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S05.E06: Icarus


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Wow...some threads wrapped up, many not but it was definitely a wrap-up that could be an end-of-show (has it been renewed?).  I'm so glad about the choices they made about the kill-offs (literal and figurative).

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Jeebus. This isn't the kind of detective show that makes me nervous, but I was totally tense and wound up about Morse and Thursday throughout. Then the lump in my throat at the funeral and as everyone filed out of Cowley for the last time.

I really wanted to give all those supercilious fourth form boys a kick on the shins.

I loved the opening with Morse settling in at the school -- had he quit the force since we last saw him? Heh.

The ITV narrator said the series would return next year, so it seems to have been renewed for #6. We'll see where the departmental merge takes us. Trewlove wormed her way into my heart and I'll miss her. Perhaps she'll be able to guest as a consultant from the Yard or something.

Will Joan and Endeavour finally get on the same romantic page at the same time? On one hand I've always liked them together, but what's the point of another unhappy ending for both? We know it can't last.

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Those schoolboys made my skin crawl the way they ended all their sentences with "sir." Especially all rapid fire like that. That and I found them all to just be really creepy looking.

Poor Fancy. It's worse than Jakes; just when you start to warm up to them, they're gone.

Now we know why Bright took to Trewlove like that. I'll miss her, too.

Thursday didn't die, so I'm extremely pleased about that. I can't deal with Fred and Win being at odds, though.

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The scene between Morse and Trewlove in their undercover flat when he asks about Fancy and she replies that she's going to the Yard and needs to put her career first at this point in her life -- Morse looks at her and quietly says that none of that matters. The look on his face about broke my damned heart.

I love Morse and Trewlove as supportive and fraternal co-workers and am grateful in the end that they never crossed over to romance.

Losing his savings was one way to get Thursday not to retire, but even though we saw it coming with his horrible brother, it was still a blow and the spillover damage to his marriage was regrettable. Very sweet of Joan to visit her dad and bring tea.

This was my favorite episode of the season and may be one of my top of all time.

Edited by 2727
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Damn this series to leave us with such a superb episode so dense with emotion, the audience wanting more but we have to wait...

Have to watch it again to watch the actors' faces and performances....forget the murder mystery aspect.

Trewlove showing such emotional range, her character's personality and now she's gone...

Win so hurt and betrayed by Fred.

Fred and Joan making amends.

Bright apologizing for failing the station, his voice conveying his regrets.

Shaun Evans is so terrific, the poem reading at Fancy's funeral breaks your heart...

Then your heart soars with the hope of Morse and Joan....sigh...

Edited by humbleopinion
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On 3/12/2018 at 11:04 AM, Popples said:

Those schoolboys made my skin crawl the way they ended all their sentences with "sir." Especially all rapid fire like that. That and I found them all to just be really creepy looking.

Poor Fancy. It's worse than Jakes; just when you start to warm up to them, they're gone.

Now we know why Bright took to Trewlove like that. I'll miss her, too.

Thursday didn't die, so I'm extremely pleased about that. I can't deal with Fred and Win being at odds, though.

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Yea, those boys were very creepy indeed. They were obviously trying to rile Morse. Glad he didn't lose his composure and give them the satisfaction.

Very happy Thursday didn't die. I was holding my breath a bit. I would imagine that he & Morse will end up at the same station. Did Bright say if he was retiring or if he was going to be assigned to another location?

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Bright was a complex character that the series didn't take advantage of because all the characters are interesting...at least we'll see him on GoT.

Hopefully, Trewlove will pop back into Morse's life with The Yard lending a hand to the new station's cases...

We were treated with Trewlove/Morse married in an undercover sting... satisfying for fans...

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(edited)

Youse guys have to watch Shaun in  "The Take" (available on Amazon), with Tom Hardy as the main star. It's 4-part, and well worth the wait for Shaun's final scene!

Poor Fancy. I was very unpleasantly surprised.

Edited by LennieBriscoe
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What a wonderful episode, and I'll be so pleased if Thursday is in the next series.  Now I can read the Media thread, with pictures from the next season!

Secret word in the credits was "Ubermensch," representing the concept of a super Man in German philosophy -- it was one of the references made by the boys who initially talked to Morse.  

Those schoolboys were utterly creepy.  

Oh, wow, I just read something cut from the PBS short version:  in the British longer version, it is explained that Bright was fond of Trewlove because Bright and his wife had a daughter, Dulcie, who died young.  There was a picture in the cut scene of the daughter sitting on a horse in what appears to be India. 

Holy cow, I just read in one of the British papers that this episode was TWO HOURS LONG in Britain.  Can anyone confirm this? That is a LOT to cut out to get to PBS length.  

ETA:  I finally found the running time for this episode on ITV, and it was 89 minutes, so not a full two hours of story.  But as another poster pointed out, they show these with commercials on ITV, so the entire programme is actually two hours.  But they all are, so this was not a longer episode, contrary to what the British article said.  Sorry for the confusion! 

Edited by jjj
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I was so deeply sad by the time it was over --  Fancy's death,  Bright's disappointment, Trewlove's loss, Strange's speech, the funeral, the empty station and everyone seeming so groundless.

Oh Thursday!  I'm not a brilliant detective and I know better than to lend my life savings to my brother!

I wish we could have seen the faces of those nasty boys when they learned they'd been trying to bully a police detective.   I would have asked them if, had the little one succeeded in his mass shooting, they would they have considered it, "survival of the fittest?"

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Lovely. Lovely. So many stories within stories within stories. Win & Fred & the disappearing life savings (well, no mystery there, I'm afraid, nor ever was) & who would survive the gangland war & what happened to Mr. Ivory & the closing of the Thames Valley station & why are those boys creeping me out (sir sir sir sir sir...) & how is the writer going to pull everything together (well done!) & last but not least, are Joan & Morse going to get together at last, even briefly...  I didn't find the final reveal of the killer especially convincing...she could have gone to the police about the drugs without murdering the man (she wouldn't have known then that the bad guys would kill the initial investigators) but despite all the frenzied stab wounds, I'd take my chances with her before any of the students or thugs. Love that Bright & hope we see him again, & Strange acquitted himself well, too. Completely in the dark about the 3 unmatched bullets & who really killed Fancy. Looking forward to next season already but with the long wait, I just hope I can remember something - anything - from this season's plot lines.  From Trewlove painting her toenails to Morse's gorgeous funeral elegy - for me, all of it - a very satisfying finale.

Edited by tootsie
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7 hours ago, jjj said:

Holy cow, I just read in one of the British papers that this episode was TWO HOURS LONG in Britain.  Can anyone confirm this? That is a LOT to cut out to get to PBS length.

ITV has commercial breaks, so all the episodes are technically two hours long.

I just realized that I never show enough love for Dr. DeBryn. I absolutely adore him and his dry sense of humor. 

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Hopefully I can watch the full 2 hours somewhere.  There was a running theme about police corruption in this series but I fear the PBS cuts may have compromised it. So the 3 mysterious bullets could be linked to that.  Truelove will make another appearance for sure!

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Man, I was shouting at my screen the moment they said the shirt had 23 stab wounds. Heavens to murgatroyd, come on! Of course it's an allusion to Julius Caesar, and I've never even read the play!!! (I have watched tv before.) It takes mega-mind Morse 45 minutes to make that connection? Yikes.

Pro-tip: never ever lend family/friends any money you cannot afford to never get back. From the previous ep, I thought maybe Thursday had not given Fred all of his nest egg, but I should have known better, having watched tv before, heh. But it's frustrating when they never mention actual amounts, neither Fred and Thursday, nor Thursday and Winn. Too gauche to do so, I s'pose.

7 hours ago, jjj said:

Those schoolboys were utterly creepy.  

No kidding. Students of the Corn.

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3 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Oh Thursday!  I'm not a brilliant detective and I know better than to lend my life savings to my brother!

I find this storyline utterly unbelievable.  A police detective with Fred's experience combined with his war and life experience would not be this naive about lending money.  I know they had to create a reason for Fred to keep working and create some drama with Win, but I wish they had come up with something better than this.

Otherwise, this was a really good episode and those bratty boys were creepy.  I kept hoping Morse was going to tell them to drop the Oliver Twist nonsense and STFU.  

Edited by Magnumfangirl
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Oh Thursday!  I'm not a brilliant detective and I know better than to lend my life savings to my brother!

Now I'm going to have to hate Kevin Wicks on EastEnders repeats.  Grr.  

One of the schoolboys played Albus Potter in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in both the original West End and Broadway Casts.  I saw him in NY - he was really great in the part. 

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Well, I hope Bright changes his mind about quitting - I would really miss him.

I never warmed to Fancy, Morse's dislike of him may have rubbed off on me.  But what a sad end for him. I am assuming they will try to solve his murder during the next season?

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Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but I found this show too disturbing to watch. I came in a few minutes late, and so perhaps I missed some important info, but the minute I saw how awful the boys were, I was wary. I hate, hate, hate stories about children bullying each other and about abuse. I changed the channel to something else but then thought, "Aw, come on. Don't be such a coward." (Eek, that sounds like something one of the odious boys would say.) Anyway, I tuned back in just in time to see the awful games guy beating one of the students. And that was that.

I'm actually glad that I didn't stick with it, if there was no comeuppance for the bad guys.

The whole thing was way too Lord of the Flies for me. 

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40 minutes ago, magdalene said:

Well, I hope Bright changes his mind about quitting - I would really miss him.

I never warmed to Fancy, Morse's dislike of him may have rubbed off on me.  But what a sad end for him. I am assuming they will try to solve his murder during the next season?

I spoiler-tagged some information about Bright over in the Media thread.  

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47 minutes ago, humbleopinion said:

Morse has the love of one Thursday...too bad it isn't Joan....as much as the audience wishes it would happen...

I always thought that Morse would be too "square" for Joan and they have nothing in common except her dad. Fred would probably be quite happy if Morse were to date Joan as he thinks of him as a son-which is another reason Joan wouldn't date Morse. I have the feeling the writers will never let us see what happened after the end fade out except to note that Joan and Morse aren't dating.

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57 minutes ago, magdalene said:

I never warmed to Fancy, Morse's dislike of him may have rubbed off on me. But what a sad end for him. I am assuming they will try to solve his murder during the next season?

I never disliked Fancy but didn't see the need for him. It finally dawned on me that he was the catalyst for Morse's character development, much like Jakes used to be. I hope his murder will be a continuing plot point.

The final scene of the four men in the empty station was extremely poignant. I'm very much looking forward to a new start for Morse and whoever remains next season.

As tired as I am of the Joan/Morse sitch, I still want to see if she invites him up again. Any relationship they have is ultimately a lose/lose scenario, but I suppose it could be an interesting storyline if done well.

The full ITV version was 90 minutes without commercials. I'm surprised PBS would cut the scene of Bright talking about his daughter. Gawd.

@Popples, I can't get enough of Dr. DeBryn, either. And Dorothea makes the most of every scene she's in -- it often seems like she's Morse's only friend.

Edited by 2727
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5 minutes ago, 2727 said:

I never disliked Fancy but didn't see the need for him. It finally dawned on me that he was the catalyst for Morse's character development, much like Jakes used to be. I hope his murder will be a continuing plot point.

The final scene of the four men in the empty station was extremely poignant. I'm very much looking forward to a new start for Morse and whoever remains next season.

As tired as I am of the Joan/Morse sitch, I still want to see if she invites him up again. Any relationship they have is ultimately a lose/lose scenario, but I suppose it could be an interesting storyline if done well.

The full ITV version was 90 minutes without commercials. I'm surprised PBS would cut the scene of Bright talking about his daughter. Gawd.

Masterpiece always seems to cut out any character development scenes. 

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1 hour ago, magdalene said:

Well, I hope Bright changes his mind about quitting - I would really miss him.

God, I was steeling myself in his last scene with Trewlove, petrified he was going to hug her or otherwise mack on her. Thank heavens he didn't.

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They really are doing a good job of showing how the underground crime syndicates gradually poison a town, from a corrupt boys' school professor to shoot-out at a local dive. That really was a massacre.  Does this mean either that there's a third "mob" attempting to muscle in or a turn-coat upstart wannabe from one of the two known gangs?  Morse said something about Fancy dying for such a small score  (the packet of heroin destined to the teacher) but I wonder if there wasn't more ... and if we're seeing the usual booze and tax/duty free liquor underground mobs coming up against the more hardcore drug distributors in rapid succession.  Nero was your known, longstanding local crime thug (who could be tolerated to a limited degree -- within the law) being supplanted by younger, fancier and bolder (and more violent) competitors who are a genuine menace to society on a different level.   Yes, it would have been satisfying to see those savage school boys confronted by none-to-happy parents who might have waved off their violence and a bit of hashish, but were horrified at the prospect of narcotics use.  

The nurse / matron looked very familiar.  IMDB appears to be down. I'll try again later. 

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5 hours ago, Bunnyette said:

Hopefully I can watch the full 2 hours somewhere.  

My Library has DVDs with the full British version of each season.  Typically only a few scenes are cut to make room for the thanks to sponsors.

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Can someone explain the episode title "Icarus" please?  I didn't see anyone flying, unless you count the drugs.

This is what IMDB suggests "The title might refer to Eddie Nero's ambitions for his son Brett, sent to a private school to improve his social status; or to Cromwell Ames's vaunting ambition in attempting to take over the Oxford underworld; or to the pretensions of Coldwater School, which result in some of its pupils becoming fascistic, or addicted to heroin, or even murderous; or perhaps the Icarus of the story is George Fancy, attempting to take on gangsters at the cost of his own life, or even Endeavour Morse himself. By being too strict with the young constable, Morse may have inadvertently pushed him to excessive and fatal risk-taking" 

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Why didn't the killer put the bloody shirt and the wallet in the septic tank too? Was that just an oversight? Did the shirt come off as she was dragging him to the septic tank? Just wondering.

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44 minutes ago, Driad said:

Can someone explain the episode title "Icarus" please?  I didn't see anyone flying, unless you count the drugs.

41 minutes ago, attica said:

I don’t get that either. Icarus is usually used as a metaphor for tragedy caused by hubris or reaching for the impossible, but I’m not seeing the connection to this story. It also has the theme of a father’s grief over his failure to protect his son or causing his death. One boy died before the episode began. Maybe Fancy was supposed to be Icarus. Bright’s crew was left in the dark about the underworld connection to the school. Thursday said he would have handled things differently if he had known and might not have put Fancy in harm’s way. Morse’s class was reading Icarus. I would love to read an explanation.

Surely they will give us some follow up to the Joan/Morse cliffhanger. To have such a prolonged buildup followed by nothing would be terrible storytelling. Personally, I would like to see them be together at least for a little while. We know it won’t last, but just because Morse ends up alone in late middle age doesn’t mean he was never involved with a woman for more than a few weeks or months when he was younger.

Poor Thursday! Not only did he lose his life savings, he’s now living with the fear that the check he gave his brother will link him to Charlie’s criminal activities. I don’t think they would have brought that up if it wasn’t going to be a subplot at some point. I hope Morse finds out and works to clear Thursday’s name.

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I thought there was an Ivory connection to Icarus but I'm certainly not finding one documented ... could also somehow be the "runty" kid seeking Ivory's approval/protection and STATUS (Dad figure) but ending up in terrible trouble because Ivory was really a most serious bad guy ... 

The nurse was played by Madeleine Worrall (Mrs. Seymour) who seemed terribly familiar but is mostly a stage actress .... 

Edited by SusanSunflower
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I’ve decided that Fancy is Icarus. His going into a confrontation between two groups of armed mobsters with no back up was just crazy. He was jealous of Morse and did want to impress everyone - especially Trewlove - but that’s nuts! I originally thought that the killer might have caught him watching them, but surely they would have just shot him in his car. Maybe the killer was part of another group and dragged Fancy into the bar to throw the police off and make it seem like he was killed during the battle. 

Edited by Dessert
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1 hour ago, Brattinella said:

Those dreadful boys, besides reminding me of Children of the Corn, also brought to mind The Stepford Wives.  ( I was also hollering at the TV)

Heh, I was watching and thinking "Village of the Damned" (1960, British) -- truly low-budget and truly totally creepy children!  

39 minutes ago, Dessert said:

I’ve decided that Fancy is Icarus. His going into a confrontation between to groups of armed mobsters with no back up was just crazy. He was jealous of Morse and did want to impress everyone - especially Trewlove - but that’s nuts! I originally thought that the killer might have caught him watching them, but surely they would have just shot him in his car. Maybe the killer was part of another group and dragged Fancy into the bar to throw the police off and make it seem like he was killed during the battle. 

I don't think Fancy went in on his own -- because he was shot by some unknown third faction/persons, it seems he was ambushed and then deposited on the scene.  I did think he was a sitting duck, alone in a car on a street where he was completely visible and the only other car!  And on the radio!  (We knew from a previous episode that Trewlove advised against using a radio while doing surveillance -- and I realize he had no choice, but her earlier warning was a reminder that he was doing something dangerous).  I wonder if they will revisit that crime in a flashback re-enactment next season? 

It was eerie to see the aftermath of the shootout, but not to see or hear the actual extensive shootout at all.  

Edited by jjj
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Yes, I remember that Morse was furious with him for playing the radio during surveillance and calling attention to himself. That was definitely foreshadowing.

I hope we’ll get more of a forensic analysis in a future episode. For instance, was his gun drawn? Had it been fired? Were there fingerprints or any other evidence in the car?

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4 minutes ago, Dessert said:

Yes, I remember that Morse was furious with him for playing the radio during surveillance and calling attention to himself. That was definitely foreshadowing.

I hope we’ll get more of a forensic analysis in a future episode. For instance, was his gun drawn? Had it been fired? Were there fingerprints or any other evidence in the car?

I actually meant using the communications radio to contact the station.  Trewlove had told the thug visitors in a car that they were attracting attention by parking illegally and using their radio.  

When you look at the style of those two visiting policemen, it is not surprising that it was Bright's unit that got shuttered.  Those bullies and their bullying unit were destined to win.  Alas, it happens too often, that professional bullying works.  

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3 hours ago, Driad said:

Can someone explain the episode title "Icarus" please?  I didn't see anyone flying, unless you count the drugs.

In the first class meeting, Morse has the boys read the Icarus story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, (Morse said "lines 225 to 230," which are the lines where the wax on his wings melts and he plummets to earth). 

There is a lot of plummeting to earth in this episode (Nero's gang, Ames' gang, Fancy, Ivory, [the drug-killed student], officers killed pre-story in the lorry accident) -- the body count on this episode is more than any two seasons of the "later" Morse series!  

2 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

This is what IMDB suggests "The title might refer to Eddie Nero's ambitions for his son Brett, sent to a private school to improve his social status; or to Cromwell Ames's vaunting ambition in attempting to take over the Oxford underworld; or to the pretensions of Coldwater School, which result in some of its pupils becoming fascistic, or addicted to heroin, or even murderous; or perhaps the Icarus of the story is George Fancy, attempting to take on gangsters at the cost of his own life, or even Endeavour Morse himself. By being too strict with the young constable, Morse may have inadvertently pushed him to excessive and fatal risk-taking" 

 

1 hour ago, Dessert said:

I don’t get that either. Icarus is usually used as a metaphor for tragedy caused by hubris or reaching for the impossible, but I’m not seeing the connection to this story. It also has the theme of a father’s grief over his failure to protect his son or causing his death. One boy died before the episode began. Maybe Fancy was supposed to be Icarus. Bright’s crew was left in the dark about the underworld connection to the school. Thursday said he would have handled things differently if he had known and might not have put Fancy in harm’s way. Morse’s class was reading Icarus. I would love to read an explanation.

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Really enjoyed this season and thought this last episode wrapped things up nicely while still leaving plenty of story for next season. 

42 minutes ago, jjj said:

I don't think Fancy went in on his own -- because he was shot by some unknown third faction/persons, it seems he was ambushed and then deposited on the scene. 

That's what I thought. I figured he waited until all the shooting stopped and then went in. There was probably some unknown person(s) who were also watching and followed Fancy in and took him by surprise.

Or he could have been ambushed in his car. Either way, I believe Fancy was unaware that he wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the pub.

And who knows? Maybe this third group are the ones who somehow facilitated the massacre in the first place and knew what was going to happen that night. I'm sure we'll get answers next season.

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2 minutes ago, Desperately Random said:

That's what I thought. I figured he waited until all the shooting stopped and then went in. There was probably some unknown person(s) who were also watching and followed Fancy in and took him by surprise.

Or he could have been ambushed in his car. Either way, I believe Fancy was unaware that he wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the pub.

And who knows? Maybe this third group are the ones who somehow facilitated the massacre in the first place and knew what was going to happen that night. I'm sure we'll get answers next season.

I really want a flashback to what happened.  I feel like they set it up in a way that meant the event would be revisited -- that was too much stagecraft for just a quick gaze by the camera.  

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43 minutes ago, jjj said:

I actually meant using the communications radio to contact the station.  Trewlove had told the thug visitors in a car that they were attracting attention by parking illegally and using their radio.  

When you look at the style of those two visiting policemen, it is not surprising that it was Bright's unit that got shuttered.  Those bullies and their bullying unit were destined to win.  Alas, it happens too often, that professional bullying works.  

I thought I had already replied this, but it didn’t show up, so I’ll try again. LOL. I apologize if this is a double post. 

I do think both examples were foreshadowing.  Fancy wasn’t careful enough with surveillance (although he didn’t have much choice in this instance) and it probably got him killed.

Bright’s crew was really left in the dark, with tragic results. The transfer to Thymes Valley doesn’t bode well for our guys. Should make for some great drama, though. There is treachery afoot. They’d better watch their backs and sleep with one eye open.

 

Spoiler

On another topic, one news report has Joan pursuing a career in social services - complete with a mentor. This could integrate her into the story as more than Fred’s daughter or Morse’s love interest. The people she’s serving might be victims of crimes that can be brought to the attention of the police.

Edited by Dessert
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15 minutes ago, Dessert said:

I thought I had already replied this, but it didn’t show up, so I’ll try again. LOL. I apologize if this is a double post. 

I do think both examples were foreshadowing.  Fancy wasn’t careful enough with surveillance (although he didn’t have much choice in this instance) and it probably got him killed.

Bright’s crew was really left in the dark, with tragic results. The transfer to Thymes Valley doesn’t bode well for our guys. Should make for some great drama, though. There is treachery afoot. They’d better watch their backs and sleep with one eye open.

Yes, I understood your radio reference as well as the Trewlove one!  Indeed, both foreshadowing.  Honestly, they did not give us much reason to pine for Fancy, except on behalf of Trewlove, who had already put some distance between them.  

Edited by jjj
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6 hours ago, attica said:

God, I was steeling myself in his last scene with Trewlove, petrified he was going to hug her or otherwise mack on her. Thank heavens he didn't.

Wasn't there a scene cut out that explains his affection for her? That she reminds him of his daughter who died young.

Edited by magdalene
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(edited)
6 minutes ago, magdalene said:

Wasn't there a scene cut out that explains his affection for her? That she reminds of his daughter who died young.

Yes, something about a daughter who died as a child.  I am not sure if Bright made the connection, but we are meant to infer it.

Edited by jjj
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