TV: Endeavour
Apr. 4th, 2012 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
narcasseHaving complained recently of a lack of decent detective stories/adaptations around, and having been pointed in the direction of Dorothy L. Sayers reading-wise, I was thrilled to discover that a one-shot prequel to the Inspector Morse series had been produced. I’ve always found the original series to be one of the more eloquently written series out there and one which, if I fail to pay attention, can leave me completely flummoxed even at the very end if I haven’t paid reasonable attention to gathering up all the details. In a sense, the series is the TV equivalent of Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon Ra which I played back in 92, where the player had to pay attention to the details and be able to logically link them up to actually solve the mystery, because you weren’t awarded a win unless you could make all the details make sense.
I initially started watching Inspector Morse in 1990 and recall catching the last episode of series 4 when, now that I work it out, I must have been about 10 years old. And, unlike the Granada Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was, like the original canon, about the flow of the story rather than the mystery, it demanded my full attention if I wanted to know what was going on. Thus, I have very fond memories of the series and, not too long ago, began a re-watch, so as to fill in all of the character background that I’d previously missed. It’s the sort of situation that would have left me hating the prequel if it had, in any way, fallen short of the mark but, being this particular series, it didn’t. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an extension, prequel or sequel, of any series that I’ve so adored and found myself grinning delightedly the entire way through. Sequels or prequels usually do have a few nice moments, call backs to the original or interesting twists on a running theme, but rarely, if ever, do they expand on everything that the viewer knows so reasonably, logically or illustratively.
I’m not sure how I would have approached Endeavour if I wasn’t already a fan but as far as I could see the story holds together rather well. Overall, it’s all very low key, topical and carefully interconnected. Perhaps though, this one-off episode is best enjoyed by already recognising plenty of the personal details of Morse’s character. His personality quirks, friendships, Oxford background and even body language is fascinating to see played out by a younger, far more unsure, version. Shaun Evans made for a perfect, younger, Morse with Roger Allam, who I hadn’t expected, as Inspector Thursday, his mentor figure. In fact, the whole cast was full of the usual good talent, including actors who had already been in previous episodes of the original series. I wasn’t expecting the feel any particular sympathy for the character of Morse or to find myself describing him as adorably naïve when it came to his interaction with the former soprano he’d idolised, but there it is.
The whole thing was wonderfully done. It’s the sort of careful expansion of the established canon that works beautifully because it solidifies certain aspects of the central character, illustrates various branching points in terms of his connections and attributes, and still allows all the other characters their own agency. The supporting cast aren’t just there to make Morse shine, they all have definitive reasons for doing what they’re doing and those are perfectly logical reasons that don’t need to either be over-elaborated, in an effort to make them stick, or painted in strokes broad enough to make their caricatures. It all just makes logical sense, with a relaxed and sensible ease to it that the current trend of overtly dramatic, plot-hole riddled, crime dramas sacrifice in the endeavour to ramp up the tension.
Overall, I’m absolutely thrilled with this. I simply can’t fault it, in fact, just about the only thing I can possibly think caused any kind of cognitive dissonance, was having a fair-haired Morse. That came as a surprise, though, having looked back at some images, he seems to have fair eyebrows in the original series anyway. ITV have already commissioned 4 more episodes and, seeing as this is a series that has always been consistently well-written, I can only expect good things to come.
I initially started watching Inspector Morse in 1990 and recall catching the last episode of series 4 when, now that I work it out, I must have been about 10 years old. And, unlike the Granada Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was, like the original canon, about the flow of the story rather than the mystery, it demanded my full attention if I wanted to know what was going on. Thus, I have very fond memories of the series and, not too long ago, began a re-watch, so as to fill in all of the character background that I’d previously missed. It’s the sort of situation that would have left me hating the prequel if it had, in any way, fallen short of the mark but, being this particular series, it didn’t. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever sat through an extension, prequel or sequel, of any series that I’ve so adored and found myself grinning delightedly the entire way through. Sequels or prequels usually do have a few nice moments, call backs to the original or interesting twists on a running theme, but rarely, if ever, do they expand on everything that the viewer knows so reasonably, logically or illustratively.
I’m not sure how I would have approached Endeavour if I wasn’t already a fan but as far as I could see the story holds together rather well. Overall, it’s all very low key, topical and carefully interconnected. Perhaps though, this one-off episode is best enjoyed by already recognising plenty of the personal details of Morse’s character. His personality quirks, friendships, Oxford background and even body language is fascinating to see played out by a younger, far more unsure, version. Shaun Evans made for a perfect, younger, Morse with Roger Allam, who I hadn’t expected, as Inspector Thursday, his mentor figure. In fact, the whole cast was full of the usual good talent, including actors who had already been in previous episodes of the original series. I wasn’t expecting the feel any particular sympathy for the character of Morse or to find myself describing him as adorably naïve when it came to his interaction with the former soprano he’d idolised, but there it is.
The whole thing was wonderfully done. It’s the sort of careful expansion of the established canon that works beautifully because it solidifies certain aspects of the central character, illustrates various branching points in terms of his connections and attributes, and still allows all the other characters their own agency. The supporting cast aren’t just there to make Morse shine, they all have definitive reasons for doing what they’re doing and those are perfectly logical reasons that don’t need to either be over-elaborated, in an effort to make them stick, or painted in strokes broad enough to make their caricatures. It all just makes logical sense, with a relaxed and sensible ease to it that the current trend of overtly dramatic, plot-hole riddled, crime dramas sacrifice in the endeavour to ramp up the tension.
Overall, I’m absolutely thrilled with this. I simply can’t fault it, in fact, just about the only thing I can possibly think caused any kind of cognitive dissonance, was having a fair-haired Morse. That came as a surprise, though, having looked back at some images, he seems to have fair eyebrows in the original series anyway. ITV have already commissioned 4 more episodes and, seeing as this is a series that has always been consistently well-written, I can only expect good things to come.
