For those who have enjoyed the series so far, season seven is airing on Sundays on PBS. All the main characters are back, including Thursday, Bright and Strange. Episode one left some questions hanging, even though the murders were solved; I’m assuming they will be resolved later.
I’m so glad you started this thread! I miss the discussion boards at IMDB.com.
I have loved all of Endeavour and I have watched each episode many, many times. I never watched the original Morse series when it was first shown, but I did watch it since I became an Endeavour fan. I don’t like who Morse is in that series (in this case the chicken came first, then the egg…). Now that Endeavour is getting closer chronologically to the first episode of TV Morse, I tried to watch TV Morse again, but couldn’t get past how rude and insulting he is to Lewis. Had to stop. I’ve also watched each episode of Lewis over and over again. Shaun Evans has said he has read the Morse books but has not watched any of TV Morse.
Having said all that, I’m seriously disappointed in season 7. Season 6 ended on such a strong note, nay, chord. With the Fab Five vanquishing the departmental corruption that has been hinted at since the Pilot once and for all. The OK Corral scene at the end was priceless! Bright restored as leader, Fred and Win speaking again, Fancy avenged. Morse buying a house. Boded well.
But Season 7! Now Morse and Thursday are at odds, Strange is morphing into the bureaucrat he eventually becomes, Bright’s wife is dying by inches-- yikes. It hurts to watch. The camaraderie and the team spirit have vanished. I don’t trust Ludo as far as I could throw a gondola. His wife is pretty, okay, but there’s NO chemistry between her and Morse. And the whistling killer-- let’s just catch the bastard and get it over with.
This plot, if you can call it that, is a far cry from Season 2’s brilliant stories Trove (the best of all the plots, IMHO), Nocturne, and Sway. Shaun Evans is doing a fine job as director; he just doesn’t have much to work with. Joanie missing from the whole season weakens it, but the actress was not available, so nothing to be done. We all know Morse ends up alone, but I wish he and Joan could at least have a fling or one good kiss, FFS!
Eager to hear your thoughts and anyone else who is watching…
Note that two episodes have already aired and tomorrow’s episode is the series finale.
Yeah, I DVR them and watch when I have two hours to spare. I thought the first episode seemed like it had subplots that went nowhere, but perhaps they will come full circle. The whole ESP and god business puts me off, though.
Yeah, I tried to watch the original and had the same problems. I like the younger character much better.
We didn’t care for it. Glaring plot holes and improbablities. The setup for the final showdown between Morse and Ludo was simply absurd. “Endeavor saved from certain death at the last possible moment by an offscreen gunshot (usually fired by Thursday)” has been overused terribly throughout the series. And the producers are finally morphing not so young anymore Endeavor into the profoundly unlikable Morse.
We loved the original Morse, so we recently bingewatched all of the original episodes. We were surprised by how poorly it seems to have aged, especially when compared to Lewis which was extraordinary.
We’ll watch Endeavor to the bitter end, as we really like the actors. We do enjoy seeing Anton Lesser finally getting some decent screentime and a chance to show how good an actor he is.
I’d like to hear more about this. I’m guessing you watched it during the first run? He’s just so obnoxious and full of himself. You even said he is “profoundly unlikable”-- explain, please. What was the appeal?
I loved Lewis, but I really loved Hathaway. I’m a sucker for intellectual guys who are stuck in existential crisis. 
Especially when Catholicism is involved.
They were planning to continue with a Hathaway-focused programme but changed their minds at some point.
And by the way, I was amused that during the Morse days, Morse was melancholy while Lewis was more cheerful. I think he even said to Morse a couple of times to cheer up. And then when Lewis was the lead detective, he was similarly sad. Of course this was after his wife died, so there was a reason for it.
To be perfectly honest, we were asking ourselves the same question during our binge re-watch. What did we ever enjoy about such an arrogant callous misanthrope? We were also surprised to notice that Lewis’s insights and observations were often more valuable than Morse’s.
Amen, Sister. We first noticed him (Laurence Fox) as the sympathetic Nazi soldier in Island At War.
As I’ve mentioned in older threads, in Lewis the chemistry between the three lead actors (Whately, Fox, Holman) was wonderful throughout the series’ run. Lewis is our favorite European/British crime series. Cracker running a close second place.
Inspector Lewis Fun Trivia Factoid: Rebecca Front (Superintendent Innocent) is the daughter of the man who designed the psychedlic font used on the cover of the Rubber Soul album. Discuss amongst yourselves.
In the same spirit, in the Endeavour programme, Dorothea Frazil, the editor of the Oxford Mail, who is constantly asking for story leads, is played by Abigail Thaw, daughter of John Thaw, who of course played Inspector Morse in the earlier programme.
There are even more Thaw connections in Ep 2 of Season 7. Go to IMDB.com to read about them.
Thanks. I did that but didn’t see any more connections to John Thaw. I did find a couple to Roger Allam. Mrs. Radowicz is played by Rebecca Saire, his real-life wife, and Gary Rogers by William Allam, their son.
And, by the way, I think if this were an American show, the older detectives would be downplaying Morse’s intelligence and insight, but in this show, they’ve always respected him. Really all of the main characters respect each other.
And, no spoilers please, but I wonder about Ludo, the Italian aristocrat who befriended Morse and whose wife Morse was surprised to learn was the same woman he had a brief affair with while on holiday in Venice. I almost suspect that Ludo knows of the affair and is just teasing Morse.
Sorry, it was Ep. 1 of Season 7, “Oracle.”
This episode features the first-ever conference of the Women’s Liberation Movement, a real-life event which took place at Ruskin College, Oxford. One of its organizers was Sally Alexander, a prominent feminist of the early '70s. Alexander was also the first wife of actor John Thaw, the original Inspector Morse, and the mother of actress Abigail Thaw, who appears regularly in the “Endeavour” series in the role of reporter Dorothea Frazil. Alexander is portrayed in a non-speaking role by Molly-Mae Whitmey, real life daughter of Abigail Thaw and the granddaughter of John Thaw and Sally Alexander.
You have to read that paragraph several times to sort everyone out…
Series finale? I thought I’d read that an eighth was planned.
That’s my assumption as well. Ludo is just a bit too cheerful. And of course the “meet cute” (the pickpocket at the event organized by Ludo, and then Endeavour chasing him) implies that Ludo plotted to get Endeavour to think of him in friendly terms.
Odd that nothing more was said about the lost wallet. You’d think there’d at least have been a throwaway line or two about the inconvenience, and/or attempt to identify the thief.
Sorry. I was using series in the UK sense, of a season.
Oh, that makes sense. (The show has been successful enough that it would be surprising if it ended here.)
This is an excellent thing! I’m an intermittent fan of Endeavour at best - a bit too many dead dollybird - murderous don episodes for my liking, but i have always liked the way it embeds itself so carefully in the time and settings, and also nods to an observant and sharp audience.
Um, I think I screwed up. We use PBS Passport (free service for members), which had episodes 2 and 3 available for viewing a week ago. When I first posted in this thread I’d completely forgotten that the episode hadn’t aired yet, and misread Thelma’s post as indicating she’d already seen Ep3 as well. So if I spoiled it for anyone I sincerely apologize!
Dear. God. Episode 3 was painful to watch.
I’ll come back tomorrow with more comments, but for now, I’ll describe this episode with one word: baroque.
As defined by Endeavour Morse in an earlier season, “overly ornamented.”
MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW!
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What a train wreck that whole season was, but especially episode 3.
The whole Ludo-Violetta thing was LUDIcrous! Spelling the names of the towns–are you fucking kidding me? That scene in the restaurant when Morse held out his hand to her-- I was embarrassed for him. We already knew he was a loser in the Female Zone, but come on! I can’t imagine a high school boy being any more clueless.
Seeing Thursday and Morse lay into each other broke my heart. Max told them off good and proper, but they deserved worse. (BTW, I love Max and would date him and have his babies-- if I weren’t too old–any day of the week.) I guess there has to be an estrangement between the two to explain why Thursday never turns up in the future, already-well-established Morse universe. But still-- it was like watching your parents fight!
And Mrs. Bright. 
Just go ahead and rip my heart out and stomp on it. Although I can’t be the only person who knew that when she said she was going up to the attic to get the Christmas lights, she was already toast. Watching Anton Lesser at first deny her death and then later lash out at Morse’s completely out-of-character insensitivity when he said it was murder… Lord, I was a total basket case by then. There has been such growth in Bright’s character over the series, and he acknowledged it, which was great.
Anyone have any idea what “experimental” treatment for lung cancer she might have undergone in the US in 1970?
Speaking of a character’s growth, Jim Strange has evolved steadily from his first meeting with Morse on the stairs, through his Masonic adventures and misadventures, learning from Morse every step of the way, ultimately gaining an understanding of departmental politics that lands him in the top job as Morse’s boss, while still calling Morse, “Matey.” As for growth–those sideburns have grown enough! No more. It has been wonderful to watch him grow.
So Sturgis was the Tow Path Killer all along? What about his four-person alibi? And when Strange went to The Bad House and Sturgis was making coffee, was it Sturgis who was whistling? Why would he do that in front of the cop? It was confusing–it sounded like there was someone else walking around upstairs. I read elsewhere this morning that Strange getting stabbed provide a backstory-explanation for why he decided that administrative work was safer than being out on the street.
How did Dorothea Frazil know about Mrs. Bright even before the police?
For me to grasp everything that happened, I’m going to have to watch the whole season all over again. But I might not be able to make myself do that, knowing how it all ends. Season 8 is going to be the last one, so by the end of it, Morse should be a full-fledged asshole, right?
I’m very interested in hearing others’ thoughts.
Let’s pile on and mention just three of the many plot holes: Ludo apparently had a crystal ball that enabled him to know exactly what, where, and when people (especially Morse, and the intended victims of the sabotaged ladders) would be doing very specific things in the future.
Starting with his knowing that in the opening episode, Morse would go to the opera and notice the back of Violetta’s head.
And why would he decide to snare Morse in a love thing with Violetta? He was already wealthy enough from his crimes to live off investments (according to the actress who played Violetta, in the Masterpiece featurette after the episode, Ludo was already a multi-millionaire).
Why risk everything simply to mess with Morse’s head? Besides which, at the time the trap was being set, Morse wasn’t even aware of the “peculiar circumstances” cluster of accidents. Dorothea planted that bug in his ear long after Ludo’s Rube Goldergian scheme was underway.
One parting quibble: after all their history together, why does Morse still refer to Joan as “Miss Thursday”? Christ, he sounds like Tiny Tim.