FOYLE'S WAR

AMONG THE FEW

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: violence, thematic elements, homosexuality

Rated:

While war rages across the channel in France, common cases of murder are investigated on homeland shores. Christopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen) has just left an exhaustive political meeting. He and his driver Sam Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks) are on their way home in the small town of Hastings when they're forced to stop at a roadblock. 

Foyle's identification papers are checked and he's allowed to progress through -- but the driver of a large truck behind them recognizes him and barrels through the roadblock. Following at top speed, our intrepid sleuths are just in time to witness a horrific explosion. The truck and its unfortunate driver were carrying thousands of gallons of illegal petrol, as well as free passes and coupons. Since England holds fear of being invaded by the Germans, gasoline is being manufactured in miniscule amounts so that if they're taken possession of, their enemies won't find large stores of petrol. The government has kept a very tight watch on the manufacturers until now but this shipment was far from legal. Determined to get to the bottom of it, Foyle's investigation unintentionally leads him into the inner circle of his son Andrew. 

One of the finest fliers in the air force, Andrew is dating a beautiful blonde (Eileen Atkins) who works in the offices of a local petrol manufacturing plant. Violet's best friend and roommate, Connie, is engaged to Andrew's closest friend and fellow pilot, Rex. Short of men and unable to find an alternative plant to work in the factory, Foyle reluctantly assigns Sam to the project. She discovers the unhappily married Mr. and Mrs. Bennett run a tight business, but it's not impossible to skim off the top of the barrel. Connie is somehow involved -- a factor that becomes important when she turns up raging drunk one night and threatens to tell everything she knows. Andrew takes her home and returns to escort Violet to a hotel. The following morning the young woman doesn't come to work and Sam is dispatched to bring her in. She finds her new friend laying at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a broken neck. A case of petrol scamming has just been complicated into murder.

While Among the Few has the tight-nit writing we're accustomed to on the program, it also has some very obvious inconsistencies. Each episode is stand alone and therefore we don't know why Sam is no longer staying with Foyle. One line of dialogue would have cleared that up nicely. It's also hard to like Andrew and his friends, because all of them are obviously morally lose. Violet tries to talk him into spending the night at a hotel with her. He then gets into a brawl in the local nightclub and winds up in jail. The next evening he goes through with this arrangement. Dialogue revolves around the affair, particularly when his father finds out. Violet later becomes angry with Andrew and breaks it off, believing he only wanted to "lure her into bed." Connie tries to lure Rex back to her apartment for a passionate fling. We learn later that she's pregnant. An extramarital affair is referenced, as well as a man taking responsibility for the baby.

Homosexuality also pops up in the latter half, as Foyle questions a man about his relationships and points out that he favors men rather than women. The young man begs him to keep it a secret. Foyle neither condemns nor agrees with his point of view. There's a general amount of profanity, and one harsh abuse of Jesus' name from an Irishman. The opening scene favors a tanker going off the road and exploding into a fireball; Foyle briefly examines the charred remains of the driver. A brawl erupts in a bar after a man refuses to let go of Sam's arm. We see a flashback of a man quarreling with a woman, and she falling down the stairs and breaking her neck. 

Overall the episode was good. It had some fabulous scenes with Sam in particular, one involving a ticking bomb and the natural father/daughter relationship she has with Foyle. It was more predictable than former installments; I was able to guess at the central core of the mystery right off. I was also a little disappointed in the immorality and sub-themes, something I've never seen in the series before. Normally Foyle's War is about something more than sexual escapades, but I guess every series must have one exception.