Endeavour

Loved it. We did a guided Morse tour of Oxford last year, well worth it.

I think Endeavour has to be the best because of the way it is a foretaste of the future Morse, and, with hindsight, explains a few mysteries about him. The script is skilfully crafted, with many references, too many to take in, I guess, to future events we know about from Morse.
I have discovered that Miss Frazil is a clever choice, as Frazil is a form of ice. Her first name is Dorothea, so D-Ice= Thaw.
( The actress is John Thaw’s daughter).

silverlining48

We were confused towards the end when Morse was sitting on the bench with Thursday’s gun, and it went BANG, but a second later he was singing in the choir.
We knew he would live but wondered what that was about.
It was good tv and the follow up programme was well worth watching.

Yes, we were rather confused too.

Perhaps there was just one bullet and he wanted to be rid of it as a symbol of the type of policing he wanted left in the past?

Iyswim! 😁

Charleygirl5

I did enjoy this evening's episode but not a tear here.

No tears here either but it was very satisfying.

When he and Joan shared that kiss, (which we know was in his imagination), I just somehow hoped he would do a Dustin Hoffman from the Graduate, and they would race off from the wedding, hand in hand, her veil flying behind her, and ride off into the sunset in the red jaguar.

I know it wasn’t going to happen, but a part of me wanted it to.

I Ioved Morse , Lewis and Endeavour and I'll really miss the anticipation of a new series .

Esmay

I Ioved Morse , Lewis and Endeavour and I'll really miss the anticipation of a new series .

I enjoy watching repeats of certain programmes- Endeavour. Vera and Granchester being among them.

I’ve just watched the last episode again, on catch-up, to clear up a few questions I still had!
Also sometimes on first watching you miss things- for instance I didn’t realise that they mentioned Lewis last night- he was the copper being discussed who was on his way down from the North East being a relative of the young boy ( Alan Lewis?) who was killed at the boys home when he witnessed some of crimes that had been committed.
Think I might have to watch Morse from the beginning now…

mamaa oh my I missed that too!

Right, I'm going to record for a watch again to look for all the little bits I missed. Like there being a bust or portrait in EVERY episode of the original book writer of the Morse series.

I used to try and spot Colin Dexter in the Morse episodes, a touch of the Alfred Hitchcock cameos.

He came and gave a talk at our library many years ago (CD, not Morse or Hitchcock!) just after the series started.

Not many attended, so glad I did.

Calendargirl

When he and Joan shared that kiss, (which we know was in his imagination), I just somehow hoped he would do a Dustin Hoffman from the Graduate, and they would race off from the wedding, hand in hand, her veil flying behind her, and ride off into the sunset in the red jaguar.

I know it wasn’t going to happen, but a part of me wanted it to.

Exactly!!! Me too!

I too was confused by the last two scenes - the one in the churchyard with the gun and Endeavour singing in the choir. On reflection, I assumed that the churchyard scene was symbolic of the end of Endeavour's previous hopes and dreams and the start of a committed but solitary life for Morse.

It was rather a poignant drama in that the young Morse was a very intelligent and loyal person who somehow lacked the confidence to express his feelings in intimate relationships.

I really enjoyed the original Inspector Morse series and Endeavour (though some of the plots in the latter few series seemed too far-fetched to me). I did not enjoy Lewis and gave up watching. I didn't think Kevin Whatley had the magnetic quality that Morse had and I found Laurence Fox's portrayal as DI Hathaway to be wooden and unconvincing.

Shaun Evans was brilliant as Endeavour, and Roger Allam strangely attractive as Fred Thursday. I shall miss them.

I found the finale rather disappointing. I'm certainly prepared to "suspend disbelief" where it's appropriate. but IMHO too much of the plot seemed contrived, and the rushed attempt to tie up so many loose ends in this final episode left me both unconvinced, and determined to dig out my box set of "Morse" to remind myself how much better that series was. Sorry, but this was not for me. Am I spoilt by the brilliance of the Colin Dexter plots? Possibly. :-)

I'm definitely going to re watch it, I agree you miss bits. I missed the Lewis reference too.
In the program after, it also told us little snippets like pictures/head bust of Colin Dexter also appear in the back ground of some shots. Nice touch also Morse old Red Jag was the one used by John Thaw in the Sweeney it was falling apart.

Todays Times gave it 5 stars and a hint it might not be the last we see if the Colin Dexter 's Oxford Police.
Agree 5 star's.

In the documentary that followed, I was interested to notice that the actors' natural accents appeared. In particular Shaun Evans spoke differently when he hadn't needed to assume any specific accent for the part of Endeavour.

Morse was an enigmatic character. I think he played Russian roulette in the churchyard, and then accepted his fate.

Yes, Delila, I wondered that because he spun the barrel.

Yes, having inserted a single bullet. He had a reckless side to him.

Still waters run deep.

Delila

Morse was an enigmatic character. I think he played Russian roulette in the churchyard, and then accepted his fate.

Oh, yes, could be. Thank you.

I really should watch more carefully and not try to multitask.

Delila

Morse was an enigmatic character. I think he played Russian roulette in the churchyard, and then accepted his fate.

Very possible.
Hadn't occurred.
He let it decide, and in doing so had to let go of Joan.

I need to watch it again to spot the subtle points that I missed. It seems it was rather like one of Morse’s crossword puzzles - obvious when you knew the answer. One thing I don’t think was explained was the marriage of Jim Strange and Joannie. I fully expected a car accident when she took the wheel after they got married, I thought she would die, which would account for the reason why she was never mentioned by Morse and Jim in later years. Maybe one if the grans, more eagle eyed than I, know the reason why this was not explained.

eazybee

What a perfect ending; Faure's Requiem at Blenheim Palace; Morse in his red jaguar and Anton Lesser reciting The Tempest.

Same Faure as in the first episode of the programme .

Perfect symmetry…

Did anyone watch the documentary they made after the series finished? “Morse and the Last Endeavour”? It was really good. Interesting to hear the actors talking in their native accents and I love the clip where Fred says to Morse “One of these days I’ll send you out on a routine enquiry and it’ll turn out to be just that. You’d find something suspicious in a saint’s sock drawer!” Roger Allam had all the best lines I think.