In the Dark

Although it was broadcast on ITV in the UK on March 12th this year, the very last episode (Exeunt) of the detective series Endeavour wasn’t broadcast on Irish TV until last night, Sunday 2nd April. This series was the prequel to the series Inspector Morse the last episode of which aired in 2000; the first of that series was broadcast in 1987. Endeavour, in case you don’t know is Inspector Morse’s first name, something he usually kept quiet about. The sequel series, Lewis ended in 2015 (after 9 series), so on Sunday the entire Morse franchise, originally based on the novels by Colin Dexter, drew to a close. I imagined it would be like saying goodbye to an old friend.

When Endeavour first started (in 2012) I was very skeptical that it would work. It was asking a lot of Shaun Evans to play the younger Inspector Morse (who was marvelously played in the original series by John Thaw). In any case I thought it might turn out to be a cheap attempt to cash in on the Morse theme. I was however pleasantly surprised at how good the early episodes were, and became a regular viewer.

I won’t go through the entire back story created for Morse in Endeavour but the Pilot was set in 1965 and introduced the character of Detective Inspector Fred Thursday who was the young Endeavour’s mentor when he joined the Oxfordshire Police as a Detective Constable. One of the mysteries created by this new character is why Morse never mentioned him in any of the 33 episodes of Inspector Morse. This conundrum was resolved, partly at least, in the final episode.

So what did I make of the final episode? I’m sorry to say that it was a bit of a mess and I was disappointed. The script seemed to be trying to resolve as many loose ends left by the previous programmes as possible, and the way this was done was at times highly implausible. For example, Morse is rescued from being double-crossed by a corrupt policeman Arthur Lott at Blenheim Vale by a gang of bikers intent on revenge for a drugs-related killing who beat Lott to death. But would they really have left another policeman and potential witness (Morse) go free, especially as Morse also happened to have on him a big bagful of cash?

There were some nice touches though, especially in the tie-ups with later Morse. At one point reference is made to Morse’s possible transfer to Cowley under DCI Macnutt (the real name of the great crossword setter Ximenes, precursor to Azed; Colin Dexter was a huge crossword fan). We know that’s what Morse must have done because Macnutt appears in an episode of Inspector Morse called Masonic Mysteries. Macnutt has retired from the police force and joined the clergy, but Morse consults him about old cases as he has worked with him in the past.

There’s also a brief mention of a character we don’t meet called Robert Lewis…

But the scene in Exeunt that has caused most comment is very near the end. Inspector Thursday (who has to leave Oxford in a hurry) has given his old army service revolver to Morse. We see Morse sitting in a churchyard, alone. He takes a single round and places it in the cylinder of the revolver, spins it like he is about to play Russian Roulette, and snaps the gun shut. The camera cuts to a long short of the church. We hear a gunshot, and birds flutter into the air. It seems Morse has pulled the trigger. But we know he can’t die because there are 33 episodes to come! Sure enough we see him a few minutes later, alive and well, going to choir practice. So what’s going on?

For what it’s worth, I think the interpretation of this can be found in another scene that happens a bit earlier. Morse, fresh from the escapade at Blenheim Vale arrives late at the marriage of Joan Thursday (the Inspector’s daughter) to Detective Sergeant Jim Strange. We know Morse has had the hots for Joan for all nine series, but has never done anything about it. When he arrives at the wedding reception he tells Joan that he loves her, that he’s loved her for years, but now it’s too late as she is married. She replies that it’s not too late and they kiss passionately in front of all the wedding guests…

…but no. The scene rewinds and this time Morse greets Joan by calling her Mrs Thursday. There’s no kissing, just a hug. Morse remains a bachelor until his dying day.

What the script has done at this point at the wedding is to give us a glimpse of an alternative history that reveals what’s going on in Morse’s mind. I think it prepares us for what comes later with the churchyard and the revolver. That is the same idea. Morse is depressed that he’ll never have Joan, and that all his colleagues are moving away or retiring. He thinks of suicide and the gunshot represents that thought. It’s another alternative history. The whole story could have ended there. But in reality, he doesn’t kill himself. Perhaps he pulls the trigger, but the chamber is empty. Or perhaps he just changes his mind.

I wish the final episode had been better, and it has to be said that some others of the 33 episodes weren’t great either, but there were some cracking episodes too and Endeavour has overall been very good indeed, especially the acting of Shaun Evans and Roger Allam (Thursday) and Anton Lesser (DCS Bright), whose voice is heard at the end reading from The Tempest:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

P.S. All 36 episodes of Endeavour were written by the same man, Russell Lewis.