Endeavour (TV Series) Ride (2016) User Reviews

PBS, get a life

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 19 June 2016]

"Endeavor" is back for season 3 after a long hiatus - so long, in fact, that we sat there for the part of the episode "Ride" trying to remember why Endeavor had been in prison, and what had happened the last time we saw him, which seemed like 25 years ago. Would it have killed PBS to take one or two minutes of its non-advertising ads to recap the end of Season 2?

Season 3 finds Endeavor out of prison after being set up by corrupt colleagues, living in a shack in the woods, and having some sort of involvement with a rich crowd nearby.

When a young woman is found dead, Morse, not back at work, becomes peripherally involved. He is humiliated about being imprisoned and states that he is through with actual police work. He also blames himself for DI Thursday (Roger Allam) being shot. But DI Thursday points out that the shooting wasn't his fault. That, and an apology from Chief Superintendent Bright (Anton Lesser) gets him back to his desk to work on a complex case that involves another murder.

Season 3's first story is a cross between "The Great Gatsby" and "Prestige," as others have pointed out.

I can't correlate the young Morse with the older one, so I watch this series as if it is a separate entity.

Shaun Evans is wonderful in the lead. I really don't see this person developing into the character played by John Thaw, but he's very effective and attractive. I enjoyed hearing a bit of "Rigoletto" as well while he was enjoying a drink. He and Roger Allam work well together, and Allam's character is a strong one. Here's hoping that nasty Bright is a little nicer to our Morse this season.

Very good, and I'm really glad this series is back.

The Great Bixby

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 3 January 2016]

Set some time after the events of the last series DI Thursday has recovered from being shot and Morse has spent some time in prison after being framed by corrupt colleagues who have now been rooted out. Morse hasn't returned to work though; instead he is living in a ramshackle lakeside cabin that belongs to wealthy friends he knew when he was at university. Through them he meets the wealthy Joss 'Bix' Bixby; a self-made man whose past is a mystery. It isn't long before he is getting caught up in a mystery; the body of a young woman who disappeared from a nearby fun fair is found near where Morse is living. As the investigation continues several suspects emerge; both amongst Morse's wealthy friends and amongst the people working at the fair. The death toll also rises with a student overdosing in Oxford and Morse finding the body of a man who was shot on the face with a twelve bore.

This episode sees a welcome return for Oxford's favourite detective in a mystery that is clearly inspired by 'The Great Gatsby' with Bixby taking the Gatsby role. Personally I found this to be rather fun although I can understand how some may be irritated by it. If you are unaware of the connection is shouldn't affect your enjoyment of it. The mystery has plenty of twists and lots of suspects that should keep the viewer guessing… the ending was rather fun but even people who enjoyed it are likely to admit was a little far-fetched as well as a bit cliché. The cast do a fine job; Shaun Evans is nicely understated as the young Morse and Roger Allam is great as DI Thursday… it was a relief to learn that his character had survived the shooting in the previous episode. Overall an enjoyable episode that gets the new series off to a good start.

An immaculate start to the third Series. A clever and engaging mystery.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 10 January 2016]

After the events of Series 2's conclusion the Court close the case of Morse's shooting of Inspector Thursday. After the events Morse has escaped life and is living a reclusive life by the sea in a shack, attempts to draw him back to work fail, but the local death of a young red head at a fairground prompts Thursday to seek him out. Morse is hanging about with a group of idle rich, refusing Thursday's requests to return his natural curiosity takes him to the fair. One of Morse's new found friends is found dead, and a link between one and the dead girl is discovered.

Gorgeous filming, beautiful music, once again the Inspector Morse prequel feels beautifully in character to the Morse series, I firmly buy into him being Morse. It boasts wonderful production values as always, it really feels like it's been well put together.

I loved the whole 60's vibe they had going on with this episode, they totally nailed it.

This was a really clever, and very engaging mystery, if the remainder of the series is as good as this, then we're in for a treat. Shaun Evans and Roger Allam were as always brilliant. Enjoyed it very much 8/10

An engagingly clever if complicated ride

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 5 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 season was even better, with all the episodes being outstanding. Season 2 took a darker turn, but once again all the episodes were great (even with "Trove" having one of 'Endeavour's' most far-fetched and over-complicated endings, great episode otherwise), with the weakest one "Sway" still being very good.

Starting off Season 3, "Ride" is not on the same level as the absolutely exceptional "Neverland" (then again it is very hard to follow on from one of 'Endeavour's' best episodes), but a huge part of me couldn't help liking it a lot on the most part. Its biggest problem is the ending, which is even more far-fetched and over-complicated (to the point of incomprehensible convolution) than the ending for Season 2's "Trove" and the explanations did feel rather rushed through. Just for the record, following a story and understanding it fully is hardly ever a problem for me, there have been occasions like this and most even worse but usually my attention span is just fine.

Maybe there is a little too much filler at times too.

Conversely, as always, cannot fault the production values. It 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.

Writing, as has been said many times in my reviews for the previous 'Endeavour' episodes, is every bit as intelligent, entertaining and tense as the previous episodes and as the best of 'Morse'. The story is mostly very clever and engaging, and the 'Great Gatsby' and 'Prestige' influence and atmosphere was a great touch, a good deal happens and while suitably complicated it's rarely incoherent. What a relief too to see the shocking events at the end of "Neverland" resolved, really cannot imagine the show without Thursday or without the partnership between him and Morse or Morse in his situation he found himself in.

Morse and Thursday's father/son relationship, while even stronger later being more entertaining and heartfelt, has a lot of warmth, is so well written within the story and is a large part of the series' appeal. 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.

All in all, engaging and clever though with a disappointing ending. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This was AWESOME!!!

[shirleydobey-41580 · 10/10 · 10 May 2019]

I love it when I have to see episodes repeatedly in order to catch and understand everything. This is one of those episodes. It's definitely one of the reasons I enjoy Endeavour on Masterpiece. Great writers, directors, cast, et al. Keep up the good work!! P.S. I have David Oakes on autorecord now!

Excellent, as always.

[catherineboeckmann · 9/10 · 21 September 2020]

Excellent, as always. I was sort of waiting for Colin dexter to give a nod to Morse's past. Being at Oxford would mean that his life touches different parts of society. And, to be honest, he seems less awkward here than he is with the police folks. There's a nod to the romance that he had during his Oxford days. To idealistic? I'm not sure the episode provides enough motivation as to why he decided to go back to that police life, except that he finds a father figure and like-minded integrity in Thursday and loves solving puzzles. But we knew that before. He clearly doesn't want to do the police work. I think the end decision of which path to take finally makes him decide to sit for the police exam. I thought it was an excellent episode, reflecting a bit on his earlier life and his life today. It seems like quite a chasm; no wonder he's a bit schizophrenic about it all.

The Great Bixby

[Marrenp · 9/10 · 19 April 2022]

The Great Gatsby's murder in Oxfordshire... solved by Endeavour Carraway. Enough differences from Fitzgerald to make it worth the watching. A nice bridge from the previous season-ending cliff-hanger.

Watch it for the acting, not the plot

[LadyWesley · 6/10 · 6 July 2016]

Shaun Evans and Roger Allam are always wonderful to watch. I love the relationship between Morse and Thursday. Bright is allowed to become more human, and Anton Lesser does a fine job with his hesitant efforts to welcome back Morse into the fold. The entire ensemble is so good that I barely even care about the plot, which is this case was quite derivative (as other reviewers have pointed out).

The plot here is so convoluted that I couldn't follow it all (and I've read The Great Gatsby). There are just too many moving elements, and the eventual solution pulls in facts that haven't even been hinted at. Morse appears almost psychic, although the verbal tic that gives away the killer is clever. Here's hoping the writing improves.

"Sorry can't do anything about yesterday, but a new tomorrow, eh?"

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 2 June 2022]

Series 2 ended in an Oxford gunfight between corrupt local business and police grandees including ACC Clive Deare, and DI Reg Thursday, resulting in Deare and DI Thursday being shot, and Morse being arrested for Murder. It all revolved around ages old wide spread child abuse, at a local children's home entitled Blenheim Vale, business, council and police corruption.

Series 3 starts with Morse having been released from prison, feeling incredibly sorry for himself and living as a reclusive hermit, in a shack on land owned by well heeled relatives of a friend Anthony Donn, though quite how he came to be there is left untold.

The land in the surrounding area, and many of the people who own it, are old friends of Morse, who know him as Pagan Morse from his university days. They are all of wealthy and privileged stock, living dissolute existences, of drink, drugs, gambling, fast cars, each desperately chasing after the next adrenalin fix.

Two for the Price of One

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 26 January 2018]

I'm not one to throw stones, but for the first time, I didn't particularly enjoy an episode of this series. Morse has been released from prison and there are still bad guys out there, but.... He decides to hide out in a shack by a river, across from an enormous mansion, run by a Jay Gatsby kind of guy. Because of his connections to Oxford, he finds himself embraced by the masters of ennui! He goes to parties, invited by a former classmate, and wastes a lot of time. However, a young local woman has been run down. Thursday, who is experiencing respiratory problems after his shooting in the last episode, is on the case. Morse refuses to help at first because he feels so betrayed. I think, though, the plot is so convoluted, that I started needing a program to keep track of things. It also took so long to figure out who these people were. Of course, their snobby, self-centered being was a turnoff too. I'll be interested to see things going forward. It wasn't terrible, but the show has set a high standard.

An American Tune

[bhoover247 · 8/10 · 8 May 2022]

The highlight of this convoluted episode was to hear the Velvet Underground's lovely song "Sunday Morning" playing as Morse meets his new friends. I also noticed that all the rock songs from this show is from American artists. The Velvet Underground, The Electric Prunes, The 13th Floor Elevators, Herb Alpert, and Julie London. When you add that the story is influenced from the American novel "The Great Gatsby", I would have to say this episode is more influenced by America than Oxford.

Heard this one before?

[greenf74 · 7/10 · 1 February 2016]

Is it possible for former child actor Russell Lewis to write anything which doesn't contain multiple references to the earlier works of other people? He's forever doing it, not just in "Endeavour", but in his "Lewis" episodes, too. This particular segment is so blatantly pinched from Scott Fitzgerald that even the illiterates at the "Radio Times" noticed it, but it also has a surprise twist at the end which could hardly be more clearly derived from Christopher Priest's "The Prestige" (or, more likely, its 2006 movie version), and here and there can be found stray references to other things, too - a sinister fairground out of 1967's "Torture Garden", dark doings aboard its "Ghost Train" attraction (remember "Brighton Rock"?) and Morse interrupting a performance like Hitchcock's Richard Hannay in "The 39 Steps". Oh, and he gets to quote a famous line from "Citizen Kane" as if he'd just thought of it. It wasn't unenjoyable, by any means - but shouldn't Russell Lewis be inventing his own stories?

Daisy Chain

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 3 January 2016]

If Russell Lewis, who claimed a writer credit for this episode had an ounce of conscience to say nothing of decency he'd give the writing credit to F. Scott Fitzgerald for he has ripped off The Great Gatsby and flaunted it, sprinkling evidence like thousand island dressing on trifle. Consider: in Fitzgerald's novel, Jay Gatz, a nobody from nowhere reinvented himself as Jay Gatsby; in Ride a similar character reinvents himself as Joss Bixby; what was the reason? in both cases it was love of a woman in a higher social bracket. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, lives in a shack at Great Neck, Long Island, next door to a mansion owned by the 'mysterious' millionaire Gatsby. In Ride, Endeavour Morse, on his release from prison, takes up residence in a shack by a lack and, like Carraway, is befriended by the millionaire neighbour, Gatsby/Bixby. In each case the girl in question is married to a brutal bully who keeps a working class mistress, in the novel she is the wife of a mechanic, in Ride she is a bus conductress; both women wind up dead, victims of car accidents. We even get the dialogue from the novel where Gatsby is incredulous when Nick says you can't turn back the clock and replies of course you can.Lewis should be drummed out of the Writers Guild assuming they'd have him in the first place.

The Great Gatsby sprinkled with The Prestige

[gandhi-cv · 7/10 · 6 February 2016]

Relieved to see Thursday alive and Morse back in business. Great performances, good music, amazing locations - all as usual.

But the story is a ripoff, even the name 'Bixby' rhymes with 'Gatsby'. May be it was supposed to be a tribute, but something original would have been appreciated more. And if that were not enough, they also copied the already overly copied twist from 'The Prestige'.

Overall, an engaging episode with several plot twists. Liked the way in which Morse's inner battle is shown through out the episode. And how the external events eventually help him resolve his internal battle and find his true calling.

Good but bit unoriginal

[Unknowntoyou · 7/10 · 1 March 2021]

This episode reminds me of the great Gatsby by f. Scott Fitzgerald.. Maybe with a lot of other twists:). Good episode but not original.

One of my favourites to watch, in spite of the absurd plot

[aeszeki · 6/10 · 20 June 2022]

The story is difficult to believe, disjointed and full of plot holes but I like watching it. I like seeing Morse socialising, making friends. I kind of want that for him, although I know it's not meant to be, long term. I also like Bright's attempt at an apology.

This being said, I wish they paid much more attention to details in this one:

• Really, nobody noticed in the opening scene that they say "DS Morse"? - he hasn't even taken the exam yet.

• Does Morse need to turn around, for no reason, and look at the police car leaving (in the woods), so that he can find the clue on the ground?!

• Does Thursday really need to look down the street, again, for no apparent reason, as if he "sensed" Monica was around there?

• Wasting so much time with the old, cheap stereotype where the policemen explain to the criminals what they have done.

... and many, many others, scenes that make no sense, feel artificial and forced.

All that is holding this one together is the cast.

The Great Gatsby meets Hercule Poirot

[fredpolvere · 1/10 · 26 June 2016]

This was the worst off all possible episodes - apologies to Leibniz.

It barely touched the surface as a followup to Neverland. In fact, it cheapened Neverland in explaining it away.

The story was convoluted, incomprehensible and had so much filler that it could have been cut in half and not lost anything.

The Bixby parallel to Gatsby was silly and contrived. It was laughable old man.

The ending was straight out of Poirot where we hear a long explanation which ties together facts that are not even hinted at in the story.

Hopefully, this is a one-off else, I will Endeavor to spend my time elsewhere.

glad but confused, a mixed story line and my mixed feeling

[sherlockshen · 7/10 · 27 May 2022]

Yes, I can see the the cross of "The Great Gatsby" and the mixed story line is quite interested, but I still didn't get the point of the plot.

Another confusing point is Morse's feeling about he has to do the detective things? Why? How to come to that conclusion?

What surprise me most is the behaviour of Bright, kind of please me.

Great acting. Plot doesn't hold water.

[kristinbauer1 · 7/10 · 25 August 2023]

I watch all the better murder mystery shows, really none of them hold water.

Best to watch them for the production value, the homes! The period costumes and the Acting.

In this plot....the whole thing is based on twins and one Of them having to live a life "in the dark" hidden and their Dad having flipped a coin for which one had to "live in the dark". What??? It wouldn't work that way. It'd be 1000 times easier to just not have them go to the corner store at the same time, wouldn't it folks? Every other Thursday you take an alternate boy to the movies. It'd be really really hard to keep one in a closet! And who is He hiding them from?? They're a TRAVELING carnival.

It's a concept and a Silly one.

You just dress them the same as people often do, and they Just don't go to the play ground together. But then you don't have an episode I suppose. Actually...this episode didn't need this bit of amateur psychology at all! "One twin made in to a killer over being locked in "the dark" (what does that even mean? No light bulb even?) - so dumb. All we needed to know was twins! One killed and impersonated The other. Then it would have held a bit more water!

Twins was the hook! Not Sophie's choice!!

Super silly the writer tried to be extra "clever"!

These things always fall apart!

Must be hard to write a good mystery. I haven't seen one yet. Some Poirot episodes (very few) hold together. (But not THAT show is eye candy!)

Oh well...I'll try to hang in there as the actors are wonderful.

Very disappointing

[vitoscotti · 4/10 · 1 September 2020]

A marvelous lead-in opportunity from the previous episode poorly handled. An important time of Morse's life with a story that layed an egg. I hope this fiasco doesn't taint future episodes with it's stench. The premise of Morse being down and out living with partying rich high rollers wouldn't be logical with a man recovering from deep trauma. When Morse rejoins the force the story regains it's thunder, but quickly nosedived with an ending that could have been interesting, but was too clever for its own good. Vito S 9-1-20

Episode was disjointed and seemed like the author was just going through the motions.

[frankli-71448 · 1/10 · 26 June 2016]

This episode did not seem logical or coherent to me. Other reviewers mentioned the 3 year imprisonment of Morse. I thought I saw the previous episodes, but I don't remember this. My wife thinks she remembers the last episode (season 2). I don't remember it. They should have had some sort of review.

I don't want to get into spoilers. Let's just say none of the plot made sense to me. There's a carnival involved. There's a rich guy involved. There are killings, but none of the stuff flowed. Let's just say the ending was pulled out of someone's (other) brain. In my opinion, a good who done-it would allow the viewer to make some informed guess as to the guilty party. I guess the authors had a different idea. There is absolutely no way that the plot flows from one event to another. It's just a bunch of drama that only Morse can solve, but there's really no way he could have figured it out. Maybe I will try to watch this again some time to see if I missed salient points because right now it seemed very, very disjointed to me.

If you don't like The Great Gatsby, this episode is probably not for you

[keraDK · 2/10 · 19 January 2016]

I think The Great Gatsby is a really boring story, and one could almost say this episode of Endeavour is, not just inspired by, but based on the novel. I guess the episode was made with nothing but respect for Fitzgerald because it is almost as terrible as the original. The only good part of the episode was the mandatory murder mystery, but it is more like a small side story. It does however put a nice twist to the Gatsby plot. The storyline follows that of Gatsby a great deal, but there are small differences that makes it more bearable because they show up sometimes where you don't expect it.

I love watching Endeavour and other British crime shows, and this episode does not live up to my expectations of such. But I guess if you like the Gatsby/Fitzgerald world, you might think differently.

Even worse than the previous episode and just a pathetic parody of one of my favorite works

[znatokdetectiva · 5/10 · 17 October 2020]

I really love the detective series "Endeavour", in my opinion, this is a great prequel to"Inspector Morse" (one of the best detective shows in fact) and a good show in itself. "Endeavour "started with a solid pilot episode and got even better with "Girl" and "Fugue", two very solid episodes of the show, after which the first season ended with two decent episodes of "Rocket" and "Home". The second season got even better and darker, with the only bad episode "Neverland". After the controversial finale of season 2 of "Neverland", I was really very interested in how this story will end in season 3, but I was disappointed. To begin with, "Ride" - the first episode of the season - not only doesn't actually continue the "Neverland" story, but it also doesn't tell its own story well. It tries to be a kind of English version of "The Great Gatsby" (one of my favorite works), but it does it so clumsily (Bixby=Gatsby, are You serious?!) that it turns out something wildly funny and ridiculous. The detective story itself is not bad in idea, but disgusting in execution and this episode should be one of the winners among the episodes of this show in the category "The most poorly thought out and stupid scenario". I would like to love this episode, but there is nothing good in it, except for a couple of unexpected plot twists and a good idea. All in all, a terrible episode, both in terms of continuing the previous season and on its own terms, and one of the weakest and wackiest episodes of the show. 5/10

Just bad storytelling

[sven-23418-48966 · 1/10 · 15 September 2022]

The last episode of season 2 ends with Thursday being shot and Morse in prison. Jakes is traumatized, Strange unsure about his loyalties. Bright is the idiot he has always been. And even with Deare dead, the conspiracy is still ongoing.

The suspenseful ending leaves the viewer with one question: How will they get out of this? Who will come to their help in the end?

Then season 3 starts. And instead of continuing the storyline, the plot is some silly homage to the Great Gatsby. Where is the conspiracy? How did Morse get out of jail? Who stepped up while our two heroes were incapacitated?

There are brief references to these events but ultimately absolutely nothing is explained. None of the questions are answered. All the characters are basically back to their old selves. Jakes is a cool inspector again, Strange is Morse's loyal friend again and so on.

There is a trick in a lot of bad TV shows: Building suspense by suggesting that something will happen but nothing ever happening in the end. Endless cliffhangers that lead to nowhere but trick the viewer into thinking everything will be resolved at some point and to keep watching. Then the show ends and the viewer realizes it was bad writing all along.

I still think that Endeavour is a good show but it sunk to a very low point here.

Desperate plot mashup Great Gatsby meets uncanny tales

[wantourhouse · 2/10 · 27 January 2022]

Frankly, this episode is the least cohesive and hence enjoyable of the whole series. The elements that aren't, as noted, shamelessly cribbed from the 'Great Gatsby' are strongly reminiscent of plots of 60's comics. In my youth comics such uncanny tales were full of identical murderous twins and sinister funfair magicians but frankly I prefer my entertainment these days to be a tautly plotted detective show with a satisfying denouement. Better still, something pitched in the realms of the possible, if not the probable world.