‘Tommy & Tuppence’: Ada’s Final Message Sparks a New Mystery (& Old Feelings)

The penultimate episode of Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence begins on a somber note as Tommy (Josh Dylan) and Tuppence (Antonia Thomas) deal with the loss of Aunt Ada (Imelda Staunton). Her sudden death hits Tommy particularly hard, leaving him struggling to say goodbye to the most important woman in his life. But even in the middle of grief, there is still a final mystery waiting to be solved.

The episode opens in the dead of night, as a little girl in a red cloak rides her bike into the woods carrying a rag doll. As she disappears into the darkness, Ada’s voice asks, “If we didn’t go to the edges of darkness, we wouldn’t be able to find why terrible things happen, would we?”

Ada leaves Tommy one final mystery to solve

Then we jump to Ada’s funeral, where Tommy delivers a eulogy for the “razor-sharp, martini-loving, incomparable powerhouse.” Later, while packing up her room, Tommy breaks down. He’s convinced she must have left one final goodbye. A note, perhaps, somewhere, hidden among her things, as a message to her favorite nephew.

Tuppence joins him, but they’re interrupted by Mrs. Lancaster (Alice Krige), Ada’s friend from the care home. In her room, Mrs. Lancaster shows Tuppence a painting called The Red House, a painting that has come with her to every place she has ever lived, and one she says “has its secrets.” She also asks whether Tuppence has come about the “poor child in the chimney,” insisting nobody listened when she told them what she knew. Nurse Packford (Natasha Joseph) interrupts and dismisses her words as confusion.

Back at The Lady Albert, Tommy, Tuppence, Julius (Nicholas Richardson), and Albert (Charlie Condou) toast Ada. Another goodbye is approaching: Tuppence and Julius are leaving for Los Angeles in a few days, of which Tommy is unaware. When Tommy and Tuppence finally talk about it, they try to dismiss their recent kiss as something they needed to get out of their systems. They’ll still be friends. Sure.

That night, Tuppence helps Tommy find the message he was looking for: A “MCMV” carved into Ada’s desk, which translates to “1905.” A corresponding almanac from that year on the desk contains a key to a hidden compartment holding Ada’s notes. She had been worried about Mrs. Lancaster for some time, writing, “She’s not safe. Must ask Tommy and Tuppence to find out more about the painting. They can help.”

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What happened to Mrs. Lancaster? And who is the girl in red?

When they return to the care home, it appears that Mrs. Lancaster is gone, supposedly collected by a relative during the dead of night. But her painting of the red house remains behind, the same painting that she claimed always went with her no matter what. Furthermore, another resident claims she was taken by a “phantom.”

After borrowing a car from Constance (Eleanor Fanyinka), Tommy and Tuppence trace the painting to the actual red house. They find the place boarded up and encounter a man carrying an axe. So they run screaming, naturally.

Fortunately, Amos (Gerald Kyd) is harmless. He explains the house has been empty for years and belongs to Sir Philip Starke (Nicholas Farrell). He gives Tuppence one of the property’s prized apothecary roses.

When their car battery dies, Tommy and Tuppence walk to a nearby pub, passing a memorial to three children who disappeared in the woods in 1989: Susan Copleigh, Helen Loughty, and Nicolas Neston. At the pub, they learn Susan was the girl from the opening. She was seven when she vanished on Halloween while riding home from a party. Two more children later disappeared, and suspicion fell on the artist who painted The Red House.

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What really happened between Tommy and Tuppence at university?

Stranded overnight, Tommy and Tuppence are forced to share cramped accommodations, and their pent-up frustrations finally come spilling out. Tuppence admits she isn’t sorry about their kiss and that she’s going to miss this part of her life. Tommy points out that she chose Julius over him, and that she hurt him. Again. And he accuses her of ghosting him while at university.

We finally learn what happened back then. Tommy told Tuppence he loved her, but she never said it back. Tuppence reveals she loved him too, but she had doubts. By the time she was ready, Tommy had already moved on.

“I don’t think we know each other as well as I think we do,” he tells her.

The next morning, they visit the artist Boscowan (Adrian Rawlins), the man behind the painting. He created it in January 1989 and reveals that Julia Starke, his former muse and lover, lived there. Julia was married to Sir Philip, who discovered their affair and took her away. Julia supposedly died in 2019. Both Tommy and Tuppence thought that perhaps Mrs. Lancaster could actually be Julia, until they visited her grave, proof of Julia’s death in 2019.

While at the church, they visit Vicar Bly (Poppy Miller), to ask about Mrs. Lancaster. But as soon as they mention the missing children, she tells them to leave.

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All roads lead to Sir Philip

It is Halloween and the two rest at the local pub to have a think. Tommy is ready to stop. Ada is gone, Tuppence is leaving, and he isn’t sure he wants to keep going. But Tuppence wants to continue so she can help give peace to the families of those children. She tallies up their leads: The painting, a drunk artist, an affair, a dead woman, a passive-aggressive vicar, and a big, beefy gardener.

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What is the link? Sir Philip Starke. He’s a rival, a boss, and he pointed the finger at Boscowan when the children went missing. Was he trying to divert the guilt?

They go snooping at Sir Philip’s mansion, and they see it: A Rolls-Royce Phantom. Could Philip have taken Mrs. Lancaster?

They head to his mansion, but Philip spots them and makes a call. “Evil very rarely works alone,” Ada warns in voiceover. “They’re here,” Philip says.

With that, Tommy and Tuppence may have walked straight into the secret Ada was trying to uncover.

Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence, Tuesdays, BritBox