At Issue in this episode is the health of our good detective. Surviving a shooting, he is back on the job, but his superior and Thursday, his partner are suspicious of his effectiveness. When a beauty queen is paint balled and a man falls from a building, they look like unrelated events. But soon we have a couple murders, a missing woman, a political race, a couple of pompous pillars of society, and some miscalculation. Morse becomes embroiled in the case but truly is a bit overzealous, making a couple misjudgments. Nevertheless, his humanity shows. The acting and the conflicts are so well presented here. This is a superb series. Not one episode has disappointed.
9 Reviews
Are three cases really one?
Tweekums30 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This 'Inspector Morse' prequel makes a welcome return with a second series that promises to be somewhat darker in tone to fit in with the recent popularity of 'Nordic Noir' series. The episode starts with Morse returning to work in Oxford after a stint away on light duties following a shooting. On his first day back he is called out to an apparent suicide. A second case arises when a man comes into the station to report his daughter missing
on the surface they are two totally unrelated non-cases; a suicide and a likely runaway but the more Morse digs the murkier it gets. The dead man turns out to be a private detective who specialised in finding evidence for divorce cases and a not in his possession leads Morse to make a tenuous connection to the missing girl. Added to this a collection of artefacts dating from the time of the Norman Conquest is stolen from one of the colleges and there are indications that it could be connected to the first two cases. As well as solving the crime Morse is taking his time mentally recovering and his boss, Inspector Thursday, is worried about how much whisky he is drinking.
This was a fine opening episode; it certainly had the promised darker feel. Morse found himself beaten more than once, the motive for the crimes proved to be quite sordid and those involved suggested to Morse that he had just made some very powerful enemies. The mystery was interesting and avoided some of the expected clichés. Almost as interesting was the development of Morse's character; events here are moulding him into the man we know from the original series. Shaun Evans continues to do a fine job as Morse and, as expected, Roger Allam is great as Thursday. The rest of the cast are also pretty good. The filming is done in such a way that makes Oxford look as though it was the sixties; it can't be easy avoiding all the signs of modernity! Overall I really enjoyed this; some viewers might not like the darker tone but I thought it suited the series.
This was a fine opening episode; it certainly had the promised darker feel. Morse found himself beaten more than once, the motive for the crimes proved to be quite sordid and those involved suggested to Morse that he had just made some very powerful enemies. The mystery was interesting and avoided some of the expected clichés. Almost as interesting was the development of Morse's character; events here are moulding him into the man we know from the original series. Shaun Evans continues to do a fine job as Morse and, as expected, Roger Allam is great as Thursday. The rest of the cast are also pretty good. The filming is done in such a way that makes Oxford look as though it was the sixties; it can't be easy avoiding all the signs of modernity! Overall I really enjoyed this; some viewers might not like the darker tone but I thought it suited the series.
The second series debuts with a quality episode.
Sleepin_Dragon9 September 2018
After a glorious first series, Endeavour returned for its second, with Trove. It's 1966, Thursday and a newly returned Morse have to solve three cases, all of which seem independent, but are somehow linked.
It is a fantastic story, it's complex and intriguing, but the production is such that it's never confusing. The team around Morse have changed in their attitudes towards him, he's treated with more warmth then in previous episodes, but it's the dynamic between him and Thursday that's key. Roger Allam is truly incredible in this role, arguably his best ever role, he is avuncular to Morse, but so human, and so strong. In this episode Allam outshines even the ever wonderful Shaun Evans.
Beth Goddard and Pooky Quesnel are excellent, both giving memorable guest performances, the characters in general though are so impressive.
Great production values, they truly captured the spirit of the 60's. Excellent sets and fantastic fashions give this episode a true quality.
Morse really goes through it in this one, emotionally and physically, it only serves to make him more lovable as a character.
Excellent viewing. 9/10
It is a fantastic story, it's complex and intriguing, but the production is such that it's never confusing. The team around Morse have changed in their attitudes towards him, he's treated with more warmth then in previous episodes, but it's the dynamic between him and Thursday that's key. Roger Allam is truly incredible in this role, arguably his best ever role, he is avuncular to Morse, but so human, and so strong. In this episode Allam outshines even the ever wonderful Shaun Evans.
Beth Goddard and Pooky Quesnel are excellent, both giving memorable guest performances, the characters in general though are so impressive.
Great production values, they truly captured the spirit of the 60's. Excellent sets and fantastic fashions give this episode a true quality.
Morse really goes through it in this one, emotionally and physically, it only serves to make him more lovable as a character.
Excellent viewing. 9/10
welcome back, Endeavor
blanche-229 June 2014
Endeavor Morse, in the form of Shaun Evans, returns to the Inspector Morse prequel, "Endeavor: Trove" for a second season.
Morse was apparently shot while at the opera and has gone through the death of his father. Now, four months later, he's back at work.
During a pageant marking 900 years of history, Kitty, a feminist and daughter of Barbara Batten, running for MP, paint balls a beauty queen. Then a man comes out of a window and lands on top of a car. Suicide? Or murder? The dead man turns out to be a man of many names, and he has a notebook with a cryptic message inside. He turns out to be a private detective named Pettifer who made it a habit of blackmailing his clients.
Morse gets to work on the various cases while his superior (Roger Allam) is concerned about him. He finds empty liquor bottles in Morse's apartment and wonders if he's really ready to be back at work.
This has the usual mark of the original Morse series -- you have to watch it carefully as the stories can be complicated. Though Morse has grown somewhat tougher in year 2, I still can't connect him maturing into Inspector Morse. I think it's the voice and accent. Shaun Evans is a marvelous actor, though, and I thoroughly enjoy "Endeavor."
Morse was apparently shot while at the opera and has gone through the death of his father. Now, four months later, he's back at work.
During a pageant marking 900 years of history, Kitty, a feminist and daughter of Barbara Batten, running for MP, paint balls a beauty queen. Then a man comes out of a window and lands on top of a car. Suicide? Or murder? The dead man turns out to be a man of many names, and he has a notebook with a cryptic message inside. He turns out to be a private detective named Pettifer who made it a habit of blackmailing his clients.
Morse gets to work on the various cases while his superior (Roger Allam) is concerned about him. He finds empty liquor bottles in Morse's apartment and wonders if he's really ready to be back at work.
This has the usual mark of the original Morse series -- you have to watch it carefully as the stories can be complicated. Though Morse has grown somewhat tougher in year 2, I still can't connect him maturing into Inspector Morse. I think it's the voice and accent. Shaun Evans is a marvelous actor, though, and I thoroughly enjoy "Endeavor."
The ending underwhelms, but the rest of the episode captivates
TheLittleSongbird4 July 2017
Having recently been, and just finished being, on a roll reviewing all the episodes of 'Lewis', which generally was very enjoyable before having some disappointments later on, it occurred to me to do the same for 'Inspector Morse's' (one of my favourites for over a decade, and all the episodes were also reviewed in my first year on IMDb eight years ago) prequel series 'Endeavour'.
As said in my review for the entire show two years ago, 'Endeavour' is not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well. It maintains everything that makes 'Inspector Morse' so good, while also containing enough to make it its own, and in my mind 'Inspector Morse', 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' go perfectly well together.
Was very impressed by the pilot episode, even with a very understandable slight finding-its-feet feel (that is true of a lot of shows, exceptions like 'Morse' itself, 'A Touch of Frost' and 'Midsomer Murders', which started off great and were remarkably well established, are fairly few. The first episode of the first season "Girl" was a very welcome return, a fine episode in its own right and was even better. Morse's personality is more established with more obvious recognisable personality quirks and generally things feel more settled. Then there was "Fugue", which to me is one of the best episodes of 'Endeavour', while "Rocket" and "Home" just as good.
Even with an appreciatively darker tone than the first season, Season 2 starts very well with "Trove". To me it was let down somewhat by the ending, which was rather far-fetched and over-complicated with explanations that feel rushed or unsatisfyingly resolved.
However, the production values in "Trove" cannot be faulted. The episode is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal 'Inspector Morse' theme, and while the use of music isn't as ingenious as it was in "Fugue" for example it's hugely effective still.
Writing, even for so early on, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense as the previous episodes and as the best of 'Morse'. The story has tension, a good deal going on and little feels improbable or too obvious while being suitably complicated. There are plenty of red herrings and twists here, without being cluttered. Morse's struggles with coming back to work is very sensitively handled.
Loved all the 'Inspector Morse' references, like Morse's leg injury mirroring John Thaw's real life limp, seeing a younger Matthew Copley Barnes from "The Infernal Serpent", a younger Strange well before becoming superintendent, a younger Max, the antagonistic relationship with the masons seen in "Masonic Mysteries" and the Wolvercote Trove reminding one of "The Wolvercote Tongue". However, those not so familiar to 'Morse' or new to 'Endeavour' will find plenty to enjoy, and while the pilot and first season are more accessible in tone they will still appreciate the darker route "Trove" and most of Season 2 takes.
Relationship between Morse and Thursday, which is like a father/son sort of chemistry, is entertaining and heartfelt with so much warmth. The pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting, lead and supporting, with Morse displaying more recognisable character quirks with each episode and as aforementioned it is impossible not to love his relationship with Thursday.
Shaun Evans as ever does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands. All the acting is very good, Anton Lesser has always been fine to me as Bright, the character and performance more sympathetic than usual, while Sean Rigby does a nice job as Strange and James Bradshaw would make Peter Woodthorpe proud. Abigail Thaw (John Thaw's own daughter) makes a more than welcome return, and the supporting cast, especially David Westhead and Jonathan Coy, are strong.
In conclusion, was let down by the ending but loved the rest of the episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox
As said in my review for the entire show two years ago, 'Endeavour' is not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well. It maintains everything that makes 'Inspector Morse' so good, while also containing enough to make it its own, and in my mind 'Inspector Morse', 'Lewis' and 'Endeavour' go perfectly well together.
Was very impressed by the pilot episode, even with a very understandable slight finding-its-feet feel (that is true of a lot of shows, exceptions like 'Morse' itself, 'A Touch of Frost' and 'Midsomer Murders', which started off great and were remarkably well established, are fairly few. The first episode of the first season "Girl" was a very welcome return, a fine episode in its own right and was even better. Morse's personality is more established with more obvious recognisable personality quirks and generally things feel more settled. Then there was "Fugue", which to me is one of the best episodes of 'Endeavour', while "Rocket" and "Home" just as good.
Even with an appreciatively darker tone than the first season, Season 2 starts very well with "Trove". To me it was let down somewhat by the ending, which was rather far-fetched and over-complicated with explanations that feel rushed or unsatisfyingly resolved.
However, the production values in "Trove" cannot be faulted. The episode is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal 'Inspector Morse' theme, and while the use of music isn't as ingenious as it was in "Fugue" for example it's hugely effective still.
Writing, even for so early on, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense as the previous episodes and as the best of 'Morse'. The story has tension, a good deal going on and little feels improbable or too obvious while being suitably complicated. There are plenty of red herrings and twists here, without being cluttered. Morse's struggles with coming back to work is very sensitively handled.
Loved all the 'Inspector Morse' references, like Morse's leg injury mirroring John Thaw's real life limp, seeing a younger Matthew Copley Barnes from "The Infernal Serpent", a younger Strange well before becoming superintendent, a younger Max, the antagonistic relationship with the masons seen in "Masonic Mysteries" and the Wolvercote Trove reminding one of "The Wolvercote Tongue". However, those not so familiar to 'Morse' or new to 'Endeavour' will find plenty to enjoy, and while the pilot and first season are more accessible in tone they will still appreciate the darker route "Trove" and most of Season 2 takes.
Relationship between Morse and Thursday, which is like a father/son sort of chemistry, is entertaining and heartfelt with so much warmth. The pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting, lead and supporting, with Morse displaying more recognisable character quirks with each episode and as aforementioned it is impossible not to love his relationship with Thursday.
Shaun Evans as ever does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands. All the acting is very good, Anton Lesser has always been fine to me as Bright, the character and performance more sympathetic than usual, while Sean Rigby does a nice job as Strange and James Bradshaw would make Peter Woodthorpe proud. Abigail Thaw (John Thaw's own daughter) makes a more than welcome return, and the supporting cast, especially David Westhead and Jonathan Coy, are strong.
In conclusion, was let down by the ending but loved the rest of the episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Masons
ygwerin122 May 2022
More machinations amongst the dreaming spires of Oxford, murder, suicide, politics party and feminist, theft of museum antiquities, Masonic skulduggery, a beauty pageant and a young woman missing from home. As these events happen individually they can be considered as quite separate, and distinct crimes in no way related to one another.
Endeavour shows supreme lack of tact along with arrogance, but his nous gets him into lumber that it's as well a new female acquaintance, is on hand to be of assistance in his hour of need.
Strange who has been keen to accept assistance in getting higher up the ranks and has advised Morse of the need for diligence in his studies, has apparently made a career defining choice.
Paradoxically Morse's diligence in doing his duty leaves him, with what is supposed to be an offer he can't refuse, by an allegedly upright citizen and pilar of the community.
Endeavour shows supreme lack of tact along with arrogance, but his nous gets him into lumber that it's as well a new female acquaintance, is on hand to be of assistance in his hour of need.
Strange who has been keen to accept assistance in getting higher up the ranks and has advised Morse of the need for diligence in his studies, has apparently made a career defining choice.
Paradoxically Morse's diligence in doing his duty leaves him, with what is supposed to be an offer he can't refuse, by an allegedly upright citizen and pilar of the community.
Its All In The Cast
susanhudek5322 November 2018
I adore this series and the reason is the cast. Even in the not so great episodes..it has greatness. The cast is one of the best in this genre of show. Shaun Evans..Roger Allam...Sean Rigby..and lets not forget my favorite..Anton Lesser, the man you love to hate, but changes in time. This is one of the most well rounded casts you're going to get. I haven't missed any episodes and eagerly awaiting the next. Watch them you won't be sorry
cheer up
sherlockshen23 April 2022
Morse came back. Expectedly. In fact, I have no idea about gunshot would. Therefore I lost some degree of empathy for what Morse behaved.
However, the scene was still good, and Morse was still blue. That's enough for me to keep enjoying.
The last scene meant a huge conspiracy? A mole in the department? Unfortunately, that is something I'm indifferent to.
However, the scene was still good, and Morse was still blue. That's enough for me to keep enjoying.
The last scene meant a huge conspiracy? A mole in the department? Unfortunately, that is something I'm indifferent to.
Worst episode so far. Still good.
vitoscotti3 June 2020
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