S02.E04: Neverland

[buttersister]

A missing boy, a dead journalist, and an absconder from an open prison plunge DC Endeavour Morse and DI Thursday into the unearthing of corruption in their midst and horrors from the past.

 

 

Oh, Endeavor! I know there was a big neon "I get shot" sign over Thursday's head, but I do hope he pulls through, albeit most likely retires. Hello, season 3, please get here asap.

Edited July 21, 2014 by buttersister

[Eliza422]

I know, I'm heartbroken....I really love Thursday, I really hope he pulls through.

Has season 3 started filming yet???????

[M. Darcy]

Colin Dexter looking adorable in the opening credits.

I just knew James Wilby would be the bad guy - going on the premise that the most famous guest star is always the killer.

It has to return for a new season - the most important thing hasn't happened yet - Morse buying The Car.

Oh and I hope we never see that dummy again. He freaked me out.

Edited July 21, 2014 by M. Darcy

[Endeavour]

Oh no. I can't believe they ended it that way. Not sure how I feel about the remorseful day quote being used.

Neon sign indeed. I was filled with more and more dread as the ep went on.

Oh and I hope we never see that dummy again. He freaked me out.

It's amazing how creepy that dummy was.

[Hybiscus]

Dammit!  Why do screenwriters think they have to end the season on a cliffhanger to keep us interested in a show?  If it's good, we'll return regardless!  And Endeavour is not just good, it's GREAT!
 

I just knew James Wilby would be the bad guy - going on the premise that the most famous guest star is always the killer.

Well, I didn't know who James Wilby is, but I definitely thought something was off about Deare.  I was spoiled for the episode so I knew about the ventriloquist and Jakes.  I do wish the Jakes breakdown would have been covered more, but the ventriloquist and his dummy were amazingly moving and fabulous.

 

I'm sure I have a lot more thoughts, and will collect them upon rewatch.

 

I'm going to miss this show so much!  WETA UK (in the Washington DC area) will be showing season 1 Endeavour episodes starting this week.  On Wed, I think.  At least it will give me a little sustenance until next season.  And they better not kill Thursday off!

Edited July 21, 2014 by goinggone

[magdalene]

This is how they ended it??

 

Arrrrrrgh! I hate cliffhangers.

[DHDancer]

Oh no. I can't believe they ended it that way. Not sure how I feel about the remorseful day quote being used.

 

This!   Having just watched Morse's last episode a few days ago, I loved, and CRIED at this tie in.  What a great episode....

[jjj]

You all said it all.  Nothing but dread from the time Endeavour entered that trailer park to the slow plucked "Morse" musical theme -- I thought the boy or the puppies would meet a very bad end.  That was a Shakespearian tragedy of bodies by the end. 

 

And that dummy!  I have always been freaked out by them, but this one is the worst for sure. 

 

Is Bright totally useless?  Just watching Endeavour get taken away without any reaction? 

 

I do not think they have started filming Season Three yet, so it will be a while.  The Inspector Lewis next season is filming and due out here sometime in 2015.  I don't know if the same crew does the work on both series. 

 

I think these links to reviews/recaps of this episode in some British newspapers back in April are useful -- and clearly expecting Season Three!

 

    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/endeavour-series-2-episode-4--tv-review-9270336.html

   http://www.all-allam.com/factfiles/endeavours02e04review.html

Edited July 21, 2014 by jjj

[Endeavour]

 

Is Bright totally useless?  Just watching Endeavour get taken away without any reaction?

 

I think Bright was in the building when they started taking Endeavour away and only saw the them at the very end putting him in the car. I couldn't figure out if Bright was stunned or possibly in on it.

[zxy556575]

I couldn't figure out if Bright was stunned or possibly in on it.

 

Hasn't he always disliked/resented Morse and wanted to take him down? I'm only going on this series since I haven't seen the others.

[sugarbaker design]

Well, I didn't know who James Wilby is,

 

 

Why he's Maurice of course!  :)  Boy do I feel old, I saw his name in the credits and was looking for a dashing blond.

[M. Darcy]

 

Boy do I feel old, I saw his name in the credits and was looking for a dashing blond.

 

Me too!  It took me forever to figure out which one he was.  I kept forgetting we weren't in the 80s/90s Merchant Ivoryland anymore.

[Milz]

I'm not too sure how I feel about the "remorseful day" poem quoted here, either. Maybe he should have quoted Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day speech instead?

 

I'm with everyone on the creepy dummy. But being a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan back in the day, a part of me hoped it was Sid the Demon Hunter.

 

So are they setting up a City v. County struggle when Thames Valley Police is finally formed?

[Florinaldo]

Bright seems to be conceived as one of those bureaucrats that in any organisation just go with the flow, the perfect conformist who gets to rise to a position of mid-power. He sees one of his officers getting arrested? No problem: he just gets back into the house and will wait to see how the wind will blow.

 

I missed the opening credits and it took me the longest time to identify the actor playing the double-crossing cop; the years have certainly transformed angelic Maurice.

 

I thought there were a bit too many convoluted twists and turns, plots on top of conspiracies, murder upon murder and a suicide as a final flourish, as if we were watching a Midsomer Murders on steroids. Fortunately the actors kept it interesting as usual, even those called upon to deliver some overwrought scenes (Morse's drunk colleague in the bar for example).

 

One major flaw I found is that there is no real jeopardy for Morse in the cliffhanger; we know he will get out of the false accusation since he gets to be a cop again or else the entire original series gets negated. Of course, the experience might be used by the writers to depict how it influenced the development of his character and perhaps contributed to his sometimes jaundiced view of the world, especially if the process of establishing his innocence is complicated because of the corruption and turf wars.

 

The only character in real danger at this point is Thursday, but I somehow doubt they would let him die; maybe he could  return in a reduced physical capacity and be rassigned to training duties, while Morse has to endure a new superior in the conflictual merger storyline.

[Milz]

 

One major flaw I found is that there is no real jeopardy for Morse in the cliffhanger; we know he will get out of the false accusation since he gets to be a cop again or else the entire original series gets negated.

 

I didn't quite understand what evidence, other than his scarf, was there to implicate him in that murder?

 

In addition to Thursday, there's Strange. He most likely alerted Bright because Jakes was too inebriated to do it. So is this when Strange begins moving up in the ranks?

[M. Darcy]

Strange can't be too bad a guy though because if I remember correctly, he and Morse got along pretty well later.   Of course, he pulled rank on Morse lots of time but it seemed that especially towards the end, their relationship was fine.  And I can't remember if it happened just in the book or in the episode, but in The Remorseful Day, some of Morse's strange behavior was trying to protect Strange from people (and Mrs. Strange) from finding out from his affair. 

[Corvino]

AARGH!!! Yes, we know Morse must be cleared, and there were those little signs at the end that justice would emerge almost immediately-- the remaining Lost Boys going to dig up Big Pete's body, and surely Jakes will start talking. But what a horrible place to leave us for a year or more!!

 

The question is, will they have to do a whole new episode to clear this up or will they just allude in the next episode to how it was cleared up? Since the evil people are dead, surely the latter; it won't take an hour and twenty minutes to bring out the truth, which we already know. The main thing, of course, is whether Thursday lives. That's what's going to bother me till next time. Morse's expression in the last shot-- that stunned outrage-- indicates that, yes, this is a contributing factor to his bitterness in later life.

 

When the older Morse quoted the last verse of that Housman poem in his last episode, I was not only moved by his state of mind but fascinated, and looked up the rest of the poem; it became one of my favourites immediately. But even then, I thought Morse was being too hard on himself. The poem is about a beautiful day coming up, full of potential to fix everything that's wrong, and then hopelessly realizing at the end of the day that you've failed to do so. Good as a warning for procrastinators, for instance. But Morse hadn't wasted his life! And when the young Morse quotes it here, it's in response to Thursday's insight that he's a copper to help the helpless, and should remain so. That's not about regret for wasted times either. Morse must have a different take on the poem than I do.

 

It's VERY satisfactory that Jakes has this terrible secret which, in TV storytelling terms, helps explain his nastiness. I started to like him for the first time.

[magdalene]

Bright looked more stunned to me than anything when they arrested Morse. He was very anti Morse in the first season but in the second season he seemed to have realized that Morse is a gifted police officer and has come across as more supportive of Morse. I could be naive of course and be wrong about Bright. But in light  of that we know Morse goes on in his career and somebody with some power will have to help get him out of jail - maybe that somebody could be Bright?

 

Ironically, as of this episode I now like Jakes better than Strange.

 

I really hate that things look so dire for Thursday and no confirmation of a third season.

[Brattinella]

Oh man, adding in my two cents re: cliffhangers ARGH!  We'll be back next season, we promise!  You don't have to do that! 

 

Also, Bright is just repugnant, repellant, revolting to me.  He always looks like he is smelling catshit when he talks to Morse. GRRR.

 

Thursday just better not die, I love him.  And, even in despair, Endeavour is just so damn cute!  (So shallow, I know)

[whatsatool]

Here are the sandwiches.  What is Wednesday?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3is5CjYNIZY

 

In case the you tube link it was Monday Chesse and Pickle. Tues Luncheon Meat Wed?  THursday Tomato Ham Friday Corned Beef No sandwiches on weekend.\

 

I tiried to Post you tube link for Endeavour sandwiches for every day of the week.

Edited July 21, 2014 by whatsatool

[beadgirl]

Gah!  Stupid cliffhanger.  Pointless, too, because it is just a matter of when, not if, regarding the charges against Morse.  As for Thursday, I have to believe (I really want to) that because it was so very obvious he would get shot all throughout the episode, he will in fact survive.

 

 

I'm with everyone on the creepy dummy. But being a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan back in the day, a part of me hoped it was Sid the Demon Hunter.

Me, I was thinking of the Ventriloquist from Batman, and specifically Batman the Animated Series.  But by the end, my heart was breaking for the guy.

[jjj]

I think Bright is very conflicted about Endeavour -- especially given that he clearly is taking full credit for that report that Morse wrote ("typed") for him.  I see him weighing whether that report will get him the position he hopes for in the new police district, or whether he might still need Endeavour to maintain that level of contribution.  Most of the exchanges about Endeavour are about keeping him in his place, so by now it is clear that Bright sees how excellent Endeavour is, but that also makes him nervous. 

 

I am really irritated that we got no resolution or even followup to those mysterious scenes about the stolen items featured at the end of the first two episode in this season.  I don't even mind the cliffhanger, but those little mystery scenes should have been made more clear at the end of series two.  It's not like we wait until September for resolution -- it is years away!!!

[Hybiscus]

Why he's Maurice of course!  :)  Boy do I feel old, I saw his name in the credits and was looking for a dashing blond.

Uh-oh.  I don't even know who Maurice is.  Should i be ashamed?  ;)

 

Bright looked more stunned to me than anything when they arrested Morse. He was very anti Morse in the first season but in the second season he seemed to have realized that Morse is a gifted police officer and has come across as more supportive of Morse.

 

Ironically, as of this episode I now like Jakes better than Strange.

 

I really hate that things look so dire for Thursday and no confirmation of a third season.

 

Ii too think that Bright was stunned.  I don't think he's part of the conspiracy, though.  When Deare called him "Reg" and walked away, he responded "Reginald."  He's definitely the bureaucrat and plays the politics to get ahead, but I don't think he's a mean man, per se.   Bright doesn't hate Morse, it's Morse is an annoyance to Bright.  Morse doesn't play by the rules Bright has been used to.

 

Yep, this episode was a watershed moment for Jakes.  I always had the impression that by the end of last season, Jakes had begun to accept Morse, and I think it played out that way this season.  But giving Jakes such an intriguing background deepens his character.  In a way, it was also a watershed moment for Strange, who is now becoming a part of the establishment.  (I've not seen many of the Inspector Morse shows, so i don't know what the Morse/Strange dynamic comes to be.  I have seen The Remorseful Day, and by that time, Strange was quite fond of Morse.)

 

I know it's not an official announcement or anything, but IMDB shows a third season is in store for Endeavour -- but not until 2016.  Arggh!

[sugarbaker design]

I know it's not an official announcement or anything, but IMDB shows a third season is in store for Endeavour -- but not until 2016.  Arggh!

 

 

I hope Thursday can hang on til then!

 

I don't even know who Maurice is.

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093512/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[whatsatool]

I think, truth be told, we would follow this young Endeavor anywhere - but especially with THursday.  ANd yes it is Great.

[fauntleroy]

I didn't realize this was the last ep of the season. The plots are so convoluted they run out of time to show, and instead have to rely on excessive exposition between Morse and Thursday towards the end, to lay them out. Hard to follow. Even so one of the best things on TV.

 

Wasn't surprised about Deare--whenever someone says "don't trust anyone" be sure to include them in the warning. Bright the opportunist as a character really looks authentic to that era. Maybe it's the glasses.

 

Ventriloquist dummies a reliable source of creepiness--I wonder if 50-odd years ago people didn't think they were creepy! Well-used here, as a way for a damaged soul to communicate.

 

Among the tragedies was the damage to the Mk 1 Jag, though I presume that was faked.

 

I think George Gently had a similar story about an old orphan's school.

[Milz]

RE: Bright

 

 I think he was in denial about the extent of corruption in the police force and the extent to which the County police corruption effected his City police.
 And I think Bright is one of those old schoolers (you'd find in any organization) who believe in a rigid hierarchy. Therefore believes if you are a junior, you need to be mindful of your place in that hierarchy and not step out of your place.

 

It's hard to say how many days later the final scene occurs. So we don't know how long Morse has been incarcerated.

 

Oh well, I don't think I can wait 2 years.....

[M. Darcy]

 

Uh-oh.  I don't even know who Maurice is.  Should i be ashamed?  ;)

 

Heh, I can just hear Morse saying "Lewis!" to that.  Though, maybe since EM Forster went to Cambridge not Oxford he wouldn't be that upset.  Seriously, its a great book and a great movie.  

[Florinaldo]

Ventriloquist dummies are a time-honored source of creepiness in UK film and literature, going back to the 1940's film Dead of Night and back even in silent films. And they still work as this episode shows.

 

I didn't quite understand what evidence, other than his scarf, was there to implicate him in that murder?

When the double-crossing cop was threatening Morse with a gun, he said he had informed their colleagues of the murder, pinning it on Morse. The word of such a high-ranking officer would carry enough weight for an arrest, until the fallout and explanations from the night's events get sorted out.

 

Bright tends to respect hierarchy, in the police and in society: the fact that his wife and the murdered councillor's wife sit on the same board seemed sufficient for him to conclude the child-abuse theory was absurd.

 

Speaking of which, there is another character whose fate is not quite rosy a the end of the episode; Tommy gets returned to his mother, which means he will still be  subject to beatings by his violent father.

[magdalene]

About IMDB saying two years til the next Endeavour - one thing to keep in mind is that IMDB is user generated and not all that reliable as official confirmation. It is troubling that there has been no official renewal at all. Why are they dragging their feet? I thought the show got good ratings in the UK.

 

Oh yes, that dummy was freaky as hell. Really to me dummies, clowns and mimes are a trifecta of evil.

[basiltherat]

Holy Jesus was this story depressing -- sort of like opera!

[maladroit]

For those following the Endeavour/Morse connections: Farnleigh Open Prison will be the setting of "Absolute Conviction," and Inspector McNutt will turn up in "Masonic Mysteries."  (Yes, using future tense to describe TV episodes from the early '90s!).

 

Still, for all these clever allusions to the original Morse series, this last episode seemed to take place in a different (and much darker) universe.  It's hard to believe this series of violent and traumatic events--including Endeavour's (we assume) brief incarceration--wouldn't still lurk in Thames Valley memory twenty years or so later. (Especially in the episode where a cunning mastermind tries to frame Morse for murder). From  "Neverland" on, I'm going to have to view "Endeavour" Oxford as a world distinct from "Morse" Oxford.  "Neverland" was interesting for giving us more of the seamy underbelly of poor and industrial Oxford (abandoned trailers, slums, etc.); at the same time, that choice gave the episode more the flavor of current British police series than the original "Morse."  Or so it seems to me. It's certainly a far cry from the cloud-cuckoo land of "Inspector Lewis."

[jjj]

You have to remember that at Endeavour's current level, he is exposed to more of the lower-class issues that higher-ranking officers see less of.  Certainly "Sway" could have been a plot from the later years, as could "Trove" have been -- all middle-to-upper-class Oxford, including colleges of Oxford. 

 

I always thought that the "Inspector Morse" episodes ended darkly -- not every one, but overall, there is a sense of despair and loss at the end of most of them.  I find that mimicked here very well.  To my eye, these are all the same world of loss and justice not always being served.  Usually by the end of an "Inspector Morse" episode, some family has been destroyed, its illusions of normalcy shattered.  There is a strong implication in Morse's world that the loss could happen to anyone if the unhappy Fate happened to land on them.  And indeed does to Lewis's happy family. 

[Jordan Baker]

I really like this show, but this episode was nearly impossible for me to watch. In fact, I had to turn it off at certain points. I just can't watch abuse of children. Or animals. And so I missed part of the episode, which leads me to some questions:

 

• I'm assuming that Little Pete (was that his name?) was beaten into revealing the name of the arsonist. Pretty much the minute we went to flashback, I had to turn off the telly. Anyway, why was he allowed to live? Did the evildoers just assume no one would believe him? Or was a beating so routine that no one would think it odd?
• What did happen to the dog and her puppies?

 

And, yes, I worried about the poor boy being returned to his mother. Didn't that also mean he'd be returned to the abusive father

[jjj]

Yes, Jordan Baker, I had the same fears once I saw a little boy and puppies.  We never did find out what happened to the puppies, but they were certainly in peril.  If they JUST had given us one follow-up sentence from Endeavour to say the "dog man" he contacted had rescued them -- but no follow-up.

 

"Little Pete" (Jakes, who had the breakdown in the pub) did indeed give the name of the arsonist(s), and he was "disappeared" for giving the answer they wanted.  One of the characters had said earlier that "Little Pete" was not around long, and no one knew what happened to him.  We are meant to assume they hustled him off to some new place after the beating. 

[debi49]

Why he's Maurice of course!  :)  Boy do I feel old, I saw his name in the credits and was looking for a dashing blond.

Me too!  Add to" Maurice" a very young Rupert Graves, and I feel older than God!

[fauntleroy]

I thought the guy Myers who put the ad in the paper was played by Andrew Scott the Irish actor who played Moriarty in the new Sherlock series. Had to look it up, it was a different Andrew--Andrew Gower. They do have a resemblance.

[Driad]

 

Since there isn't a music/sound thread:  At the end of the episode, just before the music starts, there is what sounds like Morse code, which would be appropriate.  Is it Morse code?  If it is, what does it say?

[TrininisaScorp]

Like many of you, that damn dummy was too much for me.  Good grief.  **Shudder**  The actor did quite well, but I almost couldn't look at him.  

 

What a terrible, tough case!  Conspiracy and child abuse.  Geez...

 

That was a painful way to end?!!  This isn't the time of cell phones and connectivity, so the nurse isn't going to know what's up until she goes to ask the police station.  I liked their moment of domesticity; "you happy?"  "yeah".  It was like the countdown until something bad happened directly after that.  

 

The morse code bit of the closing theme with the focus on the empty chair was affecting.  I love Poirot, but I just hated seeing that preview for Suchet next week.  It's going to be forever until we find out if Thursday is okay, how Morse gets out of it (b/c he has to based on the last 30 years of tv), if Jakes is okay, what Strange/Bright do to help the situation, etc.  Crazy stuff.    Based on what many of you are saying, we aren't getting new Endeavour until we get new Sherlock. Good God.  I'm going to be 90 by then.

[jjj]

It is well known in musical circles that the theme spells out the name "Morse" in Morse Code.  The composer Barrington Pheloung has also related that he sometimes spells out the name of the villain in Morse Code in some episodes -- so the dots and dashes can change from episode to episode.  I love the theme. 

[Endeavour]

This isn't the time of cell phones and connectivity, so the nurse isn't going to know what's up until she goes to ask the police station.

 

I liked the scenes where they showed the nurse and Thursday's family gathered anxiously waiting for them to come home or for news. It was a nice touch. I was afraid for a second that there was going to be a knock at the door at Thursday's house with someone delivering bad news.

 

I love the theme.

 

Yes. Especially the beginning.

[sugarbaker design]

Me too!  Add to" Maurice" a very young Rupert Graves, and I feel older than God!

 

 

But Mr Graves has aged much more gracefully than Mr Wilby.

 

Or Scudder is way hotter than Maurice!

Edited July 22, 2014 by sugarbaker design

[Milz]

 

 

Oh yes, that dummy was freaky as hell. Really to me dummies, clowns and mimes are a trifecta of evil.

 

Just hope they don't have all three of them in a future Endeavour or Lewis

[attica]

So Morse quotes Housman to impress Thursday, and later Hathaway quotes Housman to get laid! Housman: a useful poet!

 

I noticed the dummy was shot with a lot of Dutch angle close-ups: that always ratchets up the creep-factor.

 

James Wilby was also the baddie in the first Lewis ep.

[magdalene]

But Mr Graves has aged much more gracefully than Mr Wilby.

 

Or Scudder is way hotter than Maurice!

Judging by what I have seen of Rupert Graves lately, mostly SHERLOCK, etc. he looks better now than he did when he was very young. He's become a grey fox.

Edited July 22, 2014 by magdalene

[starri]

Like Buffy Summers, ventriloquist's dummies give me the wig, but in the long history of them haunting my nightmares, I don't think I've ever seen one used as effectively.  It was both a combination of unsettling and heartbreaking.

[Merneith]

The acting in this series is really top notch. Shaun Evans' brings an intensity to the role which makes it clear how Morse is both attractive and hard to live with. (I would have taken that pen from him and stabbed him with it.) Roger Allam is so decent and yet has such a light touch. As I said earlier - I would gladly watch a whole show about the Thursday family just going about their day.

 

The lighting and composition of those scenes was top notch, too.

 

There ought to be a law against cliffhangers.

[LilJen]

Haven't seen the whole episode yet, but again just cracking up over some editing--opening montage cuts from morse singing "a-men" to Thursday saying "ahhhh" for the doctor. Someone in the editing room is having way too much fun.

[peeayebee]

By intention, I think, the first few minutes of each episode is confusing -- You don't know who all the people are or what they're doing -- but then of course it clears up. With this ep, however, it took me such a long time to sort things out, and even then I was still confused. I just finished rewatching, and it was much clearer.

 

 

Although Bright can be aggravating, I love this character, probably because Anton Lesser is so good at playing him. As someone here said, he really seems of the period. I just find him so interesting to watch.

 

 

Here's a question: When Angela is telling Morse about the boys at Blenheim Vale, she mentions Henry Portmore, saying he got married to Hillary Spencer. But then she calls him Henry Spencer. What's up with that?

[Hybiscus]

Count me among those who didn't think Tommy's ending was happy.  Let's pretend his dad was arrested or his mother left him..

 

maladroilt:

For those following the Endeavour/Morse connections: Farnleigh Open Prison will be the setting of "Absolute Conviction," and Inspector McNutt will turn up in "Masonic Mysteries."  (Yes, using future tense to describe TV episodes from the early '90s!).

 

When I first watched  the pub scene where Thursday tells Morse he'll make sure he's ok, I was concentrating on Thrusday.  When I rewatched it, I took a wider view.  Shaun Evans' face is hysterical!  His brow is furrowed as Thursday talks of retirement.  He then takes a swig of beer and as Thursday muses McNutt might be a good mentor, and his eyes become huge.  It's probably one of funniest things I've seen young Morse do on the entire series.

 

peeayebee:

Here's a question: When Angela is telling Morse about the boys at Blenheim Vale, she mentions Henry Portmore, saying he got married to Hillary Spencer. But then she calls him Henry Spencer. What's up with that?

I'll have to watch again (oh curses!), but could she have been talking of Hillary's brother?  I don't remember his first name, tho' I realize it probably wasn't Henry.

 

I didn't know there'd been an Endeavour tv movie prior to the series.  it aired on WETA UK (in Washington DC area) last night.  It too was all kinds of depressing.  In checking Amazon, apparently the tv movie is included in the DVD/Blu-ray, along with those pesky scenes PBS deletes.  (And season 2 is available for purchase.)

 

The cable guide says that WETA UK is airing "Girl," the first episode of the series.later this afternoon and next week.  Hopefully it will help ease the Endeavour withdrawal I'm going through.