#Endeavour: scherzo

[oeuvrinarydurian]

Throwing out a One-Word Wednesday, largely because I’ve been working on the S7 project all night and I don’t want to say good night to Morse yet, but I can’t stare at my monitor anymore.

Given my headspace, today’s word is… Angst.

It’s so prevalent, I can’t believe we haven’t gotten to it already. 

I’m going for a little bit of a curveball, because I’m not going for the most overtly angsty image.

Instead, I’m going for a more subtle angst.

This is immediately following the big “I didn’t give her cancer” scene in ‘Scherzo’.

Win brought him an aspirin and he’s just about finished with the glass of water. It’s the very end of their scene.

“I’m sorry you’ve had a bad go”.

He’s exhausted, he’s hung over, he’s drained, he’s devastated, he seems heartsick, and I get all of that from a shot from the rear, over his shoulder, of a profile. 

[morsesnotes]

I didn't give her cancer, and you can't blame me all your life.

[oeuvrinarydurian]

I never paid much attention to this scene until I realized a couple of months ago that she brought him water and an aspirin for his hangover. It’s now one of my favorite scenes. Poor Morsey.



"I was in Blackpool with the ATS for two years during the war. And there was this man, he kept asking me if he could measure my feet. I know it takes all sorts but..there we go."

[xserpx]

"And you know all about it, I’m sure. Because you went to Oxford. But you didn't finish it, though, did you? For all your books, and your poetry, and your snooty music. You failed."

ENDEAVOUR 8.02 Scherzo

[too-antigonish]

A Bit on Music in Endeavour

A favorite musical moment in Endeavour is at around 04min45s in Scherzo (S8E2) where you hear Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of Tristan und Isolde. Morse has it going on his record player while he dresses for work. We’ve just come off of the first episode of S8 and we’ve seen the degree to which he is starting to fall apart. He’s a mess really. Perfect time for some Wagner.

If you don’t know about Wagner, he was a horrible human being, but an innovative composer. Tristan und Isolde, in particular, is considered a real turning point in composition because of its very intentional use of dissonance. It’s so significant, in fact, that the very first chord you hear in this piece is actually referred to as the “Tristan chord”—one of only about a dozen or so “named” chords in the western musical canon. 

The chord just…aches. There’s a really intense urge to hear it move on to its harmonic resolution. You want it to get better!

And this particular prelude is at the beginning of Act III, so if you know the opera, you start to picture it in your mind…

…As Act III opens, Tristan is lies mortally wounded. His faithful servant waits for the arrival of Isolde, the only one who has the power to heal Tristan. A shepherd lad has been instructed to signal the servant by playing a tune on his pipes when the ship carrying Isolde is sighted. They wait, listening. Surely help will arrive in time to save the dying man…

Nope. It’s Gwen. 

Another favorite is in Neverland at about 15min. Monica and Morse are in a cozy, domestic scene. He’s doing the crossword. She’s darning a sock. She asks if he’s happy and somewhere along the line you realize that they’re listening to the beginning of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (basically a musical retelling of the crucifixion). By the first time I saw that episode, I’d learned enough about how they used music in the series to guess that things were about to go very, very wrong. There actually was going to be a crucifixion of sorts.

There are so many instances where they use music (both classical—and if you you are lucky enough to be watching the UK versions—popular as well) to either foreshadow or pull a bait-and-switch or to reference another work or otherwise give a scene additional layers of meaning.

It’s just beautifully done—but it’s also done gently. It’s done in such a way that those not “in the know” aren’t left on the outside. There’s nothing crucial that you’re going to miss out on, but at the same time it’s great fun when you see it.

[endeavourfiles]

PAST CASES RETURN.... IN CROSSWORD (PRELUDE s09/01)

At the beginning of the episode Endeavour, after the "detox treatment", sits relaxed and calm on a bench doing a crossword. The newspaper is after strangely placed in the foreground : unusually full of black boxes, only 4 words are written NEVERLAND, COLOURS, ICARUS and SCHERZO.

Why that specific shot and why those four episodes? Since nothing is left to chance in Endeavour, I thought about the possible references....

Each of those titles refers to a sad or threatening past that is about to fall on Morse again in this episode.

NEVERLAND: Blenheim Vale abuse scandal.

COLOURS: Sam Thursday and his traumatic return after military prison.

ICARUS : Corruption in Oxford Police and the return of Ronnie Box.

SCHERZO: Corruption in London Police and also the new relationship between Joan and Jim.

All things are making an ominous return for Endeavour: of course then , at the end of Prelude, we see Morse was back at pub to drink a lonely pint, was back to the man we know he'll become.

I agree. Those episodes are important to how the story ends.

[too-antigonish]

My general opinion of Scherzo has always been that it's the best episode of a bad season--and Gwen is its saving grace.

<<Gwen, the evil Stepmother with a twist of Hyacinth Bucket. Pretty much the star of this whole episode. She's so real: spiteful and petty and overbearing, she's the Dolores Umbridge of Endeavour. >>

Yes! She is so exquisitely, nails-on-a-chalkboard awful—and the way Evans and Lynda Rook play off each other is pitch perfect.

There's being clever with your references, and so on the nose that they're cringeworthy. For me, Mark Lunn as an exact duplicate of Morse's past is exactly that. I just find it unbearable clumsy--I can see what RL was trying to do, it just doesn't work for me at all. 

This was one that I can't quite believe they let through. Storytelling-wise, I like what they were getting at. What puzzles me is that it would *not* have been terribly difficult to achieve the sorts of parallels they were looking for without undercutting the premise by making it so blatantly obvious. Why then?

<<This is one of those episodes that would be twice as good with half the references. Also, the Nudist camp? RL says this episode is supposed to be a commentary on sexuality, so I do see how that would fit in with blue films and "living in sin" themes of this episode, but I also think Gwen is a weird B plot if so. >>

Half the references and half the plot-bunnies. My theory on how Gwen-as-B-plot ties into the sexuality theme is that he's tying marriage/divorce to sex. RL talks in an interview somewhere (can't place it right now) about the intense stigma of divorce in the 60s and how divorce at that point was still very much tied to "loose morals"—which it was. He goes into how much that would have affected Morse's life as a child. Then you've got Morse telling her, "I should've stayed at home and drove a taxi like my father, and then got one of the local girls knocked up," which could be referring to either Gwen or his mother—but either way he's implying things. You can add to that Dudley Lunn sleeping around and the all-too-exact parallel of his marriage/child/divorce with Morse's father. And then there's Baz married to a woman but sleeping with men. Is he gay and the marriage is a lie? Is he bisexual and the marriage is just limiting?

<<I find the Strange-Joan date strangely compelling. Honestly, though, since Joan is a lot like Thursday, Strange is supposed to be the Win in this pairing: which he sort of suits? >>

This is actually the only bit in the whole Joan-Strange plot line that I actually find genuinely believable. It's well-written and well-played. The motivations on both sides work for me. I can easily see Jim having a bit of a crush on Joan and assuming she's out of his league but thinking she would certainly be kind enough to go to the ball with him as a friend. I can see Joan happy to dress up and have a night out—purely as a friend—and then being rather surprised by a better-than-expected time with someone who has a bit more depth to him than she had thought.

<< "I didn't kill her." And the direct contrast with Win afterwards?!? Is this not the best scene in the last 2 series? ME: why did they so underuse Gwen??? >>

Yes! I will repeat after you: Best scene in the last 2 series!!!!!

<<Now would be a good time to leave the Masons, Jim. Has it been 3 Grandmasters killed or implicated in 7 years? But they "do a lot of charity work." Please tell me we get some justification that Strange needs to keep a lookout on the inside or something.>>

Grrr…Nope. Just more, "Strange has to be in the Masons for IM and therefore Strange will inexplicably stay in the Masons despite everything his more than ample common sense would be telling him."

10. Thursday in London! Okay, yep, yep, death threat, return death threat, the perfect enunciation of those hard 'c's in "I don't care whose coat you're carrying." 

I *love* Thursday in London. I would happy to just watch Thursday walk around being Thursday and doing nothing else--in London.

11. I think the semaphore plotline is totally ridiculous but I actually like it a lot and wish it had been more used. 

The way they play it is ridiculous. Both the motive and logic of it make no real sense. But I love it too because it's sooo Morse (and very Colin Dexter Morse) and done well it could be ridiculous in a *good* way.

12. Oooh the scene at the end. There's so much to unpack there! [Placeholder for thinking about that here]. +150 pts to Thursday for a great Dad pun. 

That pun is one of my favorite lines in the whole series. On certain occasions it rather sums up Morse.

Also bonus points to Scherzo for how well the following bit was played:

STRANGE: I'm a policeman. JONES: And I'm a former major with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. But the naturist world takes us as it finds us, Mr… STRANGE: ...Detective Sergeant Strange, Thames Valley.

endeavour musings, xvii

featuring: Scherzo (s8e2)

Gwen, the evil Stepmother with a twist of Hyacinth Bucket. Pretty much the star of this whole episode. She's so real: spiteful and petty and overbearing, she's the Dolores Umbridge of Endeavour.

This is one of those episodes that would be twice as good with half the references. Also, the Nudist camp? RL says this episode is supposed to be a commentary on sexuality, so I do see how that would fit in with blue films and "living in sin" themes of this episode, but I also think Gwen is a weird B plot if so.

Pauline Lunn is a fantastic character and I wanted to see way more of her.

Suddenly + randomly Thursday is talking about his kids to everyone. I get that it's to remind us that Sam exists since it's going to be the big climax of S8 and we haven't seen in him...(checks wiki)...3 years. But also, seems careless there, Fred.

There's being clever with your references, and so on the nose that they're cringeworthy. For me, Mark Lunn as an exact duplicate of Morse's past is exactly that. I just find it unbearable clumsy--I can see what RL was trying to do, it just doesn't work for me at all.

featuring Fred Thursday's Traumatic Backstory

MORSE: What will he have had in his wallet, £10, £15, £20? Would you kill someone for that? THURSDAY: I've seen people killed for less.

7. I find the Strange-Joan date strangely compelling. Honestly, though, since Joan is a lot like Thursday, Strange is supposed to be the Win in this pairing: which he sort of suits?

8. "I didn't kill her." And the direct contrast with Win afterwards?!? Is this not the best scene in the last 2 series? ME: why did they so underuse Gwen???

9. Now would be a good time to leave the Masons, Jim. Has it been 3 Grandmasters killed or implicated in 7 years? But they "do a lot of charity work." Please tell me we get some justification that Strange needs to keep a lookout on the inside or something. 10. Thursday in London! Okay, yep, yep, death threat, return death threat, the perfect enunciation of those hard 'c's in "I don't care whose coat you're carrying." 11. I think the semaphore plotline is totally ridiculous but I actually like it a lot and wish it had been more used. 12. Oooh the scene at the end. There's so much to unpack there! [Placeholder for thinking about that here]. +150 pts to Thursday for a great Dad pun.

[moezamir]

Endeavour S08 E02 Scherzo Opening WHIMSICAL SPY

[waffowo]

As much as I dislike Timeless Child for its execution, I actually have warmed up to it conceptually than originally. I think what I respect about Chibnall (I always found his era more over-hated and the criticisms not in the correct places) is that he does have a degree of ambition lacking in some other parts but is just unable to execute it as well as Moffat. My breaking point when I realised fixating on it is a worthless endeavour is when I listened to Neverland/Zagreus/Scherzo and realised lore in Doctor Who is nonsensical and I should just not give a fuck.

We as a society need to give up on a rigid continuity even if it’s contradictory.

[morsesnotes]

[Divorce] is difficult for many a child. To some degree they always blame themselves.

Endeavour Morse + trying to save his childhood self troubled kids

[too-antigonish]

This is one of the best scenes in the entire run of the show—the writing, the acting, the staging, the way it's shot.

And everything rests on the fact that they never overplayed their hand-—not with a single element.

Fidget Friday: Complex Layered Acting Edition

*drags self out of shallow end of the pool*

OK, yeah: we got that tongue fidget and a flick of a cigarette.

But what kills me about this fragment of a scene is Evans’ reaction from

What.The.Fuck.Did.I.Just.Hear?

to

Shit, she’s right…

to

God, how much do I despise this woman?

[adventure-showdown]

What has been nominated so far

Note, just because something has been nominated, and so is listed here, does not mean it will be included, I will include the absolute most I can but if I can't find it on TARDIS wiki its not getting in because i can't verify its a piece of who media

Also note, there might be some mistakes on here, I'm copying the nominations across directly, there might be some stories that are listed twice without me realising, because of alternate titles, or I just didn't spot it, or stuff that was spelt wrong when it was nominated, feel free to tell me

I've done my best to spot when nominations of a series were intended to enter the individual parts rather than the series as a unit, if I've got this wrong let me know and I will fix it. (if a story is on one line its currently being considered as a unit)

Final note, a couple of things got nominated under multiple mediums, usually full length TV story and minisode, so if you can't find your nomination, maybe check one of the other mediums

You can make further nominations here, there are basically no limits so long as its set in the Whoniverse (or its about Doctor Who, eg An Adventure in Space and Time or The 5 (ish) Doctors Reboot)

the list is under the cut (I will endeavour to keep it up to date)

Audio

Main Range

The Marian Conspiracy

The Apocalyse Element

The Shadow of the Scourge

The Holy Terror

Storm Warning

Minuet in Hell

Loups-Garoux

The Chimes of Midnight

Seasons of Fear

The Time of the Daleks

Jubilee

Neverland

Spare Parts

Creatures of Beauty

Doctor Who and the Pirates

Omega

Master (Main Range 49)

Zagreus

Scherzo

The Natural History of Fear

Arrangements for War

The Harvest

Faith Stealer

Caerdroia

Terror Firma

Singularity

Other Lives

The Kingmaker

The Girl Who Never Was

The Condemned

The Doomwood Curse

The Magic Mousetrap

The Company of Friends: Benny's Story

The Company of Friends: Fitz's Stroy

The Company of Friends: Izzy's Story

The Company of Friends: Mary's Story

A Death in the Family

Robophobia

The Silver Turk

1963: The Assassination Games

The Widow's Assassin

Dalek Soul

The Grey Man of the Mountain

The Eighth Doctor Adventures

The Blood of the Daleks

Horror of Glam Rock

Immortal Beloved

Phobos

No More Lies

Human Resources

To the Death

Doom Coalition

The Eleven

The Red Lady

The Galileo Trap

The Gift

The Sonomancer

Absent Friends

The Eighth Piece

The Doomsday Chronometer

The Crucible of Souls

Ship in a Bottle

Songs of Love

The Side of the Angels

Stop the Clock

Ravenous

Escape from Kaldor

Better Watch Out/Fairytale in Salzburg

Companion Piece

Day of the Master

Stranded

Stranded as a Whole (I think, I couldn't find a story called Stranded)

UNIT Dating

What Lies Inside

Paradox of the Daleks

Connections

Here Lies Drax

The Love Vampires

Albie's Angels

Special Releases

Living Legend

Out of Time

Out of Time (individual story)

Wink

The Companion Chronicles

Solitaire

Peri and the Piscon Paradox

The Cold Equations

The Last Post

The Scorchies

The Tenth Doctor Adventures

Death and the Queen

The Sword of the Chevalier

No Place

The Creeping Death

The Tenth Doctor and River Song

Expiry Dating

Ghosts

Once and Future

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50

The Diary of River Song

The Bekdel Test

The Lost Stories

The Queen of Time

Paradise 5

The Elite

Short Trips

I am the Master

Forever Fallen

A Full Life

Bernice Summerfield

Oh No It Isn't

The Faction Paradox Protocols

The Eleven Day Empire/The Shadow Play

Torchwood

The Last Beacon

Serenity

Rhys and Ianto's Excellent Barbecue

Gallifrey

Square One

First Days of Phaidon

Gallifrey IV

Warfare

Unity

Missy

A Spoonful of Mayhem

The Lumiat

Too Many Masters

The Paternoster Gang: Heritage

The Cars That Ate London!

A Photograph to Remember

Destiny of the Doctor

Smoke and Mirrors

Novel Adaptations

Nightshade

Fifth Doctor Box Set

Psychodrome

Iterations of I

Psychodrome

Iterations of I

Counter-Measures

The Fifth Citadel

The Forgotten Village

Peshka

The Concrete Cage

The New Counter Measures

Troubled Waters

The Hollow King

The Eighth of March

Inside Every Warrior

Comics

TV Comic

Time in Reverse

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor

Space in Dimension Relative and Time

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor

Old Friends

Doctor Who Magazine

The Star Beast

Voyager

The World Shapers

Ground Zero

The Flood

The Fallen

The Land of Happy Endings

Direct to Home Media Films

PROBE

PROBE: The Zero Imperative

PROBE: The Devil of Winterborne

PROBE: Unnatural Selection

PROBE: Ghosts of Winterborne

PROBE: When to Die

The Stranger

The Stranger: Summoned by Shadows

The Stranger: More than a Messiah

The Stranger: In Memory Alone

The Stranger: The Terror Game

The Stranger: Breach of the Peace

The Stranger: Eye of the Beholder

Other

Downtime

Shada (1992) - version with linking narration

Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor

Wartime

K9 (spinoff series)

Regeneration/Liberation/The Korven

The Bounty Hunter

Sirens of Ceres

Fear Itself

The Fall of the House of Gryffen

Jays of Orthrus

Dream-Eaters

Curse of Anubis

Oroborus

Alien Avatar

Aeolian

The Last Oak Tree

Black Hunger

The Cambridge Spy

Lost Library of Ukko

Mutant Copper

The Custodians

Taphony and the Time Loop

Robot Gladiators

Mind Snap/Angel of the North/The Last Precinct/Hounds of the Korven/The Eclipse of the Korven

Minisodes

A Fix with Sontarans

Born Again

Clara and the TARDIS

Dimensions in Time

Emperor of the Daleks (More than 30 Years in the TARDIS)

famine appeal 1986

Merry Christmas Doctor Who

P.S.

Pond Life

Rain Gods

Space/Time

Tardisodes

The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later

The Bells of Saint John: A Prequel

The Doctor's Meditation

The Great Detective

The Last Day

The Naked Truth

The Shrink

Time Crash

Wall's Sky Ray lollies advertisment

Seret Message from the Time Lords (Weetabix advert)

Novels & Short Stories

Short Stories and Short Story Collections

12 Doctors, 12 Stories

Grey Matter

Lepidoptery for Beginners

Something Borrowed

Nothing at the End of the Lane

The Room With All the Doors

Standalone

Harvest of Time

Scratchman

The Stranger

Engines of War

The Eighth Doctor Adventures

Vampire Science

Alien Bodies

Seeing I

The Scarlet Empress

Unnatural History

Interference

The Blue Angel

The Burning

The Turing Test

The Year of Intelligent Tigers

The City of the Dead

The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Anachrophobia

The Book of the Still

The Crooked World

Camera Obscura

The Gallifrey Chronicles

The Past Doctor Adventures

Divided Loyalties

Fear of the Dark

Fear Itself

Novelisations

Doctor Who and Shada (fan novelisation)

Virgin New Adventures

The Left-Handed Hummingbird

Human Nature

Lungbarrow

Faction Paradox

The Book of War

This Town Will Never Let Us Go

Of the City of the Saved

The New Series Adventures

The Blood Cell

Other

Step Into the 80s!/On Through the 80's! (adverts)

Ronald Rat continuity announcement

Zygon: When Being you Just isn't Enough (Porno)

The Man From MI5

The Infinite Quest

Dooms Day hour 1

Songs

Doctor in Distress

Doctorin' the TARDIS by the Timelords

I'm gonna Spend my Christmas with a Dalek

TV (this category is less about if it was televised and more about the length to distinguish it from minisodes)

Dreamland

Search Out Space

Webcasts

Real Time

Shada (2 nominations)

[the-aleator]

endeavour musings xix

featuring: Exeunt i

MORSE: "Is that it?" CONDUCTOR: "That's it."

1. I just watched this last night, and the rest of the season in the last week or so. This is probably not the only thing I'll write on this (and the show as a whole), but I had to write something because, well, that's it. So, you can call this a bit of a first impressions post, reacting in the cooldown of the moment. And honestly? I'm a bit disappointed. And hurt -- if I'm allowed to be such a thing about a fictional show with made-up characters. One of the lessons you learn as a musician is that what the audience remembers is the beginning and the end: those are the two bits you have to land and land well. And Exeunt? Well, it's a bit of a mess isn't it? Every time I start thinking about it, I feel the need to launch a separate monograph, so I'll just stick to what's churning the most. Caveat lector.

2. Fred Thursday is not a murderer. He absolutely killed Tomahawk, but what is clearly depicted on screen is self defence. Tomahawk has verbally threatened Sam, he has a knife out, Thursday tells him to be "on [his] way" and Tomahawk replies he'll "do for the pair of them," and tries to stab Thursday. Thursday at this moment is unarmed, has not provoked him or threatened him--he has no intention of killing him. We later learn that Tomahawk in particular has two convictions for GBH, and is wanted for attempted murder. Thursday is more than twice his age, clearly ill, and under an immense amount of stress. Thursday even calls it "instinct." What little we are shown is absolutely self defence. The fact that even TvTropes lists Thursday as having "murdered" Tomahawk ! There are a lot of other unvoiced problems I have with this scenario, but the fact that the show managed to leave this ambiguous for viewers really bugs me. Laying everything else about Thursday aside, I don't think Morse would ever cover up an actual murder or attempted murder. Even for Thursday.  

3. Yes, the Requiem, Morse closing his heart forever, everyone is dead to him, etc etc. I'm not trying to be trivial, I did think it was a beautiful fitting meta ending, but also, I do think it doesn't really work. Do I think it's a lovely mirror action of the Pilot? Absolutely. Do I think it works as a last scene? Yes. Is it beautiful? Yes. But does it wooooork to cast off Endeavour for IM? For me? No. The man who is IM tries over and over to let people in; to the point where his desperation blinds him to people who are murderers (should I say especially murderesses?). His old university professors, his old friends, random drunks he meets in pubs, the old guy around the corner with his car, Adele, Strange, Lewis. He still loves Joyce, and eventually his niece / nephew. He has an extended correspondence all over the world. Whatever he thinks of Gwen (you know, the stepmother who drove him to think about suicide as a teenager, and contributed to his serious drinking problem in Scherzo), he still helps take care of her in a nursing home. This is not a man who's closed his heart forever. 

4. The way the show treats Morse's alcoholism and Sam's alcoholism / drug problem or dealing. I'm sorry, but what? Magical wand waved, and Morse has managed to get sober, go back to drinking but only in an as-needed way as the plot demands? The same thing with Sam, he's been wandering around in a drunken stupor for three episodes but now magically, at the end, he's bright-eyed, cleaned up and going to join the police. I do think this is a serious flaw of this season, and of the show as a whole, standing in the shadow of both Book!Morse and Thaw!Morse, where alcoholism is treated in a much more realistic and sophisticated way. 

5. Justice and redemption: these have been our key motifs throughout the seasons. I do think part of the issue with Exeunt for me on a philosophical level is the loss of exactly what thrilled and consoled me about Deguello. Which is that Morse finally has to face up to the fact that ideal justice isn't possible. It's not just the dilemma with Thursday either. We have Jakes too, who shows up at BV because " It's like half of me has always been here.  Half of me never left," and wanting to know about Peter Williams. And Morse (we assume) can't tell him for the same reason he can't tell Thursday: because Peter Williams was dead a long time ago. He can never "find" him for Jakes. He can never get justice for either Peter. Half of Peter Jakes will always be at BV. In some sense, it's just like Morse all over: justice for the dead is an answer that can be gotten because the dead no longer have questions, or change, or live. They are a book to be read, a puzzle to be solved. But in Deguello, into that gap -- which is always there, in justice-- stepped mercy and the hope of redemption.  Box: "The world is bent.  Always has been. We can't fix it." Thursday:  "We can try." We don't get that hope here -- and that's what feels like a kick in the teeth about this ending. Justice, suum cuique, is impossible, and thus drives away Morse. There is no redemption; this death is the end. 

6. Morse is once again saved by the narrative. Those bikers just neatly showed up so Morse never has to kill anyone. I don't know how many times I've pointed this out over the course of 36 episodes, but unlike Thursday, Morse is never faced with that final dilemma: it's always taken away from him by deus ex machina.  Even in this episode: Lott shoots at Thursday, and he has to defend his brother and himself. There's no one to save him. Tomahawk tries to stab him and Sam, and he has to defend himself. There's no one to save him. And yet, Morse is saved here just like every other single time Morse is saved by the narrative. 

7. The Joan / Morse plotline and wedding fantasy. I didn't think they put in the work to show us a happy Joan/Strange wedding but making it Morse-centric really is something else.

8.  One of the themes about this episode / season in particular is straight out of 1850 and I Do Not Like It. We've learned, over the course of 9 seasons, that Thursday's background is the worst in the show (save perhaps Jakes). His father was an abusive alcoholic, he grew up in extreme poverty in the East End (an outside privy, "one for every eight houses. 20 families." Quartet), and as a result of that he is personally known to many of the villains who come from the East End: Vic Kasper, Eddie Nero, Ken Drury, Mickey Flood. Arthur Lott, the Big Bad, is his former bagman. Charlie, his brother, is responsible for involving him in a long term fraud ("My whole life. Everything I've worked for. You've dragged me into the sewer." Icarus), which as of Exeunt was revealed to be a blind, just so Lott would have something on Thursday--we're not actually sure how much Charlie is involved but he clearly has serious connections to Lott ( Lott: "It's only being Charlie's brother that's kept you above ground.") Thursday is betrayed and stolen from by Charlie btw s5-s9, and Sam in s9; his life savings are all gone. This giant messy web of corruption eventually sucks Thursday in: he's trapped by it and as a result, shuts down BV and also covers up Tomahawk's death. It's that old Victorian favorite: Poor People Have No Moral Fiber. Perhaps it's not on purpose? But there's a definite correlation between working class poverty and corruption here with a fatalism that I don't like.  9. I promise there are things I liked, even loved about this final show: I just need to wait out the frustrated heartsickness of it first. And I have no doubt I'm going to write more about it. And I will absolutely defend that every single actor in this was magnificent, but particular shout-outs to James Bradshaw, Sara Vickers, Anton Lesser, Roger Allam and Shaun Evans. 

[h-l-vlovesvintage]

My personal ranking of Endeavour with no explanation. Plus favorite episode from said series. This is purely my opinion.

1. Series 3 (episode 3 "Prey")

2. Series 8 (episode 2 "Scherzo")

3. Series 4 (episode 2 "Canticle")

4. Series 6 (episode 4 "Deguello")

5. Series 5 (episode 5 "Quartet", )

6. Series 9 (episode 2 "Uniform")

7. Series 2 (episode 4 "Neverland")

8. Series 1 (episode 2 "Fugue")

9. Series 7 (episode 3 "Zenana")

[too-antigonish]

Yes! Excellent follow-up on yesterday! I'm sure the entire team is appreciative.

Now if we could only get him to stretch like that with....um, you know what? Never mind...

Not sure if this counts as a fidget but given the talk of tight white shirts and stretches last night it seemed apt…

You’re welcome ☺️

[ianaryeh]

Endeavour S8 | EP 2 - Scherzo from Ian Aryeh on Vimeo.