‘Marble Hall’s Penultimate Episode Needs More Pünd

The penultimate episode of Marble Hall Murders is slightly disappointing because it has only one meta moment. The sole scene featuring Pünd comes at the very end. While it hints that the detective is no longer a figment living singularly in Susan’s mind, the audience is denied more of the esoteric fare promised by the ending of last week’s episode. That is not to say this installment wasn’t entertaining. With the focus almost entirely on Susan, the intrigue maintains momentum throughout the hour – it’s just incomplete.

Susan attempts to convince the police she’s been framed. Blakeney seems to want to believe her but can’t ignore the mountain of evidence stacking up. Wardlaw, meanwhile, is incredulous that they aren’t simply arresting her outright when the samples from Susan’s car match Eliot’s clothing and blood.

Free for now, Susan gets the lowdown from Leila about the Crace family, visits Charles in jail for a very intense conversation, then comes home to find her flat violently burgled. It is incredibly distressing that Hugo gets stabbed. Luckily, we don’t see it happen, and the cow cat survives his attack. However, violence against animals in fiction is always dicey for me. Is it integral to the plot, setting, or perpetrator, or is it just a cheap way to evoke a feeling?

What of Pünd? We learn that Blakeney loves detective fiction and writes his own short stories. Did he manifest Pünd by writing about him, or is Pünd truly a free agent? Only the finale will tell.