'Endeavour' ITV 1

[Richard Tarleton]

letting some good acting and camera work do the job as far as possible.

I see Shaun Evans is directing the next episode.

[gradus]

Not having watched Endeavour before, but a fan of Morse, I was disappointed by what seemed to me a pretty feeble plot redeemed by good acting. Pleasant enough though.

[LMcD]

Not having watched Endeavour before, but a fan of Morse, I was disappointed by what seemed to me a pretty feeble plot redeemed by good acting. Pleasant enough though.

I think that's a very fair summary. We probably won't bother with the remaining 3 episodes, as even the normally wonderful Roger Allam seems to be on auto-pilot.
(I happened to notice that the actual running time of this episode was a fraction over 90 minutes, i.e. 25% of the plot was occupied by advertisements or other promotional material. In the old days, you got up to 104 minutes of actual programme in a 2-hour slot).

[Serial_Apologist]

I think that's a very fair summary. We probably won't bother with the remaining 3 episodes, as even the normally wonderful Roger Allam seems to be on auto-pilot.
(I happened to notice that the actual running time of this episode was a fraction over 90 minutes, i.e. 25% of the plot was occupied by advertisements or other promotional material. In the old days, you got up to 104 minutes of actual programme in a 2-hour slot).

ITV1 is like that these days - I can hardly watch any drama programmes on it for that very reason.

[Nick Armstrong]

ITV1 is like that these days - I can hardly watch any drama programmes on it for that very reason.

Only ever watch them when recorded... and have become very adept on the ‘fast forward’ button to leapfrog the bloody ads as seamlessly as possible....

[Beresford]

Only ever watch them when recorded... and have become very adept on the ‘fast forward’ button to leapfrog the bloody ads as seamlessly as possible....

Mischievously misquoting Vinteuil:
Remember Kant's categorical imperative. You wish to benefit from Endeavour. If you wish Endeavour to continue to exist you might like to ponder whether you should contribute to its continuing existence, by paying attention during the ads.

[eighthobstruction]

Kant's categorical imperative.[/I]

....It was OK , but I thought it had run out of legs by Series 3.....

[Pabmusic]

....It was OK , but I thought it had run out of legs by Series 3.....

Quite so - though I enjoy them still.
But I see a more profound problem that's common among "Young So-and-So" series, though more marked with Morse.

The original series (and the highly successful books) contained many glimpses of Morse's younger days, but Endeavour ignores those. This is especially incongruous when the adult series included whole episodes about earlier people who were important to Morse, but whom we never see in Endeavour.

A good example is in Masonic Mysteries, in which we meet Inspector Macnutt (Iain Cuthbertson), who was Morse's mentor, and was clearly his guiding light as a young copper. Macnutt ends up murdered and stuffed in an airing cupboard.

But will Endeavour cover Macnutt? Of course not, since Thursday seems to occupy the place in history that we thought Macnutt did.

And Young Morse has already (for instance) been remanded in custody in a frame-up! Didn't that ever merit mention in the later series? Of course not - because it's been invented for the earlier one.

It sems to me there's been no attempt to anticipate such anomalies.

[Nick Armstrong]

It seems to me there's been no attempt to anticipate such anomalies

I agree - opportunities lost, since the information is there in the Morse 'canon'. Surprised Colin Dexter didn't make it a 'condition' for using his characters, to be honest.

Mischievously misquoting Vinteuil:
Remember Kant's categorical imperative. You wish to benefit from Endeavour. If you wish Endeavour to continue to exist you might like to ponder whether you should contribute to its continuing existence, by paying attention during the ads.

Duly pondered I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference if I choose to watch the ads or not!

[Beresford]

Duly pondered I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference if I choose to watch the ads or not! [/QUOTE]

Neither do I. It was a joke. We don't have to watch the ads, and we don't have to remember Kant's "categorical imperative", whatever that means.

[johncorrigan]

Very much enjoyed the homage that started this evening's episode.

[Nick Armstrong]

Very much enjoyed the homage that started this evening's episode.

My recording started a fraction after the absolute beginning - what was the homage?

[johncorrigan]

'Blue Velvet', Cal. I thought it was well done!

[subcontrabass]

Very much enjoyed the homage that started this evening's episode.

The episode as a whole seemed to me to be using a spare script rejected by Midsomer Murders.

[eighthobstruction]

....well I was surprised (I waited all week) that nobody commented on last weeks eps 2....I was ready to condemn it before the first ad break....and the fact that I missed 20 minutes towards the end didn't seem to make any difference to my understanding, in fact made me enjoy it more for it being less....does anybody know if any of the production and writing staff had anything to do with 'The Bill' in the 90's [that was about the level of the plot]....acting as usual fab....