magdalene

I thought this return suffered especially in comparison to to the mystery series that PBS aired in the same time slot the previous weeks. There were quite a few moments when I was watching Sidney tediously boozing and smoking his cancer sticks when I thought, damn, I wish Endeavour was on instead. Sigh. I used to find Grantchester very compelling during the first season.

I have a hard time believing in the insta-love Sidney has for Violet. That's not on her. In the short time we got to know her on the show the writing managed to convey that she is a fine woman of strong character. It's that I have come to strongly feel that nothing and nobody can help and cure the dissatisfaction and unhappiness inside him. I don't think Amanda would have managed to do so in the long term either. Going to America with a new love and taking on a new cause won't fix what's wrong with Sidney. You can't run away from yourself and your demons. I know they had to write out Sidney somehow and this was probably better than some other ways they could have done it.

http://dmbarcroft.com/the-endeavour-interviews-2019-simon-harrison/ This site has some lovely interviews with the Endeavour cast - here's one with Ronnie Box himself, there is also one with Anton Lesser, etc.

Well, Ronnie Box wasn't the villain I thought him to be and he actually saved the day there at the end. Fifty-fifty doesn't sound good but I hope he makes it. This show is so smart. That Bright's life was saved by the career low Pelican thing with the school girls swarming around him in a protective cocoon was a fantastic moment. I almost cried when they all came to save Morse at the quarry. What a payoff to a sometimes very frustrating season. I am glad that DeBryn is okay and Thursdays marriage is on the mend. But poor Bright is now back in charge and a widower.

While this show has never been what I would call "cheery" this season sure is a barrel of laughs all around. Between poor Bright and his dying wife and Thursday's marriage disaster and one depressing case showing the worst of humanity after another - can something go right for once? I know enough about the old Morse show with him always picking the wrong women and being forever unlucky in the romance department that as soon as he started flirting with the vet's daughter he would come to regret going out with her. And so he did. I refuse to believe Thursday is on the take - he is playing along to get the bad apples.

I am so pissed at PBS for cutting all these scenes out. I won't support PBS financially when they beg for money during their pledge drives because of this.

This show has always been as much a character study as a murder case of the week. You are missing a lot of subtext and character development by not having watched the earlier seasons. Morse is a brilliant detective and when the Pelican man Bright was in charge and Thursday was Morse's partner his brilliance was valued and appreciated. I am hoping that Morse and company will defeat the corrupt elements in the police force because it is so frustrating having to watch decent men being forced to work for scum.

The casting on this show is so good. One example: Ronnie Box. His actor succeeds brilliantly in making me grind my teeth and loathing his character. So I am confused - was the guy who was hanged back then and who maintained he was innocent til the end guilty after all? I think Thursday went along with Box to trap him. Poor Bright, humiliated in that Pelican PSA.

Thanks to this forum I will be watching tomorrow night and am happy to know it's been renewed for another season. I didn't expect the show back this soon thanks guys!

I didn't know Lena Headey has that many tattoos. NCW looks like a dishy university professor in real life. The Night King actor comes across as awesome and his fighting and stunt skills are amazing.

I have had several days to chew over the finale and am amending my mostly negative initial reaction to mostly positive with reservations. 1) A lot of my problems with the pacing, and the feeling of rushed-ness, and the character contortions to get to the end quick, quick, quick could have been solved by having the final two seasons be the usual 10 episodes. Since Benioff and Weiss weren't willing to do it HBO should have hired somebody to do this. HBO is a quality pay cable channel - they could have gotten someone competent. Creative folks bend over backwards to work for HBO. They would have probably also avoided little embarrassing snafus like water bottles left behind in shots, etc. 2)Danys Hitleresque heel turn was set up since the first season - but you had to be willing to overlook all of those audience pleasing "hero" season ending set pieces. Or don't see her mainly as a feminist icon. Conquerors can become a positive force for the countries they conquer. Alexander the Great spread the best of his culture while conquering all those countries. When William the Conqueror and his Normans took over England it wasn't pretty and the aftermath was brutal. Yet William and the Norman Conquest are mostly seen as positive in English and European history. When somebody is saying nowadays, "My ancestor came over with the Conqueror", they are proud of that ancestor. William had the choice of destroying everything he had just conquered and won and he chose to build instead and make crucial alliances instead of committing genocide. Of course I realize Dany was created and written to be a tragic villain. A fictional character doesn't have free will only what the creator gives them as fate. 3)Jon's ending is a happy ending of sorts. He never wanted to be king and he gets to be with people he is comfortable with, knowing his family the Starks are in a good place. 4)Bronn doesn't deserve his fate and I still hope he gets the clap in one of the brothels he is so fond of. However, his lordly ascent is probably pretty realistic. They won't admit so but more aristocratic houses may have started with a Bronn instead some noble hero being rewarded with a title and riches. 5)A story that ends with the likes of Brienne and Davos alive and in positions of power has to be considered positive and a triumph of decency and goodness.

It meant something. It's the reason he is still alive and not fried to a crisp by Drogon. Drogon knew that Jon was a Targ. I don't see anybody else who might have killed Dany and survived facing the dragon.

To me Sansa's coronation came across very much as she has become the Virgin Queen -destined to a life of power and loneliness. Like Good Queen Bess who could never marry because a husband would have taken her power. Dany's final grandiose speech was very much Triumph Of The Will. And Hitler would have loved her look.

I am so tickled that Drogon knew that the Iron Throne was the Precious, the Ring to rule them all - and melted that fucker down.

I said as much in the live thread.