S03.E02: Arcadia

[radishcake]

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April 1967. As spring blooms, the death of artist Simon Hallward in a horrendous house‐fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze. When a young housewife dies, seemingly of the same mysterious ‘tummy bug’ that has seen half of Chief Superintendent Bright’s men go on Sick Leave, DC Endeavour Morse’s investigation leads him to an inner‐city supermarket, Richardson's, owned by a wealthy family of the same name, descended from a line of Quakers.

[ApathyMonger]

Hey, Dakota Blue-Richards. I've been wondering where she was, as two of the other Skins Gen 3 people are in an ABC Family Freeform show that's starting soon, and they announced that BBC series based on The Golden Compass.

 

Are there Jakes/Morse shippers? Because that ending definitely felt like he was saying goodbye to an ex.

[Popples]

I didn't really like this one. At first I thought Mrs. Maddox had something to do with the kidnapping when she was talking to her husband after Verity was found. When she says "business as usual, how can you stand it?" I thought she was upset how the Maddox part of the business was pushed out and she wasn't living as grand of a lifestyle as the Richardson family. She sounded a bit jealous when she says how Mr. Richardson makes money and his wife spends it.

 

Just as Jakes was beginning to grow on me, he's leaving. After finding out what he endured at Blenheim Vale, he deserves a peaceful life. Though the thought of Jakes riding the range out in Wyoming is slightly mind boggling.

 

Did those hippies give that baby back before they cleared out of the house? He was still at dinner when the girl that kidnapped him drank the poison.

[AnnaMayWong]

Yes, I wondered about the babe, also. But, then I figured that the police took care of the situation following their arrival...at the house.

* (It really bothered me how the actors were screaming over that baby while doing the scene when Ayesha(sp?) was holding him. The poor baby ducked his head and huddled against the actress' chest. Isn't that abusive workplace environment for a Cutie?? THAT was extremely disturbing to me.)

[AnnaMayWong]

Why does Bright dislike Morse so intensely. Jealousy?

Does he ever acknowledge Morse's detecting virtuosity?

[7-Zark-7]

On 1/9/2016 at 2:28 PM, ApathyMonger said:

Are there Jakes/Morse shippers? Because that ending definitely felt like he was saying goodbye to an ex.

It makes no sense. Jakes was barely a character in the show. That's the kind of ending I'd expect Morse and Strange to have.

[debi49]

That nurse was Endeavour's lover last season. There was barely a hint of recognition between them. Weird.

[jjj]

On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 7:43 PM, debi49 said:

That nurse was Endeavour's lover last season. There was barely a hint of recognition between them. Weird.

I agree -- I thought that was Monica, but then when she was treated like a piece of furniture, I thought perhaps it was another character.  That was odd indeed -- why bring her back and not even say her name?  And even Thursday knew her, as he said last week, so you would expect some flicker of human recognition from him. 

Gee, if someone I cared about was about to eat a poisoned sandwich, I might stop and call the pub rather than drive there!  Mrs. Richardson was quite a piece of work.  I was dying for Morse to parody "The Graduate" and say "Mrs. Richardson, I think you are trying to seduce me."  (I know, "The Graduate" did not exist yet in Endeavour-world, but it would arrive soon...) 

I did appreciate getting to know a bit about the mother of Morse.  Had we ever heard that he had a Quaker background? 

The idea of filling baby food with glass shards and thinking that no one would really get hurt is mind-boggling.  And no one else had fed it to a baby? 

Who hit Morse over the head and took the money?  The airy TAD?  She did not strike me as someone who would be able to manage playing recorded messages to pay telephones on a timeline.  Plus, also did not strike me as someone with the chemical engineering training to create a little home bomb without much effort.

What was that opening segment with the young men in tuxedos and them dumping the African man in the river?  Did their activity have anything to do with anything else in the plot. 

How long was Verity willing to sit in a dungeon before someone found her?  That seemed kind of random, that they even found her.  And so deep in the ground.  Again, Verity and TAD whipped up a remote-control (with a wire) workable bomb -- without blowing themselves up? 

Are there more scenes in the British version of this?  I feel like there were some links we did not see.

[Sonja]

1 hour ago, jjj said:

Who hit Morse over the head and took the money?  The airy TAD?  She did not strike me as someone who would be able to manage playing recorded messages to pay telephones on a timeline.  Plus, also did not strike me as someone with the chemical engineering training to create a little home bomb without much effort.

What was that opening segment with the young men in tuxedos and them dumping the African man in the river?  Did their activity have anything to do with anything else in the plot. 

How long was Verity willing to sit in a dungeon before someone found her?  That seemed kind of random, that they even found her.  And so deep in the ground.  Again, Verity and TAD whipped up a remote-control (with a wire) workable bomb -- without blowing themselves up? 

Are there more scenes in the British version of this?  I feel like there were some links we did not see.

You don't really need any chemical knowledge to build a bomb such as this. We could have done that around the age of 12, we actually learned that in school. Ah, the times when you learned stuff like that and no one thought of the possibility you'd use it to harm someone...

I think that was to introduce Cuthbert and at the same time make it clear that he didn't come to England and it was all rainbows and unicorn from then on to build sympathy for his activism later in the episode.

That really seemed random. The wire is again not unusual, there were still a lot of mines around back then, so getting that set-up would have been easy.

[attica]

I had to consult The Google to learn what 'bloater paste' is and why on earth it would be put in a sandwich. (It's fish paste made out of the kind of herring that is called 'bloater', which is both duh-obvious and utterly mysterious to me. The paste sure isn't sold in my mega-mart and my fishmonger doesn't sell the critters, so what do I know?)

I want somebody to comb Evans's hair more often. Preferably himself, but at least somebody on crew. His hair often looks sweaty and gross.

[M. Darcy]

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Had we ever heard that he had a Quaker background? 

We knew about it in the future -  I think we found out the same time we found out his first name.  But I'm not sure we knew in the past. 

Except for Murder on the Orient Express, has a kidnapped person ever not been part of the plot in a mystery?

Anton Lesser had a busy night last night - at the same time Endeaver was on, he was also on Game of Thrones.  (and I watched him also earlier in the day in the Hollow Crown: War of the Roses).

[fauntleroy]

Dubious about elaborateness of the explosives and kidnapping. So deep in a mine, blindfolded even though presumably pitch dark anyway, AND gagged, AND tied up, AND locked in the room - seems like overkill, for the off chance police would even find the location in the first place. What if they hadn't? 

Ransom plan relied on someone getting the drop on Morse, a trained policeman on top alert for exactly somebody sneaking up on him, alone at a bench in the middle of a field? Seems foolproof to me! And who did that again - Ninja Thelma?

Why were they ignoring Monica?

Initial scene of lads chasing and dunking Cuthbert, to save time can we just stipulate for the purposes of modern drama that any group of white men are racist/evil.

Baby stealing gratuitous wasn't it - nothing to do with the plot?

Still, an improvement over last week.

Edited June 27, 2016 by fauntleroy

[attica]

I admit I inadvertently giggled when Pram Mom realized her tot was missing. She kept calling "Ben!" as if he'd just crawl out from around the corner and say, 'oh, here I am, mum, just window shopping.' He's an infant! He will not respond to your yelling for him! (I know, I know, horrible moment, sense doesn't always rule.)

[zxy556575]

Well, that was kind of convoluted and unfocused, with too many characters and too many twists and dropped plots. I guess Arcadia was the name of the commune?

Morse had only recently begun to appreciate/humanize Jakes after Blenheim Vale so I thought it was believable that he was upset about Jakes leaving. I think Morse was also jealous that Jakes had found love and was able to quit the police, neither of which Morse has been able to do. I did wonder at the drawn-out scenes of him writing a gift note for the baby and Jakes opening it on the bus -- there seemed to be no point, really. Morse put more care into that unborn baby than the one who had been snatched.

We don't really know why Bright has resented Morse from the jump, but I guess because he saw Morse as an upstart/usurper, and Morse showed him up on a couple of early cases. He's become much less of a martinet now, not only with Morse and Thursday, but in his willingness to bend the rules.

Bloater paste is in my search history now, too. I still don't fully understand what a "bag man" is in regards to police work, or even why Thursday gets driven to work in the first place.

I would've liked Morse to be meaner to Mrs. Richardson. Don't go in her bedroom and unzip her, dude!

Constable Trewlove (oy) is adding a nice bit of sweetness to these grim proceedings. I like that Morse appreciates her work and not just her looks.

There were three possible references to The Graduate: the seduction attempt; people asking Mike Maddox what he's planning to do now after college; and the scene with Jakes and his bride at the back of the bus.

[jjj]

1 hour ago, lordonia said:

There were three possible references to The Graduate: the seduction attempt; people asking Mike Maddox what he's planning to do now after college; and the scene with Jakes and his bride at the back of the bus.

Wow, you are right!  I think the reason I though of Mrs. Robinson was the earlier scene about "what are you going to do now?" -- and I had said to the television: "Plastics!"   

[attica]

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I still don't fully understand what a "bag man" is in regards to police work

The guy who carries your bag/s. (see also Aide-de-camp, Body man, Right-hand-man, Man Friday) Obvs means something else now, but these were simpler times!

Edited June 27, 2016 by attica

[maladroit]

I'm glad I'm not alone in being amused by the references to "The Graduate"!  This episode certainly filled its quota of '60s-era allusions, with two (count 'em) to George Harrison himself. It also introduced Endeavour to Marion Brooke, who will figure prominently in the 1990 Morse episode "Masonic Mysteries."

[tootsie]

Yes to everything already said. Dude, that's Monica. You know her. At least act like you've seen her somewhere before. (Or did you get amnesia from that blow on the head?) And the baby THAT SHOWED UP OUT OF THE BLUE and was then passed around as if it belonged there until kidnapper drinks poison...People, you'll have to give the little fella back and you won't know where he goes if you don't ask the right questions before baby stealing hippie girl drinks poison. (Did she just hang around the grocery store waiting for a loose baby?)

Pretty sure I preferred last week's Gatsby to this week's Graduate. I watched episode 1 again and it really came together for me but I don't know about this one. Was Verity the cash stealing Morse-head-hitter? This episode strained my willing suspension of disbelief but I still love the show. I came of age in the late 60's. Peace, love, and communes indeed. And I did enjoy Bright getting all cozy and flirty and eventually incomprehensible with pretty but intelligent police constable woman. 

Edited June 27, 2016 by tootsie
Spelling

[jjj]

1 hour ago, maladroit said:

 It also introduced Endeavour to Marion Brooke, who will figure prominently in the 1990 Morse episode "Masonic Mysteries."

Who was Marion Brooke in this episode?  I will have to watch again, for many reasons! 

[maladroit]

58 minutes ago, jjj said:

Who was Marion Brooke in this episode?  I will have to watch again, for many reasons! 

She was the young woman who worked at the Oxfam-esque agency.  (Sorry, can't remember the Morse-code version of Oxfam).

[zxy556575]

It was also nice to see Miss Frazil again, and with a beau!

[Jordan Baker]

7 hours ago, lordonia said:

There were three possible references to The Graduate: the seduction attempt; people asking Mike Maddox what he's planning to do now after college; and the scene with Jakes and his bride at the back of the bus.

I didn't realize it until I read this post, but the screaming of the baby's name was a fourth:

7 hours ago, attica said:

I admit I inadvertently giggled when Pram Mom realized her tot was missing. She kept calling "Ben!" as if he'd just crawl out from around the corner and say, 'oh, here I am, mum, just window shopping.'

Katherine Ross at the altar.

[jjj]

40 minutes ago, Jordan Baker said:

I didn't realize it until I read this post, but the screaming of the baby's name was a fourth:

Katherine Ross at the altar.

Outstanding!  Someone(s) really had fun with this.  I don't know if the outdoor pool was another reference, but it startled me -- how often do we see a pool in a British home? 

Edited June 27, 2016 by jjj

[howiveaddict]

8 hours ago, lordonia said:

There were three possible references to The Graduate: the seduction attempt; people asking Mike Maddox what he's planning to do now after college; and the scene with Jakes and his bride at the back of the bus.

I was about to say the same thing.  I was waiting for someone to tell Mike Maddox "plastics"!  

[catrice2]

I believe in the previous episode Thursday says something to him about talking to her and he indicates he is staying away from everyone and he encourages Endeavor to tell her himself. 

That still did not explain why both of them acted as if she was just a stranger. I understand being professional and addressing her as "nurse," but there was absolutely no facial recognition by either of them towards her...it was an odd scene.  I am not saying they needed some big breakup scene like she was the love of his life, but this was strange. 

[M. Darcy]

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It was also nice to see Miss Frazil again, and with a beau!

Though, I thought that Morse was being a bit flirty with her and my reaction was dude, that's your daughter!  Even though not really but still.

[Sulador]

"Frazil: soft or amorphous ice formed by the accumulation of ice crystals in water that is too turbulent to freeze solid." Hence, Thaw. Miss Frazil played by John Thaw's daughter... Or am I reading too much into this?

What the hell happened to the baby? Was a scene cut where it was restored to its mum?

Bright seemed really creepy with everyone, just about borderline flirty, but especially so with Truelove (oh really, now we are in James Bond Nomenclature Land: can  we expect Pussy Galore or Holly Goodhead?).

A very disjointed episode. Though I did really covet House Beautiful.

[attica]

The captioning spelled it 'Trewlove.' In case that's relevant.

[treeofdreams]

I thought the Mrs. Robinson scene was beautifully played by Endeavor - he seemed tempted, not in the sense of "should I or shouldn't I" but rather "I would like to, but I will not".  The moment when he stood behind her and unzipped her dress was intense.

[MathBroccoli]

What did Morse give Jakes?  I could read the note saying it was for the baby, but I couldn't tell what the papers/certificates were?

I enjoyed the Graduate references, but didn't like the numerous red herrings, extraneous characters (looking at you Maddox Jr), and dropped storylines (the nurse who was his girlfriend last season & is completely ignored this season).

Is there a way to watch the full UK version?  The episode description mentions that half of the police force is out sick with a stomach bug, but this wasn't mentioned at all in the edited PBS version.

[Popples]

39 minutes ago, MathBroccoli said:

What did Morse give Jakes?  I could read the note saying it was for the baby, but I couldn't tell what the papers/certificates were?

Savings bonds.

[jjj]

12 hours ago, MathBroccoli said:

Is there a way to watch the full UK version?  The episode description mentions that half of the police force is out sick with a stomach bug, but this wasn't mentioned at all in the edited PBS version.

Aha!  I asked if scenes had been cut from the PBS version (like "Poldark"!) -- I got the sense a few times that a scene or something was missing.  Don't know if these are on "Acorn" (which tends to have older British shows).  I did purchase the full "Poldark" episodes for online viewing via Amazon, so perhaps the full "Endeavour" episodes can be purchased?  Worth checking...

[DHDancer]

You need to buy the DVDs to see the FULL program: Amazon etc almost always show the American cut versions (ie, as shown on PBS with the cuts).

Re Morse giving Jakes the savings bonds: he was acknowledging why Jakes was "suddenly" getting married (ie girlfriend in the pudding club) and was offering some support for the upcoming child...  I thought it showed a very caring response and in keeping with Morse's character (money vs emotion)

[jjj]

10 hours ago, DHDancer said:

You need to buy the DVDs to see the FULL program: Amazon etc almost always show the American cut versions (ie, as shown on PBS with the cuts).

Thanks -- I bought the Poldark episodes as online viewing via Amazon, and they were the uncut versions.  But I can wait for the DVDs of "Endeavour" -- Amazon is advertising the "UK version" available on DVD in later August.  I assume that means uncut, but I will make sure!  The online Amazon versions have a longer run time than the PBS show, but I want to compare that to the "UK version". 

[fauntleroy]

It's funny that they cut them for distribution to US, causing the feeling that some scenes are missing which indeed they are. But if they did tighter editing to begin with, it wouldn't be necessary. Especially in the first half of most episodes where they spend too much time dawdling looking at the scenery and such, leaving the endings too crammed with exposition. So they delete entire scenes because it's easier, instead of maybe shortening the scenic (!) ones.

[Popples]

2 minutes ago, fauntleroy said:

It's funny that they cut them for distribution to US, causing the feeling that some scenes are missing which indeed they are. But if they did tighter editing to begin with, it wouldn't be necessary. Especially in the first half of most episodes where they spend too much time dawdling looking at the scenery and such, leaving the endings too crammed with exposition. So they delete entire scenes because it's easier, instead of maybe shortening the scenic (!) ones.

I'm still livid about the absolute butcher job they did on "Sway".

[jjj]

1 hour ago, Popples said:

I'm still livid about the absolute butcher job they did on "Sway".

I did not know about that!  I guess I will hunt down the "UK version" of all the seasons/series. 

[peeayebee]

On June 27, 2016 at 5:21 PM, catrice2 said:

I understand being professional and addressing her as "nurse," but there was absolutely no facial recognition by either of them towards her...

I definitely noticed facial recognition betw them, but it was very subtle. However, I kept expecting more. Maybe the next ep...?