Jonathan Creek - The Grinning Man DVD | Mystery Crime Series | Perfect for Home Entertainment & Gift Giving

First things first: keep in mind that this is a Region 2 DVD, and so probably won't play on most American players (unless you have a multi-regional DVD player). Second of all, this episode of Jonathan Creek is also available in the holiday specials box set, along with three other feature-length episodes. All things considered, you'd probably want to invest in that particular product rather than buy all these disks separately."The Grinning Man" was the first Jonathan Creek episode to air after a five year hiatus, but there were some changes in the air. Jonathan is older now, and happy to avoid the macabre mysteries that keep popping up around him. It helps that former sidekicks Madeline Magellan (Caroline Quentin) and Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha) have moved on with their lives, but spunky young Joey Ross (Sheridan Smith) is determined to seek out help after her friend's mysterious disappearance.Since 1938, a number of people have disappeared from the attic of a Gothic mansion called Metropolis, once owned by a spiritualist and now by his grandson. It's known as the Nightmare Room, and when Joey and her friend Mina get lost on their way to a party, the owners of the house take them in: the charismatic stage illusionist Lance Gessler, his girlfriend (and assistant) Elodie, his haunted-looking mother Constance, and the gardener Glen.For a laugh Mina decides to spend a night locked in the Nightmare Room, only for her to disappear entirely during the night. The door was locked from the outside, and the only clue is the pair of her torn stockings on the bedroom floor. The mystery thickens when Elodie is apparently kidnapped and murdered - only for her to be caught on camera the following day by a couple of tourists in the park (with the date confirmed by the newspaper being read by a man on the nearby park bench).Although "The Grinning Man" hangs together well enough, it suffers from something that becomes even more pronounced in later episodes: the waning of David Renwick's ideas for "puzzle box mysteries". An historical mystery combined with a more contemporary murder were used to great effect in episodes such as "Mother Redcap" and "Satan's Chimney", but here the formula is beginning to feel more strained considering the Nightmare Room and Elodie's murder are only tenuously connected.To give the man credit, Renwick has written some incredibly intricate and ingenious mysteries - it's simply here that the two of them feel like they belong in two separate episodes. The only thing that connects them is the thematic importance of a portrait called The Grinning Man kept in the Nightmare Room. As well as that, there are several aspects to Elodie's murder that make very little sense.MINOR SPOILERSOne scene involves an incredibly convoluted sequence in which Elodie's killer allows Jonathan to find her dead body, only to replace it with a manikin when the police turn up. But why not simply hide her body and leave her death ambiguous? How would the killer know Jonathan wouldn't stay with the body and call the police straight away (thus preventing him from making the switch)? And why, when the plan was to release footage of her alive and well the following day, would he even LET Jonathan find the corpse and thus confirm her death?END OF SPOILERSAs well as this, Jonathan and Joey's rapport falls a bit flat. It's presented as one of friendly rivalry, in which Joey apparently poses a challenge to Jonathan's mental prowess, toted as an immensely intelligent young woman who favours raw intuition over Jonathan's more analytical approach. Unfortunately, she doesn't really contribute much to the case and never lives up to her reputation, and their long-suffering big brother/annoying little sister dynamic doesn't hold a candle to the original Jonathan/Maddie chemistry.Meanwhile, Jonathan's employer Adam Klaus - the show's comic relief - is caught in an immensely unfunny subplot in which he gets involved in the 3-D porn industry and dates a woman with gag boobs. It's about as funny as it sounds.On its own "The Grinning Man" is a fairly decent episode, though the Nightmare Room storyline works a lot better than the kidnapping/murder one, which only gets started in the second half of the episode and feels incredibly disjointed as a result. But the episode's flaws are indicative of the show's overall slip in quality. "The Judas Tree" feels even more fragmented, and "The Clue of the Savant's Thumb" is just a mess. And don't get me started on series five...