(by equesrosa on 20 June 2010)

Perhaps not Cadfael's strongest effort as a detective but fascinating nonetheless as near-continuous rain, thunderstorms and rising waters threaten to swamp Shrewsbury and environs. There was some fine interplay between Derek Jacobi and the guest stars - an arrogant lord exerting his property rights, an equally arrogant prior in search of a favor, yet another novice hearing voices and seeing visions and a slave girl with an angel's voice.
One unusual thing about the episode was it began with a voice-over narration. I'd have thought that by the start of this final season of Cadfael, viewers would have enough sense of the time and place to render the narration superfluous. A minor quibble -- very distinct shadows on the ground in some scenes where it was absolutely pouring rain.
A complaint - background music that became intrusive, perhaps because rather than the instrumental music, this episode featured a lot vocal music. At times it went on long enough to appear to be substituting for dialog or scene changes. The music was lovely and the voices superb but the end result was noisy what with the storms, the sloshing around, the wagon and horses, etc.