'Endeavour' ITV 1

[Anna]

Maybe just me, but I really didn't get into the latest offering at all.

Ditto and totally agree with Pabs. I watched the first hour, decided to switch over to War & Peace and return to Endeavour using the +1 facility if I was interested enough to see the conclusion - but I didn't. However I've never been an avid Morse fan and have only watched occasionally, it always struck me that it was rather like a superior Midsomer Murders for intellectuals. I have seen a few Lewis, I thought the sidekick Hathaway was an interesting character probably deserving of his own series.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Also, the last series ended with Morse in prison (itself something never hinted at in the 'real' series). This episode dealt with that in a way similar to "and with one bound he was free".

Oh, not very "similar", Pabs? Morse's prison experience haunted the better scenes in the episode - most notably when Thursday (by not asking him about it) got Morse to tell him (/us) about how he kept awake at nights, waiting for the sound of boots on metal to come and arrange his "suicide"; but also in Bright's changed relationship to Morse (acknowledging - as far as his stiff sense of the importance of his superior position would allow - that a great wrong had been done to him). Again, the understated acting skills of Lesser and Allam communicated this "non-text" with greater intensity, I thought, than an hour's dialogue could have contrived.

And, apart from the conversation with Thursday, that was all that is said about the imprisonment - so great an injustice that these repressed psyches cannot address it directly, or at great length - "Terrible business, you know ... erm ... yes ... well, move on" - which might explain why it isn't directly referred to in the "old" Morse stories.

[Pabmusic]

Oh, not very "similar", Pabs? Morse's prison experience haunted the better scenes in the episode - most notably when Thursday (by not asking him about it) got Morse to tell him (/us) about how he kept awake at nights, waiting for the sound of boots on metal to come and arrange his "suicide"; but also in Bright's changed relationship to Morse (acknowledging - as far as his stiff sense of the importance of his superior position would allow - that a great wrong had been done to him). Again, the understated acting skills of Lesser and Allam communicated this "non-text" with greater intensity, I thought, than an hour's dialogue could have contrived.

And, apart from the conversation with Thursday, that was all that is said about the imprisonment - so great an injustice that these repressed psyches cannot address it directly, or at great length - "Terrible business, you know ... erm ... yes ... well, move on" - which might explain why it isn't directly referred to in the "old" Morse stories.

Ferney, in the face of such eloquence I collapse in humble abasement.

Happy New Year, though.

[slarty]

Oh, not very "similar", Pabs? Morse's prison experience haunted the better scenes in the episode - most notably when Thursday (by not asking him about it) got Morse to tell him (/us) about how he kept awake at nights, waiting for the sound of boots on metal to come and arrange his "suicide"; but also in Bright's changed relationship to Morse (acknowledging - as far as his stiff sense of the importance of his superior position would allow - that a great wrong had been done to him). Again, the understated acting skills of Lesser and Allam communicated this "non-text" with greater intensity, I thought, than an hour's dialogue could have contrived.

And, apart from the conversation with Thursday, that was all that is said about the imprisonment - so great an injustice that these repressed psyches cannot address it directly, or at great length - "Terrible business, you know ... erm ... yes ... well, move on" - which might explain why it isn't directly referred to in the "old" Morse stories.

Bravo Fernie.

[Nick Armstrong]

Morse's prison experience haunted the better scenes in the episode - most notably when Thursday (by not asking him about it) got Morse to tell him (/us) about how he kept awake at nights, waiting for the sound of boots on metal to come and arrange his "suicide"; but also in Bright's changed relationship to Morse (acknowledging - as far as his stiff sense of the importance of his superior position would allow - that a great wrong had been done to him). Again, the understated acting skills of Lesser and Allam communicated this "non-text" with greater intensity, I thought, than an hour's dialogue could have contrived.

And, apart from the conversation with Thursday, that was all that is said about the imprisonment - so great an injustice that these repressed psyches cannot address it directly, or at great length - "Terrible business, you know ... erm ... yes ... well, move on" - which might explain why it isn't directly referred to in the "old" Morse stories.

Oh yes, I totally agree. Lots happens to Morse over the series (shot, nearly burned alive etc etc) that isn't referenced constantly.

Why, the man couldn't even bear to hear his first name uttered for 60-odd years!!

And yes, I know it's only stories !

[eighthobstruction]

....I agree too....I forgot to watch (last week I think) the repeat of that last episode....I remembered Thursby got shot, but not that Morse was imprisoned/framed....

....yes it is Midsomer M but with gravitas....the acting is superb....the plot flaws/jumps/quirks naff....the atmosphere fantastic....a bit like Tom Service has written it sometimes (ooo I must get this clever reference in)....I didn't like Morse, I do like E ( just as I couldn't give 2 shakes for Montabano, but love Young M)....

....Sunday nights are safe for a while (4 weeks)....and there is no way I will be watching the Russian aristocracy doobing about in crinolin and gold braid....to me it's on the level of pizza with a filling in the crust.....

....anyway that's enough of the ultra banal from me for the moment....I'll get back to thinking which pie I'll have for lunch....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

....a bit like Tom Service has written it sometimes (ooo I must get this clever reference in)....

(or DON! )

I didn't like Morse, I do like E ( just as I couldn't give 2 shakes for Montabano, but love Young M)....

Yes - the weekends are now filled with the early careers of Montalbano and Morse! Who could be next? A Christie/Hargreaves collaboration - "Little Miss Marple"?

....I'll get back to thinking which pie I'll have for lunch....

Oh, stop it! The local pie shop is but a two-minute stroll from here!

[eighthobstruction]

....ref the naff twins plotline....Why? had the 'pretending to be scarred bother still go around festooned, when his twin was no longer part of the act....???

....Meat n'potato enjoyed to the sounds of Stockhausen....

[Nick Armstrong]

I couldn't give 2 shakes for Montalbano, but love Young M...

I completely agree!

Though I liked Morse as well.... That 'Magic Flute' episode with Ian McDiarmid was a bit of alright

....Sunday nights are safe for a while (4 weeks)....and there is no way I will be watching the Russian aristocracy doobing about in crinolin and gold braid.....

Don't forget vinteuil's 'tasty frocks'...

Sunday nights not quite safe: don't forget this little Cold War treat...

[eighthobstruction]

Don't forget vinteuil's 'tasty frocks'...

....are you implying that chez v someone is amiss....

[Richard Tarleton]

We got a bit more of Oxford in another convoluted plot....Ebben? Ne andró lontana on the gramophone while Morse was moving into his new flat - but which recording? The first complete recording was not until 1968 (Tebaldi) - I remember reading the review in Gramophone - last week we were still in 1967 (Puppet on a String). So perhaps it was from a recital....

I must get out more.

[Nick Armstrong]

I must get out more.

And deprive us of the entertainment, Richard? No - please stay in!

I thought the supermarket/commune episode was 1967/68-style pants, alas

[Anna]

I thought the supermarket/commune episode was 1967/68-style pants, alas

I don't watch Endeavour but a review said something along the lines of "if only they had put as much care into the plot as they had into carefully replicating the interior of a 1960s supermarket ...."

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't watch Endeavour but a review said something along the lines of "if only they had put as much care into the plot as they had into carefully replicating the interior of a 1960s supermarket ...."

Precisely!

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes the less said about this one the better. I only watch it in the hope of catching a glimpse of my younger self. OT - I don't think it's been deemed worthy of a thread of its own in the past but "Shetland" is back for a third series on Friday - sort of Scandi without the subtitles. And instead of a blonde female lead we have Douglas Henshall, a mesmerising actor. Worth a try if you haven't before.