Foyles War Tresspass Make Britain Great Again
The bomb metaphor: slow burn, big finish
Going into this episode, I had been tipped by another Foyle fan that it was a bit slow-moving. So I had limited expectations.
Turns out, just like Foyle himself in this story, I was given misinformation. This episode has a nice slow burn that ends in a wonderful climax. Very satisfying. On all levels.
To say that the ever-talented Horowitz never misses a chance to add an ethnic flavor to his stories somewhat misses the point. You should write about what you are passionate about, and if Horowitz wants to re-imagine racism in post war Britain, and does it with flair and gusto, then more power to him.
What I really noticed is how cynical this series has become over time. This is not a bad thing. Quite the contrary.
Superb.
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Anti-Semitism at Its Worst
It's easy to think about the Holocaust as an aberration, the Nazis wiping out six million people. Surely when the war was over, things went back to normal. Because a huge number of people blamed the Jews for virtually every eventuality, the bad economy, lack of jobs, lack of opportunity, things hardly ended. Foyle, once again finds himself embroiled in a case where people display their hatred and do some of the things those Germans did. It shows how easy it is to sway a population that is hurting. It was Hitler's greatest "strength." In this one, a conference is going to be held, and there are terrorist groups around (or are there). A young woman is at the center of much of this as well as a bigoted drum beater with no moral sense whatsoever. It makes that old case for free speech versus hatred spilling into the streets. Sam gets involved again, much to her husband's utter shock. Very good episode as the series winds to a halt.
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Anti-Semitism raises its ugly head in post-war London
Warning: Spoilers
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem anti-Semitism is staring to raise its ugly head again. The son of a prominent Jew is violently assaulted but as nobody wants to involve the police Foyle is asked to look into the matter. It soon looks as though it may not have been a random attack as his father has been targeted before; one of the ships he owned was bombed in France. Meanwhile MI5 are also organising the security for a conference on the future of Palestine; a conference that many people would like to see fail. If that wasn't enough a Mosleyite politician has founded a new party whose aims are to create a united Europe where Jews and non-Europeans would be unwelcome. Away from that storyline Sam comes to the aid of a man who can't afford the treatment he needs for his desperately ill son.
This was another fine instalment in the series; covering a difficult subject in a balanced and non-polemic way. There were of course some uncomfortable moments most notable as the rabble rousing politician sets out his views in a meeting which spills into the streets with fatal consequences. Things like this nicely show the fear 'outsiders' are feeling. They aren't the only threat; an apparently innocent person turns out to be a terrorist and there are leaks which threaten security. The side story concerning the sick boy and discussion of the planned National Health Service was slightly tacked on although it later tied into the main story. As usual the cast does a fine job and the makers nicely capture the post-war period.
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Post-war anti-Semitism
Loved 'Foyle's War' and was immediately hooked when first getting into it. Love it even more now, on re-watches things that didn't quite make sense at first are clearer and things that were not noticed or appreciated before are and much admired. Everything that came over as brilliant on first viewings still are brilliant on re-watches.
Not everybody was enamoured with the change of pace 'Foyle's War' took when it was revived three years after its initial cancellation. Didn't mind it generally myself but execution was not perfect and few of the episodes from this two-season period were show high-point. "Trepass" however is the closest this period gets to prime 'Foyle's War' and to me it is the best episode since "The Hide". It's much better than the previous episode "High Castle", which was decent still. Like with many 'Foyle's War' episodes, on re-watch there was much more appreciation had for how well established the character development, tone and themes are and things that didn't quite connect entirely at first made more sense on re-watches.
Have always admired the visual detail that went into 'Foyle's War' and how high quality the production values are, with beautiful costumes, the evocative way the characters are made up, the look of the houses and cars, pretty locations and authentic-looking scenery. The music is in keeping with the mood and doesn't overpower the drama while still making an impact.
Writing is intelligent, sophisticated and thought-provoking. The story is well-paced, suitably complicated without being convoluted and is nice and twisty. Much better storytelling and quality than "High Castle" in that the denouement is unexpected, the storytelling feels more complete, Adam is not so much of a problem here (still don't care for him though), there are no overtly evil characters and there are no terrible accents. The sick boy plot strand is quite heartfelt.
One thing that wasn't picked up by me but now is and admired hugely is the tackling of what was seen as truths but some really misconceptions and seeing Britain after the war in a new light. This was a bold move and dealt with a lot of honesty and tact. The background information is so well researched and is every bit as interesting as the mystery itself. The character tensions were also handled very well and added a lot of intrigue, while the difficult subject of ant-Semitism has none of the heavy-handedness it could have done, much better handled than the handling of racism in "Killing Time".
Michael Kitchen is truly superb as Foyle, subtle, intensely determined, commanding and above all human. One of the most interesting television detectives there's ever been and Kitchen has rarely been better. Honeysuckle Weeks is charming and loyal and have really appreciated her development, while Hilda and Arthur have proved to be worthy regular characters.
The supporting cast are strong all round.
All in all, a wonderful episode and one of the best of the episodes from the revival/post-war period. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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A quality episode.
An attack on a young Jewish boy at College raises Foyle's interest, particularly when the Boy's father decides not the take the matter seriously, soon after Foyle returns to the family on a very serious matter.
The second story from the end reminds me of the second story in, The White Feather, in that one we had Charles Dance playing the central character, a prominent, charismatic racist, in this one we get Richard Lintern in a similar role. It's wonderful to see how the show has changed since those days.
This is a very slick episode, beautifully produced, dramatic, engaging and thought provoking. Kitchen is awesome here. Very interesting take on the origins of The NHS.
We've gone from Nazism to anti semitism, Horowitz manages to deal with the subject very well. It's a very tricky and difficult subject, credit to him for tackling it.
Excellent, 9/10.
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Trespass
Anthony Horowitz tackles a lot of sensitive issues in this episode. Some might be rather personal to him given his background.
The King David Hotel bombing in Palestine by Zionists. A conference taking place regarding peace in middle east taking place in London. A reformed Oswald Mosley type figure Charles Lucas who launches his new campaign which is not much different from his old campaign.
Foyle looks into an attack on a young Jewish student, his father a prominent businessmen is later found shot.
When there is a blip in the security arrangements, Foyle ends up being the fall guy and made to resign from MI5.
However a visiting Jewish student in London might be planning more than just starting a new course.
Horowitz also looks at the plight of ordinary Britons in the post war landscape. There was still no NHS, so people without money and food still could not afford medicine. Sam comes to the aid of a little boy who might have got whooping cough.
Horowitz cleverly weaves some modern parallels with Lucas's right wing party who wants to reclaim Britain for the British. He also wants to reach out with other like minded Europeans and exploit Africa and Africans. Not too different from the new alt right neo nazis.
As a mystery it did not really hang too well. There were just too many ingredients and the slimy guy from the foreign office was just too obviously up to no good. It was watchable without being too enthralling.
Aside from being a metaphor for these modern times. Lucas was given too much free reign in this episode. Even Sam's politician husband was too weak willed to confront him properly. Given that Britain had just won a war against the Nazis, someone like Lucas at that period would had placed himself in a perilous position with his history.
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Very tense and scary, after war fears and anger
A young Jewish man is beaten up by two men coming out of his school. He ends up in the hospital and no one calls the police. Foyle goes to the parents home and talks to Mr and Mrs Wolf the boys parents. They want to keep things quiet. They seem scared. Soon after Mr Wolf is murdered. Foyle investigates and finds out Mr Wolf's ship was blown up as it was bringing supplies to the Jewish people in Palestine.
There are lots of things that go on in the Foyle's War series. Things before the war that England and other countries are in and after it.
This one has to do with secret operations run by a secret part of the English government who is helping people from other countries that are enemies of Jewish people. It is the leaders of this group that work for the government but not endorsed by the heads that did not know what they were doing.
Foyle is not a policeman anymore but he works for MI6 a government security group. He had a meeting with someone who gave him information and he passed it on to his supervisor. The information gets him in trouble and he resigns. He was being spied on by the people that work for the government and they tipped off the Arabs that were in the hotel.
This episode is kind of like things today. The secret agencies wanted to stay friendly and have meetings with the countries it supports but the people involved were anti-Semitic and allowed meeting to be help to push their agenda. They blamed poverty, lack of food and everything bad that was happening in England on the Jewish people.
It is a good example of how propaganda is spread by certain people and how it ignites others that hear it to start to protest and attack the houses of people they think are the cause of their problems.
It has a good ending or at least one with some justice for the innocent and Foyle's gets his job back. There is a lot of anti-Semitism today even in our country. This is really sad.
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Quality Stuff
Well done to the writer for putting together something like this where OUR WW2 heroes arent yet home and some radical is calling for the cold blooded murder of ever Jew and foreigner living in the UK and elsewhere. Whilst evident from the outset who are the real villains, a cracking good episode has been created for those who enjoy watching the series, which is much missed given todays quality TV isnt in the same league. As always Foyle comes out with all the truths of what is going on, even though the viewer has to guess as to how he managed to get there. Thank You team. Although for me, the idea of a P M in 1946 who wanted to kills jews I find somewhat appaulling in 2021, given how his party has developed in the last 60 years!
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Slightly awkward episode
Warning: Spoilers
In the post-war series, Foyle's War, always brilliant, went up a notch. Anthony Horowitz's writing became more political and hard-hitting, and the Holocaust (just post-war, Britons would have heard about it for the first time) forms a backdrop.
Two Jewish families feature in this episode. Sir Henry? Woolf has made a lot of money from shipping. His son (excellently played) gets beaten up. There's a revived Mosleyite party led by a demagogue. A young girl, Lea Fisher, comes from Palestine to study medicine (or so she says) and stay with the family of a rabbi. She chums up with the son of the house, Nicolas, a geeky sound engineer.
Arthur Valentine is in charge of security for a "peace in the Middle East" conference.
The Woolf family are convincing, but the rabbi's family seem stiff, awkward and self-conscious. The girl from Palestine speaks English with an accent, and so do the Greenfeld parents (they've been in the UK 11 years). But why does Nicolas speak English as if he'd learned it as a foreign language?
Lea is not what she seems, and plants a bomb (where does she get it from?) in the sound equipment for the conference. There is a hackneyed moment when Arthur has two minutes to defuse the bomb, but Tim McMullan is such a good actor that he manages to bring this off.
There is a subplot about the NHS involving a young boy with whooping cough being carried about by his rather simple father. All this is rather sentimental and plonking.
However, we keep up with the lives of Sam and Dr Addis, who has the wrong kind of designs on Mr Foyle.
Where is that Victorian Gothic library, I wonder? The House of Commons?
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MBGA
Chillingly prescient story line considering what the MAGA movement unleashed in the US (one of the tag lines used by the rabble-rouser in this episode was "Make Britain Great Again.") It's one of those convoluted episodes where no one can be trusted to be who they actually are or are trustworthy. As the series neared the end I felt the character of Sam was too intrusive, although the actress still had some charm.
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