Father Brown (TV Series) The Demise of the Debutante (2019) User Reviews

The Demise of the Debutante

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 15 January 2019]

Illegal abortion, an unwed mother, a dodgy American priest and murder at a finishing school.

Not to forget Mrs McCarthy accidentally gets shot.

This was a strange episode as the murder count was really ramped up.

Maude Riley, just out of jail for carrying out illegal abortions dies in a tragic motor vehicle accident. Quickly followed by another death.

This was a rather off kilter episode. A weird hallucinatory sequence and a deluded killer.

A mix of dramatic and funny, very good episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 5 March 2019]

The Demise of the Debutante is a very good, funny, slight bonkers episode, that's very different to the three that went before.

The beginning is very dramatic, I don't remember a more shocking start, we have an abortionist at work, and then we then have the very dramatic murder. It's quite dramatic the whole way through, with the very sinister Vicar, and the ensuing crimes.

It's littered with humour too, Bunty's battle with Cecilia at the finishing school, but the highlight being the accidental shooting of Mrs McCarthy, so much fun. 8/10

Political?

[sarahhatcher78 · 8/10 · 16 September 2019]

Many disliked this as political. Ok but isn't police corruption political? A man with multiple wives?and omgosh how about Anarchists? This show is Not lite entertainment. It deals with serious historical and yes POLITICAL stuff. Just because you were personally triggered by an issue doesn't make it more so. Sorry. This wasn't my favorite episode but not because there was an abortionist briefly but because of how ridiculous having Bunty who was 25 3 seasons ago go undercover at a girls finishing school. That was the silly part!

Lay off Jack Deam

[jmsneddon123 · 7/10 · 29 December 2020]

A lot of shade for Jack Deam. Wont he be following a script and being directed? Just a thought.

Midsommar

[safenoe · 7/10 · 30 May 2023]

This episode, broadcast the year before the pandemic, is quite surreal especially with the visions of heaven and hell at the end of the episode. Also there are elements of Midsommar in this, and lots of deaths even by Father Brown standards. Anyway, the lecherous American priest was something, and you can see what his character was a mile away.

This episode is not one I would introduce to someone who wants to watch Father Brown. Still, this episode will ignite passions across the Roe v Wade spectrum and also bring up issues of exploitations in finishing school which was the main setting of this episode.

Not up to snuff

[Tomlonso · 4/10 · 24 October 2019]

Ignoring the political overtones, this episode was probably the worst Father Brown I've seen. All of the characters were two-dimensional caricatures, Inspector Mallory in particular being little more than a screaming annoyance. The only character to show any depth at all was Mrs. McCarthy, and in a typical episode she's usually the queen of caricature. It felt like this episode should have been stretched out to two parts to give enough time for the red herrings to be developed and the revelation of the killer to not be so trite and pat. Maybe they spent too much of the budget on the special effects.

Disappointing

[mary-kroeger777 · 3/10 · 12 September 2019]

I used to really enjoy this series. I was so excited to see there was another season. But we had lesbian overtones in the second episode, a load of occult junk in the third, and this one - ugh. The pro lifer is of course a pervy "christian" minister, the abortionist a valiant crusader for pro choice who is murdered by a "right winger". And the script sounded like it was written by a high school student.

A disappointing one!

[harrykivi · 5/10 · 19 February 2021]

The seventh season of "Father Brown" had been a good one so far. Sadly, "The Demise of the Debutante" continues this season with a very underwhelming episode. It's not a bad entry to "Father Brown", but is still not very good at all.

Let's start with the good aspects first, shall we?

. The production values of this episode are great as usual. It's well- directed and the music's wonderful. The main cast gives amazing performances and out of the guest stars Lucy Pearson fares the best.

. The script has some occasional spark with quirky humor.

But...

. The story is so ridicolous at times. Especially towards the end with the crazy schoolmaster turning out to be the killer and the hallucination scene. The subplot about Bunty and one girl being rivals felt very childish too.

. "The Demise of the Debutante" is one of the few "Father Brown" entries, when even the acting is not that good. Forbess Mason is just not believable as the vicar and Amanda Drew is okay up untill the laughable ending.

Overall, an underwhelming one.

5/10 HK

Not too plausible.

[peterff-34836 · 5/10 · 7 January 2021]

O know it is very easy to criticise Father Brown for many reasons (the main one being a Cotswold village where the large church is Roman Catholic as are most of the inhabitants) but here there is another one.

We have a posh English Finishing School for young ladies. So who is the chaplain? A hellfire thumping, bible bashing preacher from the bible belt of the USA.

No. It doesn't fit.