Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S05.E04: Colours


Popples

Recommended Posts

I seriously need to hear the conversation Fred and Win had when they decided to take up ballroom dancing.

It's nice that Sam's existence is being acknowledged this series. They didn't even have a photo of him last time, just lingering shots on Joan's pictures.

As a change from the last two series, Morse stopped being a mopey bastard and started banging everyone. Except Joan.

  • Love 7
Link to comment
21 hours ago, Popples said:

I seriously need to hear the conversation Fred and Win had when they decided to take up ballroom dancing.

It's nice that Sam's existence is being acknowledged this series. They didn't even have a photo of him last time, just lingering shots on Joan's pictures.

As a change from the last two series, Morse stopped being a mopey bastard and started banging everyone. Except Joan.

It feels retaliatory though,  like every time his exchange with Joan doesn't go the way he wants.... he picks up a chick.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Joan and Morse can't happen: he won't date the boss's daughter, no matter how much he likes her: he has too much respect for Thursday to do that.    I also don't think its "retaliatory" -- Joan's the one who set him up with the French femme.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
22 hours ago, Popples said:

As a change from the last two series, Morse stopped being a mopey bastard and started banging everyone. Except Joan.

I'm getting a kick out of Strange's pursed-lip disapproval of all the banging.

I agree that it was very good to see Sam acknowledged again. They even gave him a personality this time!

  • Love 3
Link to comment

Do not appreciate how Trewlove's character is diminished by Fancy's...hate they are going to put her character in a gf role.

Bright still has his schoolboy crush on Trewlove but how will he react when he finds out about the interoffice canoodling?

Win and Fred tripping the light fantastic...how fun for the actors...and for the audience.

  • Love 5
Link to comment
(edited)

Heh Thursday said Parade’s End. Roger was in the tv series. And Roger’s wife was in this episode - I think she played the owner of the hair salon. 

Eyeglass screws? He was worried about the police finding the screw from his eyeglasses? Unless glasses have changed a lot from the 60s, those screws are the smallest objects in existence (they used to keep coming loose in my old glasses). 

Edited by M. Darcy
  • Love 6
Link to comment
(edited)

Hah, when I saw Fancy among the mines, I said "Chekhov's minefield," because it was sure to go off in the third act -- and it did, fortunately!

Well, Morse had already found the eyeglass screw, right before the photographer appeared and was shot.  Morse thought it meant something, the way he held it up to the light and looked thoughtfully into the distance. 

The secret red letters in the end credits spell out:  SIR HENRY NEWBOLT -- I believe he was the author of the poem recited by the old officer as he stood on the stairs.  (Yes, I checked, and it is part of his poem "Vitai Lampada" (Torch of Life). 

Ugh, I could not believe that the stepmother was still alive at the end.  If ever there was a villain...

By the way, according to the credits, the girlfriend of Morse is indeed the Claudine mentioned by Joan last week. 
 

3 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

Eyeglass screws? He was worried about the police finding the screw from his eyeglasses? Unless glasses have changed a lot from the 60s, those screws are the smallest objects in existence (they used to keep coming loose in my old glasses). 

 

Edited by jjj
  • Love 1
Link to comment

....And he picks his chicks right off the street, that silver-tongued devil Endeavour. I'm thinking Shaun wanted a little Sex Symbol thrown into the series,  but I fear its iteration isn't such a good look. 

And didn't his luck extend to his very survival at being shot whilst running through a mine-field!

Ah,  I love the actor (ever since "The Take") and the character---just snarking! 

How ADORABLE were the Dancing Thursdays?!

Joan remains a hopeless dope. 

  • Love 3
Link to comment

O, those dancing Thursdays!!!!! Always love the start of the episodes with all the juxtaposed scenes. This one was especially nice. I saw all the original Morse episodes but can't remember...Morse's boss (& friend) Strange had a wife, but her name wasn't Joan, was it? There was just a certain tenderness about Strange and vulnerability about Joan when he got her out of jail that made me pause. Actually, Strange came off well in this episode, I thought. Less big fuddy duddy. More tough copper. Morse seemed to appreciate his interviewing skills, too. Bright is my personal favorite, but O my dear, don't ever prose on about Trewlove to the crew again! That will remove you from my favored status. On a shallow note, Trewlove with her hair down looked like a completely different woman. Who knew a cap had so much influence?! There were several times I had to work hard to suspend disbelief but I do it happily because I enjoy the show in its entirety, actors, sets, writing, everything, so very much!

  • Love 6
Link to comment

What was the parallel drawn between young Thursday's army unit and the police unit?  Oxford City Police goes out of existence as it becomes part of the new entity "Thames Valley" police, and a storied army unit (regiment?) is ending as well with some kind of reorganization into a more "modern" configuration?

Link to comment

Jane IS a hopeless dope. I wish she'd commit to something, develop a plan for her future. The model had a career and a commitment to civil rights, the French woman has a career and a life philosophy, Trewlove is great (although if she sacrifices her job for Fancy I will be irate), heck even Win appears to be content with her life choices (ballroom dancing! I love it) even if it's not something Joan wants. So what does Joan want?

So rare to see Morse happy! Although he was crushed to see whatshername didn't think their relationship was anything other than a fun diversion.

I swear, British mystery shows have done more than anything else to make me hate the aristocracy.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
8 hours ago, jjj said:

Ugh, I could not believe that the stepmother was still alive at the end.  If ever there was a villain...

Aw, but she was played by the luminous Caroline Goodall! I've loved her forever!

 

11 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

Eyeglass screws? He was worried about the police finding the screw from his eyeglasses? Unless glasses have changed a lot from the 60s, those screws are the smallest objects in existence (they used to keep coming loose in my old glasses). 

Yeah, I'm willing to wager largely that no one ever in the history of ever has been walking around the woods going, 'what's this, then? An eyeglass screw? Funny I should happen across one!' Your only chance of ever finding one in the wild is if you're barefoot on a hard floor and you happen to step on it. And even then you might not notice it, depending on the tenderness level of your individual feet.

 

8 hours ago, jjj said:

"Chekhov's minefield,"

Hee, me too. We've been well trained.

 

56 minutes ago, tootsie said:

those dancing Thursdays!

Sigh. So sweet. 

  • Love 7
Link to comment
Quote

Well, Morse had already found the eyeglass screw, right before the photographer appeared and was shot.  Morse thought it meant something, the way he held it up to the light and looked thoughtfully into the distance. 

Which.....HOW???  Heh, maybe screws were larger then :-)  (yes, I'm still traumatized by the many years of dealing with screws) 

Quote

Morse's boss (& friend) Strange had a wife, but her name wasn't Joan, was it?

All I remember about her is that she was unwell and that he cheated on her (part of the story of the last Morse book). 

The Spode that Thursday mentioned is a character from the Jeeves and Wooster books. 

  • Love 3
Link to comment
2 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

And didn't his luck extend to his very survival at being shot whilst running through a mine-field!

It's my clever Morse so I choose to believe he remembered the path Fancy had taken and repeated that!

Bright's character has come so far from his introduction as a hidebound martinet who thought Morse was a uppity overstepper and took pleasure in demoting him from bag man that I took his words to Trewlove as simple avuncular fondness. He and Trewlove did bond during the tiger episode. Even with that, the incident illustrated how patronizingly the WPCs were treated.

  • Love 5
Link to comment

Poor Trewlove. Once again, we get the 'please be persistent when a woman tells you no, and she'll eventually snog you' trope, and then we get the 'find the boss's insistence that you smile as a charming compliment'.  Ugh. Writers, come on. (Yes I know that Bright's phrasing wasn't technically an insistence, but its messaging certainly was.)

  • Love 3
Link to comment
(edited)

If only the police had initially bothered to check murderer historian guy's background, they would have discovered he was lying about having moved on from his obsession with the model and about his 'family'.

Lots of red herrings in this one, but the actual murder plot was super basic (assuming you buy the whole waiting 10 years to get revenge- hey, wasn't last week's plot about a crazy guy waiting 50 years to get revenge?!)

Edited to add: Whoever cast Sam Thursday did a great job; the Thursday men have such similar facial proportions that I went to check whether Sam could actually be actor Roger Allam's offspring, but no.

Edited by sempervivum
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Did the longer UK version have scenes with Morse more undressed?  I read a few references cheering "naked" Morse from a few months ago, and I think the most we saw was shirt-off Morse. 

I got the feeling the anti-segregation crowd was mostly from the university, which made it odd that Joan was in the front lines.  Town-gown separation is a real thing.  Not a law, but just a more improbable likelihood that Joan would be out protesting.  I'd like to know if she is aware that Morse found Claudine all by himself!  

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Endeavour's face fell (does anyone do facial nuance better than Shaun Evans?! I watch his visage more than I pay attention to the plot! Who was murdered this time? Why, again? Heh. ?)  when Claudine said it was "just sex." Not that he became less eager; just that his heart became yet more guarded. 

Le sigh. 

  • Love 7
Link to comment
(edited)

Sara and Shaun talk about the frustrating arc of their characters this season in this video. Shaun thinks Joan and Morse should get together "at least for one night of passion." Heh. Getting the old leg over.

It seems like the creators like the character of Joan, want to give Sara something to do, and may be interested in building the foundation of Morse's future romantic failures, but the whole storyline is pushing the limits of my interest as a viewer. Last season was so Joan-centric but where did it get us? One appearance of her per season would be enough for me at this point. (Not gonna happen.)

I see Joan and Strange's easy familiarity as an indication of them being just casual acquaintances, specifically in contrast to Morse hiding his attraction behind stilted formality. I think if Strange and Joan do eventually start dating, it will only be in service of making Morse feel even more awkward and alone. Which I've had enough of, tbh. I liked seeing him momentarily happy and carefree, shirking his duties for once in order to make giggly picnic time with Claudine.

Edited by 2727
  • Love 5
Link to comment
Quote

Sara and Shaun talk about the frustrating arc of their characters this season in this video. Shaun thinks Joan and Morse should get together "at least for one night of passion." Heh. Getting the old leg over.

I honestly think this would be the best option and would be very Inspector Morse. One night and then Morse/Joan decides that they are better off as friends. She can still be seen with Thursday or on the street but it wouldn't be this thing hanging over their heads. Plus Morse only dated women a few times before they were either killed or arrested.

But then this show has never been really good at writing Endeavour relationships. I still remember Monica's development as his girlfriend then in the next season, they meet and act like they are casual acquaintances. Weird. 

  • Love 5
Link to comment

Not just ballroom dancing -- tango!

Is there a trick to figuring out what season of the year it is in a British drama?  Seems like people always wear lightweight coats, and the trees usually have leaves.  Mrs. Thursday said the next dance context was in September, but I couldn't tell whether it was February or August "now."

  • Love 2
Link to comment
15 minutes ago, Driad said:

Not just ballroom dancing -- tango!

Is there a trick to figuring out what season of the year it is in a British drama?  Seems like people always wear lightweight coats, and the trees usually have leaves.  Mrs. Thursday said the next dance context was in September, but I couldn't tell whether it was February or August "now."

Yeah, there are usually clues.  For example, if you see poppies in the lapels, it's November (Armistice 11/11).  I can't remember the clue in this specific episode (I think it was verbal) but I see to remember it was around June.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Thank you for telling me it was June, but my question was more general.  I have trouble telling what season it is supposed to be in British dramas, and wonder if there are clues I'm missing.  Usually it doesn't matter much but sometimes it does.

Whose job is it to remove the "Unaired USA" label?

Link to comment
(edited)

If it's summer, it's usually bright and sunny and no one wears overcoats. Around late fall, either there's mention of Halloween/Bonfire Night or someone is wearing a poppy. Of course if it's Christmastime, it's almost always snowing, even though England rarely gets big snowfalls. 

Much like Lewis, in watching the earlier seasons the actual mysteries seem better. As was true for Lewis, the later seasons seemed to delve into crazy/unrealistic type crimes but have better interaction between the main characters. As for Morse, I was watching the first episode recently, Jericho and he seemed pretty smooth and able to ask his pretty choir mate for a date easily enough. Of course said woman happened to kill herself shortly afterwards. When my family use to watch Morse, if he showed interest in a woman, we always bet that within the next hour she'd be dead or the criminal. Almost like The Love Boat where if one of a guest stars was an African American female, the audience knew she'd be a love interest for Isaac.

Edited by Tardislass
  • Love 2
Link to comment

It is important to watch the opening scenes carefully because they are often what fill in the missing plot points during the show.  I'm borrowing the DVDs from the library, which contain the full British version.

Link to comment
On 2/28/2018 at 10:32 PM, Popples said:

I seriously need to hear the conversation Fred and Win had when they decided to take up ballroom dancing.

It seemed like they were getting back to it after an absence (the voice who announced them said something like that), so maybe they did it before they had children?

On 7/17/2018 at 9:43 PM, Driad said:

Is there a trick to figuring out what season of the year it is in a British drama?  Seems like people always wear lightweight coats, and the trees usually have leaves.  Mrs. Thursday said the next dance context was in September, but I couldn't tell whether it was February or August "now."

You were asking in general, and I don't know about that, but in this episode, Bright said they were losing light and would restart the outdoor search tomorrow morning, then told someone to do something at 04:30, which made me think summer.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
6 hours ago, dcalley said:

It seemed like they were getting back to it after an absence (the voice who announced them said something like that), so maybe they did it before they had children?

I caught that on a re-watch. It's just the first time I watched it, I wasn't settled into the episode yet, and the announcer saying their names caught my attention and I started giggling and squeeing.

I would still love to know how they got into it.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
×
×
  • Create New...