As series four opens a body is pulled out of the Cherwell; that of an academic who had been missing for a month. It looks like an obvious suicide as his pockets were full of stones. The man had been part of a team working on a computer that is due to play chess against a Russian grand master. Shortly after he is found another body turns up; this time in the local slipper baths. This time it is that of a woman and there are some strange details; it is possible that she had slipped and bumped her head before drowning but it seems odd that she would go to the slipper baths when she had a bath at home and there was something unexpected in her nose and ears. When another body turns up at the baths Morse is convinced that all the drownings are connected but how they are connected isn't obvious; the only links are that all three drowned and all three played chess; although not together. Neither Morse nor Thursday are on top form; Thursday hasn't got over his daughter leaving home without saying where she was going and Morse is furious that he failed his Sergeants exam because his papers, and only his papers, had got 'lost', to make matters worse for him a journalist steals his notebook and prints important details of the case in the Oxford Mail.
This was a good series opener; there were more murders than a typical episode of 'Midsomer Murders' but the case is somewhat more disturbing that one would expect in that show. There were plenty of suspects, none of which are particularly obvious even after the motive is exposed. There is some sense of danger, and justifiably so. Given that we are now in the fourth series it is nice to see that the main characters are still developing; Morse is having to deal with the fact that somebody is trying to sabotage his career and Thursday is struggling to deal with not knowing where his daughter is something that is making him snappy at work and most obviously affecting his relationship with Morse. The cast are on good form, the episode nicely captured the time period and as the episode ending there were hints at the possibility of an ongoing story that could take place throughout the season only time will tell what it meant.
This was a good series opener; there were more murders than a typical episode of 'Midsomer Murders' but the case is somewhat more disturbing that one would expect in that show. There were plenty of suspects, none of which are particularly obvious even after the motive is exposed. There is some sense of danger, and justifiably so. Given that we are now in the fourth series it is nice to see that the main characters are still developing; Morse is having to deal with the fact that somebody is trying to sabotage his career and Thursday is struggling to deal with not knowing where his daughter is something that is making him snappy at work and most obviously affecting his relationship with Morse. The cast are on good form, the episode nicely captured the time period and as the episode ending there were hints at the possibility of an ongoing story that could take place throughout the season only time will tell what it meant.