Teresa Reviews Curtain (2015) from Chinese Checkmate series

Teresa reviews Curtain (2015), a.k.a. The Disappearance of the Lover with Two Faces, the last episode arc from Checkmate, and felt like something was lost in translation

(c)2023 by Teresa Peschel

Source: Ebay listing

Fidelity to text: 2 deaths by freezing

You’ll recognize the harmless dweeb who’s really the evil mastermind and the turning table trick from Curtain, but otherwise? Not much!

Quality of film: 2 deaths by freezing

Way, way, way too much was going on wrapping up the overall story arc and telling the story of Curtain for the film to make sense.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movie on her podcast.

Well, after 24 episodes, Checkmate is done. And, because they didn’t finish telling the story arc, the final moments set up the sequel should iQIYI wish to film one. They could, because we still don’t know what happened to Zhou Mowan after she was kidnapped off that train at age eight, and we don’t truly know who she’s working for. Is it her secret Japanese masters? Or, is she playing a double game?

If iQIYI does film a sequel, they could adapt more of Agatha’s novels. Heaven knows there’s enough material, plus iQIYI has already demonstrated they don’t feel constrained by a need to slavishly follow the original source material.

So the question you’re asking is: How did they do? Did they adapt Curtain successfully? Did they wrap up the overall story arc about Oracle, a secret conspiracy menacing the Republic of China? Did we get a satisfying ending to everyone’s story?

Not really to all of the above.

Let’s start with Curtain. The idea behind the novel is that Poirot discovers a murderer whose crimes can never be proven in a court of law, but they can be inferred by the pattern of behavior and the clear track of ruin left in the villain’s wake. Curtain’s murderer is the kind of man who’s instantly dismissed as a timid sort who’s helpful but has no strength of character. He’s judged by his appearance and his behavior, not by what happens around him. His true character is concealed underneath that mild-mannered exterior.

When Poirot learns this, he arranges to trap the murderer, knowing that he — aged and infirm — may die as a result. He’s willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good, murders Stephen Norton, and dies shortly thereafter.

Jin Qiming, our eager and obsequious reporter turns out to be the mastermind behind Oracle. Or is he? The ending leaves doubt and sets up the aforementioned sequel.

But Jin Qiming fulfills the role of Stephen Norton, and looking back, you can see how. He’s a fountain of useful information, right from the start when he assists Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan by conveniently revealing the connections between the passengers onboard the Orient Express and the murderer, Ma Shiying. Throughout their time in Harbin, he’s always in the background, ready to help despite having a day job as a reporter that you’d think would interfere. His information is so useful in directing where Situ Yan and Luo Shaochuan should investigate next. He lets himself get pushed around by Luo Shaochuan, normal and expected behavior. Jin Qiming is much lower on the food chain and he knows his rightful place is to be useful to his betters.

Situ Yan, following the example of Poirot, Miss Marple, and Sherlock Holmes, considers who’s always been Johnny on the spot no matter what was happening. Who knows everything? Who makes cautious, helpful suggestions but in a properly respectful manner? Who couldn’t possibly be evil because he’s so meek? Jin Qiming fits the bill.

We get a series of flashbacks of the previous 23 episodes and yes, you can see it. It makes sense. You can really see it when Jin Qiming takes off his glasses (a classic trope: Clark Kent revealed to be Superman merely by the removal of eyewear), stands up straight, and another man reveals himself. The wolf drops his sheepskin and fights for his life and his cause. When he fails, Jin Qiming demonstrates that he truly was raised in pre-war Japan in the tradition of the samurai. Without a flicker of hesitation, he cuts his own throat and takes his secrets to his grave. The cub reporter you, Situ Yan, and Luo Shaochuan thought you knew was never real.

Jin Qiming and the revolving table are all you’ll recognize from Curtain. Since the action follows directly from the previous arc with the characters trapped in Dr. Fang’s mansion by a destroyed suspension bridge and a blizzard, everyone else is shoved into a new, ill-fitting role.

Did the overall story arc about the threat to the Republic of China get wrapped up satisfactorily? Not exactly. Jin Qiming’s true role was revealed. But he seems awfully young to be a mastermind, moving other people around on the chessboard. His connection to Du Heng was really confusing. And why did the plot insist that it was a game between Situ Yan and “X” that would result in three people being murdered, whether Situ Yan “won” the game or not?

That didn’t make any sense because spymasters don’t play games that might result in them losing. Ever. Their goal is what matters; in this case, China being set up to be conquered by the Japanese.

The only possible explanation is that Jin Qiming wasn’t the spymaster of Oracle. It was Zhou Mowan. She pulled his strings, set him up, and watched him die to preserve her own cover. She had the additional reason of wanting to remain on Situ Yan’s good side: She’d fallen in love with him. Except someone that good doesn’t really have human feelings. People who can carry on that kind of masquerade for decades see other humans as objects to manipulate. Did she really care? If she didn’t, she sacrificed a terrific operative to play a stupid game.

Which leads to that possible sequel again. Is Zhou Mowan playing a deeper game? That ending was ambiguous. Could she be a double agent? She answers to her Japanese masters (because that’s who raised her when she disappeared off that train at age eight? No answer was given) but does she have a higher Chinese master? It’s a surety the Chinese government was aware of spying going on. Wanting to preserve their own sovereignty demands they spy on their enemies. The Japanese fit that bill. They were already occupying Chinese territory as a result of WWI.

One of the many, many plot holes showing up at the end concerned that other potential enemy: Russia. Who arranged for a Russian passport and Russian diplomatic immunity for Ma Shiying that got him out of being convicted and executed for murdering a Chinese politician in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses? Did Oracle do that? No answer.

There was a lot of discussion of missing gems. Were those the gems stolen from Fengtian and smuggled to Harbin in Ye Zhenzhen’s violin from the Cat Among the Pigeon-inspired episodes? Situ Yan kept talking about another person connected to stolen gems, but I couldn’t make a definite connection to anything I’d watched earlier.

Other loose ends include the posh girls’ school in Harbin. Why did the vice-principal run the school? Was she connected somehow to Oracle? It looked like the banker, Yu Daren, of the poisoned spaghetti case was. Sort of. Why else would he get a dose of ricin in his prison food? How was Director Xie Hua (murderer of Luo Shaochuan’s father) connected to Oracle? Super unclear. And back to the murder on the Orient Express, why did Bai Lu commit suicide? Because she was somehow tied to Oracle? That was unclear to the point of being opaque.

Finally, did we get a satisfying ending to everyone’s story? Luo Shaochuan and Zou Jingxuan got engaged. His aunt, Bai Shanshan, got to be in charge of the family fortune. But we never learn who Madame Shen’s mysterious neighbor is. He’s the one with the Poirot mustache who implies that he’s a brilliant but retired detective who approves of Situ Yan’s cleverness.

Most of all, we don’t get a clear ending for Situ Yan and Zhou Mowan. She leaves for Beijing, at the behest of her masters. He returns to Beijing too, to reunite with his brother. I think. But will he and Zhou Mowan find each other in Beijing?

Only time and iQIYI can tell.

Overall, I enjoyed Checkmate. But I would have enjoyed it much more with better, clearer subtitles that spelled out what was going on and weren’t written in mouse-print.

Of all the Agatha Christie adaptations I’ve seen, this is the only one that tried to do something more with her stories. iQIYI didn’t film standalones. They tried to make a bigger arc and they mostly succeeded.