In the TV adaptation of The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie, we first meet Hercule Poirot in the woods. This seems an odd place for him, as he later professes to dislike the countryside, where all of nature is sprawling about in a disordered fashion. Stranger yet, he walks past a man in an Army uniform sprawled on the ground, staring down his rifle at a faraway target. Yet Poirot ignores the soldier, and points out a scarlet pimpernel on the ground.
A moment later, we see he is lecturing to his fellow Belgians, who are refugees now living in England. When one of the group speaks to another in Belgian, he insists that the man speak in English. They are guests in this country, he reminds them, so they must learn to live like the English do. This scene is a creation of the production team, not present in the novel. To me, it seems an odd insertion into Christie's story, and prompts a number of questions, such as:
1) Why would Poirot be oblivious to Army exercises?
2) Why would Poirot insist that his friends speak English?
3) Why would Poirot point out a particular flower, when he's not interested in nature?
Intriguing questions no, Mon'ami?
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