just watched s3 e1 of Agatha Christie's Poirot and I need to talk about Captain Arthur Hastings because his uniform is doing a LOT of narrative heavy lifting and I am obsessed with it
okay so first off
I do not buy for one second that Hastings as a person, would have schemed or angled or socially climbed to get promoted. That is not his personality. he is earnest to the point of being emotionally transparent. He is loyal, he is brave, he is very “do what is expected of me and hope that is enough.” he is not a career shark.
but his uniform and rank progression are still giving “old officer class pipeline” and that is fascinating.
So, let’s go piece by piece because the costume department basically built a thesis statement out of fabric and ribbon.
The base uniform
He is in a British officer's service dress with a Sam Browne belt setup. That silhouette alone immediately codes the officer; yes, I'm aware he is a lieutenant in the episode, but stay with me, and historically it also codes class. Officer tracks in WW1 were still very socially filtered, even without literal rank purchase being a thing anymore. Though it did still happen unofficially. You still needed education, recommendations, social access, and the right cultural polish. Hastings reads as someone who would have slid into that track without ever thinking of it as privilege.
The sleeve chevrons
One red and two blue overseas service chevrons on the lower right sleeve.
This shows us that he has three years of total overseas service. The red indicates service in 1914, the beginning of the war, and the blue represents another twelve-month service period each.
However, these chevrons weren't authorized until 1917-1918. So we'll assume Hastings was able to get hold of them early 1917.
The ribbon bar situation
This is where it gets fun.
First ribbon is the 1914 Star ribbon. Red, white, blue. Early war France or Belgium service window. That is basically the “you were there when everything was chaos and nobody knew what trench warfare was going to become yet” medal.
And if that is a rosette on it, that implies he had the clasp version, which means under enemy fire during that early window. Not just present. Under fire.
Second ribbon is almost certainly the French Croix de Guerre ribbon (green with red vertical stripes).
So stacked together, what the show is saying is:
Early war presence
Long overseas time
Recognized gallantry by an allied government
Officer class presentation
That is a very specific narrative profile.
Now the rank thing
Lieutenant during active war period, Captain by end-of-war era framing.
This is not impossible. Plenty of officers got that progression in WWI.
But combine it with decorations plus early war service plus long overseas time plus officer class presentation and it reads less like “scraped and clawed his way up through chaos” and more like “reliable, socially legible officer candidate who survived and performed competently and was therefore promoted when space opened.”
And here is the part I actually love from a character standpoint:
Hastings would not think of himself as privileged or advanced by social standing. He would think he was doing his duty and got lucky to survive and was promoted because he tried his best.
And that is exactly why this works so well.
Because he is simultaneously:
Genuinely brave
Genuinely competent
Absolutely a product of an officer class pipeline that existed whether he wanted it to or not
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
important question: what are your headcanons for Hastings youth?
Where did he grow up? How was he raised? What family did he have and was he close with them? Where was he on the social ladder in Eton? What were his favourite subjects? Why did he sign up for the war? What jobs did he keep throughout his life? etc etc
tragische entwicklung für fans deutscher literaturklassiker: die projekt gutenberg webseite wurde umgestaltet und die lesetips durch genre-einteilung ersetzt :(
i just wrote 5 pages of poirot fanfiction (truly just giving arthur a tragic backstory and making him autistic, queer and depressed) and i cannot believe that it is 20-year-old old man yaoi which pulls me back into writing
okay I really need you all to know my writing is bad! don’t get too excited please 🫡
because someone asked, here is a short paragraph from my story:
His governess would sometimes point to the sky above and say with a gentle smile, "You're sitting up there." She had been right, Arthur supposed. For as long as he could remember, living had felt like a dance everyone else seemed to know the steps to. All the while he was left guessing, trying to follow along. And what do you do when your feet fail you? You fly.
(Plus additional speculation from me, because I cannot shut up about this man)
Murder on the Links
While Hastings makes no reference to any sort of PTSD symptoms from his time at the Front in Styles, his thoughts do turn back to the war when his train passes through Amiens in the first chapter. He mentions that he was wounded once (which we already know from Styles) and reveals that he was "invalided...out altogether" after the Somme, but he doesn't so much as hint at why they invalided him out of the Army at that point (wounded again? 👀).
After that, he "had a half fledged Army job for a bit," which I'm guessing means he had some sort of civilian job with the Army, though I suppose it could also mean that he was moved from combat duty to some sort of desk job. Or maybe not; I don't know enough about the British Army circa WWI to do much more than speculate.
Nowadays, he's "sort of a private secretary...to an M.P.," which he finds incredibly boring.
He's now living with Poirot (and they were roommates 👀)
We finally learn that Hastings left the army with the rank of captain at the beginning of chapter three when Poirot introduces him to M. Bex.
The book takes place in France, so everyone's speaking French (recorded as English with the occasional French word or phrase sprinkled in), which would seem to imply that Hastings is fluent in French.
Hastings carries a flask of emergency brandy for medicinal purposes, because I guess smelling salts aren’t manly enough (and probably not as multi-purpose, though I don’t know enough about either to say for sure).
Hastings’ mother is “long since dead.”
Hastings smokes a pipe.
We FINALLY learn Hastings' first name (Arthur) at the very end end of the book.
My sister and I have been watching the Hercule Poirot show and having a great time. Poirot himself is a gas but I'm especially charmed by Captain Hastings, the most loveable idiot in 1930s England.
He's so stupid!! But such a good sport about it! He's not big or handsome or even nice enough to be a himbo. Every other ep Poirot shouts, "stop him, Hastings!" as the culprit tries to escape, and he goes full golden retriever just barreling clumsily into whoever it is. He doesn't even succeed half the time! Poirot says to his face that any time Hastings comes up with a theory, he can be confident the opposite is true.
But then Hastings holds his umbrella and fluffs his pillow for him and pays for his cab. And Poirot fusses over making him delicious food and whines when Hastings isn't around and gives him little jobs to keep him enriched.
It makes me crave a detective pair where the subtext is just text. Genius detective and his beloved dumb as rocks man toy. Genius detective almost lets the murderer go free because he doubts his himbo for just a moment and tries to protect him. Genius detective COMMITS murder for his himbo.
i just wrote 5 pages of poirot fanfiction (truly just giving arthur a tragic backstory and making him autistic, queer and depressed) and i cannot believe that it is 20-year-old old man yaoi which pulls me back into writing
titsay
dededos
kianamaiart
annaxmalina
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
