The series wraps up its best adaptation so far with part four of 4:50 from Paddington. The story leans into the emotional fall-out of the story and some of the side characters get really nice wrap-ups to their stories. The show has, I think, been slowly developing Mabel into a more mature character. I kind of picked up on it The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding where she was obviously older than the kid characters in the story. Then with this one, she really has gone out on her own and worked on her own to solve this mystery and by the time it ends, you can actually feel that she’s experienced something pretty serious and that she’s a more fully rounded person because of it. I wasn’t really anticipating that Mabel would be getting anything like a character arc in this show; not sure why not, maybe just because it's a kid’s show, but the show is definitely giving her character a little depth and I really appreciate that. Of course, next episode she’ll probably be turning backflips and giggling again. What is the next one anyway? Oh, it’s another train-centric story. Interesting. Okay, well, this four parter definitely kicked the show up a notch; here’s hoping they sustain that. 4 stars.
tl;dr – the most emotionally rich and well-characterized adaptation so far wraps up with a strong ending; I like that the show has started to develop Mabel as a more fully rounded character. 4 stars.
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