A year after discovering his first wife, Delphine, electrocuted in the bath, antique dealer Mark Easterbrook is summoned by the police when a woman, Jessie Davis, is found dead in the street. Hidden in her shoe is a list of names that she had written on a piece of paper. Among the names are those of Mark and Mark's paramour, Thomasina Tuckerton, whom Mark later finds dead in her bed. Mark discovers that Delphine and Jessie Davis had both visited the village of Much Deeping to consult a trio of women living there. Another person on the list, shopkeeper Zachariah Osborne, who had employed Jesse Davis, tells Mark that the women are witches, and responsible for the deaths.
Mark's hair begins to fall out, as had Jesse Davis's and Thomasina Tuckerton's before they died. He succumbs to a growing paranoia towards the witches and their supposed power. He suspects that his second wife, Hermia, is plotting against him. Mark's godson, David Ardingly, admits to having enlisted the trio to bring about the death of his Aunt Clemency, so that he could inherit sooner. Inspector Lejeune disputes Mark's version of Delphine's death. Mark visits Osborne, who tells him that he can only be cleansed by fire. Mark then visits the witches and asks them to remove the threat posed by Hermia and Lejeune. Mark discovers Hermia in a coma, and while at the hospital where she is being treated, he sees the dying Lejeune brought in. Mark's flashbacks reveal that he caused Delphine's death and covered it up. He confronts Osborne, who confesses to having poisoned the other victims. He taunts Mark, who kills him and sets fire to his workshop. Hermia wakes up in the hospital with the three witches at her side and the three women tell her what Mark has done. Mark returns to his house and reads the morning paper. The headline is the announcement of his own death. Mark is now reliving Delphine's death over and over again in his nightmares, which he had been plagued with previously.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 80% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.71/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Though The Pale Horse bristles with brutal thrills, it's [sic] convoluted mystery at times sedates the suspenseful proceedings."[8]Metacritic reports an aggregated score of 69 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[9]
The Guardian gave the first episode four stars and praised the writing and direction.[10]The Independent deemed the second episode "satisfying" and said that the updates to the material and language worked.[11] In their review of the second episode, The Telegraph was less complimentary, awarding three stars and saying "writer Sarah Phelps was chucking the rat-filled kitchen sink into this rewrite of Agatha Christie."[12]
As with her previous adaptations, some viewers criticized the numerous and significant changes Phelps made to the original novel; and some criticized the ending, which they found confusing.[13] A Radio Times feature admitted that "the ending is deliberately ambiguous".[14]
