{"id":52746,"date":"2024-06-05T23:30:41","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T21:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2052053"},"modified":"2024-06-06T00:17:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T22:17:38","slug":"inside-no-9s-curse-of-the-ninth-bends-the-rules-and-hits-a-bum-note","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/inside-no-9s-curse-of-the-ninth-bends-the-rules-and-hits-a-bum-note\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside No. 9\u2019s Curse of the Ninth bends the rules \u2013 and hits a bum note"},"content":{"rendered":"

The penultimate episode fails to resonate. *SPOILERS FOR CURSE OF THE NINTH* <\/p>

By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 05 June 2024 at 21:30 PM<\/p>

\n\n

*WARNING: Contain\u2019s spoilers for Curse of the Ninth*<\/strong><\/p>\n

After four contemporary tales, Inside No. 9<\/a> heads to the past for the penultimate episode of season 9: Curse of the Ninth.<\/p>\n

The story takes inspiration from a real-life superstition, which references the deaths of various classical composers during or soon after the writing of their ninth symphony \u2013 from Beethoven in 1827 to Tishchenko in 2010.<\/p>\n

The story starts with a bang. Literally. Eddie Marsan\u2019s composer Nathaniel Burnham shoots himself in the head as a sinister figure emerges from the shadows behind him, leaving his own ninth unfinished.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bold start that immediately hooks your attention, which makes it all the more disappointing that the rest of the episode can\u2019t maintain such momentum.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, it proceeds to slow down considerably. Where most chapters of Inside No. 9 boast a fizzing comic energy or a creeping sense of dread \u2013 and sometimes both \u2013 Curse of the Ninth fails to achieve either. The absence of the latter is particularly disappointing, as this premise is ripe for atmospheric sequences that never quite materialise.<\/p>

One element that gets in the way is what could be interpreted as a slight bending of the titular rule, with the episode lacking a keen sense of being \u201cInside\u201d No. 9. There\u2019s an argument to be made that the \u20189\u2019 in this episode is the symphony itself, rather than the location, or that the mansion of widow Lillian (Natalie Dormer) \u2013 and the garden outside \u2013 is still one setting. Perhaps.<\/p>\n

But the freedom with which the characters move about prevents this episode from developing the intense claustrophobia that pervades Inside No. 9\u2019s creepiest instalments. Jonah simply comes and goes as he pleases, including for one outdoor scene in the manor\u2019s garden as he digs up Nathaniel\u2019s body to pry sheet music from his cold, dead fingers. It sounds scarier than it is.<\/p>\n

Indeed, for a story about a curse, this instalment has remarkably few moments that truly get under the skin, with James Swanton\u2019s personification of doom used so sparingly as to barely leave an impression. One can\u2019t help but wonder if a Hill House-style strategy of subtly placing him in certain shots might have been an effective way of maintaining a sense of peril throughout.<\/p>\n

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