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S09:E3 What Lies Tangled

SusanSunflower

By SusanSunflower
in Inspector Lewis [V]

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SusanSunflower

SusanSunflower

""A summer’s day in Oxford is screwed apart, when a parcel bomb explodes. The team are called in to investigate, but the victim is a womanizer, having been known to have had numerous affairs with younger women. With his six-month trip to New Zealand with Hobson on the horizon, Lewis is in a race against time to save his career and relationship."" - Wiki

and the Lewis' are off to glorious New Zealand for a trip-of-a-lifetime ... leaving me, to be honest, bewildered ...  but delighted as always to see David Warner, one of my first crushes ... and delighted he wasn't the villain and was allowed to have his own happy ending.  

Spoiler

I managed to guess the villain almost immediately ... and I never ever do that ... and when I do I'm usually wrong ... he was the only one with the chuzpah and self-confidence to have pulled it off  ... what'ev

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SusanSunflower

SusanSunflower

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I could find no tagging of this episode as series or even season finale ... certainly appears to be both. Mundane ending to a strangely unambitious but long-lived series, oddly open ended as-if all relationships (and the show) would pick up where they left off in 6 months time (or not). 

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maladroit

maladroit

I agree that (while this was a verrrrrry slight improvement on the last two episodes) it was a disappointingly flat series finale.  I will only add: good choice, Lewis, of the dodo babywear.  These shirts and other goodies can indeed be purchased from the OUP shop, where, some years ago, I scored my Oxford dodo tea mug.

http://www.oushop.com/Clothing/Childrenswear/Babywear

Hope this doesn't come off as an advertisement  for the Museum shop, but I suspect that if any group of people might covet the dodo tea towels, this select set of commentators counts.

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abbyzenn

abbyzenn

I am sad to see the series end.  I haven't always liked every episode but overall I have enjoyed the series.  I did think this episode left things open ended in case they ever want to resume the series.

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pcta

pcta

2 hours ago, Diane M said:

Did Hobson retire?  Seems unlikely they would hold her job for six months.

No.  Lewis said to her when she was looking around the morgue one last time - it will be here when you get back

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starchild215

starchild215

I will miss this show. I am a fan of the Morse/Lewis/Endeavour shows and the way it was left open I thought that in a year or two we'd have Inspector Hathaway and Maddox continuing as children of Morse. Maddox personal life seems to be a hot mess. James is trying to work on connecting with other people but I see him more as a modern day Morse than Lewis ever was.  I think in the end Hathaway was more secure in himself and ready to step out of Lewis shadow.  I guess Laurence Fox has to settle things before a decision is made.

There is Endeavour to look forward to next year. Meanwhile I'm rewatching "Inspector Morse" and the early Inspector Lewis seasons. 

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officetemp

officetemp

(edited)

I was so afraid that someone--Lewis or Hathaway or both--was going to be killed off because of a mail bomb.  When Maddox was running through the station after the second explosion, I kept thinking, "Well, this is it."  Glad I was wrong, especially after Lewis had said that they were going to have to carry him out of the station in order to get him to leave.  (I have no doubt that if this had been a US series, someone would have been killed off.)

I really liked it when Hathaway forced Lewis to reconsider his choices re:  staying because he was afraid of losing his resurrected career vs possibly losing Hobson forever just because he didn't want to put his consulting detective position aside.  Happy that he chose in the way that he did and thought that it was pretty decent of the new chief to tell him that they'd be happy to have him back.  That flowered shirt was a little jarring, though.

Don't know how I'd feel about having a Hathaway series; I'm kind of intrigued, though, at the possibility of a Maddox series if she ever attains her DI rank.  However,

8 hours ago, starchild215 said:

. . . Maddox personal life seems to be a hot mess. . . .

which may or may not make for some interesting character studies depending on her issues.  Kind of feel sorry for husband Tony.

A very subdued series finale.

Edited by officetemp
punctuation
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starchild215

starchild215

(edited)

Didn't Maddox say Tony had signed on for another year at his job? I got the impression that he would be away and that she wasn't going to let any grass grow under her feet.

That flowered shirt was such a change for Lewis! And it looked as if Hobson was wearing one under her sweater/top whatever that was. Too cute.

A Maddox series you say? hmmm

Edited by starchild215
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maladroit

maladroit

3 minutes ago, officetemp said:

  That flowered shirt was a little jarring, though.

 

Haha.  The shirt (and Hathaway's "Lewis" sign) were nice callbacks to the pilot.  They were among the few touches I enjoyed in this episode.  Still,  I'm grateful this was a quiet close rather than a melodrama with main character deaths and such.

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DHDancer

DHDancer

(edited)
2 hours ago, officetemp said:

That flowered shirt was a little jarring, though.

Think this is a clear reference back to the first Lewis episode when he returns from Australia or South Africa or wherever he'd been for 2 years.  He wore a "hawaiian" shirt then too (if I remember clearly, it could actually be the same shirt! I bet it was still in his wardrobe)

Edit: sorry maladroit: didn't see your post before making my comment.  SNAP on all the rest of your comment :)

Edited by DHDancer
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officetemp

officetemp

7 hours ago, starchild215 said:

Didn't Maddox say Tony had signed on for another year at his job? I got the impression that he would be away and that she wasn't going to let any grass grow under her feet.

That flowered shirt was such a change for Lewis! And it looked as if Hobson was wearing one under her sweater/top whatever that was. Too cute.

A Maddox series you say? hmmm

I can't remember whether Maddox said "a year" or "two years."  Either way, not sure if her marriage is not in trouble.  With the discoveries last episode of her tattoos and her familiarity with S&M bars/clubs, then her showing up for work in this episode hungover plus the frequent mentions of her "Girls' Nights," she seems to not feel any type of constraints, regardless of her marital status.  May provide quite a lot of material for a new series, though such a series would be quite a bit darker in tone, I think, than Lewis has been throughout its run.

5 hours ago, DHDancer said:

. . . if I remember clearly, it could actually be the same shirt! I bet it was still in his wardrobe. . .

DHDancer, you and maladroit are right!  It is the same shirt he wore in the first episode of the entire series!

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snarktini

snarktini

It was about as decent an ending as I could have expected. I rather like everything going on as normal... shows don't all need giant bows and closure. (Besides, IIRC we already did the everyone-quits version, with both Hathaway and Lewis leaving.) 

Lewis got enough of a bow for everyone -- gets his big trip with Laura (any other outcome would have been too much angst) and a promise of his job being there when he comes back. At first I was perplexed by no one being there for a departure drink at the pub, it felt sad, but it was a better ending that Hathaway was there for his dad (even held his hand!) and drove them to the airport. The sign was cute. And Maddox was never Lewis's drinking buddy, she was going about her business as usual. Everyone was where they most needed to be. 

The show has been meh for a while. It's time.

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dcalley

dcalley

Unfortunately, the clumsy way they brought the new chief superintendent (Joe) into the crime scene alone with Lewis actually made me think Joe was going to be a bad guy, even though that made no sense. I'm happy to have been wrong, of course. I don't understand why Joe couldn't have praised Lewis's clue spotting/detective work without having been there himself. Whatever. Also, don't touch things in a blown-up chemical lab with your bare hands, you two.

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zxy556575

zxy556575

(edited)
On 8/22/2016 at 2:50 PM, starchild215 said:

I am a fan of the Morse/Lewis/Endeavour shows and the way it was left open I thought that in a year or two we'd have Inspector Hathaway and Maddox continuing as children of Morse.

I'm a tiny bit hopeful. We know Colin Dexter has refused to allow any more adaptations of Morse as a character, but it seems like Hathaway would be fair game. Fox has said he's not interested in continuing but could change his mind after some time has passed. I imagine it's not exactly a stimulating acting job after a while, but it's also only a 3-episode commitment every two years or so.

I'd be interested in seeing more of Maddox. I was very relieved that her work relationships with Lewis and Hathaway remained professional; I can't stand the modern tendency to force all opposite sex police partners into romance. Do we know why Lizzie's husband is away a lot? In the military or something? Her girls' nights were emphasized on the show so it seems like viewers were supposed to draw some conclusion, but I'm not sure what.

Edited by lordonia
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