As with some other episodes of this excellent series an episode which is thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing to watch, due to superior acting and captivating atmosphere, is undermined because of an embarrassingly weak plot flaw. In this case the entire story revolves around a faulty "slider" on a Spitfire (evidently the part which allows the pilot to exit his plane in a pinch by "sliding" the cockpit window forward) which is the result of the obscene negligence of the murder victim, a thoroughly disreputable chap who beats women, commits extortion, probably deals on the black market and what more is criminally negligent in the performance of his job as an RAF maintenance tech EVEN WHEN THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO HIM MORE THAN ONCE. And by Foyle's son, no less, the handsome RAF fighter pilot.
Andrew ends up going AWOL because his best friend has to use his Spitfire (with the still-unfixed slider) to go on a very dangerous mission and is hideously burned in a crash, mainly because the slider fails and he can't escape fast enough to avoid the flames.
What's the plot flaw here? Andrew knew about the bad slider. He TOLD the mechanic to fix it. Andrew's commander knew about it. How hard would it have been to verify that the jerk had done his job and fixed the darn slider BEFORE his best buddy went on this dangerous mission? I can think of many ways to eliminate this horrible plot weakness while retaining the essence of the plot: such as making the faulty part more subtle, less detectable until subject to stress, etc. As it was written it's a deplorably inadequate device which stands out as a glaring flaw in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable story of crime in WW2 England. I love Foyle's War. I'm critical here because the stories DESERVE to be better!
Andrew ends up going AWOL because his best friend has to use his Spitfire (with the still-unfixed slider) to go on a very dangerous mission and is hideously burned in a crash, mainly because the slider fails and he can't escape fast enough to avoid the flames.
What's the plot flaw here? Andrew knew about the bad slider. He TOLD the mechanic to fix it. Andrew's commander knew about it. How hard would it have been to verify that the jerk had done his job and fixed the darn slider BEFORE his best buddy went on this dangerous mission? I can think of many ways to eliminate this horrible plot weakness while retaining the essence of the plot: such as making the faulty part more subtle, less detectable until subject to stress, etc. As it was written it's a deplorably inadequate device which stands out as a glaring flaw in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable story of crime in WW2 England. I love Foyle's War. I'm critical here because the stories DESERVE to be better!
