07:28distraught, and wants to meet Partridge as soon as possible. Thus, Jerry gives the old caretaker a day off,
07:34and continues his stroll. However, that evening, Partridge returns to work as usual. Jerry asks
07:40about her meeting, but she reveals that Agnes never showed up. Just then, Jerry receives a
07:45devastating phone call. Turns out, Agnes' dead body has been discovered in the understairs cupboard
07:51at the Symington house. The next morning, Jerry, Jane, and the detective discuss the mystery
07:56surrounding the latest death. It is revealed that the maid had gone out to meet her boyfriend on the
08:01day that Mona Symington had died. However, she had returned quite quickly after having a quarrel
08:06with him. Agnes must have seen the person who slipped the poison pen letter that ultimately
08:10led to Mona's death. That is why the mystery writer had to kill her off, so that the secret
08:16wouldn't be revealed. Later that week, the funeral service for Mona is held at the local church.
08:21Jerry sits right in front of Dr. Owen's sister, Amy, who begins to say some nasty things about Elsie.
08:28According to her, the nanny wants to seduce Richard Symington and eventually marry him.
08:33She is not the only one who seems to believe these rumors. Later, during the burial ritual,
08:37an argument breaks out between the nanny and Richard. The latter appears to be blaming Elsie
08:43for his wife's death. After the service is concluded, Jerry returns to the farmhouse and
08:48meets up with his sister. It turns out that Joanna and Dr. Owen have been seeing each other frequently
08:52nowadays. In fact, the doctor has even given her a rather nerdy gift. A photo of an overgrown
08:59spleen. You remembered that I have a thing for these. Jerry goes to put the photo in one of the
09:04books from the shelf when he notices something strange. He randomly picks out the book about
09:08classic Russian stories. This is the same one that Dr. Owen was holding a few weeks ago. More
09:14surprisingly, several pages from the book have been torn out. The font on this book matches the font used by
09:20the mysterious writer of the poison pen letters. This revelation lights some bulbs in Jerry's head
09:26and he now begins to suspect Dr. Owen. As the days begin to pass, Jerry starts to get more and more
09:32involved in this whole affair. He returns home one evening and finds a note written by his sister on
09:38the living room desk. Apparently, she has gone out to the market but has been expecting a call from
09:43Dr. Owen. The note instructs Jerry to answer all calls for her. However, the whole situation worries him
09:49as he doesn't think the doctor has good intentions. This causes Jerry so much stress that he starts
09:55drinking after being sober for many months. A few days later, some of the villagers gather at
10:01Mr. Pie's home for a formal evening ceremony. Everything seems to be going normally until the
10:06farmhouse's owner, Miss Emily, comes forward to make an announcement. She seems visibly emotional and
10:13addresses the recent murders in their community. It was her shelf where the book with torn pages was found,
10:18so naturally, rumors have been going around that Emily was behind all these nasty letters. The old
10:24woman sobs in front of everyone and vehemently denies these accusations. As if this wasn't enough,
10:30Mr. Pie reveals that he had also got a letter a few weeks ago. It isn't a poison pen letter, but
10:35a heartfelt note left by Colonel Appleton before his death. According to the letter, Appleton was a
10:42closeted homosexual and had an out-of-town male lover. Appleton encouraged Mr. Pie to accept his
10:48sexuality and not end up like him, regretful and lonely. This revelation shocks the gathered
10:54villagers, and several of them are even disgusted. Nobody knows what is true or what is false anymore,
11:00and everything seems so murky, especially for Mr. Pie, who didn't know he was gay. Elsewhere,
11:07at the village's women's center, the detective has set up a trap for the mysterious writer. He had
11:13earlier discovered that the address on these nasty letters were being typed through a Wilson's
11:17typewriter. There is only one such machine in the entire village, and that is placed in the center's
11:23library. So, he is cautiously hiding and keeping out an eye, hoping that the mysterious writer comes
11:28out to use the typewriter. This gamble pays off, as late at night, someone does come to use it.
11:34The scene abruptly changes, and we see Jerry visiting Dr. Owen's office for his regular
11:39checkup. The doctor's sister, Amy, is also present at the office, and all of them begin to have a
11:44conversation. Suddenly, a few police officers, led by the detective, come charging into the office.
11:50It turns out that last night, at 1.30 a.m., the detective had seen Amy using the typewriter.
11:56She was typing an address on an envelope, which was supposed to be sent to Elsie. In the aftermath of
12:01this revelation, everyone seems to have accepted that Amy is the true culprit. It is revealed that
12:06she always had romantic feelings for Richard Symington. This might be why she first pushed
12:12his wife out of the way, by accusing her of adultery. Then, Amy was planning to eliminate the
12:17only other woman in Richard's life, the young nanny. While everyone is convinced by these evidences,
12:22Miss Jane Marple has her reservations. In fact, she is pretty sure Amy is not the one behind all the
12:28murders in letters. The old lady later meets up with Helen as well as Jerry, and makes an elaborate
12:33plan to lure out the real culprit. That night, Helen goes to her stepfather, Richard, and drops a
12:39bombshell. She blackmails him, implying that she has proof about him tempering with her mother's
12:44medication. Richard doesn't outright admit to this, but writes Helen a check to keep her mouth shut.
12:50The latter happily accepts it, and goes back to her bedroom. A few hours later, Richard mixes some
12:55sleeping tablets and a glass of water, and puts it by Helen's bedside. The youngster, unaware of this
13:01treachery, drinks the water and quickly falls unconscious. Richard uses this opportunity to
13:06carry her downstairs, and puts her head inside the house's gas oven. He is fully confident that
13:11he can get away with this murder, but unbeknownst to him, all of this was a trap set by Jane Marple
13:17to catch him red-handed. Seconds later, Jerry, along with the detective and local police,
13:23barge into the Symington household. They arrest Richard for trying to murder his stepdaughter,
13:28and on suspicions of murdering his wife, as well as the maid. After a successful investigation,
13:34more facts about this case begin to come out. Richard was in love with the young nanny Elsie.
13:38He wanted to remove his wife from the equation, which is why he came up with this whole plan of
13:43poison pen letters. Since he was a solicitor, he knew a few inside details of people's lives from
13:49their legal cases. Richard used this information to write all those nasty letters. In fact,
13:54he had written all those letters several months ago using his Wilson typewriter. He had then
13:59donated it to the Women's Center, making it difficult to trace the letters back to him.